McCain schedules Parent-Teacher Conference on Palin
Rotophonic |
A geeky blog discussing the world of music, technology & politics |
In Friday's debate, John McCain uttered a familiar refrain about the supposed dangers of providing universal health care:
Well, I want to make sure we're not handing the health care system over to the federal government which is basically what would ultimately happen with Senator Obama's health care plan. I want the families to make decisions between themselves and their doctors. Not the federal government.It makes my blood boil when I hear that line. I'm not sure what John McCain's experience with health care has been recently (oh, wait, he's already on a couple government-run health care plans), but citizens of the United States already have the wrong people making their health care decisions for them: corporations and insurance companies. Both of these entities make decisions about our health care every day and they don't have our interests at heart. Corporations routinely decrease the amount of money they contribute to employee health care, which results in real changes you're forced to make to your own health care plan. If you can't afford to stay on the "great" plan you've always had with the company, you need to downgrade to a cheaper plan with fewer benefits. Of course you could always go and buy the insurance yourself, but say goodbye to any coverage for anything that already ails you. Insurance companies' drive for profit is clear and there couldn't be any more antithetical thing than trying to make a profit on keeping people well. So if the United States adopts a health care system like France's non-profit/multiplayer system, where every citizen can choose their own doctor, take their doctor's recommendation about specialist care without fear of that referral being denied, and general live a life where you worry whether you will die because your HMO/Health care insurer decided they wouldn't approve preventative care or a medical procedure you needed, how is that hurting your choice? If you want to hear more about France's health care system, NPR did a report on the experience of a few mothers in France, including one who tried the "choice" offered by private insurers in the US. A notable quote from the article:
In the United States, Tomas had insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Tanya couldn't get on his policy, however, because they weren't yet married. She tried to buy health insurance for herself, but every American insurer turned her down. The reason: She was pregnant. "They said, 'We don't insure a house on fire,' " she says, remembering the unpleasant euphemisms insurance agents used to explain their rejections. "I had a 'pre-existing condition,' which was pregnancy. I just couldn't believe it."Cost per capita for US Health Insurance: $5,711 Cost per capita for France: $2,902
The McCain campaign, through their surrogate, Nancy Pfotenhauer (the most worthless source of insight I've ever seen on TV) to claim that they think the debate questions will be unfair to poor Sarah Palin. They demand, "Don't focus on foreign policy too much, or you'll have questions to answer yourself!" Unfortunately, I'm not sure which topics they'd prefer to have for the debate: Palin hasn't done well with any topics related to the Election. Which leads me to my list of suggested topics the McCain campaign should insist be covered in the debate. Include these topics or risk the wrath of Fox's Steve Doocy!
From conservative talker, Ed Schultz:
McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless" Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."I think it's worth examining John McCain's behavior over the last few days in this light. As I speculated before, his whole gambit to "suspend" his campaign sought two things: distract voters from Katie Couric's unbelievably painful interview with Palin ("Nobody watches the Evening News anymore," says McCain. Sorry, John, but have you heard of YouTube?) and get today's Presidential debate postponed so Palin would never have to debate Biden on October 2nd. Whoops!
Kathleen Parker writes, over at the National Review Online:
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. ... When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?†If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself. If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true. ... Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country.
Transcript of the most painful part (90% of this):
Couric: Explain to me why [proximity to foreign countries] enhances your foreign policy credentials? Palin: Well it certainly does. Because our... Our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia... Couric: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations with the Russians? Palin: We have trade missions back and forth... we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as ... Putin rears his head and... ah...comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are next to... to our state.Trade missions, eh? Putin flying over Alaska on his way to the United States? This is getting pathetic. [UPDATE] After Palin went round and round and ended up effectively reasoning that, "Proximity to other countries enhances my foreign policy experience because I'm close to other countries," I knew it reminded me of someone else with interviewing challenges: Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap. Watch this and let me know if it reminds you of someone:
Talking Points Memo's Greg Sargent notices the McCain campaign's fear of a free Palin:
What's really sobering is that the McCain campaign continues to block Palin from answering questions even though it's now resulting in reams and reams of bad press for the McCain-Palin ticket. That suggests McCain advisers know that letting her answer even the most elementary questions in an uncontrolled environment is so dangerous that it's worth weathering the current media drubbing they're taking in order to prevent it from happening at all costs. Has anyone pointed out that McCain has placed Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency?
I've never written a word about finance before, but on the way into work yesterday as I listened to the doom and gloom forecasts for the financial markets, I had a thought: If we're concerned that the failure of these idiot financial institutions would cause a credit crunch that could drive inflation and interest rates through the roof, why not create a new class of bank, invest $700B in their start-up, and let them take over? Screw Goldman/Sachs and all these hedge fund players. Let them sink or swim with the anchor they tied around their own neck. This new class of investment bank would operate with a set of regulations that would put capital requirements on an credit default swap contracts they write, include requirements that prevent them from moving bad assets or losses to other special investment vehicles offshore (a la Enron), and include any other requirements that smart economists believe would help them profitably succeed. There's no credit crunch if there is capital available from banks that are fully liquid. Turns out that writer Diane Ritter also had this idea. Could this work?
After McCain crashed his campaign into the mountain today by pulling the "suspend your campaign to save the world" stunt, CNN is now reporting that McCain wants to reschedule Friday's Presidential debate into the October 2nd slot where the Vice-Presidential debate was supposed to be. Hunter at Daily Kos is asking whether the VP debate will ever be able to be rescheduled. I doubt it. There's no way that any candidate of sane mind would want to be debating in the two weeks leading up to the General Election. Seems like things are going much worse in Sarah Palin's debate preparation sessions than I thought. [update: they are] I can't wait for the complete transcript of Katie Couric's Palin interview tonight. [UPDATE] Whoo hoo! The Palin transcript is in. You be the judge as to whether she's ready to debate:
Rotophonic lives in Los Angeles, writes code and does geeky things. He spends his spare time blogging about politics, technology, and music in the pages of this blog.
You can reach him at rotophonic [at] rotophonic [dot] com.
