McCain addresses issues at Sahuarita town hall

American forces in Afghanistan will see a spike in casualties if President Obama follows the recommendations of top advisers and puts 40,000 more troops there, Sen. John McCain told an audience in Sahuarita on Saturday, but he supports the move.

About 300 people attended a 70-minute town hall at the school district auditorium and heard McCain speak and take questions on foreign affairs, the economy and health care.

“In Afghanistan, the situation is deteriorating and time is not on our side,” McCain said.

A woman in the audience said her 18-year-old son had just enlisted in the military and she was concerned he could be sent to the war zone.

“How much longer do you think we can sustain a war in Afghanistan?” she asked.

“If we add troops,” McCain said, “the casualties will go up over the short term, as in the Iraq surge. But in a year to a year and a half we will start to see success. We don’t want to send your son to a conflict we can’t win.”

“The longer we delay in making the decision on sending the necessary troops, the longer we put men and women there in greater danger of casualties that may not be necessary,” McCain said.

Health care debate

McCain drew big applause when he criticized Democrats for failing to disclose all details of their health insurance plan, which is scheduled for a Senate vote Tuesday.

McCain said it is difficult to address specifics of the bill “because they haven’t written it into legislation yet. We’ve been urging that it should be posted online for 72 hours before they vote, so every American can look at it.”

McCain took five questions about health care, and heard from several other people, including one who challenged his conservative credentials and several who said they deeply opposed Obama policies and expansion of the government into health care or other facets of personal life.

McCain criticized the Democrats’ health care plan by saying it wouldn’t provide tax cuts to allow millions of lower- and middle-income families to buy health insurance until 2013, even though immediate Medicare cuts will take place and taxes would be added to help pay for the plan.

McCain said “everyone who has Medicare should hear an alarm bell” when Democrats talk about more then $400 billion in Medicare savings.

Praise for McCain

Several speakers praised McCain’s public service, with one calling him his hero. Audience members applauded speakers for their military service. There were no outbursts.

The only note of disagreement came from Gabriela Mercer, a naturalized citizen from Mexico who repeatedly challenged McCain’s conservative credentials, saying he has not represented Arizona on immigration issues. McCain defended his record and said he recently won an award for tight-fisted spending.

A man from northern Michigan asked how unemployed people could get health insurance once their unemployment benefits ran out, and McCain said he has proposed catastrophic coverage with high co-payments. The man’s wife said she has a chronic ailment and noted that McCain has had government health care for most of his life through the military or as a member of Congress and asked what could be done for people with chronic or pre-existing conditions. McCain said Congress not only has generous health care benefits, but has voted to raise its own salaries or those of its staff, the latest such vote coming during the current recession.

McCain criticized Congress for pork barrel spending and said a $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit is contributing to a debt problem in which 43 cents per dollar spent by the government is borrowed. pfranchine@gvnews.com| 547-9738