WASHINGTON — The closing argument was a curious one: Vote yes, Republican leaders told the holdouts in their conference. We promise it will never become law.

After seven years of railing against the evils of the Affordable Care Act, the party had winnowed its hopes of dismantling it down to a menu of options to appease recalcitrant lawmakers — with no more pretenses of lofty policy making, only a realpolitik plea to keep the legislation churning through the Capitol by voting to advance something, anything.

They ended up with nothing.

By the early morning hours of Friday, the animating force of contemporary Republican politics lay in ashes, incinerated by three Republican senators — John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. But the spark can be traced back to the hot summer of 2009, and to Winterset, Iowa.

It was there, and at town hall forums that tested fire marshals’ collective patience across the country, that the Republican rage ignited in earnest. Senator Charles E. Grassley, the state’s senior senator, was scorched after protracted negotiations with Democrats on what would become the Affordable Care Act. He peeled away, other Republicans followed, and Democrats were left to pass the health law on their own.