Grandpa McCrankypants got his chance at the Health Care Summit to voice his "concerns" about health care reform. Funnily enough, his "concerns" sounded an awful lot like Republican talking points with a splash of electoral sour grapes thrown in.
Thank you, Mr. President and I understand the four categories. But there is a big category that the people in my state and across this country are deeply concerned about. And that’s not just the product that we are examining today, the 2,400 pages, but the process we’ve gone through to reach that. Now, both of us during the campaign, promised change in Washington. In fact, eight times you said that negotiations on health care reform would be conducted with the C-Span cameras. I’m glad, more than a year later, that they are here. Unfortunately, this product was not produced in that fashion. It was produced behind closed doors. It was produced with unsavory—and I say that with respect—deal-making. The “Louisiana Purchase”, the funding of $300 million for one state, the “Cornhusker Kickback,” which is, I understand now, been done away with. One of the things as provisions of this legislation that was particularly offensive was the carve out for 800,000 for Florida seniors exempt from cuts in Medicare Advantage Program. There’s 330,000 seniors under Medicare Advantage in my home state of Arizona. They’re deeply concerned about that. They’re deeply concerned about the carve-outs for Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Michigan, Connecticut, $100 million for a hospital in Connecticut. Why? Why should that happen? They don’t understand it. And at the townhall meetings I conduct all over my state, people are angry. We promised them change in Washington. And what we got was a process that you and I both said we would change in Washington.
Oh, sweet Jeebus on a popsicle stick. Can you believe the concern trolling here? Hey John, want to know why there was a carve-out for Connecticut? Why don't you ask your bestest buddy, Lieberman, who hemmed and hawed his support in order to get on TV as much as possible. Are you seriously blaming Obama for the lack of change in the way the Senate must do business? Why don't you look in the mirror and ask yourself how much your party has contributed to that change.
Frankly, responding to McCain's concern trolling is laughable. Which is why Obama's response is the only way to do so.
OBAMA: Let me just make this point, John, because we are not campaigning anymore.
McCAIN: I'm reminded of that every day.
OBAMA: So we can spend the remainder of the time with our respective talking points going back and forth, we were supposed to be talking about insurance reform. Obviously I'm sure that Harry Reid and Chris Dodd and others who went through an exhaustive process through both the House and the Senate with the most hearings, the most debates on the floor, the longest markup in 22 years on each of these bills, will have a response for you. My concern is, if we do that, we are essentially back on Fox News and MSNBC on the split screen. My hope would be is that we can just focus on the issues about how we get a bill done.
Suh-nap! Poor Grampy could only sputter at that point.
