‘Morning Joe’ Ignores McCain Health Care Plan After Promising Elizabeth Edwards To Ask Him About It
‘Morning Joe’ Ignores McCain Health Care Plan After Promising Elizabeth Edwards To Ask Him About It
Yesterday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosted Elizabeth Edwards to discuss her argument that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) health care plan would leave both him and Elizabeth “outside the clinic doors.”
Hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski seemed to take the issue seriously, with Scarborough saying that the health care debate is “at the center of what Americans are talking about.” When Edwards explained that McCain’s plan would shut both him and Edwards out because of the cancer they’d both suffered, Brezizinski replied, “We’ll have to ask him about that…we’ll dig at him tomorrow.”
Viewers hoping for clarification on this major issue would have been disappointed with McCain’s “Morning Joe” interview. During the 10 minute-plus interview, none of the three hosts asked McCain anything about his health care plan. They did find time, however, to ask about his endorsement from Heidi Montag, star of MTV’s “The Hills,” and about how he deals with “ruthless” jokes from late-night comedians. Watch it:
Asking McCain about his health care plan would have been a timely issue. Just today, the Boston Globe reported that McCain’s aides “have been scrambling” to work out the specifics of their health care plan, particularly on the question of covering people with preexisting conditions:
“These are real questions, and I think there will be answers, and there better be, but they are not there yet,” said McCain adviser Thomas P. Miller, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “A lot more remains to be hammered out.” […]
“We are working on it,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s top policy adviser. “We’ll put out more details. As we do, it will be clearer to people.”
Holtz-Eakin accused Edwards of “not understand[ing] the comprehensive nature of the senator’s proposal.” Yet it’s Holtz-Eakin and the McCain campaign who are confused. And few in the media are willing to demand Straight Talk from McCain.
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Big surprise.
Scarborough is a right-wing tool, through and through.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pmprogressisgreat is correct. We have a major problem. The Hillary/Obama thing are nothing compared to this.
If we don’t find a solution to this problem then we could be in very big trouble. The MSM is trying to decide this election. I understand why, they belong to big business.
We need some heavy hitters from the sidelines starting now with a drumbeat of equal coverage and rebuttal to slights like this. It is up to us to keep this from happening.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 pmWHAT HEALTH CARE PLAN?
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pmHe doesn’t have one… the corporate owned media/MIC/insurance industry can not have this exposed for the good of their survival.
Cuz Joe’s a f_cking loser.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pmThe preexisting conditions question is neither difficult or complex. You either mandate coverage or you do not. McNutzi’s problem is that not mandating coverage leaves huge gaps but the right wing base hates government intervention (unless it involves gays, drugs, abortion or brown people). Since the Republican Party is nothing more than an advertising agency at this point his strategists are presumably struggling with the right buzz words to make an ineffectual tax incentive system that will provide no benefit to the lower middle class and the uninsurable sound like a plan. I suggest “same old crap in a bigger baggie” but then again, I may be a wee bit jaded.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pmprogressisgreat Says:
Well you know what they say about you and a half a clock…
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:20 pmSay, Joe, howsabout you tell all of us about that dead girl they found in your office…?
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pmprogressisgreat Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Everybody’s out to get you guy’s!! its one big right wing conspiracy!
Yeah , because we know someone like Joe Stupidborough , a former horseshit GOP Congressman who was one of those leading the charge for Clinton’s scalp , is completely fair and impartial and possesses no agenda whatsoever…….
You’re a sorry little GOP pissant tool……….
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 pmMcInsane believes that the “Marketplace” will make Health Care more affordable. Of course we’ve how well thats worked since the inception of Managed Care.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 pmthat should be a stopped clock
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 pmhis endorsement from Heidi Montag, star of MTV’s “The Hills,”
is a much more sexy topic than boring old health care, sick people, like, yuk!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pmOT, But Whoa! Rhandi Rhodes is suspended from Air America for bashing Hillary??
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 04/ 03/ air-america-host-suspended-for-clinton-remarks/
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pmMs. Edwards is on a MISSION. Go get ‘em Elizabeth.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pmlooks like progressivepissant and his tripe are history.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pmAt least Morning Joe admits to being a conservative water carrier. On Bill Maher’s show awhile back he had to remember which party he was defending until they teased him.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 pmWhy can’t Mornin Joe provide some real entertainment like pouring a pot of hot steaming coffee in his crotch for our amusement? That’d be worth watching./snark off
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pmKeltoi Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
OT, But Whoa! Rhandi Rhodes is suspended from Air America for bashing Hillary??
Maybe because the management at Air America Radio has some principles?
I’m not surprised Rhodes went too far; she’s incredibly rude when she’s on her best behavior.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pmI’ve noticed for the past thirty years that the mainstream media will not tell the people the benefits of universal/single-payer healthcare—nor the fact that every other developed country in the world has every citizen covered.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pmKeltoi
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
She was rude toward Hillary and Geraldine Ferarro. It’s appropriate that she was suspended.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pmHey Joe, tell us about that young intern you were having an affair with while you were a Florida congressman. The autopsy report said she could not have died (IN YOUR OFFICE) by a simple fall—that she was attacked!
At least Bill didn’t KILL Monica!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pmZooster, it wasn’t on AirAmerica, but during a stand-up routine, she called Ferraro and Hillary f*&^%$g Wh*&%$.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 pmgummitch Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Keltoi Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
OT, But Whoa! Rhandi Rhodes is suspended from Air America for bashing Hillary??
Maybe because the management at Air America Radio has some principles?
I’m not surprised Rhodes went too far; she’s incredibly rude when she’s on her best behavior.
Yeah, that is kinda my point, she is pretty damn raw all the time, she must have really gone over the top. Funny thing is, she strikes me as the sort to go “the hell with you then”…not the sort to admit she went too far. I wonder if she’ll be back.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 pmMcCain needn’t worry about health care with toadies like Joe Scar to sit by his sick bed.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm18,000 die every year in the US due to lack of healthcare, but we are talking about Randi (not on AirAmerica) saying the f word!!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 pmDoesn’t ANYONE in the main stream media have a set of balls big enough to ask these tough questions? Put these folks on the spot. OH, AND NEWS FLASH FOR JOE: I don’t care about Heidi Montag, who she endorses, or what she wears.
I mean, we have three people that are vying for the most powerful position in the country and we still don’t know what the f!ck they are going to do about health care. (And that is different than health insurance.)
C’mon, Joe, grow a set or get some college student to ask the questions.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pmKeltoi Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Yeah, that is kinda my point, she is pretty damn raw all the time, she must have really gone over the top. Funny thing is, she strikes me as the sort to go “the hell with you then”…not the sort to admit she went too far. I wonder if she’ll be back.
She’s passionate, she’s extremely well-informed and insightful, but she’s just too abrasive for me, and too willing to rudely dismiss opinions from people essentially agreeing with her but expressing themselves poorly.
That said, she’s been doing this job for years and I suspect she’s not independently wealthy–she’ll be back.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pmTired of being lied to Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I mean, we have three people that are vying for the most powerful position in the country and we still don’t know what the f!ck they are going to do about health care. (And that is different than health insurance.)
And that is one reason we are the laughing stock of the industrialized world.
I had a conversation with a european collegue the other day about doing business with the US in the future. He asked: “Well, how long in the future are we talking about?” I remarked the next 10-20 years, maybe. He laughed and said most of his professional associates believe we will be too fat, too lazy, and too uneducated to respond to any need that Europe might have. He finished by asking me “why don’t the voters care about what the candidates are saying?”. I had no answer for them, except to say that the MSM and Bush has beaten them down so badly, they aren’t strong enough to care. They (Europeans) are taking a very pro-active approach to avoid needing the US for anything.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pmSince this thread started (one hour) two more Americans have died due to lack of healthcare—-compared to every other developed country in the world.
They spend 50% or less of what we spend.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pmStratRat, with the dollar tanking and economists talking about future debt of $40 TRILLION, we will declared a failed state and taken over by the World Bank. They will tell us what policies we can and cannot have.
Unless the Dems win and we change course.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pmKeith Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
StratRat, with the dollar tanking and economists talking about future debt of $40 TRILLION, we will declared a failed state and taken over by the World Bank. They will tell us what policies we can and cannot have.
Actually, that is what the collegue was trying to convey. The numbers are growing so large, so quickly we may not have time to turnaround the momentum. This truly could get very ugly, very fast. He told me that when the average (not most expensive, but average) price of gas hits $4.00 in America, all bets are off. The immense volume of gasoline we use, coupled with the high price per gallon, will have a domino effect on the prices of many other staples (fruits/veggies, milk, meat, etc…) which need to be transported. I think it is time to start learning how to feed you and your family, using your own land. Its getting scary folks.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 pmYou thought Scarborough would put McCain on the spot? You gotta be kidding!
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:46 pmJoe Stupidborough yucking it up with Johnny McShitstain ; what a great photo-op , Joe.
We’ll see how hard you’re laughing when Morning Joke goes the way of Tucker Carlson’s crappy little show from the same channel……….
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 pmgummitch - it would be great for everyone to play by the Queens Rules…however when playing with gutter snipes you just have to fight they way they understand. Rudeness seems to get across to conservatives.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:19 pmScarborough is a big-league “used-to-was” - a ratings Loser par excellence.
He’ll be lucky to get an invite to Bill O’Reilly’s 4th of July party.
Joe’s just one more satisfied customer at Ol’McMaverick’s Weiner Shack. Bet he swallows, too.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:33 pmYeah, texass laddy, but Randi wasn’t attacking conservative guttersnipes, was she?
She was attacking Iron Jawed Ladies who are trailblazing into No (wo)Man’s Land.
And attacking them by ANATOMY. Vile. But I guess you have stockholm syndrome down there in Good Ole Boy land. You need some leeway.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 pmAs for Joe Scar, he was banging plenty of young thangs, but there is no proof Lori was one of them. The reason he should not be on the air today is that it was HIM, personally, who called up several news sources in Florida and outright lied to them that Lori had “multiple health problems.”
That was an outright lie, even before the autopsy showed that she was blugeoned to death.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pmREMEMBER:
The MSMBS is a PAID CORPORATE ENTITY protecting it’s interests… $$$$
They have no concern for human life only the dollars they can profit on.
Scar, Mika, et al accept money to shill.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 pmThey are PAID PROPAGANDISTS and NOT journalists.
Why McCain has the best health-care plan
His is the only one of the candidate proposals that has a chance of getting medical costs under control. An argument for some free-market sanity.
http://money.cnn.com/ 2008/ 03/ 10/ news/ economy/ tully_healthcare.fortune/
…The problem with McCain’s approach - and it is a huge problem - is that McCain ventures so far toward total laissez-faire liberty that he risks leaving the poor and sick behind. Here’s why. Perhaps his most drastic proposal is allowing the same insurance products to be sold across state lines. That seems to make sense, and maybe it does: Look what interstate banking has done for pricing and choice in financial services. But in health care, the upheaval would be so brutal that it scares even the most ardent free-marketer. Many states have some form of what policy wonks call “community rating.” Under pure community rating, insurers must charge all customers the same premium no matter whether they’re 20 or 55, or whether they have cancer or are models of good health. McCain is targeting community rating for good reason. It forces the young and healthy to pay far more than their actual cost by making them subsidize the elderly and sick. Like the mandated benefits, it’s pushed millions of Americans in their 20s to drop their health insurance.
But under the McCain plan, states with no restrictions - Pennsylvania, for example - could sell policies for 25-year-olds that cost around $1,200 a year, one-third the price in New York. Young New Yorkers would drop their plans in favor of Pennsylvania providers, forcing New York insurers to jack up premiums for people in their 50s or early 60s, who need those rich, community-rated plans that cover as many procedures as possible - but who no longer benefit from the excessive premiums paid by the youngsters. It gets worse. Anyone with cancer, diabetes, or other pre-existing conditions will see their premiums multiply too.…
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 pm“but who no longer benefit from the excessive premiums paid by the youngsters.”
This isn’t exactly blowing me away… though I suppose those in their 20s would appreciate the help thirty years later.
There’s no way I can support McCain’s “health care plan” of which I question all three words and their quality. But I do think the young and healthy deserve low premiums and, guess what, they can put the “savings” in a 20-year investment at a bank or elsewhere, plus they earn more at 50 (hopefully with the way things are going).
We need to get profit out of healthcare, just as we don’t charge for police and fire extinguishing assistance (besides taxes). I’m not aware of executives for firefighters getting millions for being terminated, but I know quite a few in the medical and insurance fields.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:16 amShorelineCT Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 pm
You are not addressing the problem of the unnecessary massive middleman that gobbles up an extra $300 Billion each and every year. Every other developed country in the world have streamlined their payment and cover EVERYONE while spending 50% or less per capita.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:35 amOld man johnny is talking before the ink dry`s and it`s clarified with the old guy what side of his mouth is supposed to move and what is said. I have just had an epiphany, he is just another talking head neocon that can`t think for himself,Do people on the right and left really want this guy running our country for 4 more years of being “SHAT UPON” by our gov`t.People like me and you the everyday American will no longer be in existence at the end of 2012 (is this to harsh?).
April 4th, 2008 at 1:56 amThis would be a great example of hard hitting journalism in regards to a Presidential candidate. Joe at his most rivetting.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:36 am