Shut Out of McCain Town Hall, Activists Rally Outside to Oppose His Health Care Tax

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/05/02/shut-out-of-mccain-town-hall-activists-rally-outside-to-oppose-his-health-care-tax/

Phil Hayes, Colorado Labor 2008 state director, just returned from an event in Denver, where working families rallied outside a town hall meeting Sen. John McCain held to talk about his health care plan, which experts say would raise taxes rather than cutting costs, and it could push millions out of the health insurance they already have.

Taking a page from George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, McCain refused to allow Colorado residents to take part in his town hall meeting in Denver unless they were McSupporters. Maybe that’s so we wouldn’t point out how the McCain proposal would mean fewer people have health care coverage and would tax the benefits of those with job-based coverage.



McCain’s lack of democratic outreach didn’t deter our group, with more than 40 union members and allies rallying outside the town hall event. We carried signs such as: “McCain Care = Corporate Welfare” and “No Health Care, No Peace,” while chanting “Old Ideas, No Solutions.”

Mike Cerbo, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, says:

Today, we spent the morning educating the public about McCain’s lack of a health care plan. McCain’s plan will lead to a tax on our health care benefits and creates a disincentive for employers to provide health care.

John Fleck, president of the Denver Area Labor Federation, sums up McCain’s experience with health care this way:

Since the day John McCain was born, taxpayers have been paying for his health care. Now he wants to tax the health care of working families. He should be ashamed. John McCain’s health care plan is worse than anything George Bush has ever proposed.

Given Bush’s approval rating, which is now the lowest of any president since modern polling began, McCain might want to take another look at his plan.

Then I looked at the photo and thought, those people sure don't look like right wing anti tax types. They have these beautiful smiles on their faces.

So i read the article and it all became clear to me.