John McCain
Town Hall
Nashua, NH 06/12/08
TRANSCRIPT:
QUESTIONER: Thank you Senator McCain. My name is John Mendowloski and I'm the President of the New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans. So my questions will deal with Seniors issues.
JOHN MCCAIN: I can relate, I can relate to that (laughter).
QUESTIONER: We're the same age sir.
JOHN MCCAIN: You're looking good.
QUESTIONER: Thank you, I've had a lot of repairs.
MCCAIN: (laughter).
QUESTIONER: My insurance company thought I was the six million dollar man [...] In January of 1940, Ellemay Fuller received the first Social Security check for $22.52. That was in 1940. We've gone thought the second World War, Korean War, inflation, you name it we've gone through it. Never once was a social security missed. Not Once. That's a tremendous record for a government run operation. One that we should be proud of. Now, I retired in 2005 and my wife retired in 2007. The stock market has bumped up and down during that time and neither one of our social security checks have been a day late. I also have investments. And just since last October my investments have dropped by 10% but not my social security. Now you have stated that you're in favor of, in favor of private accounts, which really is privatization of social security. Since 1987, till the present time, the 20 most precipitous drops in the stock market, as measured by Dow Jones, have happened during that time. And 19 of those 20 have happened since 1998. Sir, why would you have workers' nest eggs placed on the roulette wheel of Wall Street rather the safety and the guarantee of the United States government?
JOHN MCCAIN: Because, because it is these worker's tax dollars that, their own dollars, that's going into the Social Security trust fund. It's their dollars, it's not the government's dollars to take from them. It's their dollars, it's their money. They're the ones that have earned it. Now let me finish now. I'll let you respond and rebut. But I'm not for "privatizating social security." I never have been and I never will be and that's a great buzzword for an attack. But I also believe that workers ought to have the latitude to take a small amount of their own taxes, of their own money, it's not somebody else's money and put it into an account with their name on it, a very small amount. And if they don't want to, don't do it. If they want to, then they ought to be able to take a small amount and have an account on it with their name on it. But also, with all your glowing reports about Social Security, let me give you some straight talk. It's going broke.
QUESTIONER: "No sir. I haven't"
MCCAIN: "Yes it is."
QUESTIONER: "I disagree."
MCCAIN: "Yes it is."
QUESTIONER: "I disagree with you."
MCCAIN: "I can just, I can only tell you the report of the trustees of the Social Security Trust fund. They're the ones we trust to give us that information. And there's a point where there is more money going out then coming in. And there's a point where there's no money left. That's why it's our obligation to the next generation of Americans to sit down together, Republican and Democrat, and fix the system. It happened before with Tip O'Neal and Ronald Reagan. And it can happen again."
[...]
LABEL: JM NH 6-12 (GR#88) DdHECS - Clip E
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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 07/07/08by IssueAlliance6,970 views
I think it's sad that only 153 people have seen this. Here is a real person, who has a real issue and happens to disagrees with McCain. Here are two men same age, probably same life experience and he still refuses to listen and say thank you for your feedback Why did McCain have to rebuttal? Being a Maverick does not necessarily mean you are right all the time or that you deserve the last word.
shopboy65 3 years ago