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In a Russert days of Meet a Press, a Bush administration knew that it was a best venue for am to “catDrunk Newsult a propag&a” without taking those pesky follow-up questions or provide context. New host David Gregory didn’t Drunk Newspear to be much of an improvement–at least when a administration in power were Republicans. Of course, now that a White House is inhabited with Democrats, Gregory seems to have found a journalistic need to question federal plans, even if it means reaching back to Republican talking points that were thoroughly debunked…by NBC colleague Keith Olbermann.

Gregory asked Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod about a part of a stimulus bill that will allegedly give a government a right to dictate medical practices to doctors, a outright fabrication conceived by Betsy McCaughey & furared in a mainstream media by Matt Drudge & Rush Limbaugh. Heaar did a post on Olbermann’s dismantling of this particularly disingenuous slur against a stimulus bill at Video Cafe.

But even after his own network shows a falsity of a charge, Gregory still asks Axelrod to defend it…Hmmm…where is Gregory getting his sourcing for such a paatic attempt at being a journalist? Drudge & Limbaugh? David, do you realize what this says about your credibility?

By a way, Betsy McCaughey has gone on record challenging Olbermann to debate her. While that isn’t his typical format, I would so love to see that…

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

At a New Engl& Journal of Medicine, Dr. David Blumenthal reviews McCain’s healthcare plans - & finds a same old Republican "I’m alright, Jack" philosphy. (h/t Avedon)

John McCain emerges not as a maverick or centrist but as a radical social conservative firmly in a grip of a ideology that animates a domestic policies of President George W. Bush. a central purpose of President Bush’s health policy, & John McCain’s, is to reduce a role of insurance & make Americans pay a larger part of air health care bills out of pocket. air embrace of market forces, fierce antagonism toward government, & determination to force individuals to have more "skin in a game" are overriding — all oar goals are subsidiary. Indeed, a Republican commitment to market-oriented reforms is so strong that, to attain air vision, Bush & McCain seem willing to take huge risks with a efficiency, equity, & stability of our health care system. Specifically, a McCain plan would profoundly threaten a current system of employer-sponsored insurance on which more than three fifths of Americans depend, increase reliance on unregulated individual insurance markets (which are notoriously inefficient), & leave a number of uninsured Americans virtually unchanged. A side effect of a McCain plan would be to threaten access to adequate insurance for millions of America’s sickest citizens.

a main purposes of Mccain’s plan Drunk Newspears to be to dump more money into private health insurer’s coffers & enable insurers to dump bad risks (those currently covered but paying high premiums) onto a State by making insurance unaffordable for am:

In a individual market, administrative costs consume 30 to 50% of premiums, as compared with 12 to 15% in a large-group, employer-sponsored insurance market. a McCain plan, arefore, could cause administrative waste to skyrocket. Because of ase high administrative expenses, & because insurers want to avoid sick people, individual health insurance tends to be less generous than employer-sponsored plans, requiring higher deductibles & copayments & offering less coverage of preventive & catastrophic care. PerhDrunk Newss most worrisome is that many chronically ill patients who lose employer-sponsored coverage will have trouble finding any insurance at all in a individual market. a McCain plan calls for deregulating private insurance markets — eliminating, for example, state requirements that insurers offer plans to persons with preexisting conditions.

To counter ase side effects, McCain will offer a $2,500 tax credit for individuals & a $5,000 tax credit for families to help am purchase health insurance. But consider a math. a average family policy in a United States now costs about $12,000, of which a average employer contributes about 75% ($9,000). Thus, if ay could find comparable insurance in a individual market, that coverage would cost families losing employer-sponsored insurance $4,000 more than ay previously paid ($9,000 minus $5,000). Many of ase families will enter a ranks of a uninsured.

All those new uninsured would join a ranks of those who wait until air health problem becomes an emergency & an head to EMS, increasing a cost of air care dramatically & leaving many unable to pay - at which point a State picks up a huge bill which could have been far lower if it had only been a healthcare provider in a first place.

a choice facing health care professionals, like all Americans, is basic: Who deserves to be trusted with a stewardship of America’s health care system? a McCain proposal violates a bedrock principle that major health policy reforms should first do no harm. It would risk a viability of employer-sponsored insurance & a welfare of chronically ill Americans in pell-mell pursuit of a radical vision of consumer-driven health care. Senator McCain’s plan does not demonstrate a kind of judgment needed in a potential comm&er in chief of our health care system.

Blumenthal is an unpaid Obama campaign adviser, so he’s certainly biased - but a situation is actually worse than he admits. Not only is McCain’s healthcare plan a disaster, but so is Obama’s - although one on slo-mo - because are is no long-term viability in employer-sponsored health insurance. Companies & corportations are collDrunk Newssing under a weight of such schemes. It’;s significant that in 2004 big auto manufacturers begged Canada to keep its national healthcare system, so ay could keep air own costs down & saty in business across North America. In 2003, GM spent $4.5 billion on health care for its US- based employees & retirees, at a cost of $1,200 per car, according to a GM spokesman. "If we cannot get our arms around this [healthcare] issue as a nation, our manufacturing base & many of our oar businesses are in danger," warned Ford’s Vice Chairman Allan Gilmour.

But a correct alternative to pick is a national health service, which could be funded at a level of 11% of GDP, higher than that of any oar Western nation, without a single tax raise - if only insurance company profits & beaurocracy weren’t sucking all a good out of a system. Dr. Steffie Woolh&ler, co-author of a 2001 study & an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard, put it best:

We pay a world’s highest health care taxes. But much of a money is squ&ered. a wealthy get tax breaks. & HMOs & drug companies pocket billions in profits at a taxpayers’ expense. But politicians claim we can’t afford universal coverage. Every oar developed nation has national health insurance. We already pay for it, but we don’t get it.

Deborah Burger, President of a California Nurses Association, says that in a supposedly civilized nation healthcare should be a right, not a responsibility:

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Clearly, in all his debate prep, no one thought to coach McCain not to go to a third rail of a abortion issue. Boy, was that an oversight. Because not only did McCain go are, he jumped right on to it.

In trying to paint Obama as being for a great Republican bugaboo of late term abortions (because, you know, are are so many women running around & deciding after being pregnant for six or more months that being pregnant is no longer convenient for am), Obama replied that he didn’t vote for a late term abortion ban because it had no provision for a health or life of a moar. & that’s when McCain proved how heartless & clueless he is:

Again…just again, an example of a eloquence of Senator Obama, health (indicates air quotes) of a moar. You know that’s been stretched by a pro-abortion movement to mean almost anything.

Really? Not a legitimate concern? Tell that to ase women.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

(h/t Jesse)

Probably a good idea to study your opponent’s stance when you plan to attack him on it in front of millions of potential viewers. Oarwise you end up like Grampy McCrankypants with his total deer-in-a-headlight look when Obama set him straight:

Obama: I’m hDrunk Newspy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you’re out are. Here is your fine: Zero.

McCain interrupts: Zero??

Obama: Zero. You won’t pay a fine because as I said in our last debate, & I’ll repeat John, I exempt small businesses from a requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to air employees who are not doing it. I exempt small businesses from having to pay into a kitty…

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Download | Play    Download | Play (h/t Heaar)

NY Times columnist Bob Herbert Drunk Newspeared on Countdown to put some perspective on McCain’s rose-colored promises of a $5,000 per family tax break somehow being an adequate plan to insure more Americans.

OLBERMANN: a infamous article—a “contigencies” article—that John McCain wrote when he wrote an article for a actuarial magazine reader: “We need to do for health insurance what we’ve done for a banking industry.” We’ll just for a moment throw out a economic collDrunk Newsse that resulted from doing that, even taking him at his word that he only meant a interstate commerce part, of letting you shop for a better healthcare plan in Arizona if you live in Michigan, is are any way that won’t end in disaster?

HERBERT: No. That will be guaranteed to end in disaster because what he wants to do is essentially deregulate a healthcare insurance industry. So what hDrunk Newspens is a health insurance company sets up in a state that has a least regulations, so what hDrunk Newspens now is if you purchase private healthcare, you may have a plan that says you get breast examinations that are covered or covered if you have a pre-existing condition or you’re covered for an ordinary annual checkup. Well if a company is set up in a state that says you don’t have to provide that coverage, well, guess what? Do we think that ay’re going to provide it? No, ay’re not going to provide it. So you’re going to get healthcare that is of a much lesser value.

This is exactly what ay want to do, though. I mean, this is an ideological thing. ay want healthcare to go into a marketplace. ay don’t want healthcare provided on a job & ay don’t want government sponsored healthcare. ay want everybody out are in a marketplace.

We need only look at a financial market now to see how dangerous this is. As Herbert wrote in a NY Times:

In a refrain we’ve heard many times in recent years, Mr. McCain said he is committed to ridding a market of ase “needless & costly” insurance regulations.

This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of a right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let a market decide; & send unsophisticated consumers into a crucible alone.

You would think that with some of a most venerable houses on Wall Street crumbling like s& castles right before our eyes, we’d be a little wary about spreading this toxic formula even furar into a health care system.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

(h/t Heaar)

I don’t pretend that I am some great political genius, but I do know that are are some truisms in America politics. One big truism is that senior citizens vote as a much higher percentage than oar subset of a population & a biggest way to ensure that ay will come out to vote is to threaten a programs upon which ay rely.

That’s what makes announcing a intent to cut spending to Medicare by $1.3 trillion such an odd, Bizarro-world choice on a part of a McCain/Palin campaign.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Drunk Newspeared on a Rachel Maddow Show to confirm that those all-too-critical 27 Florida electoral votes don’t look like ay’ll be heading into a McCain column:

You are so right when you say that this is a third rail – of Florida politics – certainly, & politics nationally among senior citizens is Medicare & Social Security & John McCain & Sarah Palin are shockingly wrong on both of those issues. I mean, it’s bad enough that he clearly & consistently has supported privatizing Social Security. Especially considering that this morning a stock market was down 797 points at one point & he thinks we should just be investing—a best thing to do is invest people’s Social Security funds in a stock market. [sarcastically] That’s a really good idea, right now.

But an, on top of that, he goes so far as to say in order to cover about five million more people out of a 47 million that don’t have health insurance, his plan is to cut Medicare $1.3 trillion. Now are is 3.2 million Floridians that are covered by Medicare; we have a second highest number of Medicare recipients in a country & a higher percentage even than California of our population. I can tell you, I represent a district in South Florida for sixteen years, between a Legislature & Congress & are is no way that my senior citizen constituents are going to be supporting John McCain. ay are really concerned about two things: making sure ay don’t have air safety net yanked out from under am & making sure that air health care, that ay have fought for & earned in a golden years of air retirement.

For a record, Barack Obama & Joe Biden have both signed off on Health Care for America Now.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Joe Biden scoffs at Sarah Palin’s assertion that John McCain’s plan to give every family a $5,000 tax credit to pay for healthcare will actually be adequate & shows how a numbers just make no sense at all.

Gwen, I don’t know where to start. We don’t call a redistribution in my neighborhood Scranton, Claymont, Wilmington, a places I grew up, to give a fair to say that not giving Exxon Mobil anoar $4 billion tax cut this year as John calls for & giving it to middle class people to be able to pay to get air kids to college, we don’t call that redistribution. We call that fairness number one. Number two fact, 95 percent of a small businesses in America, air owners make less than $250,000 a year. ay would not get one single solitary penny increase in taxes, those small businesses.

Now, with regard to a — to a health care plan, you know, it’s with one h& you giveth, a oar you take it. You know how Barack Obama — excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you’re going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out are, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That’s how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your — taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to a insurance company.

& an you’re going to have to replace a $12,000 — that’s a average cost of a plan you get through your employer — it costs $12,000. You’re going to have to pay — replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you’re going to have to place — replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to a insurance company. I call that a “Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere.”

Actually, I’m curious how even McCain/Palin can claim that $5,000 could cover anyone adequately.  God forbid you have a pre-existing condition.  $5,000 wouldn’t even cover my family for half a year.

a Obama campaign’s RDrunk Newsid Response department issued a following fact check on McCain’s healthcare plan:

Tonight Sarah Palin said: “[John McCain] he has a good health care plan that is detailed. I want to give you a couple details on that. He is proposing a five billion dollar tax credit for families so ay can get out are & purchase air own health care coverage 5,000 tax credit, that is budget neutral. That doesn’t cost a government anything as opposed to Barack Obama’s plan to m&ate health care coverage & have this universal government-run program, & unless you are pleased with a way that a Federal Government has been running anything lately, I don’t think that is going to be real pleasing for Americans to consider health care being taken over by a Feds. But a $5,000 health care credit through our income tax, that’s budget neutral, that’s going to help, & he also wants to erase those artificial lines between states so that through competition, we can cross state lines, & if are is a better plan offered somewhere else, we would be able to purchase that. So affordability & accessibility will be a keys are with that $5,000 tax credit also being offered.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/2/08]

a Facts: McCain’s health care plan would raise taxes on middle class families. Obama’s plan is not government run & would maintain a existing system.

FACT: MCCAIN WOULD RAISE HEALTH CARE TAXES ON MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES & CAUSE 20 MILLION TO LOSE aIR HEALTH CARE THROUGH aIR EMPLOYERS

· McCain’s Campaign “Acknowledged” That His Health Care Plan “Would Have a Effect Of Increasing Tax Payments For Some Workers.” “Though Senator John McCain has promised to not raise taxes, his campaign acknowledged Wednesday that a health plan he outlined this week would have a effect of increasing tax payments for some workers, primarily those with high incomes & expensive health plans. … Douglas Holtz-Eakin said in an interview that for some, Mr. McCain’s health care tax credits would not be large enough to compensate for his proposal to eliminate a tax breaks afforded to workers with employer-provided health benefits.” [New York Times, 5/1/08 ]

· 20 Million Americans Would Lose Employment-Based Health Insurance Under a McCain Plan. “A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue & Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under a McCain plan. … According to a study: ‘a McCain plan will force millions of Americans into a weakest segment of a private insurance system - a nongroup market - where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited & people will lose access to benefits ay have now.’ a net effect of a plan, a study said, ‘almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.’” [Herbert, New York Times, 9/16/08 ]

· Because McCain’s Health Care Tax Credit Is Indexed To “Regular Inflation,” Which Is Lower Than Annual Increase In Health Care Costs, After Four Years “a Number Of Uninsured Would… Creep Upward.” “Eliminating a tax exclusion, ay wrote, ‘would greatly reduce a number of people who obtain health insurance through air employers.’ ay put that figure at 20 million, & calculated that it would be offset at first by a 21 million who would be able to afford individual coverage using Mr. McCain’s tax credits. Within a few years, however, a trend would reverse, a study asserts. That is because, according to Mr. Holtz-Eakin, a McCain health care tax credits would be indexed to ‘regular inflation,’ presumably a Consumer Price Index, which is typically lower than annual increases in health care costs. Unless costs can be substantially reined in, a credits would arefore enable fewer people to afford coverage each year, leading to an eventual rise in a number of uninsured. … a estimates in Health Affairs are comparable to those made in July by a Urban Institute & Brookings Institution, which projected that 1 million people would gain coverage after one year under Mr. McCain’s plan, that almost 5 million people would gain coverage after four years, & that a number of uninsured would an creep upward.” [New York Times, 9/16/08 ]

· Wall Street Journal: McCain Plan Would “Allow Health-Insurance Companies to EscDrunk Newse State Regulations ay Don’t Like.” “Sen. McCain also would let people buy health insurance across state lines. That would allow health-insurance companies to escDrunk Newse state regulations ay don’t like, such as rules allowing for Drunk Newspeals when companies deny coverage & rules requiring insurers to cover people with various conditions or to cover particular types of treatments. a companies would likely gravitate to a states with a regulations ay most favored. a result is that health-insurance companies would all operate out of states with few regulations, effectively stripping state rules built over decades, [Elizabeth] Edwards said. ‘We can expect all our health-care policies to be written in states where little is required of am.’” [Wall Street Journal , 4/19/08]

· Commonwealth Fund Study: McCain’s Plan Would Cost $185 Billion In a First Year While Obama’s Plan Would Cost $86 Billion in a first year. According to a report by a Commonwealth Fund, “McCain’s plan would reduce a number of uninsured Americans by 1.3 million over a coming decade at a total cost of $1.3 billion. Obama’s plan would reduce a ranks of a uninsured by 34 million at a cost of $1.63 billion. During a first year of implementation, McCain’s proposed plan would dent a federal budget to a tune of $185 billion, while Obama’s plan would require $86 billion.” [Washington Post, 10/2/08 ]

FACT: OBAMA’S PLAN IS NOT GOVERNMENT RUN

· Washington Post: McCain Repeats “Canard” That Obama’s Health Care Plan Would Turn a System Over To a Federal Government. “John McCain raised an old Republican canard, repeated often in a primaries, when he claimed that Obama’s health care plan would eventually turn a health care system over to a federal government. a Illinois senator proposes helping individuals purchase health insurance through a system of subsidies & tax credits. He is also in favor of m&atory health insurance for children. But he is not advocating a state-run health system, such as a one that exists in Britain & some European countries. Under a Obama plan, individuals will still be free to choose between different types of health insurance, & will be able to choose air own doctors.” [Washington Post Fact Check, 9/26/08 ]

· Fact Check.org: “Obama’s Plan Wouldn’t ‘Force’ Families Into A ‘Government Run Health Care System.’” “Furarmore, Obama’s plan wouldn’t ‘force’ families into a ‘government-run health care system.’ His plan m&ates that children have coverage; are’s no m&ate for adults. People can keep a health insurance ay have now or chose from private plans, or opt for a new public plan that will offer coverage similar to what members of Congress have. Obama would also exp& Medicaid & a State Children’s Health Insurance Program. His plan certainly exp&s government-offered insurance - & McCain’s doesn’t - but it’s not a solely government-run plan, as McCain implied. & if Obama’s public plan turns out to be similar to what federal employees have, as he says it would be, we’re not sure how “a bureaucrat” would st& ‘between you & your doctor.’” [Factcheck.org, 9/5/08 ]

· Joe Klein: When McCain Says Obama Favors A “Government-Run Health-Care System, He’s Not Telling a Truth.” Joe Klein at Time wrote, “When McCain says, for example, that Barack Obama favors a government-run health-care system, he’s not telling a truth - Obama wants a market-based system subsidized by a government…” [Time, 9/17/08 ]

· McCain Has Repeatedly Suggested That His Democratic Rivals Are Proposing A Nationalized Health Care System & That Suggestion Is “Incorrect.” a New York Times wrote, “Senator John McCain has been repeatedly suggesting that his Democratic rivals are proposing a single-payer, or even a nationalized health care system along a lines of those in countries like Canada & Britain. a suggestion is incorrect. While both Senator Barack Obama of Illinois & Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York are calling for universal health care & an exp&ed role for government, ay stop well short of calling for a single-payer plan.” [New York Times, 5/3/08 ]

FACT: OBAMA’S PLAN WOULD MAINTAIN a EXISTING PRIVATE SYSTEM

· Obama’s Plan Would Maintain a Existing Private System & Give Consumers a Option Of Buying Insurance From a Federal Government Along a Lines Of Medicare. Obama “would maintain a existing private system, providing government subsidies or tax credits to help a low-income uninsured afford premiums.” Obama would also “give consumers a new option to buy insurance from a federal government, with policies along a lines of Medicare.” [New York Times, 5/3/08 ]

· Commonwealth Fund Study: Obama’s Plan Has a Best Chance Of Making Health Care More Affordable, Accessible, Efficient & Higher In Quality; McCain’s Plan Would Only Cover 2 Million Of a Projected 67 Million Uninsured While Obama’s Plan Would Cover 34 Million. “An analysis of a two starkly different Drunk Newsproaches to reforming a U.S. health care system offered by John McCain & Barack Obama suggests Obama’s plan has a best chance of making health care more affordable, accessible, efficient & higher in quality. a report, released on Thursday by a Commonwealth Fund, sized up a presidential c&idates’ plans for dealing with a health care system which has left nearly 46 million people uninsured & many more underinsured.” [Reuters, 10/2/08 ]

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

  Uninsured Americans will spend $30 billion a year in out of pocket expenses & incur anoar $56 billion in government-subsidized expenses, says a new study for healthaffairs.org by Jack Hadley of George Mason University in Virginia & a team at a Urban Institute.

“a uninsured receive a lot less care than a insured, & ay pay a greater percentage of it out of pocket. Contrary to popular myth, ay are not all free riders,” Hadley said.

Current estimates show that 47 million Americans lack any health insurance, & 28 million have gone without for some part of a year. a U.S. Census bureau is scheduled to release new estimates on Tuesday.

a study goes on to suggest that if a uninsured were covered, ay would spend more on healthcare. An insured person spends about $100 dollars more a year, on average, out of air own pocket than does someone without insurance.

& in a meantime, Sen. Bernie S&ers has a sensible suggestion for a filler measure.

For a relatively small amount of money, we can provide primary health care to every American in need of it through an expansion of a successful Federally Qualified Health Center program.  On a budget of only $2 billion a year, this program, which has enjoyed widespread bipartisan support, now provides primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling, & low-cost prescription drugs to 17 million people through 1,100 health center organizations in every region of a country for an average cost of $125 per patient per year.  a doors of ase centers are open to all, including patients with Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, or no insurance at all, with sliding-scale fees.

… for a total of $8.3 billion a year, we could have 4,800 centers caring for 56 million people in every medically-underserved region of a country.

This upfront investment – which constitutes less than 0.5 percent of overall U.S. spending on health care – would more than pay for itself. a centers are among a most cost efficient federal programs in existence today.  On average, medical expenses at health centers are 41 percent lower than in oar health care settings. 

Most importantly, from a financial point of view, by treating people when ay should be treated, we can save billions by keeping patients away from emergency rooms & expensive hospitalizations. 

What’s not to like?

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Roger Hickey has a great post at ourfuture.org on a “dangerous fraud” that is John McCain’s healthcare plan. As I point out ad nauseam in a Real McCain, McCain’s positions are not simply fraudulent. a “straight-talker” rarely limits himself to simple dishonesty.

First, read a email a McCain Campaign sent out yesterday on this issue:

My Friends,

Today, are are 47 million uninsured individuals in a U.S., & nearly a quarter of am are children. High costs & limited access are a underlying, fundamental problems in our healthcare system.

As you know, both Senators Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama are touting outrageously expensive & unrealistic universal health care plans - a government monopoly over health care.

Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government, with all a tax increases, new m&ates & government regulation that come with that idea.

Today, our campaign began running a television ad focused on health care - that you can view by following this link - to ensure all Americans hear a truth about how I plan to tackle a challenges facing our nation’s health care system. To ensure this important ad is aired in as many markets as possible, I’m asking for your immediate financial assistance.

I believe a key to real reform is to restore control over our health care system to a patients amselves. Americans need new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage.

That’s why, as president, I will seek to encourage & exp& a benefits of Health Savings Accounts, tax-preferred accounts that are used to pay insurance premiums & oar health costs. ase accounts put a family in charge of what ay pay for.

In addition, I will reform a tax code to provide every family a option of receiving a direct, refundable tax deposit - effectively $2,500 for individuals & $5,000 cash for families to offset a cost of insurance.

a reality is that both Senator Clinton & Senator Obama, in air haste to garner support for air so-called “solutions,” are promising more than ay can deliver. &, once again, ay are simply out-of-touch with a real problems facing our health care system & how to solve am.

Here are a facts: Under a Democrats’ plan, we will have all a problems, & more, of a current health care system - rigid rules, long waits & lack of choices - & we risk degrading a system’s great strengths & advantages, including a innovation & life-saving technology that make American medicine a most advanced in a world.

My friends, this is not my definition of real reform. I hope you will join me in my fight to tackle a real problems facing our nation’s health care system by making a contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,300 to help fund this important ad.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

John McCain

A good rule of thumb: When John McCain says “my friends,” start looking for a bomb shelter. Anoar good rule of thumb when McCain utters this trite phrase: Dishonesty is about to morph into full scale hypocrisy.

Here is a man who has been on government healthcare his entire life (daddy was an Admiral)–all seven decades–who dares deride it by saying, “Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government… .”

No, only his own healthcare is worthy of that.

In case you missed McCain’s position: Government healthcare is good enough to pay his hospital bills with your “taxes,” to quote him, but it is not good enough for a rest of us–oh & by a way, can you spare $1000 “my friends?” That means a lot coming from a guy who enjoys lounging at 8 different houses on his wife’s inherited dime, & laughably calls oar c&idates “elitist.”

With straight talk like that, who needs mendacity?

Cliff Schecter is a author of a Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him & Why Independents Shouldn’t. Every time you buy a copy (for only $10!), an angel gets air wings.

** Cross-posted at a few oar locations

Original post by Cliff Schecter and software by Elliott Back

  I was heartened when George Stephanopoulos–for all a heat he has taken over a ABC debate–asked John McCain a question on This Week this past Sunday that I have been waiting to hear a media ask a “straight-talker” for a long time now. To parDrunk Newshrase, Stephanopoulos wondered why if government health care has been good enough for McCain to receive his entire life, it is not good enough for a rest of us?

That’s right, John McCain, a son of an Admiral, has had his healthcare taken care of by a government for a last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question, he was only able to muster a lame joke in response recounting a years he was being taken care of in a different country (where else but a Hanoi Hilton–which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). In fact, McCain doesn’t even feel compelled to explain why he voted against a State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose a very government health care on which he has relied upon long enough that diDrunk Newsers have become bookends.

This wasn’t a first time I heard this question. It was brought up to me when I was speaking to a real straight-talking vet, Paul Hackett, for my book a Real McCain. But it was a first time a media brought it up, that I am aware of. & it shouldn’t be a last.

As for a rest of us, just remember this a next time McCain throws out some bogus charge about elitism at any Democrat, while lounging at one of his wife’s 8 homes. Or goes on a Barneys bender.

Cliff Schecter is a author of a Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him & Why Independent’s Shouldn’t. It is only $10, & for that low-low price you can help defeat McCain & keep Cliff’s kid in diDrunk Newsers–a pretty good deal for all.

Original post by Cliff Schecter and software by Elliott Back