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'Tough times, my friends'

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

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 2, 2008 at 11 p.m.

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

Photo by Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

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

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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

Comments

  • May 3, 2008

    9:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    GeeTee writes:

    Some counterpoints to McCain's plan:

    -- Is there a guarantee that if we get a gas tax holiday that the pump price will be reduced by the amount of the tax? What is to stop the gas station owners from holding the price and taking the extra profit?

    -- Is the tax credit proposed on healthcare insurance truly a dollar-for-dollar savings to the taxpayer? Seems too simple to be coming out of Washington DC.

    -- In a letter to USA tiday this week, the Iraqi ambassador gave numerous reasons why his country should NOT pay more towards their own defense -- how will McCain change the Iraqis mind and get them to foot the bill?

    I agree with him about not sugar-coating the problems facing America -- to hell with political correctness -- we ARE in a recession, the deficit IS TOO HIGH, etc. I believe McCain is the ONLY candidate who will face up to the issues and atleast TRY to do the right thing for ALL Americans.

  • May 3, 2008

    10:58 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jay writes:

    "I agree with him about not sugar-coating the problems facing America -- to hell with political correctness -- we ARE in a recession, the deficit IS TOO HIGH, etc. I believe McCain is the ONLY candidate who will face up to the issues and atleast TRY to do the right thing for ALL Americans."

    i am flabbergasted at statements like this.

    on the one hand, geetee, tells us that he is unhappy with the results of the policies of the last 8 years...and then tells us that he believes that continuing those policies is the "only" way to "face up to the issues and at least try to do the right thing".

    just doesn't make a lot of sense.

  • May 3, 2008

    2:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    radiofreedenver writes:

    During his appearance in Denver McCain said, "My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East."

    So, McCain admits what we've known all along, that Bush/Cheney invaded Iraq for oil. So, why no coverage of this in the story? It couldn't be that the Rocky is biased, could it?

  • May 3, 2008

    5:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Darwin writes:

    Yah, right Froward69, Muslim, Obama is going to rectify our oil situation. He didn't even know what his pastor/mentor was preaching. He has only a little more experience in government than I do. You sheep who follow Dems or the Repubs are all fooling yourself if you think either party will solve anything. They helped create the problem with their ethanol mandate. They are the ones who have established SS, IRS, USPS, Medicare/Medicaid, etc. All efficient programs - NOT! While as an unaffiliated voter, I have no politician representing me at least I'm not in "lala land" expecting them to solve any of the countries problems. That's okay, I have investments in energy companies and will continue to profit from it as long as it lasts. Keep feeding the pig folks.

  • May 4, 2008

    2:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    Bush's tax cuts amounted to increased fees and local taxes. Working people got nothing while the wealthy were able to multiply their incomes.

    A "tax holiday" on gas will do nothing for us. Oil companies will simply raise the price and pocket the difference. I'm sure they love the idea but you won't because you'll pay for it somewhere else.

    The price of gas is going up because the value of the US economy is falling rapidly. Our executive bosses decided to relocate our industries to China and India. Those countries are demanding more oil to fuel their growth. Growth that was created in their economies at the sole expense of working Americans.

    So, our military people are not fighting for American oil interests anymore. Our blundering bosses who sent them defend the big oil pond in the Middle East are actually protecting the oil supplies for China and India. So, here's a suggestion: let China and India send THEIR armies and navies to pacify Iraq and control the Middle East while we pocket the savings or use that money to build energy independence for ourselves.

    As for health care, there is no more stupid idea than "health savings accounts". Might as well just shoot everyone who gets sick and save us all the paperwork hassle. How, pray tell us, are working people who have lost their good jobs to offshoring expected to save any money? They can't even make mortgage and rents without putting their hungry teenagers on a diet.

    McCain must equate expensive with good. I have health coverage. It sucks. They spend more on advertising then they do providing service. See the ads for Kaiser Permanente, Humana, and Principle Financial Group. They're nothing but liars and crooks. Paying their premiums is such increasingly wasteful expense that going without coverage at all is starting to look good. We don't have the best health care. We have the worst and most expensive. I laughed so loud that I startled the dog when I read McLiar's words on that one.

    Does John McCain really take us to be as stupid as he is?

    I guess that's a safe assumption. After all, Bush and his conservative cronies are still in the White House long after they would have served us better on the end of a rope.

  • May 4, 2008

    2:57 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    One simple observation about Communism: the fact that everything is made in China these days is proof that communism works better than capitalism.