Yesterday, the GOP released a replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act. This morning, it was trashed by virtually every conservative outlet. We then found out that it had absolutely no support from various conservative groups.

AFP, FreedomWorks, Heritage Action all against this bill. It doesn’t sound like the leadership has a big outside coalition for this bill https://t.co/V0rEfGMZo4

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 7, 2017

What’s more, several politicians – Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Justin Amash, and others – came out heavily opposed to the bill. The writing on the wall seemed clear: It was dead the moment the public saw it.

It is of major importance that the architects of this bill come out and tell us 1) why they pushed this idea and 2) what they hoped to accomplish with no support outside of the leadership circles of the GOP Congress.

The cynic would say the plan was written up and released like this in order to say “Welp, this is way too difficult” or “You guys will complain about anything” and then just kill the idea of repeal and replace. The optimist would say this is how deals work – you start as far to one side as possible and work your way in.

But, neither of these makes a whole lot of sense when you look at them. The cynic assumes that the GOP leadership would actually go through all this shame just to squash an idea they don’t like. They are, after all, vain and want only the best public image possible.

The optimist, meanwhile, does not take into account that there is no reconciling blatantly liberal ideas about healthcare in a GOP bill. The matter is simply too divisive for that kind of negotiating. Nothing would get done.

It could very well be that the GOP has no clue what it’s doing when it comes to healthcare, a trait they would share with the Democrats, who passed a bill that was many, many times larger, but filled with untested, unsure means of “fixing” a health insurance industry using the very same government tools that broke it in the first place.

What was even the point of this exercise? You have unveiled a plan no one likes and one that will hurt you with the very base you promised to repeal Obamacare for in the first place.

This is insane and poorly thought out.