Senate Republicans are kind of shooting themselves in the foot tonight on Obamacare repeal. Tonight is the "vote-a-rama" on amendments to the resolution that is supposed to start the repeal ball rolling. Where it's supposed to roll to, or what the timeline is for it—who the hell knows? But they're voting away.
And they're voting stupidly. Because they are not going to be able to repeal this law unless there is a replacement—they've lost Senate Republicans which they cannot afford to do. They're having a problem with that among some House members, too, where they are having a problem as well in the maniac flank.
So what can they do to maybe save some face here? They know they should keep some of the most popular stuff out of Obamacare, so that's what they should be doing. Adopt it and claim it as theirs and create a parallel bill that's just called not-Obamacare. Democrats are giving them that opportunity right now. Like the provision that allows people up to age 26 stay on their parents' plans? People love that. And yet, they voted down an amendment from Democrat Tammy Baldwin (WI) that would preserve that.
There are going to be dozens more opportunities like this one they could embrace. They won't, because they can't. They are in far too much disarray for that. They can't even figure out a timeline: