HUTCHISON: We should look at that, but the plan was a different type of plan, where we had private companies competing, and it is working very well. The “donut hole” [of missed coverage] gives people the choice to cover the donut hole, or they don’t have to, and that determines their cost.
RADNOFSKY: That response addressed the donut hole, not the criminalization of US government conduct. Of course Medicare should be allowed to use its massive bargaining power to negotiate better prices for drugs. It consistently works well for the VA. The only people who are in favor of criminalizing the negotiation of drug prices are people who profit from selling drugs.
JAMESON: Tweaking a bankrupt system is a parlor game. We need a real solution. I’m calling for universal mandatory health insurance.
JAMESON: The entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, are not actually legal obligations. Those are things that are given out at the discretion of the government. The Social Security system is not sustainable and I think we should look at market alternatives.
RADNOFSKY: Privatization is a terrible idea. It would cost trillions if we do privatize, and everybody knows that. We must protect the Social Security fund from raiding.
HUTCHISON: We do need to reform Social Security and we do need to make sure we are taking out the waste & fraud. We owe it to our younger people to make sure that Social Security is there, and safe and solid for them. That means we need to reform Social Security now, because it will be much easier, and the longer we wait, the harder it will get.
RADNOFSKY: We are destabilizing Iraq by our presence. The NIE indicates as such, and British generals indicate as such. By withdrawing, we will allow international building, by the US taking its role as leader among nations. My opponent has said we must increase troops, and also that we cannot leave until we’ve stabilized the country. Our presence is destabilizing there. Therefore when we leave, we will be able to mount, if we take our lead among the nations, a better international effort. We must realize that we can’t go it alone. It is reprehensible to suggest that we ought to stay in Iraq so that our soldiers become targets--cannon fodder--so we don’t take the war on terror to all the trouble spot in the world. We must set a timetable and we must withdraw.
HUTCHISON: I can’t think of anything worse than America cutting-and-running because times are tough. I think it would hurt our troops.
HUTCHISON: It is clear it is not going well in Iraq, and we should come up with ideas. One of the things we should put on the table as an option is semi-autonomous regions. This is provided for in the constitution of Iraq, and the parliament of Iraq has set out a process. The Sunnis reject that idea, because they’re worried about not having the oil revenue, but that can be handled as well.
JAMESON: I am upset for the way the Iraq war is funded. It is inappropriate to fund a war on a constant emergency basis, because Congressmen can add in extra appropriations and pork barrel spending that they know will get passed.
HUTCHISON: If I had known then what I know now about the WMDs--which was a key reason that I voted to go in there-- I would not vote to go into Iraq the way we did. But the President would not have asked for that vote, either. We had intelligence that we relied on. So did the British. Everyone thought they had WMDs.
RADNOFSKY: At the time of the Iraqi War Resolution, Sen. Graham of Florida begged his colleagues to read the secret papers that we weren’t privy to. We now know that those secret papers revealed that the WMD documentation from the CIA was quite skeptical. I don’t believe that our senators read the secret documents. Our senators made a mistake when they voted. They should have read the secret papers. Any senator who did not do as their colleagues begged was derelict in their abilities to lead. We need new leaders.