Hostile? He's ready to snap.

Republicans: beyond hypocrisy, beneath contempt.

he was never an astronaut?

hey! me too!

now give ME good health care.

damn i haven't seen stutter and side step a question.....well in a couple days

He's never been an astronaut but he has been without health care for a few years in his life.....what could he mean?

Shut up! That's why.

And yet again he has to bring up his time as a POW. This guy really sees that as his way out of every question.

I wish more Americans would embrace the idea that health care is a basic human right we should all be afforded.

I also feel that way about education... I digress.

"How dare you ask me that! Yes, I have enjoyed the benefits of a fine government health care plan but that doesn't mean that the rest of the country deserves the same." With polling taking a nose dive and Palin getting "gotcha'd by the "liberal-elite-media," the question has to be, how long before he goes postal on some reporter?

If I'm not mistaken, since his father was in the Navy he was getting government health care throughout his childhood and then at the Naval Academy too. Has he EVER had privately funded health care? I doubt it.

i'm not a dolphin but i understand the stresses of maritime mammals.

One of these days, he's gonna go crazy-a-bonkers: "chết con hoang !! chết con hoang !!"

As we call for McCain's medical records to be released, I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed his issue with his right eye. I've heard others comment on his left eye before, but it's really his right eye that disturbs me. On certain days, you notice it because it looks too big, kind of blown out and frozen and open wider than his left. At those time, watch when he blinks. Either only his left eye blinks, or the right eye blinks a moment or two later. Try to do this without actually winking - it's not easy to do on purpose. I used to think he was winking at inappropriate times, but I see now he's not. I'm concerned this indicates some neuroligical issue.

Does anyone know more about this?

Shit.

I'm not sure how I feel about Universal health care but that question caught McCain right on the chin.

I hope someone checked his seat when he left the room. He was so full of sh*t, he may have overflowed. How is it that government is the problem and he's spent his entire adult life in government?

Left&Left @ 9:

Grandpa, you sorry old, son of a bitch! You never fail to break out your Hanoi Hilton card when the going gets tough. Hero my black ass!

My thoughts exactly! The por old dude did go through a period when the "health care wasn't very good. And I didn't have a chair or a kitchen table...".

Was there an answer to the original question anywhere in the senile drivel running down his chin?

Billy Ogawa @ 13:

Wow, he even slips in a POW reference at the end.

Oh, that's what the "period of time when the health care wasn't very good" thing was. Lol. He sure is good at defining himself as a hero, isn't he?
McCain makes me feel, quite literally, sick to my stomach. If I have to see that disgusting little smile and that psychotic blinking or hear that smarmy, self-complacent voice much longer I'm going to acquire an ulcer.

Female Des Moines Register reporters....Why does McSame hold so much contempt and bitterness for members of the opposite sex?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CazKanlYDg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMNHgJH2680

I have a suspicion on what could be the "October surprise". McCain will legally change his name to John Peter Oliver William McCain and the RNC will sue to have it placed on the ballot as "John P.O.W. McCain".

I just thank the stars that Obama is not left-handed!

It's an indefensible position for him to take. No matter what he says, he's being hypocritical. Love it. If he believes so strongly that American families should have the power to make their own decisions, then maybe he should just quit using his free government health care. Oh, yeah, that's right. He can afford to have the best healthcare money can buy. Does he even use his health care plan?

I understand the right's fear about making health care into a big bureaucracy that could damage the quality of health care for all. Well, news-flash, it doesn't have to be a big useless government institution. Aren't we Americans? Can't we doing anything better than anyone else? Surely we can do better than France.

It's part of the leadership by fear. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being afraid. At a certain point we need to get up off our butts and make something work for all Americans, and fear be damned.

this would be a good follow-up question:

"senator, you claim that universal health care would require the government to choose doctors for patients, choose health care plans for patients, etc, even when it is well known that universal health care would require no such arrangement. why do you continue to make this patently false claim?"

Surely we can do better than France.

good luck! france's health care system kicks serious ass....

Jersey Jay @ 24:

As we call for McCain's medical records to be released, I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed his issue with his right eye. I've heard others comment on his left eye before, but it's really his right eye that disturbs me. On certain days, you notice it because it looks too big, kind of blown out and frozen and open wider than his left. At those time, watch when he blinks. Either only his left eye blinks, or the right eye blinks a moment or two later. Try to do this without actually winking - it's not easy to do on purpose. I used to think he was winking at inappropriate times, but I see now he's not. I'm concerned this indicates some neuroligical issue.

Does anyone know more about this?

Americablog has pointed this out today. His left eye and parts of his face are spazzing out.

It happens right before McCain bolts from the podium then gets lost on stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW-9zA0x5Sg

Basically, it's Palin/McCain 08 at this point.

I guess if Palin knows about foreign affairs and defense because she lives near Russia, he can know about health care since he has never been an astronaut.

WOW! He pulled a Palin and the POW card all in the same breath.

I think we need to get the facts straight.

McCain has every right to be as angry as he is currently right now. McCain is angry at the Democratic led Congress which presided over this financial debacle. McCain is angry that progress is not made in resolving the financial crisis, but instead there is finger pointing. And most importantly McCain is angry at Barack for he has done nothing to resolve this crisis, McCain otoh has injected himself into the thick mud of wrangling process to get this bill approved. That's leadership, that's putting country first.

Another thing, Obama is not a change agent, McCain otoh is. I just went into a nearby christian college, where the majority of the youth, our future generation leaders overwhelmingly support McCain. I also went to several congregation of various christian denominations, where, again, the overwhelming majority, would like to see McCain as our next commander in chief. The facts does not bear the liberal media's assertion. With Palin as the change agent we need in the campaign, McCain can finally concentrate on bringing that credibility into the US again, that's change, and that's putting country first.

Now if you will excuse me, let me grab that Ambien pills and drink that bottle of Kool-Aid again.

"Yea, b-b-b-but that's different. That's me! I deserve health care, and all of you idiots out there don't. Besides, people might be FORCED against their will to accept government-run health insurance & that'd be terrible, just terrible. It's better to let them do without."

It's like Bush voting against tax breaks for alternative energy sources while making his house in Crawford green by capturing rainwater, solar roof, etc. It's good enough for them, but evidently too good for the people.

He exercised a lot of restraint there at the end when he wanted to say "when I was a prisoner of war" but held back. LOL! Somebody's been coaching him.

What a doofus!

I'd LOOOOVE to stomp over eevry republican face I see starting with McCain

Well the question should be stated as McCain has had government health care your entire life not just your entire adult life. McCain's father was an admiral in the navy thus McCain had government health care as a kid. When he went to military acadamy he had government healthcare. So McCain has had government health care and dental care his entire life. Sweet!

I just watched a few of the clips from this interview. Go up and click on "check them out" above.

He shows such contempt for the female questioners. Especially on the Palin fitness questions and his dishonest ad about Barack and the sex-ed for kids.

One of these days he is going to blow big time.

For those of you who do not know, John McSame was a POW during the Vietnam conflict, forty years ago.

McCain has NOT been the recipient of a taxpayer financed health care system. As part of his compensation, his employer, the government, paid for his health care coverage through private enterprise. If he had worked for GM, he'd have had GM do the same thing.

That is a far cry from a "taxpayer financed health care system" open to all. Such a system covers those who work and those who don't or can't or are unwilling to work.

McCain should have answered that was part of my compensation for working.

Did you see how agitated and argumentative he was becoming when the board started to ratchet up the questions. It looks like he was getting ready to knock someone's light out. And this is the guy who could be answering the 3am phone call, with his nuke-ready finger?

Again we are hearing about how bad it would be for the government to offer health care for the uninsured. I am so tired of them stating that the country cannot afford to have this insurance. They have no problem bailing out companies that have have gone bankrupt, or for funding the Iraq War. They could use this money for the insurance. And anyway whose money are they using, they are using the taxpayers money, or they have borrowed it from another country. They feel that we are a bottomless pit for whatever they want. Like we have SUCKER written on our forheads. They can always come up with an excuse for not helping the American people, but when it comes to the people they are in bed with the door is wide open. They keep forgetting and maybe it is time that we reminded them that they work for us not the other way around. We are the one writing their paycheck, they need to get off their high horse and come up with a plan to help the uninsured. Or take their insurance away from them and make them find a company willing to insure them. We need to start by taking it away while they are in office. Make them find an insurance company like businesses do for their employees.

I want to know why they can continue to get their health insurance when they leave office at our expense? I don't get to keep mine when I leave my place of employment. I think they should lose theirs when they leave office just like the rest of us. What is so special about them? I am so tired of the republicans crying about universal health care for the uninsured when they have universal health care or if you want to give it the right name socialized health care. Maybe we should start talking about their insurance as being socialized medicine. Notice how they never talk about the medical insurance they have, it is a deep dark secret from the voters.

We need to take back our government and the way we can do that is by voting these people out of office. Starting with John McCain. And keep doing it until they understand that we are tired of them wasting our money.

Pwnage

Hey, another "gotcha moment in the making!

Matt Conn Lee @ 64:

McCain has NOT been the recipient of a taxpayer financed health care system. As part of his compensation, his employer, the government, paid for his health care coverage through private enterprise. If he had worked for GM, he'd have had GM do the same thing.

That is a far cry from a "taxpayer financed health care system" open to all. Such a system covers those who work and those who don't or can't or are unwilling to work.

McCain should have answered that was part of my compensation for working.

When he was a child, he wasn't working.

From what I can tell, he's not working now. He's known as our laziest senator.

I've gone many years, working, but denied health insurance, even turned down for self pay when I was earning six figures, with no cause.

damn he was pissed at that question. count the blinks. oh and of course POW

Leave him alone, damn it. He's a POW.

John Wayne @ 2:

Hostile? He's ready to snap.

and he never does answer that question... just filibusters and talks around things, and points out what his opponent is doing--or not depending on whose reality you want to go with... realworld reality or McSame's fantasyland. I'm seeing him more and more like an alzheimer-riddled old fuck who holds anyone who questions him in contempt and disdain. And he's more angry all the time...

I can not for the life of me understand why anybody would vote for a Repubican.
I don't get it, why are they even relevant?
Are there really that many idiots out there? (Yeah, I know...stupid question.)
I just can't believe how f'ing dumb our society has gotten.
Are they sweetening the R kool aid with lead acetate?
Why is this election even close?

Weaseldog @ 72:

Matt Conn Lee @ 64:

McCain has NOT been the recipient of a taxpayer financed health care system. As part of his compensation, his employer, the government, paid for his health care coverage through private enterprise. If he had worked for GM, he'd have had GM do the same thing.

That is a far cry from a "taxpayer financed health care system" open to all. Such a system covers those who work and those who don't or can't or are unwilling to work.

McCain should have answered that was part of my compensation for working.

When he was a child, he wasn't working.

From what I can tell, he's not working now. He's known as our laziest senator.

I've gone many years, working, but denied health insurance, even turned down for self pay when I was earning six figures, with no cause.

Plus, he gets to keep that Senate health coverage forever. Do you get to keep your insurance when you leave a job? Do you think you would be able to find a plan that would cover you with your extensive existing history of war injuries, skin cancer and alzheimer's? Ok, the last one is unproven. How about "anger managment problems".

If it wasn't for hypocrisy, Republicans would rule the world.

constituent @ 79:

When people use the healthcare system who aren't members of a paying pool and can't pay for the services
the cost is passed on to paying members.
With the influx of 'cheap labor' into the united states
and corporations moving to foreign countries that have
nationalized healthcare this trend is going to continue.
Essentially this extra cost the paying absorbs is really
a TAX.

And if you don't have a system, hospitals still treat the uninsured sick and injured, and the taxpayer pays anyway. It's not like accident victims are left to die on the scene if they don't have an insurance card on them.

You pay either through a system that manages this problem up front, or you pay through a system that pays through the back door.

Matt Conn Lee @ 64:

McCain has NOT been the recipient of a taxpayer financed health care system. As part of his compensation, his employer, the government, paid for his health care coverage through private enterprise. If he had worked for GM, he'd have had GM do the same thing.

That is a far cry from a "taxpayer financed health care system" open to all. Such a system covers those who work and those who don't or can't or are unwilling to work.

McCain should have answered that was part of my compensation for working.

specifically I want to refer to your statement: "As part of his compensation, his employer, the government, paid for his health care coverage through private enterprise."

One question: Where does the money for government-paid anything come from?
I'll even give you the answer... the frickin' taxpayers, you asshat!

In the full interview, he tells us that he aspires to be a dictator. I didn't see any clues to suggest that he was joking. Maybe he was, but I couldn't tell.

It's all Fannie and Freddie's fault. No one else is responsible.

Thanks John.

It's a good question, and an obvious one.

The obvious follow-up: since his big complaint is that publicly funded health care would result in a wasteful government bureaucracy, he should be asked to explain his own experience of delay and red tape as a life-long recipient of public health care.

Seriously, if that's his case against public health care, he should have more experience of wasteful bureaucracy than Americans who deal with HMOs, private health insurance, jacked up premiums, retroactive cancellation of coverage, refusal of coverage due to 'prior medical conditions', etc.

But of course McCain has never had to deal with an insurance company or HMO. Do you think this guy has ever had a claim refused? Right.

The 'wasteful government bureaucracy' issue is total nonsense. As a Canadian, I have never dealt with a health bureaucrat or government gatekeeper of any kind. Nor has anyone I know. They effectively don't exist in Canada. I deal with my doctor, period. You make your appointment, show your health card, get your treatment, and go home. That's it. It's really a billing system, nothing more. The overhead cost of administering health insurance in Canada is less than 2% (vs 30% in the US). Why no one points out these facts in the American debate about health care is beyond me.

Great question!! And of course could not answer a tough question without trotting out a veiled reference to his POW experience. I love rugged individualists like McCain; born the son and grandson of admirals he is given preferential admission to Annapolis, despite being a terrible student he is preferentially allowed to become a pilot, he crashes numerous planes but is never grounded, when his first wife is no longer pretty, due to an accident, he trades her in for a pretty, young, beer heiress. When he is busted with the Keating Five he becomes a born again corruption fighter, when is bid for the presidency is blocked by the radical right he becomes a born again neo-con and embraces, Bush, Falwell, Iraq War, etc. When he is behind in the polls to Obama, he selects a woefully unqualified woman as his running mate to curry favor with the ignorant. With maverick behavior like that, I would gladly settle for a conformist.

rick street @ 85:

sick of BS @ 80:

I can not for the life of me understand why anybody would vote for a Repubican.
I don't get it, why are they even relevant?
Are there really that many idiots out there? (Yeah, I know...stupid question.)
I just can't believe how f'ing dumb our society has gotten.
Are they sweetening the R kool aid with lead acetate?
Why is this election even close?

I think this is a question that social scientists will be researching and debating for quite some time. In my profession (psychology), I know that research is emerging that suggests that conservatives have a definable personality, characterized by fear, lack of intellectual curiosity, inability to tolerate amibuity. It could be that the right wing phenomenon in politics and media (limbaugh, etc) can be understood more as a mental disposition (dysfunction?) rather than a rationally derived political position. It is being reinforced by the right wing media.

Here's a good word to use to describe the "conservative mind"..........NUTS!
Delusional works well too.

Uncomfortable smile
"Ahh, I was out of the military for a while before I went to Congress, but ahh, you know that is an interesting statement..."

John,
That is a question, not a statement.
And you obviously failed to understand the the point of such a question with the Astronaut comparison.

why am I so depressed?

Q: Haven't you relied on government-funded health care your entire adult life?

"Well, I *was* out of the military for a while before I went into congress"

And then, at the end of the clip,

"I *did* go a period of time where the health care wasn't very good..."

Ooo! Ooo! I bet I know when that lapse in the quality of his health care occurred.

Let's avoid the semantic nit-picking and call it government supplied healthcare. Whatever. The point is that for his entire life, (although there was some vague rumor of a 5 year period of time where he was somewhere else), he has never had to worry about the cost of healthcare. He's likely never seen or cared about how much it costs. You can say it's just like everyone else who has coverage as part of their employment, but I'd bet you one of his homes that the coverage that Senators get is a *lot* better than it is for most employees.

McCain, like Bush, was born into a powerful family. He has led a life of privilege (except for the 5 yrs where he didn't have privileges!); and as a result, his sense of entitlement is palpable. One of the recurring themes of his campaign is that he truly believes that it's "his turn" to be president. He's appalled that he actually has to go through the motions of campaigning - meeting all of those insufferable voters, having to explain himself to the press lackeys that he used to be able to buy off with good BBQ, and actually sharing a stage with that "uppity" challenger.

Obviously he was told in 2000 that if he just kissed Bush's ass and sold his soul that he'd get the job in 2008. He's certainly met his side of the bargain. Let's make sure the other half doesn't get fulfilled.

cfk_tender_vittles @ 104:

Q: Haven't you relied on government-funded health care your entire adult life?

"Well, I *was* out of the military for a while before I went into congress"

And then, at the end of the clip,

"I *did* go a period of time where the health care wasn't very good..."

Ooo! Ooo! I bet I know when that lapse in the quality of his health care occurred.

It was the period where he had to use his VA benefits.

Go Sarah!

constituent @ 111:

How do some companies compete with china but remain
in the united states?
They encourage the influx of cheap labor.They pay
minimum wages.When this demographic needs
healthcare they visit the facility and receive care.Since
their wages are minimal they are unable to pay for
the healthcare services they received. So who picks
up the tab the local residents/tax payers/paying pool.
This is how companies like processing plants compete
with China by duplicating it here in the states: cheap
labor and nationalized healthcare paid by tax payers.

Right. Walmart even gives employee training on how to get the government to pay for employee medical care.

honoria @ 11:

Isn't it even more dramatic than the questioner suggests? He was born into a military family, so that all his life he has been cared for by taxpayer-funded services.

Great point! Yes, he would have been covered by the military because of his father until he went to the Naval Academy and then was covered by the military again until he retired. And after retiring he would have been eligible for VA care, so it literally is his WHOLE LIFE.

Somebody contact the Obama campaign, this is BEGGING for a commercial!!

God, that final smirk is so creepy.

Devil_Dog21 @ 114:

honoria @ 11:

Isn't it even more dramatic than the questioner suggests? He was born into a military family, so that all his life he has been cared for by taxpayer-funded services.

Great point! Yes, he would have been covered by the military because of his father until he went to the Naval Academy and then was covered by the military again until he retired. And after retiring he would have been eligible for VA care, so it literally is his WHOLE LIFE.

Somebody contact the Obama campaign, this is BEGGING for a commercial!!

That is a good point.

It was scarry to hear McCain say that he aspires to be a dictator. Has he already forgotten that he is running for President of the US and not the Dictator of the US? Release the Medical records! Get him tested for Alzheimers!

Nationalize the Banks.
Nationalize Health Care.

Our Health and our Money Management are way too vital to the health of our society for either to be run by for-profit corporations.

this is a good interview that compares obama and mccain
healthcare proposals. it's a summary of what was
published in the NE journal of Medicine. You can read a
one page summary and/or you can listen the interview
on fresh air on npr. it's very good

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93975730

McCain has always given 100% truth. If you disagree, he strongly disagrees with you.

He took on Jack Abramoff and brought him down! After accepting $100,000 from him first!

How did McCain manage to squeeze "astronaut" and the POW card into a single one-minute non-answer? The synapses in this guy's brain are haywire!

George @ 110:

Go Sarah!

No, seriously, GO!

Yah, good question. The counterpoint was provided in a letter to our local paper -- McCain deserves that health care because he was shot down in Viet Nam and was tortured for five years. Anybody else who wants state-sponsored health care should feel free to volunteer to go through the same experience, put their life on the line, and serve their country.

That's not me talking, mind you...but that's going to be the answer from the right, I gar-an-tee.

Uh oh... 'Free Enterprise Person'?

Uh, Senator, We've seen that movie for the last 8 years and it's not been very good either...

Palin/McCain - WAY more of the same, and likely much much more...

"Isn’t it even more dramatic than the questioner suggests? He was born into a military family, so that all his life he has been cared for by taxpayer-funded services."

Three generations, as far as I know. Just like the Bush family.

And of course he has to bring up his time as a POW. It's his 9/11.

http://wonkette.com/403176/buy-one-of-john-mccains-unwanted-mansions-for...

Got $12 million burning a hole in your pockets? Need a new mansion in Arizona? How about this little place, one of John and Cindy McCain’s unwanted castles?

"Senator Obama wants to create a healthcare bureaucracy for America. We've seen that movie before."

No, YOU have seen that movie before-- apparently many times over. Most of US are standing out on the sidewalk.

I was just thinking he was going to go the whole way without mentioning being a POW, but then at the last second, BAM! “I did go a period of time where the health care wasn’t very good…” Geesh.

And, he completely sidestepped her question with "I've never been in space, but think I understand the issues there" (I can see space from my house) as if she was saying it was about not understanding private healthcare when instead it seemed clear she was suggesting this big gov't program is good enough for him. If he's so opposed to government, he could opt out. I was a federal employee, you don't *have* to accept coverage through the federal employer.

That was a Palinesque answer!

What an asshole!

Give it up, McGramps. Go play shuffleboard.

Why government healthcare his adult life?

Weren't his old man and his old old man an Admirals? That means he has - what did they used to say - cradle to grave government paid healthcare