Wednesday, December 23, 2009

McCain chides Obama on the lack of transparency in the healthcare debate

Though I'm not a big fan of John McCain - the Senator - the HuffPost's Sam Stein has highlighted an entirely necessary point being made by the GOPs former candidate for POTUS:

In a withering address on the Senate floor on Sunday, Sen. John McCain accused the president and Democratic leadership in the Senate of abandoning pledges of accountability and transparency during the reform process.

Pointing to the deals cut with the pharmaceutical industry, the American Medical Association and others, the Arizona Republican insisted that Democrats had "set up a tent out front and put Persian rugs out in front of it" - greeting special interests with specific gifts.

Recalling President Obama's campaign pledge to televise negotiations, McCain noted that "there has never been a C-SPAN camera" in the rooms where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) crafted the final version of legislation. Drawing attention to some of the sweeteners that were put in the bill to win the support of conservative Democrats, McCain scoffed that there were now "new words in our lexicon," including the "Cornhusker Kickback", in reference to Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and the newly recoined term "The Louisiana Purchase" in reference to concessions to that state's Sen. Mary Landrieu.


And now we've got the Dodd Disbursement!

Senator McCain is right to call out President Obama:Furthermore, Presidential-candidate Obama had only one legislative claim to fame as he began running for the highest office in the land:



And President Transparency sits silently on the sidelines while Senator Bernie Sanders (Populist - VT) and Congressman Ron Paul (Populist - TX) fight for transparency by Auditing the Fed. It seems that President Obama's definition of bipartisanship is wedding Washington with Wall Street, rather than making over Main Street in Michigan.

And with regard to the healthcare deal, I'm very fortunate to have health insurance, fairly good health and no dependents. But I do use some prescriptions. And Obama's secret deal with Big Phrma is really annoying to me for a number of reason, including reality! For example, my co-pay on my asthma inhaler is $25. But I can go to many countries around the world and buy the same inhaler for $10 over-the-counter. Why?

Tim White

3 comments:

mcjk said...

I am no Obama supporter, I almost bought into his lies and voted for him, but I wrote in Ron Paul on my ballot; close call.

A great documentary could be made about Obama, any politician for that matter, his words vs. his actions.

tim white said...

you've gotta check out FDL...Jane Hamsher calls for Rahm's resignation... and she's very, very serious about it... big news IMO.

Anonymous said...

I have to say that I feel we need healthcare reform but I am upset about the fact that this bill does not allow for negotiating better drug prices. I also see how other countries can get the same drugs for half the cost - why can't we?