Obama's False Medicare Claim »

Posted By ZiegfeldGirl 8 months, 1 week ago in News

In a TV ad and in speeches, Obama is making bogus claims that McCain plans to cut $880 billion from Medicare spending and to reduce benefits. The fact is that McCain has never proposed to cut Medicare benefits, or Medicaid benefits either. Obama's claim is based on a false reading of a single Wall Street Journal story, amplified by a one-sided, partisan analysis that piles speculation atop misinterpretation. The Journal story in turn was based on an interview with McCain adviser Holtz-Eakin. He said flatly in a conference call with reporters after the ad was released, "No service is being reduced. Every beneficiary will in the future receive exactly the benefits that they have been promised from the beginning."

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ZiegfeldGirl

"No, we tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco." ~Governor Sarah Palin ...

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Comments So Far: 76 (view all)
  • 64%
    ZiegfeldGirl8 months, 1 week ago

    "Here's how Democrats cooked up their bogus $882 billion claim.

    On Oct. 6, the Journal ran a story saying that McCain planned to pay for his health care plan "in part" through reduced Medicare and Medicaid spending, quoting Holtz-Eakin as its authority. The Journal characterizes these reductions as both "cuts" and "savings." Importantly, Holtz-Eakin did not say that any benefits would be cut, and the one direct quote from him in the article makes clear that he's talking about economies:

    Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6: Mr. Holtz-Eakin said the Medicare and Medicaid changes would improve the programs and eliminate fraud, but he didn't detail where the cuts would come from. "It's about giving them the benefit package that has been promised to them by law at lower cost," he said.

    Holtz-Eakin complains that the Journal story was "a terrible characterization" of McCain's intentions, but even so it clearly quoted him as saying McCain planned on "giving [Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries] the benefit package that has been promised."

    Nevertheless, a Democratic-leaning group quickly twisted his quotes into a report with a headline stating that the McCain plan "requires deep benefit and eligibility cuts in Medicare and Medicaid" – the opposite of what the Journal quoted Holtz-Eakin as saying. The report was issued by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, headed by John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to Democratic President Bill Clinton. The report's authors are a former Clinton administration official, a former aid to Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey and a former aid to Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski."

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  • 68%
    ZiegfeldGirl8 months, 1 week ago

    I'm disappointed in the Obama/Biden campaign. They came out promising to be the politics of Change. They were supposed to be new and different, able to win on their own merits without lying about the other guy.

    I guess it's just politics as usual.

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    • 62%
      normallysilent8 months, 1 week ago

      Obama learned politics in Chicago. What's the big surprise?

      Oh and redtomato, Obama isn't going to win but there will be a landslide of sorts. it's going to cave in all around him.

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    • 52%
      GLee8 months, 1 week ago

      Normal 'late in the campaign' tactics from the libs. This is their way of doing business.

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      • 52%
        Klarissa8 months, 1 week ago

        The libs must be really desperate - ACORN is bad enough, but outright lying in an ad is criminal.

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        • 62%
          icono18 months, 1 week ago

          "...partisan analysis that piles speculation atop misinterpretation."
          Oh no! Say it ain't so!
          Not the WSJ!!!!!!!!!!!!
          No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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          • 69%
            nikkibabe8 months, 1 week ago

            Yes, his claim is true. Just yesterday when McCain blasted Bush and his policies, here is what he said:

            ' Bush supported a multi billion dollar Medicare system '. He has also said previously that Social Security is a "disgrace" while he himself is getting it from age 65. He also says that employer offered health benefits is a "disgrace" and employees should be asked to find their own health insurance.

            This maniac is a threat to senior citizens and employees who depend on their employers for health benefits.

            He should be stopped at all costs.

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          • 64%
            nikkibabe8 months, 1 week ago

            Yes, his claim is true. Just yesterday when McCain blasted Bush and his policies, here is what he said:

            ' Bush supported a multi billion dollar Medicare system '. He has also said previously that Social Security is a "disgrace" while he himself is getting it from age 65. He also says that employer offered health benefits is a "disgrace" and employees should be asked to find their own health insurance.

            This maniac is a threat to senior citizens and employees who depend on their employers for health benefits.

            He should be stopped at all costs.

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          • 55%
            nikkibabe8 months, 1 week ago

            Quote:
            "Why should the employer be forced to give healthcare if the husband can be on his wife's insurance?"

            That is misleading. Either one of them, based on benefits, be on one plan, his or hers. The other employer has nothing to spend.

            Plus, the whole employer offered health care is voluntary and no employee is obligated to sign up. They can very well get their health care insurance in the market. However, private insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions for 2 years.

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          • 44%
            grantual8 months, 1 week ago

            Obamanation is for real!!!!

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            • 45%
              MERBS8 months, 1 week ago

              OH, how sad the Republican sympathizers. It won't change a thing, darlings --- your man is crashing one last time before the "big one". Barack Obama is going to win this thing... big time Chicago politician or not. I think it is good for the country. I never thought this kid was Goldilocks anyway. I'm a grown-up and a realist.

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            • 33%
              MERBS8 months, 1 week ago

              HATE THE DEED -- NOT THE DOER

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            • 60%
              GehlLady8 months, 1 week ago

              He keeps saying he will make colledge affordable for all students by tax credits for commnunity service. He doesn't repeat the actual numbers often. As proposed, a student will receive a $4000 tax credit for 100 hrs service. That's $40hr. for a high school student to "volunteer". If they had the skills to be worth $40hr they wouldn't need colledge, for one. For two, add the costs of the government employees, paperwork, equipment and offices to implement this tax credit and now, how much an hour are we paying these high school students?

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            • 43%
              LADYSMITH8 months, 1 week ago

              I read Obama is actually in Hawaii to combat a motion to make his original birth certificate public.
              His grandma was released from the hospital. If she were in bad shape she would still be in the hospital. But why didn't Obama go to her last week when she was admitted to the hospital?
              Jerome Corsi has gone to Hawaii now. Hmmm?
              If his Kenyan grandma was telling the truth and she was present at his birth in Kenya, THEY WON'T FIND a birth certificate in Hawaii!

              Could it be that the landslide is happening to Obama right now?

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            • 60%
              hefaa18 months, 1 week ago

              BREAKING!!!

              Obama robbed at an ATM machine. White suspect carved an " M " in his forehead. Oh the Humanity !

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              • 44%
                galletta61218 months, 1 week ago

                OBAMA CERTAINLY IS A SOCIALIST. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THESE TRADITIONAL DEMOCRATS WHO CLAIM TO LOVE THEIR COUNTRY, AND AT THE SAME TIME, THEY WILL VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO TURN THEIR COUNTRY ON ITS HEAD. YOU GUYS HAVE GOT TO FACE IT., THE PARTY THAT YOUR FATHERS AND GRANDFATHERS SUPPORTED YEARS BACK WHEN IT WAS AN HONORABLE PARTY, IS GONE. THE LEADERS IN YOUR PARTY TODAY ARE ALL PROGRESSIVES., A NICE WORD FOR SOCIALIST. IF YOU BELIEVE IN SOCIALISM, YOUR IN THE RIGHT PARTY. IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO READ THE WEBSITES OF THE (DSA) DEM. SOC. OF AMERICA, YOU WOULD KNOW THAT YOUR PARTY IS BEING USED TO HATCH THE NEW SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA. ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TEARS ITSELF APART. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SEEN A CONSERVATIVE OR MODERATE DEMOCRAT ON YOUR TV SCREENS. YOU WONT, THEY HAVE NO SAY ANYMORE. YOUR PARTY IS RUN BY A HARD LEFT WHICH DOES NOT SHARE TRADITIONAL DEMOCRATIC VALUES ,THEY ARE A DANGER EVEN TO MOST OF YOU. "REMEMBER THAT.".

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              • 43%
                galletta61218 months, 1 week ago

                ISN'T IT AMAZING, THAT THESE LIBERALS ARE ALWAYS TRYING TO SCARE THE ELDERLY INTO BELIEVING THAT THE MONEY FOR MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY IS GOING TO RUN OUT. YET YOU NEVER HEAR THEM SAY THAT MONEY FOR WELFARE IS GOING TO RUN OUT. HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

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              • 50%
                Bruedaddy8 months, 1 week ago

                Funny, well he said it HIMSELF during the 2nd debate that services will most likely need to be cut to future recipients.

                He didn't say 800 billion but he DID say he would cut benefits.

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                • 60%
                  willottica8 months, 1 week ago

                  I entered this thread disgusted with the Democratic campaign for what looks like blatant manipulation of the facts. I haven't changed my opinion on the story, BUT

                  The Republicans on this thread have reminded me why I find the McCain campaign so disgusting. There is no low point that the Dems will hit that hasn't already been reached and exceeded for dirty and disgustingness from the right.

                  If I were to have to vote for the lesser of 2 evils, I would vote for the lesser of KNOWN evils, not the lesser of imagined ones. The lesser of imagined evils is the result of the greater campaign evil.

                  IMO, the lesser KNOWN evil is Obama. Through his words and his actions he has shown to be a decent and respectable person. Through his associations, we can IMAGINE all kinds of terrible things about him.

                  McCain, by comparison, talks a pretty good game, but also flies off the handle into a rage. They are HIS words and actions that deteriorate foreign relations by singing "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." It was HIS action to abandon his first wife after the war. HE supported the illegal war against Iraq from the beginning. HE called his current wife an inappropriate expletive in a public forum.

                  If we look at what we KNOW about the candidates, rather than what we imagine or suspect, McCain is the not the lesser evil, not by a long shot.

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                • 43%
                  galletta61218 months, 1 week ago

                  A PERSON WHO SITS BACK ON THEIR ASS COLLECTING WELFARE, HAS NO RIGHT TO DEMAND HEALTH CARE FOR HIS FAMILY. HEALTH CARE IS NOT A GOD GIVEN RIGHT. A PERSON WHO WORKK'S HARD ALL THEIR LIFE, AND CAN AFFORD IT, SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE A BETTER HEALTH CARE PLAN THEN A PERSON WHO ALWAYS HAS THEIR HANDS OUT. WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO STAND IN LINE WITH LOAFERS AT SOME GOVERNMENT CLINIC, WHEN ALL MY LIFE I HAVE PLAYED BY THE RULES, AND PAYED MY OWN WAY IN LIFE.THIS IS WHAT A SOCIALIST OBAMA WILL GIVE US. THERE ARE ALREADY MANY STATE RUN MEDICAID PLANS THESE LOAFERS ARE SUCKING OFF OF, AND SOME OF THESE TAXPAYER FUNDED PROGRAMS PROVIDE BETTER COVERAGE THEN PRIVATE SECTOR PLANS. I RECENTLY WATCHED A SEGMENT ON MY LOCAL NEWS. IT WAS ABOUT PEOPLE WITH NO HEALTH CARE. THEY INTERVIEWED SOME WOMEN WHO SPOKE VERY LITTLE ENGLISH ,OUTSIDE OF A LOCAL EMERGENCY ROOM. SHE COMPLAINED THAT SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO USE THE EMERGENCY ROOM WHEN HER CHILDREN GET SICK. SHE EXPLAINED THAT SHE HAS SIX CHILDREN, AND IS PREGNANT TO A SEVENTH. SHE GOES ON TO SAY, "WHAT WILL I DO IF THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT GIVE THE MONEY FOR ME AND MY CHILDREN TO EAT. I WILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO MY COUNTRY. MY CHILDREN BORN IN AMERICA, THEY ENTITLED TO THESE MONEY. GOVERNMENT NOT GIVE ENOUGH IN CHECK FOR NEW BABY. WHAT I CAN DO?
                  ITS AMAZING THAT THIS PERSON, WHO CAN NOT AFFORD TO FEED HER FAMILY, YET KEEPS HAVING THEM AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE, ACTUALLY BELIEVES IN HER MIND THAT SHE IS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE ALL TYPES OF FUNDING. AND SHE MOST LIKELY IS NOT EVEN A CITIZEN. BUT SOME LIBERAL SOCIAL WORKER,SOMEHOW MADE THIS PERSON BELIEVE SHE HAS A GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO THESE THINGS. HOW MANY MORE MILLIONS OF THESE WOMEN ARE OUT THERE SUCKING OF THE TAXPAYER WHILE WE CANT EVEN MAKE ENDS MEET OURSELVES. WHAT GETS ME EVEN MORE IS, SHE THEN THREATENS TO GO BACK TO HER COUNTRY, AS IF WE WILL BE SORRY FOR LOSING HER. SOMEBODY IS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL HERE! WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR, A CIVIL WAR.

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