Let it be said: John McCain is no “maverick” for casting a what should have been an unequivocal vote to save the health care of tens of millions of people and, thus, should not be regarded as some sort of savior or hero by the left.
At most, McCain’s perfunctory “no” vote to bring about the termination of the GOP’s detrimental repeal of the Affordable Care Act was a deliberately calculated political maneuver that had little to nothing to do with a concern for the tens of millions of Americans that would lose health care if the bill did in fact pass, or with putting forward and encouraging a progressive solution to health care reform.
Furthermore, McCain could have even prevented this revolting and toxic GOP health care bill from even having a potential to be enacted by simply casting a “no” vote on the motion to proceed, or even just by voting no on the multitude of other repeal and replace bills that have been brought to the floor for the past six years — many of which he voted yes for. However, he voted in affirmation for that motion in order to trifle with the possibility of stripping health insurance coverage from at least 16 million Americans.
John McCain stands for everything that the left vehemently opposes. He has consistently championed conservative policies, such as school vouchers, tax cuts and he even co-sponsored the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. Furthermore, he has persistently sided with his party in their opposition to reaching universal coverage through policies such as the Affordable Care Act. McCain expressed his desire to repeal Obamacare and his disdain for the piece of legislation when in 2016 he stated, “I won’t stop fighting to repeal and replace the president’s health care law with solutions that work for the people of my state and urge both Republicans and Democrats who have seen these problems mount to join me.”
As long as President Trump has been in office, McCain has never really stood up to any items on the rapacious agendas of Donald Trump and the Republican party. Actually, McCain’s votes in the Senate have been consistent to the Trump agenda at a staggering almost 87 percent of the time. Moreover, he previously has voted for almost all of the President’s utterly incompetent and disquieting cabinet appointments, including the extremely inexperienced Ben Carson, and the enemy of public education, Betsy DeVos. He even conformed to the pressure of his party and ardently voted to confirm the appointment of Jeff Sessions, one of the most racist and backward people to hold the position in recent history, to the position of Attorney General.
While the defeat of the Republican repeal and replace effort is relieving and worth celebrating, Trump and the Republican party will continue to attempt to attack progressive policies and enact more legislation that puts the lives of millions of Americans in danger and besieges fundamental human rights. Most likely, the so called “maverick”, John McCain, will be endorsing the disastrous Trump agenda along with the rest of his unscrupulous party, as he has done throughout his whole career. Despite his “no” vote, McCain is an adversary to everything that progressives and Democrats stand for and should not be idealized and revered by the left.
