John McCain Is Coming Back to the Senate to Vote on Health-Care Repeal

It sure seems like the senator is returning early from surgery to destroy the health care of millions of Americans.
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(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Talking about John McCain right now is difficult. We now know that the 80-year-old senator from Arizona has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is facing a difficult journey ahead. Cancer is a tragedy that affects many of us at one point or another. Whether we face it ourselves, or whether it's our loved ones who end up throwing snake eyes on nature's dice, the devastation that the disease causes, both physical and emotional, is horrific, and I pray he recovers.

But McCain's movement from the fiery "maverick" who bucked party norms to help try to reform campaign financing to a rank-and-file Republican who only occasionally pays lip service to the persona he used to be so beloved for has been well documented. And on some level, I get it. McCain got a tough break in 2008 when a junior senator from Illinois came around and started talking all about bipartisanship and change. Those were McCain's corners! Only this guy was young and black and cool and made them all sound exciting. So McCain pivoted and brought on Sarah Palin to appeal to the reddest of the red meat base, and he has never really been the same since. He's seemed angrier. Like he's bitter Obama beat him and bitter that he sacrificed his well-earned independent reputation in a losing effort and bitter that he gave it up all to introduce us to Sarah Palin, who basically opened the door to Trumpism.

But there have been flashes of it. And I don't mean all that long ago. Though McCain has certainly not caused Donald Trump any actual problems, he is one of the few members of the Republican establishment who has felt comfortable being a critic of the president. Of course, he hasn't let that stop him from supporting Trump in votes and confirmations. Look the bar is pretty low at the moment, and McCain has been right about at said bar.

And hey, it was only a few days ago that McCain came out and said that the Senate GOP should stop with the repeal attempts and instead attempt a bipartisan healthcare solution. That sounds great! And like the McCain of old. But then yesterday something weird happened. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said that he was desperately trying to get McCain to be able to come back for Tuesday's vote on a straight repeal, which would cost tens of millions of Americans their health care. That doesn't seem like something Cornyn would do, unless he felt confident that McCain would be voting his way.

Coming back to the Senate after getting brain cancer is an inspiring moment and one that should feel triumphant. It's the perfect moment for the ending of a movie. And you, John McCain, get to decide what kind of movie it is. Is it Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? Are you going back to Washington after receiving some of the finest health care the world could offer to represent the millions of constituents who deserve that same chance at life? Are you the conquering hero that history will remember fondly? Or: Is it some dark, cynical political thriller where in a piece of brutal irony, you return from getting your high-end health care only to cast a vote that will almost certainly kill a giant number of Americans? Just because Donald Trump is president doesn't mean the movie has to be dystopian. That's still up to you.

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