Republican lawmakers have voted to repeal ObamaCare on dozens of occasions — by some counts, more than 60 times — since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law almost exactly seven years ago. It was the longest table-reading and dress rehearsal in modern political history. And yet, at the moment when the stage lights snapped on with a great buzz, and Republicans were finally about to debut their act before a paying audience, they froze up with stage fright. Now they are nervously rewriting the script in the wings, while the audience laughs at the farce of it all.

Yes, after all their talk, and after all these years, Republicans finally achieved real power in Washington — and promptly failed to repeal and replace ObamaCare. They couldn't even vote on it. Congressional leaders abruptly canceled their planned vote on the American Health Care Act at the last minute on Friday afternoon, when it became embarrassingly clear that Speaker Paul Ryan had failed to corral conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus, plus no small number of moderate congressmen who refused to go along.

For the record: Dougherty is one of The Week's pet conservatives.