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VIDEO: John McCain Versus Barack Obama (Again) at Health Care Reform Summit
Perhaps the most talked about segment from today’s health care summit is when Arizona Sen. John McCain ripped into President Barack Obama on how the Democrats handled health care reform in Congress — bringing a response from Obama:
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On one hand, McCain is correct in some of his criticism about the Democrats’ lets-make-a-deal behavior. On the other, McCain continues to give the impression that he’s out for revenge for having lost in 2008 and his pronouncements have become more partisan and lockstep than ever as he faces a primary challenge from a conservative back home. He barely resembles the John McCain many of us (I voted for him in the California Republican primary) supported in 2000.
22 Responses to “VIDEO: John McCain Versus Barack Obama (Again) at Health Care Reform Summit”
I turned him off….the man needs therapy.
While most legislators–including, to their credit, Republicans–used the summit to discuss health care reforms, sore loser McCain used the time and the opportunity to directly vent his anger at past procedural wrongs (real and imagined) and indirectly at the man who beat him, fair and square, during the last presidential elections.
Give it up, McCain!
Give it up, McCain!”
While I still respect JM, he is still pissed and should get over it. However, where can the Reps complain about the backroom deals and the 800,000 people exempted in FL? And, the cover up in O's plan so it doesn't appear that the unions are exempted from a tax on Cadillac plans, by punting the tax kick-in to 2018, is a cute but expensive ploy. (How much revenue will that lose?)
Perhaps this was not the place, and perhaps JM was the wrong messenger, but is it, as a friend said to me: “oh, that's just the legislative process”. When the Reps get back in will, everyone forget and forgive their dirty pool? Not on this forum, the Queen of mean will go ballistic.
John! John! Dude! You lost! You LOST! YOU L-O-S-T !!!! Get over it!!!!!!!!! You're embarrassing yourself! (and your party)
Which John McCain are you guys discussing here: the pro-life Obama-lite (PLOL) McCain, or the angry neo-con (ANC) McCain? You're confusing me. PLOL McCain lost the presidential election. ANC McCain is senator that gave the speech today.
So, on the one hand, “McCain is correct in some of his criticism”, and on the other hand “McCain continues to give the impression that he’s out for revenge.” “give the impression” is weasel characterization. You give the impression that you are coming at this with predisposed bias. I say, give the “impression” a rest.
Sticking to the issue: McCain believes we ought explode the current bill and start over. McCain was giving reasons the current bill is untenable, and McCain scored points. Maybe McCain was trying to help his re-election chances – I expect he was. Maybe McCain was trying to remind voters of why they dislike the current health care bills. Maybe McCain is a bitter old man who was trying embarrass Pres. Obama. None of that matters. What matters is that McCain scored points and showed some solid reasons the current bill is untenable and ought be exploded.
I apologize. I was under the misimpression that what matters is doing what is best for the American people–not “scorig points.”
I finally had a chance to listen to the clip, and heard a couple of rather shocking points: one, he mentioned that the AMA (which has NOT been getting its fair share of the blame in our current mess) as one of the special interests. Now, that always seemed blatantly obvious to me, but I've never heard anyone in Washington say it. Secondly, he was essentially calling the bill a picnic basket of pork instead of reform, and the president tried to correct him by saying that this discussion was supposed to be about insurance.
Silly me, I thought that they were supposed to be talking about health care reform.
I still think McCain is an opportunist, but I have declare this round in his favor.
I tuned in to NPR a couple of hours ago and heard him. (NPR special report — ghawd, the blatant bias, making this the big issue it never should have been)
Part 1, McCain alone, he was okay — just typical campaignish stuff. Both parties' members were posturing and strutting. This was a show for the Herd's consumption, don't forget (intended to get them to dimly nod their heads up and down and say yes, we need to accept without question what the Dems want passed).
Part 2, it was a clumsy exchange. It was regrettable, but nothing really bad, and Obama didn't help by doing the circus stuff at the end, playing this like another staged “town hall”meeting (which it was).
* * *
“McCain believes we ought explode the current bill and start over.”
Actually, this was something some of the commentators (this was a Major Event [gasp] — it's the true make-or-break time for the Dems, after all) on NPR mentioned that was worthwhile. It's not so much that even the hard-core Republicans actually wants a separate bill on each separate issue — the Dems would never do that, as it's an invitation to make things take forever, with the GOP obstructing every single individual bill and item, to the best measure, this year. Won't happen.
The interesting points, which the commenters noted, were that many of the individual items being contested actually poll quite well with the public, and to discard casually any of them is a mistake, because behind many of the items in the Dem bill or Obama plan lie carefully or hard-worked-out compromises or arrangements with affected interests — insurers, doctors, employers, the unions. Throw things out of the bill casually (or off lists — see below), and throw away arrangements that must be remade or are replaced with hostility and even legal action later to mess everything up, I figured.
That was at the point I had to get out of my vehicle, but I left it thinking that what was simply needed was an identification and a list of each separate item, to be considered for a package, and to have the Dems and the GOP separately rank or assign a weight to each item, or give the items pass-fail values, then get together, compare their lists, select the most agreed-to items, and bargain over more. (That's based on the presumption that reform is wanted by the public, which it is and which the GOP has stated that they agree is true. They can reduce their rep for obstructionism and even gain votes this way. The Dems can gain as well because they make legislative progress. The challenges are not only agreeing to a package but the Dem desire for pushing vs. GOP reluctance to yield, which stands to gain the Dems more than the GOP itself.)
(The commenters following the audio clips of McCain were more useful to listen to than McCain.)
UrbanDictionary:
“Maureen Dowd”
Vapidity defined. Not anti-matter, but non-matter.
Of course that would be far too sensible. Were talking about planet Washington here, not some place where logic reason are in good supply.
Here is the entire phrase, gcotharn,
and I repeat and maintain my claim that that “what matters is doing what is best for the American people–not 'scorig points.'”
Because, as you so aptly noted, that's all that mcCain was trying to do with his tyrade about past procedural issues and other sour grapes. Not trying to show “some solid reasons the current bill is untenable and ought be exploded.”.
And yes, I am trying to portray a particular viewpoint—one of disgust with McCain—as you are trying to portray your viewpoint of blind admiration for this worn-out politician
“I still think McCain is an opportunist, but I have declare this round in his favor.”
I think that sums up my view as well. I have listened to about 45 minutes of the beginning of the debate so far, and I've heard Democrats talking about the process a number of times. Nancy Pelosi talked at length about the supposedly bipartisan and open nature of the process, referring multiple times to the March 5th debate last year (you can verify that here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/25/health…). So Nancy is able to heap praise on the process, but when McCain critiques it, he's rebuked and reminded that we're supposed to be talking about health insurance.
Which brings me to an unrelated point: I think the point where we stopped calling it health care reform and started calling it health insurance reform is when the debate lost me. It's true that our health insurance system needs some reform, but there are a lot of problems in the health care system itself that are being ignored.
I have admiration for some of Sen. McCain's qualities and actions, not all. When you say: “what matters is doing what is best for the American people–not 'scorig points'”, I reply that when Sen. McCain makes cogent points about immoral deals (w/Pharma, AMA, Louisiana, Florida, et al) which make the current bill untenable, Sen. McCain is doing what is best for the American people.
“It's true that our health insurance system needs some reform, but there are a lot of problems in the health care system itself that are being ignored”
The taxpayers are subject to the insurance model, and short of ending the insurance model and its distortion of pre-paid comprehensive health care (pre-payment being changed to taxes for public comprehensive care someday), I believe it's best to concentrate on reforming insurance primarily, if not exclusively now. It's the area where there's probably the most sentiment for reform, reflecting where most of the problems people are suffering are centered, and it limits (or restricts) the scope of legislation and action, a key correction the Dems are in need of.
I respect your opinion, and I maintain mine.
Thank you
Coincidentally, insurance reform is something the GOP is on record as conceding is needed, too. Hence a better chance for agreement, given that it's something there's inter-party agreement it's needed.
(The scenario continues: do the other, harder things after the elections, when also the comparative power of the parties and its revision has been determined. The Dems want to go on to make progress on other agenda items, anyway, in time to capitalize off these in the elections. The GOP, at the same time, isn't about to and shouldn't start making additional or more extensive concessions.)
Sometimes it isn't what you say, but how you say it. McCain was in angry attack mode. He could have made his points without looking like he wanted to rip out Obama's throat.
At this point, I don't think bi-partisanship is constructive regarding this issue. There is a clear majority and an underwhelming minority. The majority needs to Pass the Bill without further consultations with the minority. This should be a clear message to the minority that with other issues pending, they will need to compromise should they desire any consideration at all.
Thing is: when McCain rolls out of bed in the morning: he looks like he wants to rip out somebody's throat. When he says “please” and “thank you kindly”, he looks like he wants to rip out somebody's throat. It's part of his aura. If he looked any other way, he might be POTUS today.
This is magical thinking which ignores that, before the January 19 election in Massachusetts, the Dem Majority didn't need a single Repub vote to pass whatever the heck they wanted to pass. It's not the Repubs who stopped healthcare: it's the Dems. The healthcare plan was too radical even for the Dems.