Thursday night and Friday morning was one of the most remarkable nights in the
U.S. Capitol that we've seen in a really long time.
It was difficult to even move
in the press galleries because so many people were just listening and watching
with rapt attention. You know it was it was just the entire you know side of the
press gallery was sort of leaning to see what they could hear, what they could
discern, from John McCain as he was discussing his vote and what was going
to happen.
At one point McCain walked across from the Republican side of the
chamber to the Democratic side of the chamber. He very visibly to the sky, mouthed
a four letter word starting with F and ending with K.
And in doing so was
clearly trying to get everybody's attention. Now I heard from some
reporters who talked to Amy Klobuchar, the Democrat from Minnesota, after the
the incident that McCain was really playing a game on all the reporters.
That McCain didn't really have a problem, he had already made up his mind that he was
going to vote no, and he knew that there were dozens and dozens of members of the
media who were gathered high above who would see his use of the expletive
there and just wanted to to have a little fun it oh I don't know 1, 1:30 in the morning.
As the word started to spread, you could see the leadership
in the Republican Party, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, get a little less
excited and eventually they sent John McCain's home state colleague Jeff Flake
over to talk to McCain next to his seat. He sat there and it was it was almost a
little sad because Flake was trying to get a word in edgewise, he wanted to sort
of he was sitting right next to McCain and McCain really wasn't acknowledging
him, probably knowing what was going on. He kept on talking to Murkowski and
Collins. And Flake kind of kept on leaning in and this one on for quite
some time. Flake was really never able to get a word in edgewise. One of the most
remarkable moments was when Vice President Mike Pence, who had
been presiding over the Senate thinking that he was going to be there to break a
tie, had to come down from atop the dais and basically try and cajole McCain to
vote in favor of the amendment. He was down there for probably at least 15
minutes trying to win over McCain. It wouldn't work, but there was nonetheless
stunned expressions on the faces of many senators as what played out actually did play out.
And when he came out, you know, signaled for attention and then just
said "no..."
No.
There's a gasp that went out of the chamber and the galleries and so forth.
It was almost as if people couldn't believe it.
It was it was a sort of a monumental moment. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer were
quick to sort of try to shush people and to let them know, hey this is you don't
want, this is not the time to gloat. It almost seemed like the Democrats might
have learned their lesson after the House passage of the repeal bill in
back in May.
Passions run high in politics, but this really did look
like, you know, kind of dancing in the end zone. It
looked a little like, you know, that they were celebrating a little too little too
much, even in in losing. And I don't know if people really thought that the
Republican effort would get this far. And so Schumer and his troops again were
decidedly less ebullient in the chamber. After the vote the
hallways was just sort of mobbed, there is a well of elevators right next to
where senators leave the floor on the Senate and in the Senate side and it was
just it was truly a you know just a packed scene at 2, 2:30 in the morning.
One thing that struck me about McCain, he could have easily ducked into an
elevator where we would not have been able to follow him at any point. He not
only left the floor and went into the elevator well bank, but then he went
and he took the stairs down by the Battle of Lake Erie painting. He walked
that. I mean he's 80 years old and he has brain cancer and he's been beat up
non-stop it seems for the last by 50, 60 years of his life. And he took the stairs
and took questions from dozens of reporters, knowing that they were they
were going to mob him and, you know, he answered their questions, but he also wanted
to get home too. But that sort of struck me, he could have just bolted into
an elevator like a lot of members of Congress do to avoid the press, but he
but he went there and just kind of you know and took the stairs if you will.
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