I went to a health care rally at McCain's office in Tempe, AZ on Thursday. It was organized through moveon.org. Just got the photos uploaded. We spoke with the staff in the reception office -- 18 of us crammed into a small area. Afterwards, we took to the street with some signs and chanting. It was 109 degrees, yet the group was determined to get the message out.
Staff told us that Senator McCain had a townhall meeting on healthcare recently and that we should have been there. We asked why constituents weren't notified of townhall meeting. She said there was no money for the usual information mailers. (Maybe mailer budget was depleted during election last year.) She assured us that the senator is interested in hearing our views. I have my doubts about his interest in our needs.
Inside McCain's office:
The staff member printed some papers for us that state McCain's stand on health care. It can be found at his official website as the June 16, 2009 floor statement. (Very difficult to pin down McCain's views on his site.)
My interpretation of the statement is that Senator McCain seems to be in keeping with the "party of no" by just saying what we should NOT have -- anything that the Democrats propose.
Unfortunately, this legislation seeks to enact a massive government-run health care program that intrudes into the lives of all Americans by making decisions on each American’s choice of doctors, employer health plans, and insurance providers.
Out of the whole statement, I really only found these suggestions for reform:
Two ideas: (1) a refundable tax credit for all Americans to pay for health care coverage and (2) portability for an insurance policy that can provide coverage across state lines. That is pretty simple and some ideas that could be considered in a bipartisan fashion in a matter of weeks.
Hey, Senator: "That's not change we can believe in".
So we have to keep pushing and here are some who are trying.
This gentleman was proud of his "Sicko" badge from Moore's film:
A nice couple who came to show support:
We're ready for change: