Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

McCain has nothing to lose at this point, but there are at least a dozen Republican senators breathing a sigh of relief after he took the bullet for them.

I'm grateful that he finally did the right thing, but after years of saying one thing and doing another, McCain does not get my support.

The real heroes here are Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins who showed from the start how to take a principled stand and not back down from it.

I turned on C Span last night to watch a "House of Cards" episode, and a "West Wing" episode broke out instead.

And were this a TV show, I'd have even felt bad for the Senate Majority Leader character. And, on a superficial level, it is tough to watch any 75 year old man devastated with the life and spirit drained out of him. But then I remember that this 75 year old man was single-handedly responsible for denying Obama his final Supreme Court justice, and then I don't feel bad in the slightest.

And let's not be so grateful for McCain for pulling away from the edge of the precipice. Who brought us to the precipice in the first place?

Two hopeful new events:

The head of Boys Scouts America apologized for Trump's speech.

McCain cast the deciding vote against the "skinny" Obama repeal bill.

The Original BJ wrote:

Sonic Youth wrote:And that applies to the whole week, actually.

Also the last two years.

The last two years is an excellent argument for reverting back to the tribal lands.

But this week in particular really does stand out. It's like a pimple sitting on a wart.

Sonic Youth wrote:And that applies to the whole week, actually.

Also the last two years.

This is not merely the Republicans trying to pass something extremely divisive. That would at least be normal politics. This is utterly embarrassing. It's too embarrassing to even take pleasure in it. And that applies to the whole week, actually. You've all seen that symbol of the snake swallowing its own tail? Right now, that's the GOP and the administration.

In a new low for WTF moments, three Republican U.S. Senators just said they will vote for the Senate-health-care bill only if the House promises not to vote for the bill as it is:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/27/mccain-g ... epeal.html

He's getting pushback from the Pentagon on this one, as well as condemnation from some of the most conservative Senators including Hatch and Graham.

The cracks in his support are beginning to show.

He's not doing himself any favors by pissing off the parents of West Virginia boy scouts with his outrageous political speech the other day.

His tirades against Sessions are getting him nowhere.

His likely veto of the new sanctions bill will meet with a swift override.

Another thing that isn't getting a lot of press, but one that may put more nails in his coffin is his continuing to make a big deal of businesses building or expanding in red states often at the expense of jobs in the red sections of blue states which could affect the 2018 elections "bigly".

I'm just going to post this here. We can stop this. Maybe not today, but soon. This is fucking gross.

https://action.aclu.org/secure/trans-military-ban

What's amazing about John McCain's speech is that a Democrat could have made the same speech (with a few details altered). And the outcome - both for the Health Care vote and the events for the next two years - would have been no different. Grand speeches about bipartisanship have as much impact as a pound of feathers.

Oh, and Trump finally called McCain "an American hero". Guess he needed to be sure...

Twitter. But of course. I copied the statement from the White House website where I found it, but I should have figured it was a Tweet.

Well, Obama and Hillary both tweeted their statements, so they're of comparable length. Never mind.

Sonic Youth wrote:This thought just struck me: Has Trump given any kind of statement regarding McCain? I hadn't heard of any, but it turns out he did.

Statement from President Donald J. Trump

Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon.

I have no doubt that the last several presidents, of either party, would have said something a little more lengthy and heartfelt than this little piece of throwaway, assuming he wrote it at all. This is one reason why his numbers are in the toilet. He can't even fake a human touch.

Both Obama and Hillary had statements out before he did; this might have been playing catch-up -- belatedly realizing he looked bad not putting something out.

This thought just struck me: Has Trump given any kind of statement regarding McCain? I hadn't heard of any, but it turns out he did.

Statement from President Donald J. Trump

Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon.

I have no doubt that the last several presidents, of either party, would have said something a little more lengthy and heartfelt than this little piece of throwaway, assuming he wrote it at all. This is one reason why his numbers are in the toilet. He can't even fake a human touch.

And they said he'd be back in a week, but even if it were just a blood clot in the eye as originally announced, he would have been out for several weeks.