Watch Classless McCain Betray the Republican Party, Whoop It Up with Democrats

Independent Sentinel  "The dramatic moments before and after he betrayed the Republicans and his country

“ 'Watch the show,” the Arizona senator told the media when he first entered the senate chamber.

"When he arrived, he held a brief conversation with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer ( D-N.Y.), an exchange that left Schumer smiling, the Washington Post reported.

"Schumer knew what was about to happen.

“ 'I knew it when he walked on the floor,” Schumer later recounted, explaining that McCain had already called to share his plans.

"But few, if any, of his Republican colleagues knew what was going to happen, WaPo reported." . . .

"Watch the video as the self-important John McCain makes a dramatic entrance into the Senate chamber to vote against the “skinny bill”. He walked to the center of the room to grandstand, paused, held out his hand dramatically to get attention, and gave the thumbs down like a pompous fool. Senator Bernie Sanders appeared to know what was about to happen."

Kelly’s first task: Stabilize the West Wing

Politico
"Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has griped privately for months about the disarray at the White House. Now he’s tasked with bringing order to the chaos. 7/29/2017 Kelly’s first task: Stabilize the West Wing 

"When he officially becomes chief of staff on Monday, Kelly, a no-nonsense retired Marine Corps general, will be thrust into the center of the West Wing soap opera, where President Donald Trump’s policy agenda regularly gets preempted by feuding advisers and headline-grabbing scandals.

"It remains to be seen whether Kelly can succeed where Reince Priebus failed — by figuring out a way to rein in an unpredictable president and put a lid on the steady stream of drama at the White House.

"Privately, White House aides and others close to the administration acknowledged it won’t be easy. Even without Priebus, the West Wing remains fractured, with advisers competing for influence over the president.

“ 'I think this is the best and last shot,” said one person close to Kelly. “This is it.”

Best visual commentary ever on transgenders in the military?

Bookworm Room   "It’s quite possible that this is the best poster yet made to comment on the whole transgenders in the military debacle — a debacle predicated on a lie."

"And if you want the proper commentary to go with that poster, I highly recommend Brendan O’Neill’s brutal honestyabout the Orwellian thinking that is being pushed on ordinary people. His starting point is the Tory proposal that people can edit their birth certificates at will to state their preferred gender (of the moment):

It’s madness. And most people know it’s madness. Ask any normal, decent member of the public if Dave, 32, born a boy, still in possession of a penis, and a five o’clock shadow on a rough weekend, is a man or a woman, and I bet you they will say: ‘Man.’ Not because they are prejudiced or ‘transphobic’ – the latest phobia slur designed to pathologise dissent – but because they understand reality. And truth. And biology and experience. They know that in order to be a woman, you first have to have been a girl. 

But the true person in charge of the White House was first lady Michelle Obama.

UK Daily Mail  . . . 'She's the boss,' Mostromonaco said. 

'If he was mad at you for any reason, you'd be, like, "OK." If she was mad at you . . . if you thought for some reason she might be, you were, like, "I'm in so much trouble

The Maverick shoots down any chance of Obamacare repeal

Legal Insurrection "Overnight the Senate failed to pass a so-called “skinny” repeal of Obamacare, when three Republican Senators (Collins, Murkowski and McCain) voted against the measure.

"Whether the “skinny” repeal was an actual repeal was doubtful. As unveiled late last night, it removed the mandate, the medical device tax, and defunded Planned Parenthood, but it was something of a charade. Several Senators voted for it only after Paul Ryan gave some assurance that the Senate bill could be subject to a conference with the House, and would not be passed by the House as is.

"But passing the “skinny” repeal kept hope alive that there might emerge some meaningful form of Obamacare repeal. The defeat of the bill killed any form of Obamacare repeal for the foreseeable future.

"Collins and Murkowski always were expected to vote No, but McCain was the surprise. Even though Murkowski and McCain* had voted in 2015 for full, clean repeal of Obamacare, they didn’t have the guts to put their votes where their mouths had been just a couple of years ago." . . .

GOP flip-floppers were in favor of repeal before they were against it  . . . "Based on a tweet from political operative Jack Posobiec, "[m]ultiple Hill staffers confirm last night McCain was heard laughing w Dems and remarked, 'Lets see Donald make america great again now'."  Mission accomplished.  Revenge is best served cold, and here is one of Trump's signature campaign issues, served ice cold on the morgue slab, ready for the incinerator.

"Never mind what McCain promised his constituents.  He is now the darling of the left and the NeverTrumps.  He will be invited on all the Sunday talk shows, basking in his "maverick" glow. 

"If McCain is "flip," then Murkowski is "flop."  In 2015, she was also in favor of repealing Obamacare, telling Alaskans, "I will support the bill that repeals the ACA and wipes out its harmful impacts."  Not so this week." . . .

You picked a fine time to leave us, McCain   . . . We wish Senator McCain well.  He faces serious health challenges, but a lot of us won't forget what he did this time."