Who is to blame for the health care bill fiasco, and whose job might be in jeopardy? Not Eddie Munster’s Paul Ryan’s, according to Chris Krueger, strategist at Cowen and Company (WSJ):
Ryan is probably safe as speaker because nobody particularly wants to be Henry VIII’s next wife.
(The Family of Henry VIII, c. 1543-1547. Unknown artist, after Holbein.
Hampton Court Palace. © The Royal Collection.)
From THE HILL:
Blame for the failure to get GOP support for ObamaCare repeal and replace legislation has increasingly fallen on White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and other top administration officials, The New York Timesreported Saturday.
Three sources briefed on Trump’s recent discussions told the Times that the blame for the legislative failure has fallen on Priebus, who was in charge of coordinating an initial plan on ObamaCare repeal with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was also blamed for the failure, according to the report, while the president was reportedly annoyed with Jared Kushner, his adviser and son-in-law, who returned to Washington on Friday from a family skiing trip in Colorado.
…snip…
Publicly, the president was quick to blame Democrats on Friday after Ryan pulled the GOP plan. Several dozen Republicans had publicly opposed the plan, and Trump asserted that Democrats now “own ObamaCare.”
The White House was also publicly supportive of Ryan’s efforts to rally support for the legislation, but West Wing aides told the Times they were “stunned” by the Speaker’s inability to master the politics of the GOP conference.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
A newspaper columnist recently quoted a political scientist who speculates that it would’ve been worse for Trump in the midterm elections if he’d gotten the bill through–it would’ve left a lot of angry people. On the other hand, there’s a lot–an awful lot–to be said for it going down in flames.
Ellen, therein lies the problem. The media is fixated on how the next election is going to go instead of how policies are going to affect the people who have to live with them. Instead of wringing their hankies over how it would be worse for Rethugs if the bill had passed, the media should be informing people that they would have been royally screwed if it had. Media wants everything to be some kind of dramatic reality show where either Dems or Rethugs are the winners. Instead, the people are always the losers, because they are not given the real facts.
if they decide to repeal again then dems would be wise to step back once more to enjoy the implosion. no one can ‘work with’ a bully. if the dems try then they will be left for suckers once again.
I don’t think the Dems owe the Rethugs even one ounce of respect after the way they treated Obama. They deserve a taste of their own medicine. Howevah, because there is always a howevah, you can’t cut off your nose to spite your own face. If the Rethugs ever come up with anything that is actually worthwhile, the Dems can’t be seen as being unreasonable and spiteful. Let people see how adults act.
I am responding with one piece of art to another; REM “Bang & Blame”:
If you could see yourself now, baby
It’s not my fault you used to be, so in control
You’re going to roll right over this one
Just roll me over, let me go, you’re laying blame
Take this as no, no, no, no, no, you
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
It’s not my thing, so let it go
If you could see yourself now, baby
The tables have turned, the whole world hinges
On your swings your secret life
Of indiscreet discretion’s
I turn the screw and leave the screen
Don’t point your finger
You know that’s not, my thing you came to
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
It’s not my thing, so let it go
You’ve got a little worry, I know it all too well
I’ve got your number but so does, every kiss-and-tell
Who dares to cross your threshold
Or happens on your way, stop laying blame
You know that’s not my thing, ooh-ooh
You know that’s not my thing, you came to
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
It’s not my thing, so let it go
You kiss on me, tug on me, rub on me, jump on me
You bang on me, beat on me, hit on me
Let go of me, ooh, you let go on me, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Oooh! I love musical interludes!
A great visualization of a great metaphor. I get most of the symbols, but what’s the significance of the toy goat?
Making the hand even smaller than in the original paining is obligatory, of course, but if you’d really wanted to be cruel you would have done the same with the codpiece.
This should be a warning to all Republicans prominent enough to be noticeable by Trump — just as he’s inept at everything, he’s inept at judging who’s responsible for things. Who knows who will get the blame for the next fiasco?
As for Reince Priebus, surely he’s suffered enough just by being named “Reince Priebus”.
Thanks Infidel! The goat was my way of intimating that I think Priebus is going to be the scapegoat. Bannon doesn’t want him there, and it seems that whatever Bannon wants is what seems to occur.
I didn’t even notice the codpiece. Even if I had, Twitler can’t hide the size of his hands, but you know he would find the biggest codpiece he could, slap his brand name on it, and swear that he loved it, even though it is a bit smug.
Did you know that Reince’s real name is Rheinhold Richard Priebus. You would think that he might have taken Richie or Rich or even Dick as a nickname. Reince, short of Rheinhold, must be some kind of German thing. Here are a few interesting tidbits:
Reince’s grandfather was born to Germans living in Russia (there is always a connection back to Russia and Nazis with these guys!), His mother was Greek, but she was born in Sudan!!! Isn’t Sudan on the terror list? Why is there a son of a terrorist working in the White House? His father was a union electrician, which, I guess, makes him a Socialist or something in Rethuglicans’ eyes.
I didn’t know any of that about Priebus, thanks.
I don’t know if Trump would even understand the concept of ethnic Germans in Russia. That was actually a pretty substantial population from the mid-17th century, when many Germans emigrated to Russia to escape the devastation in Germany from the Thirty Years War, until World War II when Stalin deported most of the ethnic Germans to Kazakhstan because he didn’t trust them. Since the break-up of the USSR, many have migrated to Germany, where their weird archaic German is the butt of some humor.
Who knows how he came up with “Reince”. It doesn’t sound German to me. The best thing about “Reince Priebus” is that if you remove all the vowels, you’re left with “RNC PR BS” — which fits perfectly.
Your “trans”ing of Ryan into a queen would no doubt outrage those Trump henchmen who were furious at Spicer being played by a woman on SNL. Good job.
Here’s another musical-poetic response to the ACA repeal fiasco.
I didn’t know all that about the Greeks fleeing to Russia. Maybe Reince needs to read his own family’s history, and maybe he’d be a little kinder to immigrants here. Nah, that ain’t gonna happen. 😦
I read that Reince was a nickname passed down. Some inheritance, huh?
RNC PR BS!!!! 😆 Perfection! Thanks for the link. That’s pretty perfect, too.
Sure- pass the blame, same as in T’s champaign. The repubs just keep lying and lying and lying. It is not going to stop.
That’s all they can do. They only have alternative facts on their side.
Don’t you just love alternative fats- I mean facts? Those two words are in my vocabulary when I want to be funny. Some people have not heard the usage by T’s team.