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AmSpecBlog
John McCain, Guardian of Entitlements
Sen. John McCain just offered the first Republican motion as part of the Senate health care debate, which would remove roughly $500 billion in Medicare cuts and send the legislation back to the Finance Committee.
While Republicans don't have the votes to pass their amendments, the Senate floor debate gives Republicans the opportunity to highlight areas of the Democratic health care bills that are unpopular, and the proposed cuts to Medicare are a large reason why older Americans remain among the most opposed to the health care push.
But even though it's true that Democrats should be called out on their claims that the proposed cuts will not affect benefits, Republicans have gone overboard in demagoging the issue to the point where they themselves are protectors of entitlement programs that are bankrupting the nation.
McCain, who typically raises hell about any earmark, no matter how tiny, was just on the Senate floor urging his fellow lawmakers to "preserve the solemn obligations we have made to our senior citizens."
Statements such as these, aside from making a mockery out of the idea of Republicans as the party of small government, help enshrine the third rail status of entitlement programs that need to be substantially cut if we have any chance of averting the looming fiscal collapse of the United States.
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Pingback| 11.30.09 @ 6:10PM
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Dixie Pixie| 11.30.09 @ 6:45PM
More proof McCain is unfit for high public office. He can not even pull off a solid gold pander without screwing it up. He does not have any credibility as a savior of Medicare. He just looks an antediluvian moth to the media limelights.
Richard Baker| 11.30.09 @ 7:29PM
Has Mc?Cain been returned to Arizona yet? Soon?
Mia| 11.30.09 @ 9:22PM
Funny. So many self-appointed true conservatives hate McCain, but love his protege, Sarah Palin. But they don't seem to realize just how much they have in common... for example, both have been demonized by those who fear their power most: the left demonizes Palin and the right demonizes McCain. Even when McCain is one of the very, very few Republicans acting in our best interests. Makes one go hmmmm.......
Ed Schill| 12.1.09 @ 1:37AM
So how shall we ensure(no pun intended) that our oldest and greatest generation of Americans, those who served and built our country get the health care they have come to expect. Is there a plan ? What was Mr Klein suggesting we do ? "dump the dead weight" ?
Perhaps we should have warned our elderly citizens 25 years ago that they need to exercise a plan of action to guarantee heath benefits in the twilight of their lives because it would not be available when they are frail and weak . Are the dues they paid in taxes, blood and sacrifice not valid because we face a LOOMING FISCAL COLLAPSE, that we watched and enabled. WTF, who's to blame for that MR KLEIN ?
NOW WE TELL 'EM THEY ARE S O L
Any nation that accepts turning its back and leaving nothing for those who in their prime contributed everything FOR OUR PRESENT AND FUTURE is not just reprehensible but DOOMED ABSOLUTELY... and deservedly so.
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Richard Baker| 12.1.09 @ 8:55AM
Mia:
Palin is not his protege. Considering his past, that McCain selected her is still a bit of a mystery. Without her on the ticket, his defeat would have been much greater and, in fact, she's the only reason he got as close as he did. Until she came along, I wasn't going to vote for him , at all, as were millions in this country. Read and listen to her ideas and I challenge you to show me their ideological connection. His "Maverick" posing was about his being beloved by his political enemies. Next year he'll be the ex-Senator from Arizona.
Bob| 12.3.09 @ 4:19PM
Actually, Richard, your data is wrong. Palin did not help the McCain ticket. If you take a look at polling tracking, McCain received an immediate bump of 8-9 points when he chose Palin. This was directly attributable to Clinton supporters who didn't like Obama. However, this was completely lost over the next three weeks as Democrats came back to Obama. Interestingly enough, those specific declines can be traced directly to the Gibson and Couric interviews -- the timing is very specific. In the end, Palin turned out to be more of a negative than a positive to most voters as over 60% of them considered Palin to be unqualified to hold that office.
Those people who make the claim the Palin helped have not looked at the detailed trend data.
That said, I agree with you that Palin is not a protege of McCain in any way, shape, or form -- both positively and negatively.
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Richard Baker| 12.6.09 @ 11:38AM
Bob:
At the end of the day, the only reason that McCain got as close to the Kenyan as he did is directly attributed to the excitement and fervor that her presence created. Remember what Mark Twain said about statistics?
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