title:  Republican Has Epiphany: ‘Wracking My Brain To Think Of One [Positive] Thing Our Party Has Done’
text: Just a few years after Republicans shut down the government. Then came so close to defaulting on America s debts that the nation s credit rating was reduced. Then nominated a reality television star and serial liar as president. Then elected said reality television star and serial liar to actually be president even after a tape was released where he bragged about sexual assault. Republican Representative Tom Rooney had an epiphany: Maybe  maybe the Republican Party is a joke?It may seem obvious to some, but even Republicans themselves are starting to question whether or not the GOP has a single good idea in years.Rooney s epiphany came after he watched how his party botched a healthcare reform bill that the GOP had spent seven years promising to pass. From start to finish, the effort was a spectacular failure. The bill itself was a rush job and so poorly constructed that an independent assessment of its effects found that it would result in 24 million fewer people having insurance while also not saving the country any money. The bill s popularity hovered around 17%. Then the right-wing section of the Republican Party actually revolted against the bill because it didn t kick more people off of insurance. Then Trump demanded the GOP prove its loyalty to him by passing the bill anyway   and nobody listened. The bill failed before it even got a vote, humiliating both Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan.Republicans, including Rooney, were shook. So much so that Rooney began saying the one thing you as a Republican are never supposed to say aloud.As the prospect of a loss became more real on Friday, the frustrations of GOP lawmakers loyal to the leadership began to boil over.  I ve been in this job eight years, and I m wracking my brain to think of one thing our party has done that s been something positive, that s been something other than stopping something else from happening,  Representative Tom Rooney of Florida said in an interview.  We need to start having victories as a party. And if we can t, then it s hard to justify why we should be back here. Like many Americans, it s slowly dawning on Republicans that they really are the  Party of No.  Obstructionists. Haters. Fanatics. But not lawmakers.And Rooney wasn t the only one. The healthcare bill implosion was so incredible that other conservatives were having similar thoughts:GOP aide on CapHill: "I'm starting to think that while we're pretty good at winning elections, we're not great at the whole governing thing"  Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) March 24, 2017 Not great at the whole governing thing  could very well be the official Republican motto.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images