That sound you hear all over the country is that of hard-right fundamentalists’ heads exploding. Their moment in the tea-swilling sun was cut short by a man who has often been the bane of Republicans’ existence — John McCain…Republican.
After Senator Ted Cruz blustered on and on for over 21 hours in his not-quite-a-real-filibuster, McCain took the floor of the Senate and delivered remarks that seemed to speak for those among us who may not feel Obamacare is perfect by any stretch, but are sick and tired of the Tea Party posturing over it, and just want to work to improve it where it can be improved. McCain also took special umbrage to an implication from Cruz that the “defeatists” in his party that were giving up on killing Obamacare would have been the ones appeasing Germany in the run-up to World War II.
“I resoundingly reject that allegation,”said the Arizona Republican of Cruz’s Nazi-invocation. “That allegation, in my view, does a great disservice. A great disservice to those brave Americans and those who stood up and said, ‘what’s happening in Europe cannot stand.'” McCain delivered perhaps the most stunning part of his speech when he essentially said to the Tea Party faction of his party that they lost the fight over Obamacare in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected. That is an argument many on the left have made for months now, but hearing it come from a “maverick” Republican means the bloom is starting to fall quickly from the Tea Party’s rose among the establishment in the GOP.
Watch Senator McCain’s full speech below:
