Honestly I’m Good With Blaming John McCain For Losing the House, Whatever

Republican Rep. Jason Lewis, the former radio shock-jock host who represents Minnesota’s Second Congressional District, lost his bid for re-election last week, and today, he knows just who’s to blame: John McCain.

In an op-ed that is both an incredible self-own and a stupendously dumb publishing decision by the Wall Street Journal, Lewis makes the case that McCain, who represented Arizona for more than three decades before dying in August, is to blame for his own failed re-election bid. The soon-to-be-ex-congressman points to McCain’s last-minute vote against the Republican replacement for Obamacare in 2017 which, sure, go off, whatever.

Here’s the crux of Lewis’s argument in the Journal:

McCain’s last-minute decision prompted a “green wave” of liberal special-interest money, which was used to propagate false claims that the House plan “gutted coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.” That line was the Democrats’ most potent attack in the midterms.

Shockingly, it was the Republicans who were lying about healthcare all along, perhaps most notably in the Trump-backed lawsuit filed in Texas that sought to axe protections for pre-existing conditions and declare large swaths of Obamacare unconstitutional.

Anyway, all of that bullshit failed, Democrats took the House, Republicans have now given up on repealing and replacing the ACA, and Lewis is probably frantically trying to get back his gig as a radio host where he occasionally subs for Rush Limbaugh and calls women “sluts.” But sure, blame McCain if you want.

Lewis tries to tie his point together at the end of the column but doesn’t really manage to say anything other than, “It’s bad that McCain didn’t like Trump,” teeing up an incredible line right at the end of the story (emphasis ours):

The late Arizona senator’s grievance with all things Trump was well known, but this obsession on the part of “Never Trump” Republicans has to end. Disapprove of the president’s style if you like, but don’t sacrifice sound policy to pettiness.

Mr. Lewis, a Republican, represents Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. He was defeated for re-election last week.

To be fair, if this op-ed makes its way to the daytime TV circuit, Trump will probably eat it up. A week ago on Election Day, Trump was already trying to figure out a way to blame Paul Ryan for all of this. Ryan was ready for it, however, so shifting focus on to someone who’s dead might be the next best bet.

We eagerly (read: not eagerly) await Megan McCain’s irate defense of her father’s legacy on tomorrow morning’s The View.