Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Jokes and Re-hash

There are so many good jokes making the rounds of Twitter and other internet watering holes after this past week of each-day-crazier than the last in the nation's capital.

Here's an amazing behind-the-scenes glimpse of Thursday afternoon from Politico:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/obamacare-vote-paul-ryan-health-care-ahca-replacement-failure-trump-214947

...members of the House Freedom Caucus were peppering the president with wonkish concerns about the American Health Care Act—the language that would leave Obamacare’s “essential health benefits” in place, the community rating provision that limited what insurers could charge certain patients, and whether the next two steps of Speaker Paul Ryan’s master plan were even feasible—when Trump decided to cut them off.
"Forget about the little shit," Trump said, according to multiple sources in the room. "Let's focus on the big picture here."

To "the little people," whom dt claimed to champion, "the little shit" matters.

Like how much insurers can charge, whether maternity leave stays in place, and whether people addicted to opiods can get treatment.

Another great scene is dt's bullying of Rep, Mark Meadows, chairman of the Freedom Caucus.  It backfired, not changing his vote.

Then Politico gives us an almost-in-the-tunnel scene between the author, Tim Alberta, and Mark Walker, chair of the Republican Study Committee, an hour before news broke of cancelling the vote.  

A former minister, Walker is by nature relaxed and genteel, but his face was burning red and his voice trembled as we discussed the bill's defeat.
“I’m very bothered. I'm disappointed,” he said, measuring his words.
It must have been quite a day in Washington because I felt the tension three thousand miles away on the West coast.

No comments: