This Week: Bringing Up McCain's Life-Long, Federally-Provided Health Care Is "A Cheap Shot"
By Nicole Belle Saturday Apr 19, 2008 2:15pm
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Wow. George Stephanopoulos actually listened to us and asked John McCain some pretty tough questions today on This Week. Who knew that George read teh blogs? McCain's body language and facial expressions really belied his discomfort, but if you look closely, you can see it. And I've discovered a "tell" on the part of McCain when he's really painted into a corner, see if you can find it.
Case in point: note this little exchange between Stephanopoulos and McCain over healthcare. Elizabeth Edwards has been a vocal critic of McCain's proposed healthcare plan in that it basically doesn't help those who need it the most. McCain's response falls into the less than satisfactory category:
STEPHANOPOULOS: What's wrong with government -- what's wrong with government-run health care?
MCCAIN: And we continue to have these debates -- 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.
STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the points Mrs. Edwards made in the Wall Street Journal, she said that your whole life, you had government health care. You were the son of a Naval officer, a Naval officer, now a member of Congress. And her point is, why shouldn't every American be able to get the kind of health care that members of Congress get or members of the military get?
MCCAIN: It's a cheap shot, but I did have a period of time where I didn't have very good government health care. I had it from another government. (LAUGHTER) So, look, I know what it's like in America not to have health care. We know that Americans are hurting there as well. We've got to make health care affordable and available. The difference, again, between myself and the Democrats, and with all due respect, Mrs. Edwards, I want the families to make the choices. They want the government to make the choices. That's a fundamental difference, and we will continue to debate that issue.
Actually, McSame, let's look at England's healthcare. PBS's Frontline did a fantastic program comparing healthcare in the US to five other capitalist democracies, including the UK. While the UK's program did have its drawbacks, the government has instituted policies to expand choice for the people and moreover, the government pays significantly less as a percentage of the GDP for healthcare than we do (8.3% vs. 15.3%) and it covers everyone. Hard to make facts sound bad, doesn't it, John?
Did you pick up the tell? Rather than respond intelligently to Edwards' valid point that McCain has taken advantage of government health care his entire (rather lengthy) life, he pulls the "Hanoi Hilton" card. Anyone think that calling attention to his POW days could be like Giuliani's invoking of 9/11? Not to detract from the traumas he experienced at the hands of the Vietcong, but what the heck does that have to do with healthcare?
full transcript below the fold:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me move on to health care. That could be the biggest difference between you and the Democrats this year. Democrats say your tax credit plan will not come close to covering everyone, and it especially won't help people with preexisting health conditions. Here is Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH EDWARDS: The truth is, a health care policy that covers everything but cancer doesn't exactly do me a lot of good. And John McCain and I have something in common -- neither one of us would be covered by his health care policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, she went on to say that both of you are going to be fine, because you have plenty of resources to pay for health insurance, but for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, they won't. Why not guarantee that anyone with a preexisting condition should be able to get health care?
MCCAIN: We will, as part of our plan, have a special Medicaid trust fund set up to help care for those people who are -- who have preexisting conditions. As you know, five chronic diseases consume 75 percent of the health care costs in America. We're not leaving anybody behind. But what we're not doing is we're not going to have a big government takeover and mandates. They've tried that in other countries. Both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton's plans are big-government solutions. But that's true in everything that...
STEPHANOPOULOS: What's wrong with government -- what's wrong with government-run health care?
MCCAIN: And we continue to have these debates -- 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.
STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the points Mrs. Edwards made in the Wall Street Journal, she said that your whole life, you had government health care. You were the son of a Naval officer, a Naval officer, now a member of Congress. And her point is, why shouldn't every American be able to get the kind of health care that members of Congress get or members of the military get?
MCCAIN: It's a cheap shot, but I did have a period of time where I didn't have very good government health care. I had it from another government. (LAUGHTER) So, look, I know what it's like in America not to have health care. We know that Americans are hurting there as well. We've got to make health care affordable and available. The difference, again, between myself and the Democrats, and with all due respect, Mrs. Edwards, I want the families to make the choices. They want the government to make the choices. That's a fundamental difference, and we will continue to debate that issue. But we can provide incentives. You mentioned that it's not enough, a $5,000 refundable tax credit for every family in America. It's a lot better than what they've got today. And if we can let them go across state lines, and get these inflationary aspects of health care under control, which we can do, then more Americans will have affordable and available health care.
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Anything less than socialized health care is bullshit.
An elite Warmonger!
a cheap shot....like attacking iraq for no reason other than greed?
a cheap shot...backing out of commitments to campaign finance reform?
a cheap shot...screwing around on your wife?
a cheap shot...a nickel for a glass of rum and a hookers ass at subic bay?
Fuck you, Senator McCain and that comes from my heart.
You mean you want the insurers making our health care decisions.
I wonder if McCain will whine as much as Barack at the meanie questions from Steph.
McCain's kidding right? Here is a man, who married a gizillionaire. Had free health care all is life, and is now telling us that government health care is bad. WTF! I believe he is as clueless as Georgie-boy.
You're kidding right Brian? That entire debate was a farce.
At least he is honest. You got no healthcare? Well, McCain aint helping! I really cant see him win a presidential election against Obama. They cant possibly make a character assassination so well that this old fossil can win. Anyway, if they do, and McCain wins, then the poor bitter people of the mid-west deserves another even more poverty-plagued 4-8 years. I really see the US as being done as a superpower if McCain wins. He wont fix any of the serious problems in your society. A Bush-McCain span will simply deplete you economically.
knud, your right. If McCain wins, I think we are pretty much doomed.
I agree the debate was bad. In isolation all of the questions except for "does wright like america as much as you" were valid but shouldn't have been the dominate questions. I've just noticed that HRC whined she thought things were unfair. Barack whined when he thought things were unfair. We'll see if Johnny Mac does the same thing.
Geez I can't spell.
:-)
After the much deserved ass wiping he took he had to do something to prove he's not sean hannity's bitch.
I lived in Canada for 30 years. The government does not 'run' health care there. It 'pays' for it. The providers are private sector, just like here.
My god I wish voters could 'go to Canada.' A few years living with that system and they'd tar and feather any politician who tried to force them back into the sick farce that passes for 'health care' in this barbarous place.
Ever wonder why, if 'socialized medicine' sucks so bad, all those other countries aren't clamouring to adopt our system?
Healthcare in the U.S. is the most expensive in the world, and it compares very poorly with any of those 'socialized' systems, as it is run for profit rather than for the patient. We lag behind the rest of the world in that and many others, all which will continue if McCain to our great distress has the power to keep the U.S. in such a poor condition.
McCain says "Go to Canada. Go to England and you can find out what's wrong with it." What McCain conveniently neglects to mention is that even with the flaws that their health systems contain [which are not that significant compared to that of the United States] the majority of people in those countries, and the countries that were discussed in the PBS special, are quite satisfied with their health care. Compare that to the deep level of dissatisfaction of health care in this country and it should be obvious why the WHO ranked the United States 37th among other countries in terms of quality health care. One wonders if McCain who, as a senator, has taken the time to actually see Moore's film Sicko, which has done a great job in discussing this issue.
Ummm, no you don't John! That was the point. Despite your best efforts to paint things to the contrary, you've had government run health-care your whole life. Since you're the oldest mainstream candidate to run for the Presidency, I'd say your health-care must have been pretty good!
knud @ 8:
My thoughts exactly
I watched the Frontline story. No one in those five industrialized
countries ever went bankrupt due to medical bills. I like the
smart card employed by Taiwan. Your medical history is there
at the click of a finger.
America is number one in health care in the world. We spend by far the most money on the planet for health care. That makes us number1!!! We are what, 37th, in health indicators? That is besides the point.
Go fuck yourself John! You've been sucking off the govt. teet since you were born. Literally! What is good for you is good for the rest of us. If it weren't for the govt. health care you recieved, cancer could have consumed that sorry excuse you have for a head.
you need to correct the headline here-- it shoud read as follows: This Week: Bringing Up McCain’s Life-Long, Federally-Provided Health Care Is “A Cheap Shot?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
Erroll @ 15:
Well, I'd say likely he hasn't because Moore has been demonized since pre-Bowling For Columbine. It should be required viewing for everybody in this country. We'd have single-payer in about a week.
Yeah robbie, I wish we all had McCain's government heath care, he is older than Methuselah.
I've been asking this same question since this debate began years ago. Since every city, county, state and federal employee has great "taxpayer-funded" health insurance, why doesn't the government to begin giving a tax deduction "equal" to the share that govt. employees receive? Then we could all afford great health care.
knud @ 8:
How old do you have to be , to be a fossil ? , or even worse an old fossil .
hes got to be sh1tt1ng us !!!!! UHC NHS free at the point of service, paid for by general taxes (if you are eligble to pay taxes other wise its free)
nobody turned away or denied treatment on economic grounds or lack of patient funds.
Prescriptions in the UK cost 7 UKP per item, only taxpayers pay prescription fees, anybody under 18 over 60, or on any gov benefit or can prove they cant afford to pay DOESNT pay, anybody who has multiple items pcm prescribed and is eligible to pay can buy a years advance pre pay letter which costs 80 UKP (last time I knew the price) then you dont pay for any items on a prescription.
So basically you only pay cash for meds in the UK's NHs if its a short one off illness, anybody else with a long term condition would pay the 80 UKP and not pay at the counter.
I had it from another government. (LAUGHTER) So, look, I know what it’s like in America not to have health care.
Two points of fact:
1 - He does NOT know what it's like not to have health care. He contradicts himself; by his own admission he's had Gov't supplied health care since birth via growing up in a military family.
2 - Yes, John, we know, you were a prisoner of war. BTW, what were you doing in that war that allowed you to be taken prisoner? Oh yeah, you were a bomber pilot.
What a just and noble warrior you are John.
BTW, did you ever carry out napalm strikes? How many "suspected truck parks" did you hit that turned out to be villages? I'm sure the surviving relatives think you're a swell guy John.
That's OK John, can't fight a just cause like that with out getting your hair mussed.
Wow, that is a pretty good point!!!
You can't live off government healthcare your entire life and then say it's horrible when others want to take advantage of it.
That's why I like Obama's plan better than Hillary's, because only those who want to use it have to use it. Plus no mandates is the only way it has a chance of getting some republican support.
"Governments don’t make the right decisions. Families make the right decisions."
Of course the framing is a lie to begin with. Nobody is talking about the government making choices, just paying for the damn thing. So instead of the government making the choices we have HMOs making the choices of what tests we can have done, what course of treatment they are willing to pay for... How is that better?
We spend "taxpayer" money on all sorts of things: roads, bridges, bombs, corporate handouts, etc... Why is it such a stretch for the world's "richest nation" to provide it's citizens with health care?
"I want the families to make the choices. They want the government to make choices"............HUH?
The Dems want to offer choices not make choices, unlike your plan Senator where it is only for those who ALREADY have choices can make choices.
Where is Bill Moyers when the situation calls for REAL journalism?
"Governments don’t make the right decisions. Families make the right decisions." What are you John, an Anarchist?
There he goes, kicking another woman while she sick with cancer. Status quo for McCain.
If he didn't surrender to the Viet Cong, he wouldn't have had to worry about their healthcare system.
I've had health care in both Canada and Britain - I've had excellent, good and not so good experiences - mainly a long wait at Emerg but that is kind of to be expected. Nothing that would cause me major concern - there is no bogeyman here. I think if you look at the outcome statistics we are doing fine at half the cost.
None of my experiences compare to having no health care or having to mortgage my future as some of my American friends have had to do.
Our or the British system is far from perfect but that is to be expected where ever humans are involved. Indeed our system is made worse and more expensive by the talent drain caused by the US's inflated salaries.
It amazes me that such unsubstantiated and biased comments go largely unchallenged.
Smug Ass.
Sure, no problem, to have Government health just join the military or work for the government. It's really simple. Kind of like how most employers have insurance plans?
Of course, you can't distinguish a difference between employee benefits and just handing it out for free.
Weakest gotcha ever. Try it during the general election.
A.J.Joe @ 17:
Bushco put 95% of the coffin nails in the lid, McSenile will eagerly or unwittingly do the last 5%
as long as the MIC and pondscum squeezes out the last drop of blood and profits before they flee to climates warmer (Paraguay).
Why does McCain think that his shortcomings are funny??
Anytime he is called to task for a mistake or a negative comment directed toward him.... he laughs
Does he think that bad behavior is funny?
The follow up questions were George --
1. How many people go bankrupt in Canada and England covering expenses that their provider won't????
2. As a Senator how many times have you voted against funding the VA and why don't you support the New GI bill that Senator Webb has proposed.
John Doheny @ 13:
Well said! I wonder why so many people believe a gasbag like Rush when he talks about the canadian medical system? He's so RIGHT an TRUTHFUL about everything else, ya right!
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s @ 32:
How dare he respond to her criticisms? Doesn't he know she has cancer?!?
TB @ 27:
I bet theres quite a few maimed and orphaned people alive out there today, due to McWarhero's 25 bombing missions.
McInsane 'Mmmm nothing like the smell of napalmed children in the morning'
Yep. I have to agreee
Rudy = 9-11
McCain = POW
John Doheny @ 13:
It's a con and in fact 65% of the population according to a 2004 Pew research favor higher taxes if it means government health care for all. The only people who don't want it is hardcore conservatives and the insurance and drug companies. http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=948
Speaking as someone who lived under the socialized medical system of the UK (albeit as a very young child), I realize that it has its share of drawbacks -- at least some of which, I imagine, can always be avoided for anyone who's willing to pay enough money. However, despite whatever drawbacks it may have, it has one positively huge advantage over our system as it currently stands -- you're guaranteed at least basic medical care. Increasingly, as growing numbers of Americans find themselves without medical insurance and avoid trips to the doctor for what may be necessary medical care because they know they simply can't afford it, that's not something that can be said about the United States -- and what does it say about the state of our country, one of the most prosperous in the world, when growing numbers of our people are forced to go without something as important as basic medical care for themselves and their loved ones? One thing it most definitely says -- we've started putting our priorities in the wrong damn place.
It was not that tough.
If you keep on him, he will go off.
Lt @ 37:
Exactly! It is as if these people wants to be best buds instead of Journalist.............WTF!
Brian @ 11:
add that to your lack of critical thinking skills, too!
"And I’ve discovered a “tell” on the part of McCain when he’s really painted into a corner, see if you can find it. "
His left eye starts twitching. You can see the suppressed rage just below the surface.
Gone InSane:
Fucking Liar! Nobody has any choice right now! Our choices are determined by greedy insurance companies, InSane!
What we want is a program that guarantees the funding for the care, so that we can make our own decisions about which doctors to see!
You lying fucking asshole!
i really hate to defend john mccain, but it sounded to me as if he was calling the comment he was making a cheap shot, not mrs. edward's comments.
Required @ 29:
It would cost a mere few 10s of billions to buy out all the Medical insurance companies, ie nationalize them.
everybody wins, shareholders get paid cash, US gets a ready made NHS bureaucracy and we all win.
It could be a phased in affair, if outright buying up is unpalatable, and would cost a fraction of the 'GWOT' or any of the other GlWa crap that the Feds play at and line theirs and their friends pockets with.
Karen @ 48:
crude and rude BUT to the point and very true, sums up McCain perfectly.
esdonkeyboy @ 38:
In Canada, accusing one's political opponent of wanting to introduce "American-style health insurance" is considered a 'cheap shot.'
It's below the belt. Like accusing the other guy of being a sheep-f**ker.
tuffy @ 47:
McCain needs to unleash his hidden demons (live on TV for shits and giggles), have a much needed stroke and go away.
A video of a comparison of U.S. and Canada's health care systems can be viewed here.
A bittorrent of the same video can be downloaded here.
"Governments don’t make the right decisions. Families make the right decisions. "
Of course, Stephanapolous lets this whopper pass right on by. This is the new Repub talking point.
Government doesn't make the right decision? Journalists need to start pointing out the inherent fallacy of this statement. This is the lie at the core of conservative thought. That government does wrong, always. It certainly does, when a conservative is running it. But when people who understand the difference between effective (progressive) and incompetant (conservative) goverenment get in control, government can and does make the right decisions.
What a crock of shit! From personal experience -- i.e., living in the US, Canada and now the UK, I can say that the UK health care system, while not without some flaws, works very well. And, the Canadian health system also works quite well -- again with some flaws, like wait times that are longer than they should be. But they beat the US system -- i.e., no health care unless you've got one of the cherry jobs. McCain has no credibility on this issue -- he is a govt hack, the husband of a multi-multi millionaire and he knows little about the lives of "real" americans. My hope is that the media will continue to needle him, the way they have recently begun to (belatedly), and that we will be exposed to the real McCain -- angry rich white male war-mongerer.
How about bringing up the total coverup by both you and your father of the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty? Would that be a cheap shot?
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Hughes0712.htm
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/margolis12.html
We know who you sold your soul to, John, and why it is that Lieberman will be chosen as your running mate.
We know who you REALLY represent, John.
Traitor.
Radically Moderate @ 45:
MSM = definition : best buds and hotdog aficionados, as Tweety said of former aspiring 'Reagan' Thompson "mmmm smells manly"
they all go play regularly at the 'Bohemian Grove' summer camp, McBBQing and his cookouts for the MSM is just an extension of this fawning.
With free government-provided healthcare of course his shots are cheap.
So's his wife.
Americans don't need health INSURANCE.
They need health CARE.
Remove the layer that's adding all the cost and this nation CAN afford to care for its own.
Any discussion of heath CARE that ignores middle man, ignores THE PROBLEM.
Insurance doesn't save lives or prevent disease, health CARE does.
nony @ 60:
very correct
Why didn't he follow up with something logical
"Do you care to expound on what you mean by families make the right decisions?"
"Why wouldn't that happen under universal health care?"
"If what you mean is families get to choose their health care provider in our system, do you realize they usually don't have that option? Under the HMOs you choose from their list of physicians, not yours. Are you opposed to HMOs, Senator?"
"Why are you opposed to all Americans having access to the same quality of health care you receive? Isn't that rather unpatriotic or simply elitist (only warriors and the families of warriors or elected officials should have access to that level of health care earned because of their sacrifice)?
"You have plans to curb government spending. If we adopted Britain's system and achieved the same savings, we could take 7 percent of our GDP and spend it elsewhere. In a 10 trillion dollar economy that 700 billlion annually spent on energy independence, paying down the debt, or increasing the amount in Social Security and Medicare's Trust Funds. Are you opposed to decreasing government waste?"
ysbaddaden @ 59:
ROTFLMAO..........yeah, and she has lizard eyes too!
knud @ 8:
That has already happened under Bush. However, well said.
The way this election cycle is being manipulated is suggestive of what Hillary proclaimed many years ago: a vast right-wing conspiracy. Let's give her credit for that one.
I'm very fearful of 2008, and what is going to happen. If Grampa wins, I know that it will be a stolen election again, which will prove (to me, at least) that democracy is "not just merely dead, but really most sincerely dead."
If heath care is so bad in all those countries with "socialized" care why is the average life expectancy longer in every single one of those countries?
What's wrong with government health care?
McCain: "Governments don't make the right decisions; families make the right decisions."
Question Georgie Boy should have asked: "Well, Senator, are you saying that government failed to make, in your words, 'the right decisions' in Iraq? In the sub-prime lending situation? In the regulation of hedge funds? In the response to Hurricane Katrina? In the performance of the airline industry? If government, as you claim, Senator, made 'the right decisions' in Iraq, sub-prime lending, hedge funds, Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, and the airline industry, what specific aspects of government prohibit government from making 'the right decisions' in health insurance for Americans?"
Question Georgie Boy should have asked: "Senator, how can you justify the fact that 48 million of your fellow citizens in America, the wealthiest nation in the world, go without health insurance? Further, Senator, what justifies your health care coverage, paid in part by these 48 million Americans, and the health insurance of your fellow members of the Senate, House, executive, and judicial branches of government?"
Why didn't Georgie Boy ask these questions. Sean Hannity wouldn't let him.
Providing facts, reality, and the hard core truth is a "cheap shot"? Only in reich-wing world....
Here is the US economic challenges - as I see them. I dont see McCain as someone who will solve or move in a fundamental better way on a single one of these issues.
* You cant afford the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
* It is too expensive to get a good education. As a result, too few get a academic degree. Often not the most qualified (like Bush at Harvard).
* The most serious economic challenge is financing your social security in the future. Too many people will be dependent on it in the coming years.
* What do you produce? NAFTA (thanks Clinton) and WTO has shifted US jobs to first Mexico and South America, then China. It is difficult to compete with what is almost slave labor. They neglected to impose standards on imports. If state funding is an illegal competitive advantage, then so is putting people in jail that forms a union, having no environmental standards, etc. The lost jobs are mostly replaced by an expanding service sector. A guy filling up your car at the gas pump or a guy checking your bags at Wallmart doesnt really increase the export. It is a result of a class society.
* There is too many people in jail. Well, #1 at something.
* The US society have very little public transportation. Personal transportation is dependent on oil imports. You need to move in a energy sustainable direction, like solar and wind.
* The gap between poor and rich is waaay too big. Poor people have very little opportunities. It is quite sad that if you want to fulfill the American dream - to work your way to the top - then the first step is to move to a country where it is actually realistic.
* ....(sure I forgot a couple more)
If Hanoi John thinks families and not governments should make the choice about health care, why does he support government's decision to allow the operation of a prohibitively costly for profit system that devours 16% of GDP, is rising in cost faster than the increase in GDP, excludes millions of families now and will, as a matter or structural necessity, exclude millions more in the coming decades while rapidly increasing costs to those who remain insured?
Wow, any Dem should be able to beat this clown. He sounded so phony.
Families and individuals having to make choices between food, housing and paying for expensive (but shoddy and limited) health insurance.
Poor people cant afford HSA and food.
'Ok junior, shall we buy you some food this week or do you want your meds'
McCain is a faux shadow of that whacked out pilot in Independence Day, the movie vet bought food and meds for his kid,
McCain and HRC would have us choose either not both.
While McCain has no solution, Clinton and Obama aren't supporting single-payer health insurance (medicare for all). Instead of using the proven delivery system used by other countries, they propose some sort of corporate welfare system. I guess we are going to reinvent the wheel. Still, I suppose half-a-loaf is better than none.
No discussion of health care can be complete without a discussion of the incentives that the for-profit system creates, namely, the incentives for long-term maintenance regimes (good for corporate profits) and disincentives for cures (bad for corporate profits). The result is cost increases greater than the rate of inflation. The only way we can break the spiraling health care costs is to obtain a cure for cancer, or heart disease, or Alzheimer's disease, rather than just tethering these patients to long term costly regimes. I wonder if we can break away from the flag pin issue long enough to raise these concerns. Of course, you know the answer our corporate media has for that - nope!!! There's a reason why the pharmaceuticals sponsor the nightly news.
knud @ 8:
Canada will build a border fence, and pull their troops out of Afghanistan to keep poor, desperate and bitter Americans out.
When campaigning for GE starts, McCain may giggle himself to death.
Here's an interesting write up on his war hero days:
http://www.wcltam.com/news/special/articledetail.cfm?articleid=23261
.
Radically Moderate @ 63:
I would've said racoon.
nony @ 60:
Very well said, which is why so many Americans still do not realize that both Clinton and Obama have left the insurance companies in the equation, thus placing profit over the needs of the people, while Ralph Nader's plan eliminates the insurance companies and advocates instead a single payer health care system.
cheap shot??? why mcfeeble, cuz its true????
oh, and lets bring up the fact that you were a pow again
and no, these arent tuff questions
lets ask him about his character
hey senator, why dont you tell us about how you were bangin your current wife while still married to your first
your first, who while you were in captivity took care of your children and didnt fuck around
fucking hypocrite
McCain has had his own cancer issues in the recent past all of which were paid for by the taxpayer. If he had to deal with them like the rest of us who have limited or no health insurance and have to pay our own escalating premiums and shrinking coverage,then his financial situation and possibly his attitude would be quite a bit different.
When the Executive Branch,Legislative Branch,and Judiciary are stripped of the current health care coverage that they have,then,and ONLY then will we have real health care reform in this country.
John Edwards actually dared to mention that idea during the campaign and he is no longer in the race.
Mark @ 66:
Friends, government only makes the right decisions when it helps to put money-political donations or war profits-into my pocket.
knud @ 68:
partly a continuation of slavery, poor black people make up the majority of the US's gulag system,
chain gangs, work camps, prison factories and outsourced prisoners make some RW people some sweet profits.
WoD and locking up petty potheads partly a means to 'outsider' and felonize radicals/ freethinkers and 'dirty hippys' and possible democrat voters.
The RW thinking is that potheads are most likely to vote liberal, so lock up as many potheads as possible to cripple the liberal cause.
Clearly it is the health INSURANCE lobby that is preventing millions of Americans from receiving health CARE.
As a general rule, is there any RISK for any insurance company in america, or do they ONLY make a profit?
George didn't ask any tough questions. He tried, but McCain kept interrupting and veering off topic. Georgie let himself be completely bullied. I guess he isn't so tough without Charlie Gibson there to back him up.
ysbaddaden @ 75:
inherited 'rum runner' eyes
Not only are the right-wing talking points both wrong and dishonest about the overall quality of care available in places like the UK -- particularly compared to what the average working class American has access to -- but they always completely fail to mention that if you want private care you can buy it, just like you can here. The talking point that a UK type system "eliminates choice" is garbage -- it gives you more choice: a choice between what we have now and what the rest of the world has. The only people that wouldn't benefit is the US insurance industry, which exists to squeeze both ends to make money in the middle. But even that would continue to exist for those who somehow continue to imagine it's benign: private health insurance is legal and available Europe as well, if you want it.
John Doheny @ 13:
The Brits also have providers in the private sector. But all providers are tax-funded.
This guy has enjoyed socialized medicine all his life as a military brat, as a soldier, as the husband of a wealthy woman and as a Senator. But guess what? Jane and Joe American citizen doesn't want a big government program to help... this coming from a guy who used tax-payer funded healthcare from the biggest government program on the face of this earth - the US Military!!!
Steve B @ 78:
If McCain had to risk debtor's prison, he might realize that not everyone can afford to pay high insurance premiums and the high cost of medical care, when the insurance doesn't pay it. A lot of people are facing bankruptcy and a kind of debtor's prison without walls because they can't afford medical care.
Get the FACTS!
http://www.pnhp.org/
c. atrox @ 1:
Unfortunately, the majority of the citizens of the USA are neither intelligent enough to take a socialized matter seriously nor wise enough to respect such a fundamentally useful tool.
The only way to make it work is to start it out slow and then try and keep the conservatives from phucking it up by underfunding it, raising their expectations of it, hiring incompetent people to be in charge of it and then, when it eventually fails under their "leadership" proclaim that Socialism doesn't work.
Conservatives will do whatever it takes to reinforce the lie.
I wonder how many cheap shots of botox his wife get's in the face?
There's new studies that say facial botox shots give you a brain as smooth as a baby's butt.
Oh stepnotonus, you had the golden aged follow up question:
"Why is it a cheap shot to point out, Senator, that you have enjoyed life long government provided healthcare, yet you're its most visible critic in the country right now? Isn't that a textbook example of do as I say, not as I do hypocrisy?
(okay 2 questions, but it deserved to be pounded up his behind)
I work in the private sector for a large corporation. I make copayments to the sponsored insurance company. I live inside the city limits of the state capital. Under my insurance plan I would have to pay above the reasonable and customary rates if I choose to go to one of the two major hospitals within the city limits.They are not covered by my insurance plan. To get full coverage I must go to one of three small hospitals 20-30 miles outside my cities limits. One mother that I work with was working 8-11 hours a day then driving 40 miles round trip to visit her child in the hopital and caring for her healthy kids. So Oh Lordy I wouldn't want someone choosing my doctor for me via the government when a corporate executive is doing it already.
Zenrage @ 89:
The Canadian system is not socialized health care... it is socialized health care insurance. The health care system operates essentially like ours. You choose your own doc. Docs work for which ever hospital system they choose. The Docs do have a regional board which determines their pricing and what is fair... and the board is made up of their peers... other doctors.
Signs of mccain being painted into a corner - brings up his Vietnam days and/or exhibits an obvious left-eye "tic" which results in drooping of eyelid and rapid blinking...
I have seen one or both of these things happening when he is "pissed off"j, and the degree of repressed anger seems to result in an increased severity of the tic.
As far as his bashing of the medical systems of Canada and other countries that provide EVERY person with healthcare, he doesn't have a clue - or is a f**king liar if he says he does have a clue.
Funny, all these rethuglicans that are against it, all take it willingly while they can.
There really needs to be a strong backlash against people who are fighting to keep us from having single payer health care in the US.
Then again, backing things up with facts and figures rarely helps with the regressives.
What I find astonishing is that a WHOLE shit ton of people that would directly benefit from having single payer insurance are against it as well. Because it's "socialized medicine."
Idiots.
Of course they will all take Medicare and their social security checks when the time comes..
He also tends to smile and laugh at inappropriate times. He is a phony baloney. He tries to mask his underlying temper and anger by over-reacting in the opposite direction: laughing and smiling at moments when he is hot inside. You want cheap? "Where is your first wife, John? You know, the one that was disfigured in a car accident that you dumped for your younger, richer, not disfigured current wife? Where is she?" Cheap shot or legitimate question?
Ex-Canuck @ 94:
1. Canada's health care system is "socialized medicine."
False. In socialized medical systems, the doctors work directly for the state. In Canada (and many other countries with universal care), doctors run their own private practices, just like they do in the US. The only difference is that every doctor deals with one insurer, instead of 150. And that insurer is the provincial government, which is accountable to the legislature and the voters if the quality of coverage is allowed to slide.
The proper term for this is "single-payer insurance." In talking to Americans about it, the better phrase is "Medicare for all."
Mike V. @ 95:
I've been waiting for someone to bring up social security. Why does McCain collect social security when he hasn't retired? It was on his tax returns. I realize you can still work and claim retirement but aren't you allowed to make only so much? Hey McCain, cut that out of the budget while you're slicing and dicing.
As for the constant laughing I've heard mentioned here and in other places, bush laughed when he talked about WW3 and on many other occasions while talking about something serious. We don't need another smirker in the WH. Need I say more?
it's mcAsshat's way of saying: "Die you worthless motherfucker. You should have been born millionaires"!
Does he actually think that families really have any say in their healthcare? McCain has no idea what he's talking about. Decisions are made my insurance companies, period.
McSame, like Dumbya before him, makes me want to vomit every time he utters a word.
Canada's health care system is fantastic. I myself had a large brain tumour removed 8 years ago and didn't have to open my wallet to pay for it. Our family pays $108. per month like everyone else in British Columbia and I got a brain operation and two months in hospital that would have cost a quarter of a million dollars in the US. Since the tumour was benign I am now a healthy person. NO waiting, the best surgeons, nurses and physiotherapy people, no debt, what more can you want?
More republican talking points.How is the(family)going to get better healthcare?Look,this is all about tax breaks and letting rich corporations suck the money out of the Iraq war and keep sending our good jobs overseas.If congress and the president can get healthcare and great retirements why cant we?This isnt about black or white male or female.Its about who will help us.The ones making less than 100 thousand dollars.I am sitting here shaking my head as i write this.Look people we are not getting better untill our government starts paying attention to us.We pay taxes,we work and fill the pockets of the rich and the government.We let talking heads tell us what we should believe.Obama isnt to be trusted?Then why should we trust Hillary?Or mccrazy.I keep hearing Hillary supporters say they will vote for crazy old fart if Hillary dont win.So havent had enough yet?How much bad news on tv before you say enough!Obama folk's,lighten up on Hillary supporters.We all need to get along.Our country is at stake.Our childrens future is at stake also.
Biff @ 92:
they dont, you go to a local doctor under any NHS, or visit any when away from home, nobody cares or interferes where you get it,
and if there isnt a clinic in your area, then the local health dept builds one.
Its only under the present private insurance
scamthat they force a person to have primary and 'out of area' coverage, for monetary (profit) reasons."I did have a period of time where I didn’t have very good government health care. I had it from another government. (LAUGHTER) So, look, I know what it’s like in America not to have health care."
No Healthcare = Hanoi Prison Camp?
Shouldn't we do something about that?
I am Canadian and John McCain deliberately misled people ... in Canada the Government does NOT make the decisions ... the doctors do .....
The government PAYS for the care, it doesn't determine what is needed ... to say anything else is either a lie or he is very very ill informed/stupid about other systems.
While I admit that our level of care has decreased over the years it is still far above what you guys have south of the border have and I would not exchange places with you. I just watched *Sicko* last night and as a Canadian I must say it was spot on .. there is NO way I would ever travel to the States without buying additional coverage ... wouldn't even consider it.
McCain's "It's a cheap shot" response needs to be taken apart word by word and analyzed. You'll see with no difficulty just how intellectually thin he is, how dependent he is on memes from the Republican playbook. In essence, the same thing he does whenever he gets challenged. And how quick he is to try and substitute his Vietnam experience for everything else....in other words, you see the mediocre intelligence, pandering and borderline unstable character that his fellow Senators have seen in the past, and which we need to make sure the American public realizes is the case even today.
It wasn't just the left eye. What the Hell was up with all that blinking? Is he on some kind of meds we should know about?
F**k you mCsame ,
Health ins for all , I had a heart attack at my companys 100 yr dinner , returned to work and was fired two weeks later ( after a two week loa . ) right you want loyalty get a dog .
Re: loyality just ask your ex wife .
Viet Namn vets against mCgain , oh songbird , songbird where are you . you piece of shit .
Al @ 73:
as a Canadian, my friends and I have already proposed such an idea. our economy has had trade surpluses, low inflation and we cannot fill many well paying jobs, its so bad in some places that, for example, Tim Hortons(canadian chain of donuts / coffee shops) are paying $25/hour with benefits. Soon enough the 'illegals' will be American in search of a better life....sounds familiar. We also suspect that your (shadow) government will press for our fresh water and other natural resources in the near future, you know as crime families do, make us an offer we can't refuse.
How well would McCain have recovered from his stint as a POW if he had NOT had free government health care? McCain and Newt Gingrich are both ungrateful turds - both have hung from the public teat their whole lives, doing well for themselves while our tax dollars pay their health care and their salaries. If they really believed what they say they would not accept the government health plan. Haven't noticed that happing, have you?
Interviewer: Senator McCain, is there any issue you can be questioned on where you won't reference your time as a P.O.W.?
McCain: *Chuckling* Well there was one time where I did face some difficult questioning, back in Hanoi.
Rasputin @ 93:
Actually, the only time I could 'choose my own doctor' was when I lived in Canada. Here I have to pick one off my HMO's 'in-network' list.
There is something about both the McCain clips that make me think he is on medication that has side affects.
Did anyone else notice the stilted speech? The stress in speaking followed by the sudden 'relaxation' when he got his words out? Sorta like a drunk driver that realizes he answered all the questions correctly.
Then again, maybe he just thinks he got a 'one over" on George but....it still strikes me as more than that. Just a thought.
It's always the phony old "choice" argument. They overlook the fact that the only "choice" that millions of Americans have is to either forestall much needed medical treatment or suffer bankruptcy. Some choice heh.
Even his Hanoi reference is a lie. As soon as they discovered McCain was the son of the Pacific commander, they took him immediately to a better hospital to fix him up.
"Within days of McCain's shoot down and after being told the identity of his famous father, the Vietnamese rushed him to Gai Lam military hospital (U.S. government documents), a medical facility normally unavailable to treat U.S. POWs." SOURCE
As an Irish doctor who moved to London to work in the British National Health Service (NHS) I'd like to announce that it's mighty fine. Yes, it's expensive, but as highlighted by the post above, its cost is lower with respect to GDP than current healthcare in the States. And I have seen it deliver, time after time. I do not understand the phrase "socialised healthcare" at all and I feel genuinely sympathy for US citizens and their unfair and dangerous healthcare system. Regards.
When universal health care comes up, McCain says in a dismissive tone, "they've tried that in other countries", then he moves on to talk about his plan for a Republican (non) health care plan, leaving what happened when they tried universal health care in other countries unsaid. He does that for one good reason: BECAUSE IT WORKS IN OTHER COUNTRIES! George let that go and moved on to bring up the fact that McCain has had government health care all his life, probably because he already had his line of questioning mapped out. As we have seen from this, interviews with others and the recent ABC debate debacle, George seems incapable of engaging independent thought and formulating follow-up questions based on the answers he receives. But the problem is that it isn't just George Stephanopoulos who does this - every mainstream media reporter who asks McCain a question accepts his answer, even when he fails to answer the question or his answer is obviously wrong (ex: Sunis = Shiites) and never asks a follow-up question challenging McCain's answer. Maybe they're afraid he'll fly off the handle and throttle them, or maybe they are just incompetent morons, but sooner or later someone is going to have to do it and when they do, that is when the American public will begin to realize that McCain can't back up his positions with reasoned answers.
Then, when George fails to press McCain to complete his answer and moves on to the fact that he has had the benefit of government health care all his life, McCain makes his little joke about receiving "health care from another government for a while", chuckles and again, fails to answer the question. Is this going to be it? Is McCain always going to deal with every question he can't answer by reminding the questioner that he was once tortured as a POW to make the person uncomfortable and then change the subject? Isn't anyone in the press going to stand up to him and say "yeah, you were a POW and you were tortured for five years and that little laugh you give every time you pretend to make an unfunny joke when you are really trying make people feel guilty for challenging your non-answer makes you sound insane, now answer the damn question"? How much longer will the press keep blindly accepting everything McCain says? These little unfunny quips coupled with that "I could lose it at any second" giggle seems to be McCain's "little black dress" in the same way invoking the attacks of 9/11 has been the "little black dress" for George W. Bush and members of his administration. To paraphrase Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, for John McCain the formula is: "Incomplete or Total B.S. Statement" + "Unfunny POW Joke (with crazy guy giggle attached)" = "Shut the F**K UP".
These Repug talking points ( AKA lies ) that;
1) Making insurance more affordable is the answer to our health care problem.
2) We have choice in our health care delivery now that we will lose with any other system.
3) We have the best health care in the world.
are so bogus that it blows my mind anybody really believes any of it.
What good is insurance if it doesn't cover what you need. I've spent over $26,000 out of pocket the last three years for two different surgeries for my family that weren't covered.
Many health care plans limit your choice of where and who provides your care.
By what metric do these folks figure we have the best care in the world? WHO rates us 37th I believe, once you consider all the variables.
But, the ignorant masses don't see it and continue to support pols who are working for corporate interests instead of theirs. Sad and frustrating to the max.
Robin @ 115:
I think he has dain bramage.
Seriously.
I would like to tell John McCain something. I am Canadian. Most of my health care is covered by the gov't. For extras like FULL dental coverage, prescriptions, massage/physio therapy, eye exams/glasses, etc I pay $41 biweekly from my paycheck. This covers my whole family. My husband had serious health issues last year. It cost us nothing except the $9.00/prescription the pharmacy charges. He's still on 4 prescriptions that would cost us hundreds every month instead of about $28. Now you're thinking yeah but you get killed in taxes. The truth is we both work, I make $53000/year and he makes $76000. I would qualify this by saying that's Canadian dollars but, sorry folks, our dollar is at par with yours right now. He pays about 27% in income tax and I pay 20%. That's before we get rebates for buying our retirement plans and investments. I'm happy to pay taxes because I know that my neighbours who may not make as much money as we do have the same basic medical coverage for themselves and all of their children. Our economy is doing well, the employment rate nationally is at a record high, inflation just went down even with these oil prices. We live in a small city very near the downtown. We bought our house in 2000 and it will be paid off in about 7 years from now. We own our vehicle. What I really don't like is paying for 128/litre of gasoline so that your President and his friends can add to their obscene wealth. just some facts for you to mull over. Our health care system isn't perfect but I know NO ONE who has lost their home or gone bankrupt because of a health crisis. NO ONE!
he (John McCain) experienced at the hands of the Vietcong
It seems that John McCain must have loved the health care of the Vietcong as John McCain has voted that we, America, continue to torture people.
George should have been prepared for a follow-up. When somebody says "go to Canada, go to England," provide him with some facts that those systems have much better systems and better patient satisfaction. I mean seriously, it's so easy to refute. And another great follow up: Why do we trust government with other tasks? Road building, police, military, etc? If government is so "bad," why have any government programs? Why is government specifically unprepared to run healthcare?
George "tried" I guess to repair his reputation. But there's always a sense that these guys are afraid to truly take McCain on.
If McCain becomes President....now that would be a CHEAP-SHOT!!!
Maybe it has already been said, I don't want to pick through over 100 comments to see.
1. Mr McCain, I'll take Canada or England's health care over our own right now.
2. The fact Mr McCain makes as much money as he does, and is worth as much as he is, and he accepts government health care, while deniying ot to the common man. Bad Karma buddy!
I thought it was a great point and a lot more relevant than a lot of the silly things the candidates usually say about each other. A cheap shot is trying to hold Obama accountable for something a supporter did when Obama was eight years old. The sixties have been over for forty years!!! McCain benefits from socialized medicine, but heaven forbid the rest of us should. By the way, we DON'T have the best health care system in the world. Canadians are the most satisfied in the world with their health care. McCain's comment is a myth Repubs perpetuate. Nations with universal health care are living longer and have lower infant mortality than we do. People in this country are dying because they can't afford health care, which really makes me angry (but not bitter). No other industrialized, civilized nation allows that to happen.
Rasputin @ 93:
Bingo. That's what nobody in the US health debate ever points out.
"Socialized Medicine" implies direct government ownership and management of hospitals, and direct employment of doctors by the government.
This is NOT how it works in Canada. Doctors are self-employed entrepreneurs. Some of them make hundreds of thousands a year - and they always get paid (no bad debts, no medical debt collection agencies). The provincial insurance plans basically function as highly efficient billing systems. Doctors have full freedom to diagnose, prescribe, refer and treat, without an insurance bureaucrat to second-guess them.
I don't get Americans who claim Canadians have less choice than Americans. In the US, most people are restricted to certain doctors by their HMOs. If you change jobs or move, and end up with a different HMO, you have to change doctors, right (correct me if I'm wrong here)? In Canada, I can see any doctor I like. No deductibles, no co-pays, no 'pre-existing conditions', no retroactive disqualifications. If you get sick, you get cared for. Period.
I encourage everyone to watch the Frontline piece that Nicole has linked. It is excellent. Show it to your friends who refused to watch Sicko because they've been instructed by Republican propagandists to hate Michael Moore.
Upon further reflection, I'M BITTER, VERY BITTER The elitist right is literally riping us all off, and TV addicted careless citizens we as a collective are, buy all their B.S. and they get away with it. TOTALLY BITTER!
A cheap shot wow. The man has spent his entire life on the public dole. But that is no good for everyone else.
Is this the type of scum we want to be president? No way go fuck yourself mcsane!
Rasputin @ 93:
Provincial governments (similar to state gov'ts) are the insurance providers. In Ontario, you pay insurance premiums to the government, who pays your healthcare. You don't choose your own doctor anymore though. They tell you if you can be their patient. Only downfall. Too much doctor power now.
Umm... did McCain just liken America's current healthcare system to being a POW?
Inadvenrtant truthiness?
Annoyed Canuck @ 128:
Doctors in Ontario are paid by the Ontario government, so yes it is socialized medicare. There is no insurance industry involvement unless you want it, or have it through a workplace plan. Doctors, nurses, hospitals are all paid for by taxpayers and their wages are paid by the Ontario government. Other provinces are probably different, but Ontario is worked this way.
The main health industry that is ran similar to the US healthcare system is dentists here. If you have a private insurance or work insurance plan, everything is almost double in price because of "paperwork" and other such lies.
My wife has dry eyes syndrome as the result of an Stevens Johnson alergic reaction. Her drops cost several hundreds of dollars a month. I have systemic hypertension and similarly I swallow hundreds of dollars worth of medications every month. The cost to me Zero (since I am over 60 years old) and my wife approx $200 per annum since she is under 60 years old
Neither of us work anymore. When we did we "suffered" +/- 10% deduction from our salary. This deduction goes towards our National Health Service, the Social Assistance programmes AND the basic State Pension
Hospital treatmenst for both emergencies and other conditions are free !
I will keep the British Socialist Medicine thank you very much
Trevor A Smith @ 135:
Americans as a whole for some reason, are so brainwashed into thinking taxpayer funded healthcare, is some kind of evil government intrusion, when in reality, it actually works quite well in every nation that has it. Mind you, with their government, I'd be skeptical too. They don't seem to be able to properly manage anything.
In our vaunted "best health care system in the world", I've had to wait four and a half hours in an Emergency Room for my delirious, feverish child to see a doctor... and I have insurance. I also waited two hours for a doctor to see my son's broken arm and tell us he would only put a temporary splint on it... he would have to go to an orthopedic specialist to get a real cast put on it (the next day). I've also experienced my wife being told she had to leave the hospital 48 hrs. after a C-section when she was still in considerable pain.
Doesn't sound any better than those "horrible socialized medicine plans", does it?
ConcernedCanuck @ 136:
Because Americans as a whole are dumber than a bag of bricks.
They keep getting shafted, but that boob tube keeps on telling they are the kings and queens of Sada. So the idiots buy it...
Everyone has what they deserve, and Americans are no exception. We could not expect less from the culture that brought you such hits as "I got mine so fuck you" as being the most Christian thing to do.
If you look at the tax rate, you will see that the middle class in America pays a tax rate comparable to the middle class in many Western democracies. Alas, the trick is about where the expending goes. The Americans spend over 60% of their federal taxes on defense... i.e. they don't get much of it back in social services. Once you factor the fact that in the US you still have to pay for your own insurance, benefits, and other issues... the real tax rate is much higher than in those evil socialist countries. You just have to look at the savings rates between USA vs Japan and or Europe. At the end of the day the Americans do not have money left to save, because they have to pay more off their pocket for less.
The American is the perennial hooker who is too dumb to know that she is not the one supposed to pay for the screw. But hey, one of those nice starchy GOPers is telling us on TeeVee how evil those Europeans are.
As a Canadian, I'm getting sick about cheap shots from your politicians about the problems with our health care. THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS. This week, my mother-in-law felt weak and got a full MRI work-up, my daughter hurt her legs on a playground and got immediate attention from our doctor and I had problems sleeping and got great advise as to how I can personally deal with it.
The cost? NOTHING! Wait time? The next day! So where are the problems?
Poor George, his roundtable was 4 relics on a lazy susan.
Here's what I don't get about McCain's plan:
I am part of the "working poor"...I barely make enough to get by. In fact, I don't pay taxes and qualify for the EIC because I don't make enough. It's people like me who have the hardest time affording health insurance. Because if its between health insurance and food or rent...well, I'd rather eat and not sleep on the street.
So how exactly is a $2500 tax credit going to help me? I doubt they will send me a check for $2500 if my taxes are less than that. Not to mention the fact that it won't stop the insurance companies from trying their damndest to not cover anything that is too expensive and combing over my medical history to look for any pre-existing condition. Which is complete bullshit! People should be able to get medical care when they need it, period.
"...go ask the Canadians or the English.."?
They've been asked, and asked often. They wouldn't trade their healthcare system for ours for the world.
HR-676 is the way to go.
ferrofluid @ 80:
Well put, and on April 20th (4-20) of all days ;)
I do wish ijuits like him would stop talking about the Canadian health care system. Yes, we have our share of wait lists, etc. but I would rather rip off both my legs than trade my healthcare. Yes, I pay a premium every paycheque, but it's affordable. And there are no co-pays for basic care. 30 years ago, my childbirth cost $2.75 extra (for the phone in my room). My daughter had her baby - 26 hours of nursing, pain medication, hospital stay (meals and the whole thing), no extra charge. Did the taxpayers of this fine province mind. Hell no. Our greatest hero is Tommy Douglas (Keifer Sutherland grandfather no less) who gave us healthcare. .\
The United States of America should be ashamed of itself. The greatest country in the world - with so many children who have no healthcare from conception.
McCain is so out of touch with reality. FAMILIES do not make health care decisions, their INSURANCE does. Only the luckiest schleps who don't NEED health care and have the premiums paid by their employeer would agree with McCain. The out of pocket premium for my family PER MONTH is $900!!! I make $12 an hour AND I have leukemia (fortunately I'm well enough to work). Fuck you John McCain.
Paul @ 142:
I live in Alberta, the Texas of Canada. We have, unfortunately, voted in the same conservative government in this province for that last 37 years. This province, as beautiful as it is and as much as I love it, is riddled with conservative-minded people. So conservative, in fact, that the prevailing beliefs lean towards banning the gun registry, breaking Kyoto commitments, ending immigration, and on and on. I'm embarrassed to admit, we have 2 creationist museums in this province of 3.5 million people.
However, all that being said, anytime our conservative gov't pushes to change our health care system, polling all over this province indicates that dumping 'socialized' medicine would be the death of the party. Once you've tried UHC, even if you're uber-conservative, you'll never go back.
Canada's healthcare system is very good. I've never heard even one single complaint in all my years.
Signed, A Canadian.
142 Paul Says: “...go ask the Canadians or the English..”?
They’ve been asked, and asked often. They wouldn’t trade their healthcare system for ours for the world.
=================================
I wouldn't trade our healthcare system for yours for the world.
Scrolling through the comments i was disappointed that nobody commented on the term "Viet-Cong". McCain was not held by "Viet Cong", as claimed, he was captured by North Vietnamese while he was bombing their city of Hanoi, despite there being no U.S. declaration of war against North Vietnam. In other words, a war crime. The name "Viet Cong" was a propaganda term, an insult, against the resistance fighters in the south, the National Liberation Front.
Of course, he asked "tough questions." I just can't get my mind around all the stupid games in play in the MSM. "If we look liberal, then we need to attack the Democrats. If we look right wing, then we need to actually ask McCain a couple mildly real questions." Who is really watching this crap? All the sheeple who think they know the truth because they watch one of these sham Sunday shows? Could somebody tell me how many of the bitter, angry, pissed off Americans who work 3 jobs to feed their kids actually watch this? Can you say ego maniac? Streptococcus is so convinced of his superiority that he does not read this blog.
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