Elizabeth Edwards Responds To McCain's "Cheap Shot"
John McCain accused me of taking a “cheap shot” on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday for noting that people with preexisting conditions, such as he and I have, would not be able to get health care under his plan –- and that he perhaps was not as sensitive to this problem as he should be since he has been in government health care his whole life.
Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity. That is true. But it has nothing to do with my point — which is that the problem with Sen. McCain’s health care plan is not how it affects us –- but how it affects the tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions who, unlike Sen. McCain and myself, do not have the resources to pay for quality health care.
That is not a cheap shot, it is a potentially life and death question for tens of million of Americans. And it is a question Sen. McCain must address.
McCain’s health care plan is centered around the idea that we’d be better off if more Americans bought health coverage on their own, rather than receiving it through a job or government program. But maybe since he has never purchased insurance in the individual market, he does not know the challenge it presents for Americans with preexisting conditions. Read on...
Well said, Elizabeth.
oh come now, of course it was a cheap shot
cuz it was the truth, and mcfeeble had no answer
how dare ms edwards make such a comment that would confuse the old man
edwards for atty general
he will put every wingnut into prison so that we can buy homes on the cheap
Excellent rebuttal by an intelligent and compassionate lady. Just another reason I'm bummed Edwards is not our candidate.
Not getting this insurance crises, because it has never been his problem, is like not know the price of milk.
He is that out of touch with (our) reality.
McCain. Cadillac care for himself.
Choice for Americans.
Thanks MaCain.
We choose universal health care.
She's absolutely correct. We have an investigation just beginning in California about a major carrier dropping people once they are treated for something, and that now becomes a condition the companies don't want to insure those same people for. The system in this country is corrupt.
McHealth Care is another issue.
Enter Hospital
L.A. Confidential @ 7:
at your own risk
McCain is still in captivity in Viet Nam. He will always be in captivity in Viet Nam.
McCain proves again that he can't see beyond Hanoi or Washington, where he's spent most of his plentiful years He DOES NOT have the common American experience that we need in the next President. War hero, yes. Presidential material, no.
I know this is a important subject, but I would like to know what is the response to Hillary stating for the record that she would nuke Iran if they ever nuked Israel.
First, is all of this "nuke talk" even healthy being that intelligence has specifically stated that Iran does not have a nuclear program and they have never attacked a neighbor unprovoked in their history? And don't they have a younger generation that would could work with and exploit who reject the theocracy and Mideast agitating?
Second, look, I don't want to be called antisemitic for saying that more Americans should die because we started World War III because of our relationship with Israel.....but I'm saying exactly that. I understand Israel is a Democracy, I understand they had to endure genocide, I understand we have a lot of great U.S. citizens of Jewish faith. But I'm a 25 year-old Black guy from Milwaukee, what does Israel's problems with its neighbors have to do with me? And why should I, or my friends and loved ones have to fight and die in World War III after we nuke any nation that nukes them? I won't even mention the fact that there are 1 billion Muslims in this world, and I'm sure more than half of them will be VERY UPSET and quite a few will be more than willing to commit terrorist acts as little as buying a black market assault rifle and shooting in a crowded place.
I understand our relationship with England. I understand why we are slow to respond in Africa. I understand why we have to respond to every conflict in the Middle East because of our addiction to their oil. But can someone please explain to me how Israel gets all of this love and attention from the United States to the point our Presidential candidates are to swear a oath to nuclear war to protect them, when so many other tax paying American citizens don't get 1% of the same attention for their homeland?
*shouldn't die
McCain's net worth is $40 million. How the hell does he know what a person who makes $24,000 a year is dealing with?
14All @ 3:
yes that is sad, but if he is not chosen as vp, then
edwards will make one of the best AGs this country
has seen.......don't you think so?
Take heart, at least one Republican is honest about his political views:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Fringe_GOP_candidate_spends_Hitlers_birthd...
Mister Anderson @ 11:
this is the wrong time, but bring this up on the open thread tonight.
Mister Anderson @ 11:
Nope. I don't have a clue what kind of commitments and loyalty oaths are negotiated out of public view at this level of Geo Political Gamesmanship.
Bravo, Elizabeth! Keep McSame on the run.
Sen. McCain, you know what else you didn't have at the Hanoi Hilton? Barney's New York in Beverly Hills and lavish birthday parties with a fawning press corps.
Classy lady. Angry old coot.
Christ! Noww....why don't Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama run on a ticket?!?
"Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity."
That's the Republican bar. Health coverage for Americans as if they were in a POW camp.
Yes, that would be awesome. I would trust him to begin the painful process of restoring the rule of law. Hopefully our next pres. will be smart enough to figure that out, and have enough integrity to want it to happen.
#20, Word!
Who will be more influential in electing our next president?
Self-oil changers
Home Brewers
Dungeons and Dragon players
Liberal media elites
Scrapbookers
crazylikeafox @ 5:
I want Dick Cheney's health care coverage, 3 heart bypasses at taxpayer expense! I thought that was socialized medicine? Or is only "socialized medicine" when the average American gets, not Dick Cheney?
I too have had breast cancer. I was diagnosed 3 months after my then husband had been laid off from his programming job. We went through the ordeal on COBRA. That was $1024 a month. We paid a portion of the radiation. Thank goodness I didn't have to undergo chemo. Try to imagine what it was like to be a cancer patient under these circumstances. I felt like I was taking my family down. This came at a time when I needed comfort and support. My husband had been outsourced and I had cancer. I have described it to people as feeling like my family was disappearing from the landscape of America.
What kind of country do we live in?
I work in a clinic and everyday I see people without insurance. In this day in age you can't be without insurance. If you are you are one injury or illness away from catastrophe. I see children without insurance. I see people without money for co pays. Imagine a thirty dollar co pay when you have to come in once a month.
John McCain can afford a trip to anywhere. He can afford a great meal and a trip to the ball park. He can afford clothes and shelter and transportation. He needs feel the fear of living without it. His POW days were terrible. I get it. But he never had to worry about his children being without the basic necessities.
Republican Rules: A cheap shot is a comment exposing the gaping holes in the Republican ideology which happens to be true.
It's Not Fair! Best rebuttal is to run back to the Daddy Press, red-faced with tears streaming down your cheeks, crying "Cheap shot! Cheap shot!"
Of course, when I think of John McCain I think "Cheap Whore! Cheap Whore!"
John McElitist has never been there or done that. And you can’t tell me that he didn’t receive special treatment while he was a POW. Sorry, not buying it.
Ruthless People @ 19:
I SECOND this emotion.
This is EXACTLY the right way to take McCain to task for his "angry old coot...ies." Employing logic. Pointing out facts. Correcting incorrect assumptions.
That, my McFriend, is why the Democrats R' GONNA WHUP YER ASS.
dadams @ 16:
I know this is off topic but I may go to bed before the Open Thread. And this is a REALLY important subject to me because it's a question I've had for a VERY LONG time regardless of whether the administration was Democratic or Republican.
I just want to know if I'm being ignorant and antisemitic in my views that the American people should not be obligated to die for Israel? Is my opinion a minority point of view?
I don't mind selling them weapons and supplies. I don't mind joining a international force to respond if they were nuked. But to say we will unilaterally nuke any nation that nukes them is insane to me. In my opinion, their ENTIRE conflict is nothing more than a glorified land dispute. Why in the hell people have to die for it is beyond me, especially those who are not involved in any way, shape or form.
Ahhh...memories. I remember having cancer and being on COBRA and needed to get more insurance and finding out I couldn't get it because I had a pre-existing condition. How's that for a moral boost when I needed it? What do you say to your family? I'm going to cost you your house kids. I'm going to keep you from an average, everyday life.
Bitter taste.
What a great first female president Mrs. Edwards would have made.
L.A. Confidential @ 17:
And that scares the hell out of me.
Ruthless People @ 19:
Hey, careful. I'm an angry old coot and I vote!!
But never for a republicon.
We can flush a trillion dollars down an Iraqi toilet and get nothing in return, but the thought of spending that kind of money on providing health care to the citizens of the "richest nation on earth"™ is an outrage...
This country is f*cked.
A lovely, brilliant woman.
Required @ 35:
Eloquently spoken.
I make $80,000 a year and I cannot afford to insure my family. It would cost me $1700+ a month for insurance with a $1500 deductible to insure my whole family through work. More if I went to a private plan.
What family can afford $20,000 a year just for health insurance?
Many families do not even make that much after taxes!
Private health insurance is a failed idea. It no longer works. We need to go to something that does before the whole health care system collapses under its own weight.
On the whole I take McCain's answer to the health care issue to be rather positive for the democrats. It appears his answer will always be POW tourettes. This will get old fast, especially if some democratic candidate points out that 35 million Americans get exactly the same health care that he received as a POW. Which is to say very little or none.
Of course it was a cheap shot. John McCain is an American Hero. And a Straight Talker. And a Maverick. And a Saint, fer godz sake.
Stephanopoulos should have known better. He should have begun the question with, "Saint McCain, in an unspeakable cheap shot, Elizabeth Edwards said...." Then, Georgie could have invited McCain to skip responding to such a low blow and asked him instead to explain why it is that John Edwards spends so much on hair cuts.
Yesterday, C&L complimented Stephanopoulos for asking tough questions. The praise was misguided. Asking a tough question and then letting McCain (or anyone else) lie, dissemble, mislead, misdirect, and do everything except give an answer to that tough question is a failure to fulfill the responsibilities of a journalist and interviewer.
It's very simple. After McCain labeled it a cheap shot, Georgie should have set aside the script and asked McCain to explain exactly why it was a cheap shot. Then, Stephanopoulos could have questioned McCain on the procedures and costs involved in getting private heath insurance. Of course, McCain would have displayed total ignorance and shown himself for the phony he is. Unfortunately, when a phony questions a phony nothing good comes of it.
Elizabeth Edwards for President!
God I miss those Edwardses.
McCain has never been without Govt sponsored health care. He was born into a military family, and has been on the DOD/Govt dole ever since.
This is what I want to know. Will America fall for the old Harry and Louise routine when it comes out of the Republicans mouths this time around?
Or have so many lost insurance, or are on the brink of losing it that they say "f*ck you McCain". This time round we want universal health care.
Please make sure you keep telling people that the blood-sucking insurance companies have to go. They get nothing. No deals. No government handouts. Not one, dime, more.
The "cheap shot" here is McCain's health care plan. Has he seen what it costs, and then compared it with the average family income. McCain doesn't care what happens to my family. Screw him!
has it occurred to anyone that for the 6 years McCain was in captivity, he was covered by government health care even if was in no position to receive that health care.
Does anyone know what sort of health care that McCain received on his return from captivity, and how it compares to the health care provided to the current veterans? On the sarcastic side, does 6 years of captivity qualify as a pre-existing condition? I suppose it's lucky that he never had to find out. Does anyone have data on how former captives of any sort are treated by insurance companies?
14All @ 3:
Agreed.
Peter G @ 39:
Zing! That's a great rebuttal.
Hey, I've been without insurance for 6 years - does that make me a prisoner of the Viet Cong too?
Elizabeth Edwards,
You are a cool lady and the picture of you posted is lovely.
Thank you kindly for your efforts.
"Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity."
McCain is, quite frankly, yet again full of shit. He DID get government health care, and in fact
the Vietnamese saved his miserable life. For which he sang like a bird. Some "hero" eh?
More info is available here:
http://counterpunch.com/cockburn04192008.html
And much more is in their current newsletter.
crazylikeafox @ 44:
Short answer: Yes.
"Or have so many lost insurance, or are on the brink of losing it that they say "f*ck you McCain". This time round we want universal health care."
Unlikely. The GOP will be frothing about socialism and big government and the American people will cower and quake. Things will change when a majority of Americans are without health care or have gone bankrupt because of medical expenses. Don't hold your breath.
didn't the vietnamese give mccain an aspirin when he confessed.
L.A. Confidential @ 8:
And a sign above each hospital door:
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here"
Elizabeth's other "cheap shot" is her claim that Hillary's healthcare plan does more than Baracks. Why Elizabeth wants to put down Democrats is hard to understand. My guess is that Hillary is more like John Edwards in that they both are Joe Lieberman and Nancy Pelosi Democrats who don't really want anything to change. You know, Republicans are just too hard to do anything about, so it's easier to just do what they want. Over and over and over again. If Hillary is elected President, expect a Joe Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi reign of absolutely no change. No progress on healthcare, no getting out of Iraq, no fixing Medicare, no lowering of gas prices. Just more giveaways to rich people who contribute and control each of them. Zombies. Look into Nancy Pelosi's eyes and you will see a Zombie.
Which raises the issue that universal health insurance is no solution at all... not if the insurance companies can (and we know that they will at every opportunity) deny payment. Denial of payment is the same as denial of care. It is a travesty that we are having this discussion in the first place. What we need is universal healthcare, single payer, social medicine, HR-676 or whatever, and not universal health insurance. The insurance companies have proven that, when it comes to taking your premium money, they are always able to find it in themselves to pocket your cash. But, they have also proven that they will do anything to escape living up to the obligations that they willingly enter into. Profit. Sorry, but some things are poisoned by profit; the urge to profiteer becomes irresistable. We don't need another corporate welfare system that screws every individual who is unfortunate enough to be trapped within it.
McCain said " Ask the Canadians or the English...". The Canadians and the English... and the French and the Cubans and the Scandanavians and every other nation that cares more about its people than the profits of souless corporations have all been asked. They all say that they'd have to be out of their minds to want our system. McCain and everybody else who repeats the meme that Americans want a "free market" approach are all liars. That fantasy is itself cheap shot, a shabby rationalization that does nothing but prove they have no conscience.
It is long past time that we took this country back from the corporations and the bastards who run them. It's long past time that we stopped electing scumbag politicians who are willing to sell out Americans in order benefit themselves. I have so had my fill of corporate prostitutes, all of whom present their own corruption as if it were a virtue and the only intelligent choice. The insurance corporations should be completely excluded from any healthcare program, including even the provision of managemnt services. They have demonstrated as thoroughly as can be done that they are unworthy of the privilege.
Man! She would have made a freakin' great First Lady. I have yet to hear anything but rational, knowledgeable, empathy laden words from her.
She speaks the truth, but I have yet to see anyone in the MSM really question the veracity of any of McCain's proposals.
The coverage of McCain tastes of the filthy ashtray that sits in the back room of Washington conservative politics. The empiracal disconnection to what is really happening across our nation is sad...very sad indeed....and horribly disgusting as well.
kerplunk @ 55:
When I look into their eyes, I see Republicans looking back out at me.
CowboyBob in Austin @ 29:
I agree completely. McRepublican was SO uncomfortable when Judas-boy asked him about this issue I thought his teeth were going to rip from his face! Even his supporters would have to agree that that was not his finest moment. So let's give him more doses of truth folks!!
elizabeth, why won't johnny reid endorse?
the clintons sold us out to china and all we got in return were some fortune cookies and some lead-poisoned toys.
do you want your kids swearing allegiance to this guy the rest of their lives?
The truth is never a cheap shot. The Repubs have built a reputation for "family values," but they are totally anti-family. When they controlled the Congress where was their legislation for health care, living wages, affordable day care and other pro-family policies?
Thank you Elizabeth. You go girl!
The few times reporters actually brought up George W. Bush's disastrous Texas gubernatorial record during his 2000 presidential campaign, he also said they were taking "cheap shots." Apparently, using facts and logic registers as "cheap shots" with Republicans.
Whenever I see McCain now, all I can think of is the disgruntled old coot in the railway car with the Beatles in the beginning of A Hard Day's Night.
"I fought the war for you!"
"I bet you're sorry you won!"
Except, of course, he didn't win.
Can we get someone to do a mashup video with George C. Scott's speech in Patton, only with him saying "No poor dumb bastard ever won a war by being shot down for his country. He won it by shooting the OTHER poor dumb bastard down for HIS country!"
(Yeah, I know, that sounds disrespectful to the troops. So instead, maybe we should just point out, every time someone tries to bring up Rev. Wright's "influence" on Obama, how much more likely it would be for McCain to be influenced by hearing a steady stream of anti-American sentiment 24/7, six years straight. "John McCain IS The Manchurian Candidate!")
I also want John Edwards for A.G. For starters, he wouldn't cover up the boobies on the statue of Justice and he seems unlikely to commit a musical atrocity like "Let the Eagle Soar."
John McCain is a gutless fucking coward. A real hero would never have gone on the air for the Vietnamese denouncing the American government, he would have been tortured to death or committed suicide. Not John McCain. Anyone who had any knowledge of history would have asked him what got his medical treatment from the Vietnamese, but I'm sure he wouldn't have answered truthfully. John McCain is a dupe, and he's supposedly the best the fascists have to offer. I think they already know the race is lost, like when Dob Bole ran against Clinton in 1996. "Put McCain in there - that'll shut him up. He'll be too old to run in 2012 (if he even lives that long)."
I am almost 35 years old. 5 years ago was the first time I have ever had health or dental insurance, and the only reason why is my company has a very generous plan ($15 a check and a $20 co-pay) and scripts etc are all very cheep. Before this job it was years before I have seen a doctor or dentist (20 I think). If I lose this job and have to work at a place that doesnt' offer insurance or affordable insurance I will have to do without again.
Why are we so afraid of socialised medicine? We have socialised police, fire, and infrustructure. Imagine if we had to get insurance for police? Shop around for the right company to protect us, and if we have been burgerlised before signing up wiht them they refuse to cover bugulary because it is a preexisting condition, or to be mugged to find out that your plan doesn't cover mugging so there is nothing they can do to bring that criminal to justice?
All insurance companys are a scam in my eyes, not just health. I am glad I don't own a home. I can't imagine throwing thousands into a home and a hurricaine hits and they won't cover you due to you not having flood insurance. I live in Florida and they are in the news almost every day, hiking up prices three times the normal rate because you happen to live close to the water. They are all a joke. Obama, Clinton, and McBush's health care plans do not help the people they help the corperations. There is a way that socialised medicine can work in the US. France has a pretty good system, Cuba as well.
Pass the French fries...
Elizabeth Edwards has SO much class, SO much intelligence, SO much common sense, and SO much strength. I truly admire her.
jimt @ 65:
i heard john mccain was tickle-tortured by a vietnamese "escort" for approximately 30 minutes, no happy ending. also heard he was short on cash and just donkey punched the poor gal.
heard mccain sang like a canary when he dropped by the hanoi hilton, too. signed autographs for ho chi minh's half-retarded poet step-child, they say.
and that $#!+ about panama's some scary, scary stuff. do you really want a manuel noriega sock puppet indoctrinating your children with the panamanian lifestyle?
My wife battled colon cancer for 3-1/2 years. Next month will mark the one year anniversary of her passing. We too were on a Cobra plan, for about a year during her battle. $900/month. We absolutely had to make those payments, or we would have been in the situation that Mrs. Edwards describes: denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Fortunately, my current employer took me on full time and gave us health benefits, knowing full well they were getting a terminally ill cancer patient. Oh...my wife was 42 when she was diagnosed, and I'm raising three young kids on my own.
I can talk health care and insurance with anyone. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it say this:
Every middle-class American is indeed one catastrophic health event away from losing everything. A serious car accident or a cancer battle can end up costing you everything you have, and mortgage your future as well. Even those of you who have a "good plan" through your employer are at more risk than you think. In fact, you are probably laboring under a false sense of security. Get with your plan administrator (or HR person) and find out exactly--EXACTLY--what happens to your premiums should you find yourself on long-term disability. You absolutely must do this. It's quite likely you'll be moved off your group health plan, and forced to pay the full cobra payment. Please check into this.
McCain's sorry-ass health care plan is pathetic and shameful. Rock on, Elizabeth. We love you.
In Republicanese cheap shot = the truth that a Repug cannot dispute
McCain never responded to what Elizabeth Edwards was saying. If John had to go out and get that fabled consumer driven health insurance plan that wil be oh so affordable, he would never even get an application. Malignant melanoma=breast cancer=chronic disease including type II diabetes=pre-existing condition=DENIED!
Folks, Folks, Folks, the reason we don't have health care and never will have health care is for obivious reasons. The reason the insurance companies reign and decide what they want to pay for and not is for obvious reasons. The reason the oil prices go up, utiltiy prices go up, is for obvious reasons. The reason the rich are becoming richer, the middle class are dwindling for a reason. The drug companies made billions of dollars profit this last quarter, for obvious reasons. The reason incomes have decreased, jobs being outsourced and our free tree trade agreements being pushed, for obvious reasons.
Just think about it. Why is Mexico the way it is? Corrupt Government maybe? Third World Country here we come. Bush and Cheney and their pals, will all get there way.
Soon.
This is my first post to C&L. I love the site and read the articles everyday, but this is the first time I've been brave enough to expose my opinion.
When it comes to health care I don't really think about myself. I make about $16,000 a year. I have a part time job that supplies part time care when I need it (not that I have needed it yet).
I have a grandmother on both sides of my family in a nursing home, that I help to provide for.
My mother died in 1997 from cancer. My father, still living, has no hopes of retirement.
I try very hard to help out my family, but there is little I can do.
It's hard to believe that the 33% that I spend on taxes can't help out the health of my grandmothers, or even my father.
If my family could qualify for Gov't subsidized healthcare, then I could devote my resources back into the economy.
And maybe start my own business. :-D
Edwards for Attorney General!
McCain + Bush = 3x Bush !
Bush2 + McCain1 = Bush3
bullfrog @ 60:
Cliknton, Cllinton, Clinton. Let's play the blame Cllnton game. When in fact there's no way a Bush administration can enforce trade agreements with a country that has lent us trillions to pursue Bush's misbegotten war in Iraq. Wouldn't be fittin'.
oh really @ 40:
What you said.
Social Security is one of the best programs in the history of mankind in lifting elderly out of poverty and providing healthcare. Republicans hate that fact. We could have the best government healthcare in the world and provide it to all Americans if we would stop listening to republican liars.
This is one topic republicans will never discuss in detail. They trash Canada and the UK's system but will never come up with a solution to help people.
I am so glad that Elizabeth Edwards finally brought this health care that JOHN McCAIN has recieved all his life from birth to now he has received the best of care that US taxpayers could give him. For I am a VIETNAM Vet and I do not receieve the tipe of care JOHN McCain recieves, my Doctors come from FOREIGN countrys and can barley speak English and they sure do not understand English, and I am not the only VIETNAM vet that gets this CARE that is one-third of what McCAIN RECEIVES, for I know a few vets these Dr. have really messed up on MEDICANE that was wrong for them. When is the CORAPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA bring this problem to the AMERICAN people. (never) that is why the CORAPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA has to be BROKEN UP. And Elizabeth Edwarsa was right on what she said he has BEEN ON THE PUPLIC HEALTH CARE sysrem ALL HIS life now McCain acts insalted. WHAT A JOKE the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA lost no time in going after ELIZABETH EDWARDS it just showes were thay stand. Sorry for the long post it just makes me mad about the way the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA is keeping the AMERICAN PUBLIC IN THE DARK.
boleynfan @ 32:
Yeah she would be a better candidate than Hillary.
McSame was just eviscerated.
EXCELLENT job, Elizabeth.
And excellent response.
A cheap shot? Is mcstain trying his best to sound like the little asshole weasel kid in elementary school who picks and fight and then whines and cries when someone takes up the challenge? He's "the maverick" until someone asks him a legitimate policy question. Then he's suddenly back to 'confused angry grampa' mode. He skips trying to make any actual point and goes right to offensive partisan attacks.
Are we supposed to be impressed by yet another half-wit reslug loser? Are we supposed to compare him to shrub and think 'well at least this one has read a book... I think.' ? Does he really think anyone wants more of that?
Who am I kidding they don't give a damn what the actual citizens of the country want. The reslugs just want to be sure another of their brain dead ass puppets is put in place so they can continue war profiteering and sticking it to the populace.
So in essence, Mrs. Edwards is saying that McCain only knows how to be a rich upper class fool who thinks that he can be the decider for people whose shoes he has never walked in...
Moreover, How does getting your A-4 shot down make you a hero?
It doesn't; it makes you a bad pilot.
i would have supported elizabeth edwards more strongly than john....she should be running....
maybe obama could put her on the ticket....
everybody should read this, and obama should never fail to make this very point when debating mccain.....it is shameful and embarassing, and mccain has no response.... just beautiful...
I hate how McCan't always brings up the fact that he's was a POW. I mean, I feel sorry for the guy and grateful for anyone who puts their life on the line for the country, but, when trying to decide on our next president, I don't see how him being a POW helps me. It's more of a distraction than anything. like he's keeping our eye off the ball.
• High gas prices?, well, McCan't was a POW.
• Losing your house?, well, at least your not a POW like McCan't was.
• Iraq?, well, McCan't was a POW.
• Can't afford health care?, well, neither could McCan't when he was a POW.
I just don't see why he brought this up when discussing the subject of health care.
If I'm being rude, forgive me, maybe I'm just tired of feeling guilty for McCan'ts service to our country.
The real cheap shot is McCain's insulting "health care plan". He doesn't get the problem, so how can he be expected to solve it? If there is one issue where the democrats can draw blood, this is it. A large majority of Americans want universal health care.
Thank you Mrs. Edwards.
You and your husband make me proud to be a North Carolinian.
I just don't see why he brought this up when discussing the subject of health care.
If I'm being rude, forgive me, maybe I'm just tired of feeling guilty for McCan'ts service to our country.
taller ghost hussein walt @ 88:
i don't think her husband is much to be proud of (lousy senate record, failure to endorse a candidate and help bring this meaningless fight to a close).....but she should be a candidate....more qualified and smarter than her RWH...
The key words in Edwards letter - "he just does not know". Does he know anything?
Jeanne @ 26:
A country where 2% of the population owns approximately 75% of the wealth. A country where a significant percentage of the population thinks that THEY are part of the 2%. A country where whites associate people of color with welfare, but where the majority of the people below the poverty line are white. A country with the largest economy on the planet, one of the highest standards of living, yet thousands of her children go to sleep hungry or homeless. A country where thousands of children are without decent healthcare. A country that allows a man to veto a health assurance bill costing $200 million, that would have provided a small measure of healthcare protection to children, claiming that it was too costly and too susceptible to fraud, yet allows the same man a blank check to fund a multi hundred billon war for no purpose and with no foreseeable end.
That is the kind of country we are.
That is our America.
rain @ 91:
he knows how to take a bribe with a straight face and tall shoulders, as if proud, as if legal....
he knows how to pander to people's sense of pity....
Three things that will get you elected President:
1. Health Care that's affordable for Americans.
2. Revamp the free trade agreement with tarrifs or end free trade.
3. End the Invasion and Occupation in Iraq.
Anything less than these three items would be unacceptable.
Nice Job Mrs. Edwards.
WR @ 94:
agree....but HRC plus all three can't do it....(she supported Iraq war, she co-commandeered nafta, she gave up on health care 20 years ago..)
Obama, plus those three, and he wins with 60%....he'll even get some cold-blooded racists to vote for him...
How dare anyone speak the truth to McCain. He has a force field surrounding him provided by the corporate media that protects him from being exposed for the fraud that he is.
In 2000 and 2004 researchers did extensive work on Bush's stellar military career, and exposed him for what he was and is---not that it kept him out of the White House.
[Of course Swift Boating made Kerry's actual military accomplishments moot and contributed to keeping him out.]
Are there any ways to get the clearest picture possible about McSame's total military career? Yes he deserves credit for his service, but his campaign almost says we should vote for him BECAUSE he was a POW war hero. Is there a balance somewhere? No Swift Boating though!
The worst joke about US health care is that even if you have insurance ? Those greedy assed dolts at insurance companies will deny you the care you are , or thought you were, paying for anyways. I just had a recent health problem here in backwoodsy Canada. I am positive i would have died under the same circumstances in the US. It would have been death or a hundred grand bill . Instead , i was treated in a compassionate and professional matter. I was under Doctors care and not some asshole in a cubicle trying to figure out how to fucking deny me the care i needed. I don't recall money ever ever being mentioned in the 6 days i was in hospital. Now i just have to figure out a way to get off the couple of overpriced US "so called" wonder drugs they have me on now. From what i have read already ? There seems to be perfectly good natural , and cheaper , solutions to that problem too. The Viagra commercials are clever and funny but i didn't sign on to fucking paying for them through my drugs.
"Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity."
Rumor has it that Hanoi John actually received pretty good government health care while in captivity, at least by POW standards, which was probably better than most uninsured Americans get now.
Anais @ 77:
it's the global elite (and their bi-partisan sock puppet show) vs. american patriots. that's all this is about. and (pssssst): the n***er w/ the muslim-sounding name digs the american patriots.
crazy how that works, huh?
I just had a great idea. Americans should rally at least for "Health ASSURANCE" which means you are at least assured you will get the treatments you were "or thought" you were paying for from the start. Look at it this way. Would anyone knowingly make payments on a car they knew they would probably never get to drive ? Sounds kinda dumb to me.
Wow.
I would have LOVED to have had her as our First Lady. While the President may "lead" the country, the First Lady, in my opinion, should be the country's conscience.
jimt @ 65:
i've long wondered if karl rove personally hand-picked mccain to be the republican punching bag this fall because of his experience enduring torture.
seriously, it's going to be like whacking a pinata, no blindfold. i can't believe any of you chicken littles out there (not you, jimt) are afraid of mr. magoo.
and when they up his meds to control his temper, it's going to get groovy psychedelic. like jackson pollock meets dadaism meets nietzsche.
I am a 47 year old male with a heart arythmia. I have a pacemaker that needs to be replaced every 6 to 8 years. The procedure has a cost of about $20,000. If I did not have insurance from my state job, I would not be able to afford this procedure in the future. If I live to be 75 I will need it replaced about four times. My state academic teaching contract runs out in three years. I try not to think about it too much, but when I do I am very concerned.
McCain is full of shit. He knows damn well he got government health care while he was in captivity. If he would have walked into a mil hosp. at any time during those 6 years he could have gotten care. It's not the gov.'s fault that he couldn't get to an appropriate care facility...
L.A. Confidential @ 24:
diebold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I recently talked to a man in his early sixties who told me he is working part-time at a big-box retail store to pay for insurance for himself and his wife; his day job is in homebuilding and remodeling. In order to get the premium to an affordable level, he had to take a $10,000 deductible. Yes, you are reading the number correctly.
Just think if all of the billions of dollars we as a nation spend each year on insurance premiums were spent on actual healthcare to the providers how much better off we'd be. We do not need health insurance companies as they exist now. There might be a role for them in a national healthcare system in which they negotiate for fixed fees to do the paperwork. Out of that money, they could pay their CEOs and top executives all they care to pay--subject, of course, to the approval of their investors.
Yes Edwards is a smart woman.
But I think it's more important to note how
FUCKING STUPID McCain is. He really thought that by pitching a crybaby fit and pulling his "extremely questionable" POW hero card, he could dismiss a major issue. Hillary and/or Obama are going to eat his lunch, and the dick sucking media won't be able to do anything to stop it. Which is fine because he was never meant to win. Good bye America, it was a sweet and costly dream.
Chill, man, don't get too upset. America is is the process of undergoing a major change; we are only at the beginning of finding ourselves as we turn the corner. We will survive both Democratic and Republican politicians and their annointed friends. Sometimes development can be harsh and paroxysmal, but sometimes it is necessary. Far too many of our fellow citizens are simply unable to understand what we should be as an enlightened society until the consequences of failure loom so large that they cannot be ignored.
Elizabeth Edwards has something that McSame and his bitchy wife will never have... it's called class. You can't buy it; you either have it or you don't. I'd like to see Elizabeth Edwards running for the top job in the country, not Hilary or McSame.
The only "cheap shot" in this exchange was Insane McCain's reference to his time as a POW. Cheap shots go for knee-jerk reactions, such as appealing to patriotic,sympathetic Americans' respect for McCain's military service.
He may not have received health care while in captivity, but his wife and children , if he was claiming them as his dependents, continued to be covered. So if one of them had gotten sick or been in an accident while John was gone, they still would have received treatment at a military hospital.
What do you suppose the US could do on the health care front with $10B per month? Do you suppose we could cover the entire country for that amount?
So it really DOES boil down to choice. Right now we're CHOOSING to waste $10B per month on a pointless war in the middle east. The pols whine that "universal health care would be too EXPENSIVE" but we seem to be able to come up with the money for our Iraqi occupation. Why is it that THAT'S not too expensive?
AceGentlly @ 73:
Thanks for posting this. Don't be afraid to share your views - you have a lot to say.
My Mom died 12 years ago of a neurological disease. She stayed in her home to the end with the help of a practical nurse provided under a provincial health-care subsidy.
Where I live, your grandparents would probably qualify for public care in a nursing facility.
I pay $54 per month in public health insurance premiums (I pay directly because I am self-employed). Families of 3 or more pay $108. There are no deductibles, no co-pays, no such thing as a pre-existing condition that could disqualify your treatment.
McCain: "Let them eat cake"
He has no idea of reality. Let us show you some this November when you lose by a landslide.
In our present health care system, there is a tendency to overlook the cost of employer-paid health care where businesses pass along employee's health costs to you and me. For example, Starbuck Coffee chain spends more to pay for employee health insurance than for the coffee they purchase. When buying that $3.50 cup of latte you are, in part, paying for someone’s health insurance. Likewise, General Motors adds about $2000 onto the cost of a new vehicle to cover health insurance costs. Most, if not all, of the products and services we buy include an add-on cost for health insurance. Businesses are struggling to pay the increasing costs of insurance plans, and as a result find it necessary to raise the price of goods and services to cover those costs.
In addition to paying for the health care of others through the add-on cost to goods and services, our taxes provide health care for Medicare/Medicaid recipients, veterans, as well as a multitude of government workers including our politicians. For those of us who must buy our own private insurance, presently costing me over $1000 a month, it seems grossly unfair that we also pay the health care bill for millions of other Americans.
A single-payer government health care system would not get involved in providing health care. All it is doing is spreading the risk and the cost. We’d cut out the for-profit insurance middleman that now pays out less than half of what American’s pay in. I would sooner let the government handle the task and do it with about a 3% overhead like the Medicare program and enable every American access to proper health care.
C'mon Johhny... you had health care during those six years in captivity. You had Vietnamese health care. And... it was provided by the government, of course.
McCain's suggesting that American should by their own insurance is sort of like that elitist Maria suggesting if the is no bead let them eat cake. Doesn't he understand how prohibitively expensive it is if you have any sort of conditions and if you have the gall to get sick they just dump you?
I just returned from trip to Boston where my wife underwent two days of rigorous medical treatments. These treatments have been administered on a repeating three week schedule for the past six years and allow her to have a reasonable life despite the fact that her condition cannot be cured, only ameliorated.
I am fortunate to have an outstanding health plan offered by my past employer which we still buy into that fills any gaps in our Medicare coverage. When I see the costs associated with the treatments and realize how much it would cost out of pocket if we were not insured, I am staggered because I know that long before now we would have been penniless and homeless without it.
I am appalled that this country does not have something similar available for all its citizens. In a sense I feel privileged but sometimes wary because if my former employer ever cashed out of the system, we would be on the street within months and a lifetime of savings and investments would be wiped out.
I’m sure some younger people reading this post will think that it is a waste of money keeping someone alive obviously long past productive years. I wonder how they would think if our situations were reversed.
But my wife is a brilliant, candid and resourceful person, much like Elizabeth Edwards and I’d like to keep her around for a few more years beyond the fifty five we’ve already been together.
Only the heartless believe that profit-driven private enterprise should be running our health care system in a selective, exclusionary manner. Why is this even an issue in a supposedly "moral" country?
Here's one for you. I have a friend, a doctor, who told me about a drug that is commonly used to treat prostate cancer. It is administered at four-month intervals and is timed-release. He says that if there is a miscalculation and the injection is done at 119 days instead of 120, insurance will not pay. Of course, they seem not to have a problem with backdating stock options for executives.
Not one of the Democratic candidates has talked about removing the biggest obstacle to an affordable health care system. That obstacle is the health insurance industry who obviously owns our politicians in both parties. The plans that are being touted as universal coverage are nothing but handouts to the insurers. When they say they will pay premiums for the poor they really mean that they will further line the pockets of the greedy for profit insurers. We need a health care plan. Not another insurance plan.
Medicare for everyone. No, it would not be free, but would be affordable when you removed the billions in insurance profits and wasted administrative costs, and no one could be denied for preexisting conditions. When will someone come forward with a real plan instead of another thinly veiled handout to the health insurance for profit scumbags.
Daisy Zimmerly @ 123:
Absolutely on the money... not to mention that it would make U.S. businesses MORE competitive if they didn't have to spend so much time and money on Health Care plan mgmt. and payment. Imagine if GM didn't have to build in $1200 for health insurance into every car they built. Government run health care is more cost effective, and when properly administered (Republicans stay away), can deliver very high quality care.
Also, don't forget that an employee who is unhappy and unproductive on a job would have greater freedom and incentive to leave in search of better opportunities. That could be just as much of a plus for the employer as well.
In comment #122, above, I neglected to mention the consequence of having the injection a day short. The cost is about $3,000 for a four-month dose.
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