Posted October 11, 2007 4:33 PM<!-- by Mark Silva-->
Sen. John McCain in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 11, 2007. Credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP Photos.
by Rick Pearson
DES MOINES — After unveiling his plans for affordable health care, Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized two of his rivals, contending Mitt Romney showed inexperience in saying he would consult with lawyers before a potential strike on Iran and blasting Rudolph Giuliani for failing to support a line-item veto.
After speaking to the Rotary Club of Des Moines today, McCain said both GOP challengers displayed their lack of experience during this week's Republican debate.
Romney, who has been holding a lead in polling among likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers, was asked during the debate whether as president he would need to get congressional authorization to take military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Romney said "you sit down with your attorneys" first, but also said the president "has to do what's in the best interest" of the country to protect against a potential threat.
"It's just a product of inexperience," McCain said of Romney's answer. "He's not experienced in national security issues and that's why we got the answer we did."
During the debate, Giuliani defended his efforts as New York mayor to oppose federal line-item veto legislation that was ultimately declared unconstitutional because it would have cost his city $250 million. Giuliani said he was in favor a line-item veto that was done constitutionally.
But McCain said he didn’t think Giuliani "understands that the only way we're really going to impose fiscal discipline in the Congress is to give the president of the United States the line-item veto."
Romney's campaign today also attacked Giuliani's decision to fight the line-item veto legislation in court, likening him to Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Byrd's longstanding reputation as a premier player when it comes to backing public works projects dubbed by critics as pork-barrel spending.
McCain's comments about his rivals came after he proposed refundable tax credits of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families who have or need health insurance, saying it would be a mechanism to force more competition among insurers and enable more affordable health-care coverage that should cross state lines.
McCain also said he would encourage walk-in clinics at retailers such as WalMart to act as an alternative to more costly emergency room visits and encourage drug reimportation efforts and fewer protections for the pharmaceutical industry to lower the cost of prescriptions and enable more generics to enter the market.
"My friends, we are approaching a 'perfect storm' of problems that, if not addressed by the next president, will cause our health-care system to implode," McCain said in using a Teleprompter to deliver his proposal.
"I believe Americans want to be part of a system that offers high quality care, that respects their individual dignity and is available at reasonable cost," the Arizona senator said. "Unfortunately, the American health care system as it is currently structured fails this test."
McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's health-care plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the early 1990s. "I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.
Clinton has maintained her proposal, that also would utilize tax credits for individuals and small business, would not create a huge government bureaucracy.
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Should McCain have apologized to Hillary?
