Representative Ahn “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana has several times before threatened to defect from the Republican party line on important votes, only to allow himself to be bullied, browbeaten or bribed into the blind obedience that Republican party leaders insist on (and obviously do a pretty good job of enforcing).

In the past, though, Cao has telegraphed his intention of voting with the Democrats well in advance of the vote. This time he kept his mouth shut. And no doubt ended up endearing himself to all conservatives for a good long time:

One Republican lawmaker out of 177 crossed party lines to support the health care reform legislation offered by Democrats.

Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, the Louisiana Republican who hails from a decidedly Democratic New Orleans district, voted yea on the final passage of legislation. He joined 219 Democrats to make the final margin 220 to 215 in favor of reform’s passage.

Cao was a major (and possibly the lone) target for Democrats hoping to get even a semblance of bipartisan support for the bill.
[...]
Republicans clearly went the distance to keep him in the fold for the health care vote. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who promised protesters at a Tea Party rally this week that “not one Republican will vote for this bill,” was standing beside Cao as the historic vote unfolded.

Cao offered this explanation for his vote:

Of his vote, Cao said: “Tonight, I voted to keep taxpayer dollars from funding abortion and to deliver access to affordable health care to the people of Louisiana.

Cao said: “I read the versions of the House [health reform] bill. I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding – if they are able to obtain health care at all. Louisianans needs real options for primary care, for mental health care, and for expanded health care for seniors and children.

Then there’s Representative Tim Johnson of Illinois. He was the only Republican to vote against what the Republicans, with a perfectly straight face, are calling their healthcare proposal:

The House defeated a GOP alternative healthcare plan tonight, 258-176.

Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Ill.) was the only Republican to vote against the GOP bill. A united Democratic caucus voted no. (One Democrat did not vote.)

Republicans argued the plan was cheaper and less intrusive than the Democratic reform package.
[...]
Democrats lambasted the plan for only covering an additional 3 million Americans and for failing to force insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

It’s interesting that, last April, as many as 38 Republicans voted against version 1.0 of a Republican healthcare bill, a “comically awful” proposal, “principally authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).” But now, when push came to shove, there was only one solitary nay vote against an equally comical plan that Matt Yglesias has lampooned as a “health un-insurance policy“:

The result of all this will be a situation in which the health insurance systems works better for people who don’t need health care services, and much worse for people who actually are sick or who become sick in the future. It’s basically a health un-insurance policy.

Just last week, Tim Johnson made the following statement at a thinly attended town-hall meeting in his constituency:

Johnson said he is “not a member of the party of ‘no.’ I am not here to undermine the president. I am not here to submarine the speaker of the House. I want to see us offer constructive alternatives.

Lest you get the wrong idea, that was his criticism of the Democratic plan. He certainly toed the Republican line quite enthusiastically on that, rejecting it for not being bipartisan, for not allowing Republicans to have any role in crafting the legislation:

“When you are given a 2,000-page bill and told to take it or leave it, that is not good government,” he said. “It’s not a responsible way to run this process.”

He said that Republicans were given no opportunity to amend the bill.

“I would suggest that if the president, the administration, the speaker of the House and the majority leader of the Senate really believed in post partisanship and bipartisanship, then we would have some role, some ability to amend something that more dramatically affects your lives than anything else in the last 50 years,” Johnson said, pounding on a foot-high stack of paper that is the current draft of the health care bill.

So, he too, didn’t exactly telegraph his solitary act of rebellion against Republican lockstep-ism. And I have yet to see any statement from him explaining his vote. So it’s not clear which of the proposal’s multifarious flaws weighed uppermost in his mind.