Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t
I'm on the run today, but want to get the latest from the DNC research department out there. Today's Daily Flipper has the following stories:
Sen. John McCain is all mixed up on his wars
He needs to go back to health care 101
McCain Gets White House Sign Off Before Criticizing White House
McCain Wants World To Look The Other Way On Shady Connections
How Much Does McCain Love Nuclear Power - Billions of Giga-Bunches
Giuliani Having Trouble Raising Money for McCain
Read the full report in the Daily Flipper. Flip it good.
Top Headline
All Mixed Up: McCain Gets His Middle East Wars Confused
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) clarified his comments Friday after suggesting the Iraq war was motivated by U.S.reliance on foreign oil.
His explanation: He was talking about the 1991 Persian Gulf War, not the current conflict.
At issue Friday was a comment at a morning town hall meeting in Denver, when he said his energy policy would eliminate U.S.dependence on Middle East oil and would "prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East."
He sought to clarify his comments after his campaign plane landed in Phoenix. He said he didn't mean the U.S.went to war in Iraq five years ago over oil.
"No, no, I was talking about that we had fought the Gulf War for several reasons," McCain told reporters.
'91 war, not Iraq war, was over oil, McCain clarifies - from Associated Press, The LA Times.
Flipper story #2:
McCain’s Health Care Fiasco Would Leave Many Americans In the Dark
McCain would treat the health insurance provided by employers as taxable income for their workers. To offset the higher tax bills, he would offer credits - $2,500 for an individual, $5,000 for families. Yet last year comprehensive coverage cost $4,479 for individuals and
$12,106 for families, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Many people would have to pay higher taxes to get the insurance they want.
McCain's alternative is greater use of health savings accounts, which trade lower premiums for a high deductible. Under this scheme, people are expected to pay for routine care without relying on insurance. The US Government Accountability Office reported last week that the average income of people with HSAs was $139,000 in 2005. Affluent people may appreciate the tax advantages and don't mind out-of-pocket payments, but most people appreciate the financial security of a comprehensive plan.
That would especially include those who are close to retirement age or have chronic conditions, yet many cannot afford individual policies.
(The Massachusetts health reform law does offer coverage for them, but policies are costly for older people.)
Dr. McCain's snake oil, Globe Editorial, Boston Globe
Flipper story #3:
McCain Needs To Go Back To Health Care 101
Earlier in the campaign Mr. McCain made the accusation more explicitly.
"There will be efforts to have a single-payer big government solution by the Democrats," he said at a debate in Orlando, Fla., in October.
"They’ve already espoused those causes. If you believe them, please take a trip to Canada or England before you decide to support such a thing."
And in August when he was interviewed by Charlie Rose on PBS, Mr.
McCain said: "Look at what the Democrats’ proposal is. It’s a government-run, single-payer system like they have in Canada and like they have in England."
Mr. Rose interrupted: "But I beg to differ. They will say that it is not that at all."
The only Democratic presidential candidate to propose a true single-payer, Medicare-for-all type of health plan in this election cycle was Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio. Mr. Obama’s and Mrs. Clinton’s plans do not call for a single-payer system like Canadians have, or a government-run national health system like the British have.
Parsing McCain on the Democrats’ Health Plans, By MICHAEL COOPER and JULIE BOSMAN, NY Times
Flipper story #4:
McCain Gets White House Sign Off Before Criticizing White House
John McCain’s senior campaign staff and President Bush’s senior White House staff are so close that the McCain folks let the Bush folks know in advance whenever McCain is about to distance himself from the unpopular president, says a top McCain aide.
Case in point, says Charlie Black, was McCain’s criticism last week of Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. "Disgraceful" is how McCain classified it during a New Orleans campaign stop.
McCain staff to White House: Caution, distancing ahead, By Ken Herman, Cox News Washington Bureau
Flipper story #5:
McCain Wants World To Look The Other Way On Shady Connections
Can a presidential candidate justify a long and friendly relationship with someone who, back in the 1970s, extolled violence and committed crimes in the name of a radical ideology-and who has never shown remorse or admitted error? When the candidate in question is Barack Obama, John McCain says no. But when the candidate in question is John McCain, he's not so sure.
What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers-in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him.
Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
McCain finds his own radical friend, by Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune
Flipper story #6
How Much Does McCain Love Nuclear Power - Billions of Giga-Bunches
McCain is repeating his little-noticed uber-Francophile statement from his big April 2007 speech on energy policy, "If France can produce 80% of its electricity with nuclear power, why can't we?"
Why can't we? Wrong question, Senator. The right question is -- Why would we? Let's do the math.
The U.S.has some one hundred nuclear reactors providing about nearly 100 Gigawatts of capacity and nearly 800,000 Gigawatt-hours of electricity, roughly 20% of total U.S.power. For the record, France has only 59 reactors, capacity of about 63 GW, generating 550,000 GW-hr (some of which is exported), covering nearly 80% of their usage. [Note to Sen. McCain: France is a much smaller country than ours.]
What would it take for us to be 80% Nuclear?
We would have to quadruple the number of reactors to 400, which would take decades even if we could somehow return to -- and sustain -- the fastest decadal rate of U.S.nuclear plant construction.
McCain Calls for 700+ New Nuclear Plants (and 7 Yucca Mountains) Costing $4 Trillion, by Joseph Romm, Huffington Post
Flipper story #7:
Giuliani Having Trouble Raising Money for McCain
Rudy Giuliani is meeting some resistance in his effort to raise big bucks for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The ex-mayor is speaking at Wednesday's McCain fund-raiser at the Sheraton, where billionaires David Koch, Carl Icahn, Henry Kravis and Stephen Schwarzman are expected. Plus, a team of former Giuliani aides - Randy Mastro, Randy Levine, Tony Coles and Robert Harding - are co-chairing the event, as Page Six reported last week. But while Rudy has opened up his golden Rolodex, one GOP volunteer making calls told us, "There's a backlash.
They want to give money to McCain, but they don't want to give it through Rudy.
RUDY FOR JOHN: ROUGH GOING, Richard Johnson, NY Post
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The Daily Flipper is distributed by the DNC Research Department. Items are not intended for attribution to the DNC, its chair or spokespeople.
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Link to Previous Daily Flippers Today is number 8.
Note: greenchiledem is a DNC committee member from Colorado and Kos community member. She has committed as a superdelegate for Senator Obama and considers herself a progressive Democrat.