CNN's New Day opened their Trumpcare segment this morning with a clip of Grandpa Grumpy John McCain being sarcastic:
REPORTER: On the healthcare bill...
SEN JOHN MCCAIN: I haven't seen it!
REPORTER: Is that a problem?
MCCAIN: Never a problem, no! I always like to move forward with legislation I've never seen!
They then had a conversation with two people who do not lie to the camera about healthcare bills. Way to go, CNN!
Ezra Klein also took the remarkable and almost unheard of on cable news step of actually remembering the past and talking about it:
EZRA KLEIN: Democrats had the belief that if people just knew what was in [Obamacare], it would be popular. Remember, President Obama invited Democrats and Republicans to Blair House. For hour after hour, we covered this and televised it. If people just knew what was in that bill, they'd like it. The Republicans believe the exact opposite. The core of what their bill does in both the House and Senate form is it takes hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to give health insurance to poor people and moves it to give tax cuts to rich people. A more open debate in which people know about it and hear more about the coverage losses and hear about the places they won't be able to get coverage, does not seem like a good move to Mitch McConnell. When you see Senator McCain make jokes about this, a lot of Republicans in the Senate are saying "it is a terrible process, I share your frustration." Three Republicans can say we're not going to vote for this bill, and it will stop the process. Until they put their money where their mouth is, I don't take these jokes as meaning much.
Former Medicaid Director Andy Slavitt painted a true and ugly picture of health care in America if this bill becomes law:
ANDY SLAVITT: I spent a better part of the day with the Senate yesterday. Near as I could tell, the best way I could describe it is we're going to get something like a Frankenstein monster of health care. This is going to be something very few could love. It is going to end Medicaid as we know it, the question is only how quickly.
Ezra Klein thinks that fooling the public on this, even in the short term, is a foolish effort:
KLEIN: People actually understand what they want in health insurance. They want insurance that covers them, covers their loved ones and that has a reasonable cost. If they can't pay the cost the government gives them a bit of a hand so they are protected in the event of a medical emergency. You can't trick people about this. This isn't one of the things in politics that can ultimately get by with good press releases and messaging not and it covers them or it doesn't.
Reality catches up quickly with "reality TV" when it comes to health care. Republicans will be in for a world of hurt if they try to fool the public with fake platitudes while taking away actual coverage.
