SENATOR McCONNELL'S RUBIK'S CUBE

By Robert P. Bomboy

JULY 16, 2017

            We've lived in the age of the Rubik's Cube. Since it broke the surface of our imaginations in 1980, with its 43 quintillion configurations, it has conquered the world. Its six colors - white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow - have driven millions to distraction. Only one in 8,000 can solve it.

            For Mitch McConnell, putting his Rubik's Cube together has been easier than making his Frankenstein health care bill come alive in the Senate. As majority leader, McConnell has been known for years as a master prestidigitator who can pull elephants out of his hat. But the Senate's Unaffordable Care Act has been too big an abomination, so far, even for him to get it passed.

Poor man - he's been twisting and turning his Rubik's Cube night and day, working his fingers to the bone, trying every trick his mother ever taught him, but he still can't get his fellow senators to swallow the garbage.

For McConnell, who is the most powerful man in Congress, this impasse must be incredibly frustrating and humiliating. He acknowledged as much this week when he postponed the Senate's traditional summer recess until the third week of August.

That, in itself, is a cheap trick, the prestidigitator pulling it out of his hat to make his fellow senators sweat. Sweat literally - Washington is not a nice place to be in the summer. Before air conditioning, the old-time drumbeaters would keep their rowers at the oars all summer to get what they wanted. McConnell is grinning, "How'd ya like a taste of this?"

As one insider said this week, "It's a message to the Republicans — the beatings will continue until you agree to pass Trumpcare, and you can't have vacation, either."

Talk about waterboarding! This is only one of the strongarm tactics McConnell and his henchmen are using. The really rough stuff is going on behind the scenes.

Like what? Like pinning a guy up against the Senate's marble walls and shouting in his face, "You're up for re-election next year, y'know, Bud! You come across on this or I'll see to it that you can't raise enough money to drop in the slot of a parking meter!"

Or, "You got to put your principles in your pocket young lady! What committee did I put you on? Appropriations? How'd you like to be on the subcommittee for Guam?

The Kentucky colonel, of course, has a sunny side too.

You can hear him smiling: "Y'know, my friend, I have a plum tree. I understand your state needs some real public works. Remember how nice the Tennessee Valley Authority was? Nice little project, wasn't it? Why, we can make that happen for you too."

But if they hesitate, he'll pull his evil horns out and tell them, "This is why they call it politics. If you're not for me, you're against me. You got to hold your nose and vote!"

It's all to get those 50 votes. Fifty votes and their friend the vice president will break the tie, and they can go to the White House rose garden to get the same laughs and backslapping the House of Representatives got when they passed their own version of the Frankenstein Act. That was the one that even the president called "mean."

It would take only three votes - the votes against the bill of three courageous Republicans whose consciences can't stand the thought that this Frankenstein Act, if it passed, would mean the deaths next year of 17,000 men, women, and children who would not have died if they had Obamacare.

As I've said before, you can help stop that and send McConnell back to his Rubik's Cube. Don't bother calling our Republican senator, Senator Toomey. McConnell has Toomey in his pocket. He doesn't have the courage to stand up.

But these six senators could turn the tide against this terrible injustice. Send them a quick email or a twitter and say, Vote against the Senate healthcare bill:

·       Lamar Alexander:            Twitter? @SenAlexander  - Email? Google Lamar Alexander and use his email contact form.

·       Shelley Moore Capito: Twitter? @SenCapito - Email? Google Senator Shelley Capito and use her email contact form.

·       Dr. Bill Cassidy: Email? Google Senator Bill Cassidy, scroll down to the word "CONTACT," see the question, "How Can I Help You?" and tell him to vote no.

·       Susan Collins: Twitter? @SenatorCollins - Email? Google Senator Susan Collins and click Contact Senator Susan Collins.

·       Dean Heller: Twitter? @SenDeanHeller - Email? Google Senator Dean Heller and click Email Me.

·       Lisa Murkowski: Twitter? @lisamurkowski - Google Senator Lisa Murkowski and click Contact Lisa.

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