One truth I've learned over the years: even conservatives don't want to pay their parents' hospital bills!

He also said at the last debate that he would cut benefits for social security. In a just world McCain would have been electicuted by the third rail by now.

Follow the money!

McCain's program is like a shell game. You have to watch carefully. For example he proposes taxing health insurance as regular employee income. If the employer drops the insurance who gets that so called "income?" It would appear that this employee taxable"income" will revert to employers.

Quite a plan.

Why did Obama hold on to this until after the debates? Wouldn't have this great debate fodder?

I don't know if this ad is playing in Florida, but I saw it this morning here in northeast Ohio. (And I gave a little fist-pump when it finished.)

Well, imagine that: Obama's speech covers a topic in sync with a new Obama ad.

Such well-oiled competence is just all-in-a-day's work for this campaign. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign usually looks like it's directed by Mack Sennett, but without the careful precision.

In rabid Republican central Florida , where "my daddy voted Republican is used for an excuse for votting for McNasty. I have been shaking these people by the shoulders trying to get it through their thick skulls...If McCain passes his health plan you stand a good chance of loosing your work supplied health insurance. What part of voting against your own self interest don't you get? Mostly falling on deaf ears. They need to keep playing this up. I'm John McCain and I've got money - the rest of you poor fucks are on your own.

At a recent Senate debate regarding Hubble funding, John McCain was overheard saying, "Whoa, that,s a lot of money for an overhead projector."

At a recent Senate debate on ongoing funding for Hubble, John McCain was overheard saying, "Whoa, that's a lot of money for an overhead projector."

If you spend any time with retirees you know that one of their major discussion topics is health. It has to be. And health care. And balancing the budget.

Recently I've noticed that they are sharing another topic: fears about reduction of their IRAs.

Now, if they seriously believe that McCain will cut medicare benefits they won't vote for him even if they think Obama is a Muslim terrorist. The question is whether Obama can get them to believe this -- people are pretty immune to claims on political TV ads. I hope he's backing it up with support from 3rd parties and other ways of distributing the info.

If successful this could be like what happened in the early 1990s in Britain. The majority were ready for Labour to return to power, but Kinnock was simply not going to let go of his tax increase proposals. So, at the last minute, a lot of young Labourites swung over to the Tories because they rightly feared that they could no longer affort to own their house if Labour got into power. And Kinnock ended up 0-3 in general elections, paving the way for Blair.

If McCain passes his health plan you stand a good chance of loosing your work supplied health insurance. John R

And yet I have now seen two people claim that people who have health insurance from work would actually make a profit from McCain's tax credit. The first was CNN's fact checker, Josh Levs. The other, believe it or not, was Bill Moyer's weekly guest, Kathleen Hall Jameson, though I think she said it on the Lehrer Hour. For those who watch PBS, but don't recognize Jameson's name, she's the one who looks like Trent Lott's evil twin.

And yet I have now seen two people claim that people who have health insurance from work would actually make a profit from McCain's tax credit.

The rich pundits don't understand health insurance, because they never deal with the hassles that the rest of us proles do.

What policy if any that McCain has proposed would have any chance in hell in moving through Congress?

If McCain is to be taken seriously on any policy issue wouldn't he have to be proposing solutions that could potentially have some bipartisan support in Congress?

His stepping across the aisle is greatly lacking in this campaign. Already lacking much wide support within the GOP, what will McCain have gained by burning all his bridges in this campaign? McCain would be a leader without a country.

Right, so now what does the 'low information' voter, translate into stupid voter, now do with this information ? what do the all the elder voters do with this information given, if you believe the polls at all, that McEvil still is somehow ahead with group ? This information alone should dictate to these people that they must vote for their own self interest ......... meaning if McEvil was not toast before this, he has to be now .......

Obama's holds to the old adage:

"Keep your powder dry"

Say it too much and too often and people tune you out.

These guys are really, really, good.

looks like Trent Lott's evil twin

Trent Lott's evil twin?! The mind boggles...

Florida? How's the message play in Arizona?

Steve, you made a comment back on TCR about how David Axelrod is type of person that wouldn't drop a refrigerator on McCain's head. He is the type of guy that would pull the refrigerator apart and drop it on McCain's hear piece by piece. This was an excellent ploy. Let mccain destroy his own credibility and pounce when the time is right. I assume there will be a lot more pouncing from now until election day. There are many refrigerator pieces left to drop.

It turns out, Obama's team was just holding onto it until the stretch run.

THONK!
Freezer door.

Here's some aspirin and an ice bag John.

I'll go get the Percoset, you're going to need it.
I think Rush might still have a few, I'll go check for you.

This was when I realized that they were just making everything up as they went along. I don't think they mean it. They needed something to say about healthcare, this was what was available on the right. And they've just changed it as the Obama camp focused on its many flaws.

Next, they're going to use a jet pack and duct tape to keep the Medicare cuts from affecting anyone.

John McCain would pay for the rest of his health care plan 'with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid.' $882 billion from Medicare alone. Requiring cuts in benefits, eligibility, or both. -- Obama

Well, you see, Medicare spends so much on cosmetic surgery for seniors; such Cadillac features can be trimmed without any real consequences.

BTW. Roanoke is only 50 miles south of me (and no, I didn't go; I was volunteering at the Free Clinic instead. But I've heard the Center was mobbed as early as 7:30, even though the speech was scheduled for noon and admittance started at 10. And it *rained*, too). The people there are really up the s**t creek without a paddle vis healthcare. Virginia's qualification requirements for Medicare are extremely hard to meet and Roanoke is far from a rich city.

That's one of the reasons our area is so riddled with those Free Clinics; people who can't afford health insurance but don't qualify for Medicare either, come to us. Talking healthcare in Virginia is really the way to go (which Obama seems to know perfectly well; the VA Beach speech was about healthcare too).

Can we all pitch in together and run this as a looping ad allover Florida?

Maybe then more folks over there will get it ...

Why did Obama hold on to this until after the debates? Wouldn't have this great debate fodder?

Well, I'm not saying this is why, but I would note that by holding until after the debates, Obama makes it so that McCain has to pay to respond to it, rather than being able to respond in the debate, which is free media.

McCain said he planned to reduce both Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in early July 2008. Since then McCain's answer for social security is he will work across the isle with Democrats to fix the problem.

McCain has gone back and forth on a tax increase for social security, the last was no increase. He has to have an increase in tax or reduce benefits.

Skepticism on McCain Plan to Balance Budget by 2013

McCain said he would also slow the growth of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and fiscal experts agree that he would need to do that to achieve his goal.

But McCain did not give details of how he would alter those benefit programs, which have powerful constituencies, including older Americans, a huge health care industry and state and local government officials

http://tinyurl.com/6xo5bk

Senator Barack Obama''s newest claim that Senator John McCain''s health care plan will cut $882 billion in Medicare health care benefits for seniors, ranks among the biggest whoppers of the whole campaign.

CBS News Reality Check

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/
2008/10/17/eveningnews/realitycheck/main
4530306.shtml?source=RSSattr=Politics_45
30306

I think that CBS needs to get a reality check. The WSJ is hardly the "liberal media" and the estimates of the cuts were confirmed by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's chief economic adviser.

This is not to say that there are not places where Medicare cuts would be useful. We all know about the problems with Part D. If you look at daytime TV you can figure out where Medicare is overpaying -- scooters? Diabetes testing supplies? Catheters? Oxygen? The Medicare program is obviously overpaying for durable medical equipment and perscription drugs, but we knew that.

The problem is that McCain would cut into the meat and bone of the Medicare system, which is already wounded and bleeding. His proposals would cut about 20% out of the budget, which I suspect is far more than the overpayment problems represent. McCain's proposals represent a full scale war on the healthcare system which we do have. At least Obama's proposals would make things a little bit better while providing a backdoor to a single payer system.

Great ad, and totally truthful. I'm curious, though: Does anyone know whether this would be counted as a 'negative' ad by those who tally those things?