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Retirees Confront McCain on Social Security, Medicare |
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Around the country, seniors are getting the message out about Sen. John McCain and his policies on retirement programs like Social Security and Medicare. Over the past week, as the nation marked Medicare’s 43rd anniversary, retirees have sent a strong message to McCain: Don’t destroy these vital programs.
Led by the Alliance for Retired Americans, activists have rallied in key states around the country to make sure that protecting Social Security and Medicare is on the agenda for this fall’s election.
Of course, we know what McCain’s position is on Social Security. He’s said that the decades-old and successful program is “a disgrace.” McCain married into a fortune, so if one month he didn’t receive his Social Security check—which he actually puts in the bank—he’d be fine. The same can’t be said for millions of workers who have lost pensions and are counting on Social Security and Medicare to keep them out of poverty.
McCain’s record on these issues reflects his approach toward vital programs for retirees. This summer, he was the only senator to skip a vote on a crucial bill to protect doctors’ ability to treat Medicare patients. The Senate overwhelmingly voted for the measure, which overrode Bush administration rules that favored insurance companies, not doctors or patients. McCain also skipped a vote that successfully overrode a Bush veto of the Medicare bill: instead, he held a fundraiser at the estate of a wealthy donor in Missouri.
That’s not the only sign of McCain’s disregard for retirees’ need for economic security. One of McCain’s top advisers, Martin Feldstein, is at the forefront of the effort to privatize Social Security, and McCain traveled with Bush during his national tour to push privatization on the country.
In McCain’s home state of Arizona, the state chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans came out this week to protest McCain’s failure to defend Social Security and his decision to stay on the campaign trail rather than voting to protect Medicare. Doug Hart, president of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, says when it comes to seniors’ issues, there’s no contest: Sen. Barack Obama is on the side of retirees and McCain isn’t.
Other actions protesting McCain’s stances on Social Security and Medicare took place this week in Nevada, Florida, Ohio and Oregon.
Unfortunately, as has happened frequently in this campaign, the media has failed to point out McCain’s distortions about Social Security. As Hunt points out, the fact that the media is acting as McCain’s mouthpiece only increases the importance of seniors getting out the message themselves that McCain is wrong for retirees.
Privatization is a gamble that current—and future—retirees can’t afford.
Threatening the benefits that keep retirees out of poverty? Undermining a guarantee that’s kept seniors secure for decades? Destroying one of the most popular and effective programs in history?
Now that’s a disgrace.
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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
3 Comments
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OBAMA IS THE BEST FOR WORKING PEOPLE ….THE OTHER
HOOPLA DOES NOT MATTER ……
We the informed know where John McCain stands on Social Security and I am glad the blogs and websites are puting out the word on McCain,however I don’t see Obama puting John McCain in his place. We all know why Al Gore and John Kerry lost their elections. Nice Guys finish last. It time to ramp up the no votes and anti labor sentament McCain has shown and to put him in his place by showing his voting record in congress that are against people issues. Its time to challenge the Karl Rove Machine and his Jr. Varsity scum bags who are trying to put Sen. Obama Down. Sometime it pays to be a street fighter instead of a nice guy.
I agree, “Duke.” On the one hand, I understand that Obama wants to change the old ways of politics by refusing to wallow in the mud with the GOP pigs. However, because of the media’s refusal to point out McCain’s distortions, or flip-flops as I call them, Americans who don’t read blogs or have Internet access are in the dark about the real John McCain.
McCain brought Karl Rove on board his bogus “Straight Talk Express” for a reason: McCain has no intention of running the “respectful” and “values-based” campaign he promised. The Obama campaign needs to fight back, and if it means a bit of “pig wrestling”, so be it. The place to start is to throw McCain’s “values” right back in his lying face. Obama’s campaign must draw distinctions between who McCain says he is and who he really is. The P.O.W. persona must be contrasted with McCain’s terrible record on veterans’ issues. McCain’s stand against gay marriage should be contrasted with his adulterous ruination of his own marriage. And, since both McCains continue to question Michelle Obama’s fitness to be first lady, and in view of McCain’s tough talk on crime, the Obama campaign needs to remind America’s “values” voters that Cindy McCain was caught red-handed forging prescriptions and illegally obtaining narcotics, yet escaped punishment for her crime.
The press has no intention of telling America’s voters about the real McCain. The Obama campaign must do it, and do it fast. Once the “lipstick is off the pig”, it will be easier for the Obama campaign to show the American public that if McCain cannot uphold the very values with which he defines himself, he cannot be trusted with the even bigger issues facing our country today.