Earlier this week, the distinction could not have been starker: Two Senators returned to vote on ACA repeal. Both were suffering from life-threatening diseases: John McCain from brain cancer and Mazie Hirono, from Stage IV Kidney Cancer.
In the vote on the motion to proceed, Sen. Hirono voted No and Sen. McCain voted Yes. McCain received a standing ovation; Hirono was largely ignored, except of course here on Daily Kos in Karen Wehrstein's lovely diary. Even I, an obsessed news junkie, was unaware of her illness and trip until I read Karen’s diary. McCain’s vote was dumbfounding: How could someone right out of surgery vote to deny millions of others any care? Sen. Hirono’s story provided a startling contrast.
We don’t know what motivated McCain’s vote change: Theories abound: The first vote was procedural and he always intended to vote No; He was saving his No to screw with McConnell; He was responding to Trump’s disgusting comments about his service in 2015; Schumer, Collins and Murkowski talked him into it.
But I’d like to believe Mazie Hirono’s speeches (either on the earlier or final vote) found their way to touched John McCain. Here’s what she said last night:
After 11 p.m. on Thursday, Hirono took to the floor to speak out against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In an emotional speech, she talked about losing her sister at a young age and her experience battling cancer.
“Here I am a United States senator, I am fighting kidney cancer and I’m just so grateful that I had health insurance so I could concentrate on the care that I needed rather than how the heck I was going to afford the care that was probably going to save my life,” she said.
She spoke about how when she was first diagnosed, she heard from many of her colleagues across the aisle. “You showed me your care,” she said. “You showed me your compassion. Where is that tonight?”
Where was that last night? It was finally in John McCain’s heart as he voted No.