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McCain visit draws womenBut, predictably, it draws women on both sidesPeter Marcus, DDN Staff WriterFriday, October 3, 2008 |  | | McCAIN FANS — Supporters with Sarah Palin paraphernalia try to get the attention of Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as he shakes hands with supporters at the conclusion a women’s town hall style campaign event in Denver yeste |
A “straight talk” women-only town hall with Sen. John McCain yesterday brought Democrats turned Republican and women who think Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is getting a bum deal in the media, as well as by the presidential campaign’s opponents.
Sure enough, those opponents — also mostly women — made their presence felt as hundreds of McCain-Palin supporters shuffled their way into the Sheraton Denver Hotel downtown, hours before Palin would debate Sen. Joe Biden in the first vice-presidential debate.
Holding signs that read, “No more oil-sucking, Bible-thumping, lobby-loving, war monger,” and “Old kill and drill McCain,” opponents made their voices clear. But inside the hotel, an entirely different message was made clear. As one former Democrat explained to the Denver Daily News, Sen. Barack Obama simply does not have what it takes to be the next president of the United States.
“I’ll tell you truthfully, there are a lot of (McCain) issues that I don’t agree with. But I really think that I respect him and I think he’s an intelligent individual,” said Gail Leek, who traveled from Larkspur for the event and has never in her life voted for a Republican presidential candidate.
“I think Barack Obama is a fine man. I just don’t think he has the experience that I’m looking for in a candidate,” she added.
Losing friends?
Leek is not positive whether she will officially switch her registration from Democrat to Republican. But she said since coming out in favor of McCain, many of her Democratic friends have turned against her.
“It’s been really embarrassing,” she said. “I think that it’s really gotten ugly, and I don’t see the reason for the ugliness.”
On the topic of Palin, Leek said she understands that the vice-presidential candidate does not have much experience, but said she will cut spending and “work in a bipartisan fashion to bring people together.”
For Andrea Starr, a Denver woman with several family members serving in the military, including at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the issue of McCain over Obama comes down to national security.
“I’m Air Force, my husband’s Marines, my brother’s a colonel in the Army, we will die if Obama and his wife, Cruella De Vil, get into the White House,” said Starr, wearing a “Nobama” T-shirt and likening the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate to the puppy kidnapper in the movie “101 Dalmatians.”
“I can’t believe that America is this stupid that they would consider voting for this community organizer, who has as many connections with Osama (bin Laden) and Al-Qaida,” she continued with her opinions. “Even Al-Qaida wants him to be president. That should be a cue for America.”
McCain draws more protesters?
While Obama gave remarks in Westminster on Monday with only one protester present, dozens appeared outside the Sheraton Denver Hotel yesterday to voice their opposition to the McCain-Palin ticket.
Colorado Women Against Palin united with fliers, signs and plenty of roars.
“If she is the best that the Republican Party has to offer as a vice-presidential candidate, everyone should be outraged,” said Anne Sneed, who said until this year, she had never gotten involved personally with politics. “If she is the most thoughtful, deep thinker — our country’s in trouble.”
McCain health plan
The Center for American Progress Action Fund yesterday released a report stating that McCain’s health care plan would cause hundreds of thousands of Colorado families to lose coverage and pay higher taxes.
The report states that McCain’s plan would eliminate the employer health care tax benefits that enable small businesses to provide group insurance. It also states that McCain’s plan would “cherry pick” individuals for coverage who do not have costly health conditions.
Meanwhile, Colorado physicians today will gather to demand that McCain disclose all of his medical records to the public. The group of physicians is concerned that the 72-year-old candidate has been diagnosed with melanoma and believe his health is an “issue of profound importance to all Americans.”
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