The smarmy, ambitious Sen. Jeff Flake makes my skin crawl even more than the average Republican pol. This morning, he was out doing damage control for the devastating Graham-Cassidy excuse for a health care bill. On Morning Joe, he actually insisted states wouldn't allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
After a lengthy rationalization for why the bill was the only sane and compassionate solution for his poor taxed constituents, Mike Barnicle asked him if he'd actually read the bill he's about to vote on.
"I've read a lot of it. We're all looking at it," he said.
He then admitted that even though the bill allows states to apply for a waiver to stop covering preexisting conditions, "but in reality, is any governor, is any state legislature going to deny coverage based on preexisting condition?"
Uh, "Yes," Scarborough said.
"I don't believe they will. In the past, maybe, but not anymore. I don't believe that's the case," he insisted. "They have to respond to political pressure."
Clap your hands if you believe in fairies, boys and girls!
The reason GOPers in Congress are always eager to dump their problems on the states is that they're not in the national media spotlight, most regional newspapers have only a skeleton staff when it comes to state house coverage, and state legislatures are, if anything, even more open to corruption than Congress.
If Jeff Flake doesn't know that, he's stupid. And if he does know it, he's a cynical creep who will say anything to save his own job.
