McCain has no substance

Via John Cole:

Sullivan asks: “And did Bush’s Nazi silliness unwittingly stomp on McCain’s big speech today?”

To which I respond, if McCain is lucky. I briefly blogged about the McCain speech yesterday, asking why he chose 2013 as a good time to withdraw the troops, and after having some time last night to watch more of the speech and read the whole thing, I have my answer.

There is no answer. The whole speech is made up. It is all, every last word of it, pure fantasy. There was no outlining of plans, no presentation of facts that would lead you to believe all of the things he “sees” in his “vision” will come to pass- it was nothing but pure nonsense. Here is a partial list of things he sees in his “vision”:

We “win” in Iraq. No mention of what “winning” actually means.

The Taliban is “defeated.” How? Who knows?

We have a bigger Army and bigger Marine corps, and they are “better” trained and “better” equipped.

Bin Laden will be dead.

The economy will be “growing.”

New trade agreements leading to increased exports. Who are the agreements with?Who knows? What are we exporting? Who cares?

Health care will be “affordable.” How? FORCE OF WILL, BABY. Don’t you know John McCain is a veteran!

And on and on and on it goes. He might as well have also promised to cure AIDS, give everyone a PONY, and promised time travel.

And what is so amazing about it is that most of the press seems to have taken this… seriously. Why was he not laughed off the stage? Why, after eight years of an administration making their own reality, is this buffoon offering us visions and people are not throwing tomatoes at him? This is insanity, plain and simple.

This has been typical of the McCain campaign all along. Specifics are not his strong suit. I briefly looked over his website, and I must say, it has improved a bit, because it used to be filled with the same kind of crap as that speech; just a bunch of vague platitudes and goals with very few specifics.

Still, on health care:

John McCain Believes The Key To Health Care Reform Is To Restore Control To The Patients Themselves.

On HMOs:

John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance. An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.

John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will also have the option of receiving a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.

John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.

John McCain Will Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.

Not a single word about lowering the costs for health insurance. Just a few ideas about saving money and getting tax credits to pay for insurance, and offering more "choice", as if choosing between horseshit and donkeyshit was a choice.

We already know that McCain doesn't know shit about economics, but he has no serious plan for healthcare because Republicans don't have a serious plan for healthcare. They prefer to keep scaring people about the evils of "socialist medicine", while getting greased by HMO and drug company lobbyist dollars, and while they get some of the best insurance coverage in the country as members of Congress, provided by....wait for it....the GOVERNMENT.

I'll most likely blog more about healthcare in the future; it's one of my main areas of interest. I'm sort of an amateur (okay, very amateur) policy wonk on the subject.