Sorry Geoff, I'm skipping one post back to BOB HERBERT. He makes some good points, and I think the Democrats
seriously need to get their act together (but I've thought that for a long time).
But let us not overlook the fact that both Obama and Clinton are up against someone who is apparently clueless about the issues, not a particularly clever man and a morally weak character to boot. Flawed as either Democrat may be in certain ways, they can't come
close to McCain's shortcomings, and I think it's only fair to bring McCain's strengths and weaknesses into the debate.
Let's pick a recent interview, where McCain made such outrageous statements that your coworkers would jeer you out of the coffee room for being an idiot. Despite that fact that the interviewer neglected to follow-up with any tough or pertinent questions, McCain manages to hang himself anyway. Here, in all its glory is:
John McCain thinks you don't deserve the same healthcare he's got. You can read a more complete article here:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/20/this-week-bringing-up-mccains-life-long-federally-provided-health-care-is-a-cheap-shot/A friend provided a summary, which I edited slightly:
Asked "what's wrong with government-run healthcare" (which McCain has) he responds:
"What's wrong with it? Go to Canada. Go to England and you can find out what's wrong with it. Governments don't make the right decisions. Families make the right decisions."
WHAT IS THIS IDIOT TALKING ABOUT!?!?
"Families" are NOT making healthcare decisions in this country. Healthcare decisions are being made by corporations THAT HAVE NO INTEREST IN HEALTHCARE. THAT IS THE PROBLEM!
Where are all these "families" who have the option of making healthcare decisons for themselves and their loved-ones? I don't know any. Everyone I know is just like me -- I get a "choice" of ONE insurance plan -- the one that my employer offers. I can "decide" to have access ONLY to those doctors, medications and procedures that THE INSURANCE COMPANY agrees to pay for. Everything else comes out of my own pocket and my pockets are not deep. And if I got dropped by my insurance company, I would get to "decide" on...paying full price for healthcare or not. In other words, having healthcare or not. That is the only "decision" I would get to make.
What a jerk.
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Me, again. I will add for myself that I am self-employed and therefore _all_ my healthcare costs come out of my own pocket. I get _no_ assistance or insurance of any kind-- full price for everything (except a true "catastrophic" event that will likely bankrupt me anyway, as it's doing for Americans all over our country-- and yes, I know some of them.)
This ill-informed statement is coming from someone who has had government-provided health care all his life, first from the military and then from the Senate. So he doesn't even have to pay for his care, despite marrying a multi-millionaire which is the only way you can really afford "choice" in this country. Unfortunately, most of us haven't done that.
I enjoyed reading the comments below the (lack of) health care article as well. Several Canadians and Brits (can I say that here?) weighed in with their view. Let me just say, they are not envying our fine system of "feed the insurance companies even more when they are increasingly refusing to pay for any health care whatsoever."
Even better, I found a great link to a true conservative who is bashing McCain as
THE MOST FLAWED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HISTORY
http://www.wcltam.com/news/special/articledetail.cfm?articleid=23261So Republicans might want to read this one, and see how far short of traditional conservative values this candidate falls.