Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham tried to make a name for himself as a bit of a debate comedian during the Republican presidential primary, but he doesn’t seem to be joking with this effort to arm-twist Senate Republicans into voting for Graham-Cassidy, his last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare:

"This is not about repealing and replacing Obamacare. This is about stopping a march towards socialism... this is the last best chance we will have to act and end Obamacare and stop Bernie-Care."

Um. It’s not about repealing Obamacare, but it’s the last best chance to end Obamacare. And somehow, not ending (but not repealing and replacing) Obamacare would mean “a march towards socialism” and “Bernie-Care.” And “If you're not for this, then you really got to wonder whether or not you're a Republican.” You can see what Graham means: here’s a bill that will slash Medicaid funding and healthcare subsidies and seriously weaken Essential Health Benefits protections and move big amounts of money from blue states to red states and allow insurance companies to jack up premiums for older customers. This is a Republican bill!

But ooh ooh, be scared, because if Republicans don’t repeal—sorry, “end”—Obamacare, we might end up with “Bernie-Care.”

URGENT: There’s a new Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate. (Yes, AGAIN.) Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to save our healthcare. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)