Lieberman: McCain’s vote against ObamaCare repeal was a vote against ‘mindless partisanship’

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Saturday defended his friend and former colleague, the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for voting against the Republican ObamaCare repeal last year.

Lieberman spoke during McCain’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, saying the senator’s notorious thumbs-down vote was a vote against “mindless partisanship.”

“When John returned to the Senate after his surgery last summer and voted against the Republican health-care bill, some people accused him of being disloyal to his party and the president,” Lieberman said. “But that was not the case.”

{mosads}Lieberman said that the speech McCain gave that night showed his true intentions.

“That speech made clear that his vote was not against that bill but against the mindless partisanship that has taken control in both of our political parties and our government and produced totally one-sided responses to complicated national problems like health care.”

“And, of course, he was right,” Lieberman added.

Joe Lieberman defends John McCain’s vote on health care bill last summer: “His vote was not really against that bill, but against the mindless partisanship that has taken control of both of our political parties.” https://t.co/qPSvgqGwxJ pic.twitter.com/n4slxZ40qn

— ABC News (@ABC) September 1, 2018

McCain’s vote last July was one of three key votes against the bill, which was a legislative priority for the GOP.

President Trump has frequently attacked McCain for voting against the Republican-backed bill which would have repealed ObamaCare, at rallies sometimes naming McCain but often referring to a “senator” who sank the bill.

“Except for one senator, who came into a room at 3 o’clock in the morning and went like that, we would have had health care too, we would have had health care too, think of that,” Trump said in February, imitating the thumbs-down motion that McCain made during a late-night vote.

McCain died last Saturday at the age of 81 following a battle with brain cancer. 

Trump was not invited to his Saturday funeral service in Washington, D.C. 

The Trump administration was represented at the funeral by the president’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Defense Secretary James Mattis, chief of staff John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton, as well as Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.