'Tough times, my friends'

In Denver, McCain hits on economy, Iraq, health care

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain makes an appearance at a town hall meeting in Denver on Friday.

Sen. John McCain came to Denver on Friday largely to talk about health care, but he touched on a number of other concerns for Americans living through tough times he said can't be "sugarcoated."

He was met by protesters outside the Robert E. Loup Jewish Center chanting and holding signs labeling him "McSame," but the crowd of about 300 inside warmed to ideas they heard from the presumed Republican nominee for president.

McCain zeroed in on his talking points - the need for a federal gas tax holiday, the need for health care choice and tax credits for Americans, the need for a steady and deliberate strategy in Iraq, and the need for tax cuts to help the country emerge from its current economic problems.

The senator from Arizona set it all up, however, with a bleak view of the country today.

"Unemployment continues up. Americans are suddenly and recently losing their jobs. Many of them are worrying about how they're going to keep their home, how they're going to afford health care, how they're going to keep their insurance," McCain said. "Americans are going through tough times, my friends, and I don't think we can sugarcoat it."

Then came his plan of action.

First was his proposal for a tax holiday between Memorial Day and Labor Day, in which people wouldn't have to pay the 18.5 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline and24 cents per gallon on diesel.

McCain has been ripped for this proposal, but he told the crowd at the town-hall style meeting that it wasn't a long- term solution.

"Why don't we give American working men and women a break for the summer - just a little break for the summer," he said. "I mean it's not the end of Western Civilization as we know it."

Warmed up, he then dove into health care - the topic that took up a large part of his hour, during which he also fielded questions from the friendly crowd.

Nationally, about 46 million people don't have health insurance. In Colorado, that number is about 785,000. The state, much like California and Massachusetts, has sought to figure out ways to get the uninsured covered.

McCain supports states taking a leadership role in health care reform and also said he'd like to offer a tax credit ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 that would go toward Americans getting health care coverage.

McCain's main rationale is that making major reforms and using government to work through the problem will affect the quality of coverage for Americans - which he called the best in the world.

"It's not the quality of care, it's the cost and availability of care, and the inflation associated with health care has been at double digits or near that, and we cannot stand that," he said. "No system can stand double digit inflation associated with health care. So we've got to bring costs down and make it available."

A questioner shifted the subject to Iran, asking McCain how he would deal with that country on nuclear issues.

"I will do whatever's necessary to preserve and defend the state of Israel, and I will do that without fail," he said to big applause. "On the issue of Iran, we cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weapons."

A man in an Air Force hat told the Navy pilot who was shot down and held prisoner in north Vietnam, "I want to compliment you, even though you were in the Navy. Want to compliment you on your short stay in Nam, only six years. You did a damn good job."

McCain responded, "Those I had the honor of serving with in prison, I love them the most. You have seen an ad campaign mounted against me that says I want to stay and fight in Iraq for 100 years. It's a direct falsification.

"After we win the war in Iraq, I'm talking about a security arrangement like we have in South Korea. Senators Obama and Clinton want to set a date for withdrawal. I believe that would lead to catastrophe and chaos."

McCain's visit to Colorado was his second in just over a month. He lost the state badly in the February Republican caucus to rival Mitt Romney and has been seeking to consolidate voters since then. Romney is now backing McCain, but did not appear with the candidate on this trip.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, held a news conference to call his plan to help the estimated 47 million without health insurance "feeble."

Federico Pena, former Denver mayor and co-chairman of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, weighed in by phone and called McCain "inconsistent."

What's next?

* McCain makes a campaign and fundraising swing through North Carolina.

* Clinton and Obama go head-to-head in Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

On the issues

Sen. John McCain made a stop in Denver to talk about health care. Before he began his town hall meeting, he took time out to answer a few questions exclusively for Rocky reporter David Montero.

A recent poll showed 81 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. What do you offer that is different from what has been offered for the past eight years?

A plan of action. A way to get the economy back on its feet. A way to make sure our nation is secure and, among other things, an energy policy that eliminates our dependence on foreign oil.

Colorado resident James Dobson has said publicly he would have great difficulty supporting you. Have you reached out to him and what do you think you need to do to reach those who share Dobson's conservative beliefs?

I respect Dr. Dobson. I have not reached out to him. I'm always willing to talk to anyone who wants to talk to me. All I can say is I'm happy that the Republican Party is united and I've got to work to energize them so we can have a solid Republican base reach out to independents and the old and new Reagan Democrats and win this campaign.

You have proposed the gas tax holiday, but critics argue that your plan would take money away from essential federal monies used for roads. If put into place, how will your plan ensure highways get the money they need to operate efficiently?

By just taking the money out of general revenues for a while, giving lower-income Americans who drive the furthest and have consumed the most gasoline because they drive older automobiles a break or maybe they can buy something that would help their children when they go back to school this fall. I don't think it's by any stretch of the imagination a solution to it, but I think it's a way to give lower-income Americans a little bit of a break and the problem with roads and infrastructure and bridges and tunnels in America can be laid right at the doorstep of Congress because of the pork barrel earmark spending such as the bridge to nowhere in Alaska has diverted people's hard-earned tax dollars that they pay at the gas pump.

You at one point rejected President Bush's request to make his tax cuts permanent, but now you've said they should be made permanent. Why the change of heart?

I had my own tax-cut plan and said we had to restrain spending and we did not. We presided over the greatest increase in spending since the Great Society and we have now accumulated massive deficits. I believe that if you don't make the tax cuts permanent, you will have the effect of a tax increase on what is already a very, very bad economy and I think it would be very harmful to the country.

Does that mean you were wrong the first time around?

No, I was right because I wanted spending restraint and I wanted my own tax cuts and I had a strong plan for it. If we had done what I wanted to do and had the tax cuts I wanted and spending restraint I wanted we would be talking about further tax cuts today. I was right. I was right because there was no restraint in spending.

You've said we need to stay in Iraq until the country can stand on its own and yet there is a feeling that the war is becoming increasingly cost prohibitive to run. If we have to stay in Iraq for a long time - and you can say how long you think that might be - how do you propose the nation will be able to pay for it?

I expect Iraqis to take over more and more financially as well as militarily. There is a total falsification on my comment about 100 years that has been condemned by every objective organization . . . the fact is, after we succeed in Iraq, we can have a security arrangement - the same kind we have in South Korea after the Korean War ended. We are succeeding in Iraq. If we do what Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton want to do, which means setting a date for withdrawal, al-Qaida, the extremists, the jihadists take over in Iraq, there's chaos and genocide and we will have to return with further sacrifice of American blood and treasure. All of us our frustrated by four years of Rumsfeld and I was one of the first to argue against the failing strategy and argue for the strategy that is succeeding today.

Health care plans

The candidates stated their ideas on their Web sites:

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON

* Offer new coverage options for insured, uninsured

* Mandatory insurance coverage, resulting in almost universal coverage

* Lower premiums and increase security

* Promote shared responsiblity by making sure all stakeholders take part in fixing the system

SEN. BARACK OBAMA

* Quality, affordable and portable coverage through a national health insurance exhange

* No mandatory coverage; slightly lower cost than Clinton's plan, fewer people covered

* Lower costs through modernization

* Fight for new initiatives, including advancing biomedical research and improving mental health care

SEN. JOHN McCAIN

* Make health insurance innovative, affordable and portable through tax reform and increased emphasis on health savings accounts

* Ensure care for higher-risk patients

* Lower health care costs through lower drugs prices, better technology and tort reform

* Plan for long term care