While Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) fancies himself as a “maverick,” the moniker of “RINO in chief” is more fitting. This reality has become all the more obvious this year as Republicans repeatedly failed in their attempts to repeal ObamaCare, with McCain proving to be one of the biggest road blocks. The GOP’s latest and perhaps last attempt at repealing Barack Obama’s disastrous law was handed a potentially lethal blow on Friday when McCain stated that he would not vote in favor of the Graham-Cassidy overhaul.

Over the weekend McCain further explained his reasoning: “As I have repeatedly stressed, health care reform legislation ought to be the product of regular order in the Senate. Committees of jurisdiction should mark up legislation with input from all committee members, and send their bill to the floor for debate and amendment. That is the only way we might achieve bipartisan consensus on lasting reform, without which a policy that affects one-fifth of our economy and every single American family will be subject to reversal with every change of administration and congressional majority.” In other words, McCain is against this law because it fails to gain bipartisan support.

Maybe McCain forgot that the “Affordable” Care Act itself does not meet his legislative standards, as it was passed strictly along party lines in the dead of night. Alas, no, he didn’t forget. McCain further opined, “We should not be content to pass health care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed ObamaCare through Congress in 2009.” Or maybe he believes that legislative standard should only be applied to Republican bills.

Unfortunately, it seems evident that McCain (and a few other Republicans) has no desire to get rid of ObamaCare. So he’s playing the procedural purist card in defense of his unwillingness to keep his promise to repeal ObamaCare. He’s choosing to take a knee, proudly trumpeting his own independence rather than standing by his promises and with his team.

While the vast majority of Republicans have consistently worked and voted to end the egregious governmental power grab of ObamaCare, it’s the few donkeys dressed up in elephant costumes who have derailed the agenda and sullied the brand.

> Update: Rand Paul has also announced opposition. For Paul, it’s pure repeal or bust — that’s his brand.