14 July 2017 — 1951 mdt
The Ballad of Kabuki Daines
Sen. Steve Daines, an established man of the right, is doing a masterful job of agonizing and deliberating in public over whether to support the Trump-McConnell bill gutting the Affordable Care Act and sabotaging Medicaid. He’s holding “Facebook townhalls,” asking for input, and doing all the things politicians do to make voters think they have some ownership in their decisions. I think his performance is largely Kabuki theatre. He’s mollifying Montanans. And he’s giving himself some bargaining power to sell his vote to Mitch McConnell.
It’s an old song, which is why my new lyrics are set to an old Credence Clearwater Revival song.
Down at the station,
On a crowd-proof set,
Steve’s a townhall holding,
On the internet.
Health care is the subject,
Caution is his bet,
He plans to vote Repeal!
But not to say so, yet.
He wants to hear the people,
Of the Big Sky State,
He wants to say he listened,
To Mom, and Pop, and Kate.
He wants to seem judicious,
He wants to seem concerned,
He wants to say his vote,
Was based on what he learned.
Some people will believe that,
In Steve they want to trust,
They want to cut Obamacare,
Before the bank goes bust.
They stand with Steve and GG,
They stand with Paul and Mitch,
They stand with Mike and Donald,
They think Nancy is a bitch.
They think the key to health care,
Is refusing to get sick,
That free will, not insurance,
Will always do the trick.
And Steve-O’s in agreement,
Though his counsel he does keep,
While he holds his townhalls,
And free advice does reap.
But when the vote is taken,
When evasiveness does stop,
I bet he backs McConnell,
And Obamacare does drop.