Murkowski's selfish vote is "on-brand" MAGA, but about the good in the bill ...

I had to laugh when NBC News' Ryan Nobles' relayed Senator Rand Paul's reaction to Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski's caving directly to her face. Why?

Well, for one, she had that "raccoon when the light comes on" look; for another, sh elicited a response so on-brand with "America First," MAGA and the kind of voter the GOP corrals on the regular ... the "I gots mine" crowd.

That said, I opted to go the "well, let's look at what's good in the bill" route, and even then, found that all that glitters ain't gold.

The "no tax on overtime" part, for example. A. it sunsets. B. it might benefit 2% of U.S. households and C. "very few will see significant gains." Like $10 per year. That's not going to overcome healthcare costs going up with all the Medicaid cuts coming.

The $1000 'Trump accounts' for babies is another shimmery "nothing nugget." Its benefits are - surprise - skewed to the wealthy.

Okay, what about the 'no tax on tips' carve-out? A. it's capped at $25,000, and B. "would primarily benefit higher-income tipped workers, mostly because those who make less than the standard deduction already owe no federal income tax."

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In Georgia, particularly rural MAGA Georgia, the 'Big Beautiful Bill' is whacking those voters' economic prospects, too. Towns like Cedertown had clen energy manufacturing coming their way. Now paused.

Then there are the looming Medicaid cuts and the impact they'll have on the lives of Georgia mothers. Dr. Carey Perry's op/ed in the AJC relayed just how vital Medicaid is to nearly half of all Georgia births and how losing preventative healthcare sources will be deadly for mothers.

"Loss of this coverage would almost certainly negate the efforts that continue to be made to prevent the loss of life. Medicaid is essential to our progress in combating maternal death."

But hey, Lisa Murkowski got some goodies for the 740,000 people who live in Alaska. There are ninety or more COUNTIES with more people living in them than Alaska, but Lisa took care of her folks.

The rest of us?