Wednesday night, John McCain was a guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien .
I suppose his appearance was an attempt to provide some political balance to all the liberal distortions being spewed by guests such as Bill Maher and the usual liberal slant provided by O'Brien himself in his monologue and during other bits.
The lightest moments of the interview were at the very beginning, mostly when they talked about Twitter.
Overall though, it was serious, and dull. O'Brien wasn't looking for punch lines.
They talked about the passing of Ted Kennedy, health care, Sarah Palin, and Afghanistan.
Transcript
CONAN O'BRIEN: Last week, your good friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy, passed away. You must have a lot of fond memories of working with Sen. Kennedy.
JOHN McCAIN: Well, he was larger than life. I told a story at the commemoration celebration of his life the other night, that a few years ago, I was on the floor. He was on the floor. There was a freshman Democrat, freshman Republican; and they got into a rather personal dispute. You'd think that two more senior guys would come down and... Well, he and I felt that a fight not joined was a fight not enjoyed. So, we ended up face to face on the floor of the Senate yelling at each other. The press was leaning over saying, 'What the hell is going on with McCain and Kennedy?' Words that were not transcribed, I'm happy to say. And an hour later, arm around each other, laughing and enjoying each other. He was a happy warrior.
O'BRIEN: Uh, there are a lot of people that have said this, you know, Sen. Kennedy was my senator my entire life. I'm from Massachusetts. And some people have commented that he almost represented a different time in the Senate. I hope it's not passed, but a time when people could reach across the aisle and come to an agreement. And of course, health care was a big issue for Sen. Kennedy. You've got to think... do we still have the ability to work together on issues like this, because I think a lot of people watching right now have the feeling that we don't have that anymore, that that's something that's missing. Has the Senate changed do you think?
McCAIN: Yes. And I think that there's not as much of the bipartisanship that the American people want, which I think contributes to our low approval rating. And I think some of it is deserved.
O'BRIEN: Do you think that were Sen. Kennedy alive and still working on this issue would it be easier for us to find common ground on this issue?
McCAIN: I think it would have been conducted in a different fashion. When he and I worked on immigration reform we sat down and worked it out. And in all due respect, there has been no outreach from the Democrats. They wrote the bills. And I mean, that's just a fact. Facts are stubborn things. And I think it would have been, the beginning of it would have been different. But look, I'm seeing, and I'm sure that you're hearing about and seeing, but I'm seeing an anger out there and a dissatisfaction in the country that I haven't seen, I haven't seen before.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's talks about that, because the toxicity, the anger at those town hall meetings I think took a lot of people by surprise. And I'll say that when I saw people just yelling like that... you, yourself, have been speaking to people that support your party, and you've had to deal with that anger. You've had people, you've had your supporters boo you because you were trying to be somewhat moderate about President Obama's proposals.
McCAIN: Well, I think the important thing about a town hall meeting, and it really is that it should be respectful, because that's the essence of democracy. We should hear from each other. We disagree or agree. We should have respectful town hall meetings. I understand the anger, the passion. But what's the point if we just yell at each other, in all due respect? We shouldn't yell at each other. We should work together.
I think it's odd that McCain is lecturing people about not yelling at town hall meetings when he just told a story about how he and Ted Kennedy were screaming at each other on the floor of the Senate.
Why was it OK for them to yell but not for citizens to engage in similar heated exchanges with their representatives?
After the commercial break, McCain and O'Brien continued to talk about health care.
O'BRIEN: OK, we've all identified the problem. Let's talk about solutions. We might be able to solve this problem right here tonight. Is...?
(Applause)
McCAIN: The president's going to speak, as you know, on next Wednesday night, I understand.
O'BRIEN: It was just announced. President Obama's going to speak to joint...?
McCAIN: Joint session of Congress. Last time that's happened out of the normal sequence was after 9/11. So, it's obviously a very important national issue and so I look forward to hearing from the president and hearing a proposal from him.
O'BRIEN: OK, now obviously I didn't want to cut you off, but obviously there's a... it's a very dense issue. It's a complicated issue, but in a nutshell could you tell us is there something, is there a proposal that you would accept at this point? Is it, is there something, the public option going away?
McCAIN: There's many things that we can agree on. That's one of kind of the frustrating things...
O'BRIEN: Because both parties agree something must be done.
McCAIN: Yes. It's not the quality of health care in America that's a problem. It's the cost of health care, double-digit inflation. The people that tell us about Medicare tell us in eight years it's going to be broke. Well, so we've got to act. And so we realize we have to act, too. We need to have malpractice reform. We need to emphasize wellness and fitness. We need to allow people to go across state lines to get the health insurance of their choice. We need to give, I think, every American family a tax credit so they can go out and buy the health insurance that best meets their needs that, of their family. There's a long list of things that I think we could agree on to bring costs under control, because it's the cost not the quality....
There's shortages of doctors and nurses. There's all kinds of challenges that we face and it is one sixth of our gross national product. We can agree if we work together.
O'BRIEN: Now what about... there've been some egregious distortions on both sides. One of the most famous is this term 'death panels,' which has gotten out there, scared a lot of people. They thought someone's going to decide whether an elderly person lives or dies. It got out of control, and clearly there's nothing like that in any of these proposals.
McCAIN: I think the reason why it got some traction is because in some European countries there is decisions made concerning the age of the individual as to whether they're eligible for certain treatments or not, and I think that kind of got into...
O'BRIEN: It's possible that that could maybe give it some traction, but I also think 'death panel' gets people's attention. And, uh, you hear 'death panel' and you say, 'I better listen to this part because this may affect me at some point.'
McCAIN: But the president says if you like your present health insurance you can keep it. I think under the law that the bill that we pass in committee that I'm in, that's not necessarily true with a lot of Americans. There's a hundred... eleven new government mandates on it, so there's been a lot of dialogue on both sides and I think Americans are a bit confused. But I think Americans are smarter than we ever give them credit for, and they're very concerned about the debt and the deficit.
They just revised the deficit from seven trillion to nine trillion. Who here knows what a trillion is, trillions of dollars that we're in debt? And I think that they worry about their kids and their grandkids. And that plays into this whole concern about health care reform because the Congressional Budget Office has said it costs another trillion dollars or so....
O'BRIEN: Are you optimistic that when President Obama speaks that there might be some common ground there and you guys get something done?
McCAIN: I hope so. I hope so, and I look forward to hearing what his specific proposals are. Look, again, I hate to be repetitious, but I think the disappointment that a lot of Americans display is we are not working together more.
It's clear that O'Brien is pro-ObamaCare.
What a shock!
Even though he says there have been distortions on both sides, O'Brien only brings up death panels.
In terms of distortion, it's really a disagreement about terminology when it comes to death panels. Obama calls them "expert health panels," but they have the same purpose.
O'BRIEN: Well, uh, I think everyone agrees on that. Everyone agrees that they want a solution. Let me quickly move to another area. I mentioned the death panel. The name Sarah Palin comes to mind because, uh...(Laughter) she helped get the word out there. I have to ask you, uh... she shocked people. She shocked the nation when she announced that she was resigning. Were you surprised when you heard that news?
McCAIN: Yeah, I was because she didn't call me ahead of time. I certainly...
O'BRIEN: It seemed like a very 'unMcCain-like' move to quit.
McCAIN: Well, but you know we all have families, and we all have challenges, and we all have issues in our lives. She did have huge legal debts because of these charges that kept being lobbed over through the transom.
O'BRIEN: Do you still speak to her? Do you have a relationship?
McCAIN: Oh, sure. Sure.
O'BRIEN: Do you speak to her often?
McCAIN: Uh, every once in a... fairly often we say hello, and I ask about her families and that. I wish her well.
How bizarre!
O'Brien chastises Palin for an "unMcCain-like" move. Palin isn't McCain. Why should she adopt his moves?
Does O'Brien call Biden out for "unObama-like" moves?
"Do you speak to her often?"
That's a weird question.
Was O'Brien hoping that McCain would say Palin's a loon and he has as little contact with Palin as possible?
O'BRIEN: I know we're very short on time. It's difficult in this kind of format to get to everything, but I have to ask you about this because this is one of your areas of expertise -- Afghanistan. Uh, the, the, uh, the casualty rates are rising. It's getting alarming, the situation. A lot of people are concerned about. And you wonder sometimes, do the American people have the stomach to be in a conflict like that, at this time, that could go on for a very long time, especially at a moment in our history when we can afford so little?
McCAIN: I'd like to remind you that that was the place where al Qaeda trained for the attacks of 9/11, so we don't want Afghanistan to go back to a country from which attacks would be launched on the United States and our allies.
It's long and hard and tough and it's going to be a further sacrifice of American blood and treasure. General Petraeus, General McChrystal and others I think are very fine leaders. They are devising a strategy -- depends on whether we give them enough resources, including increases in troops, which is a tough decision for the president to make, and it's going to be very, very difficult.
I think we could see signs of progress within a year to a year and a half. But the good news is, and I was just recently over there again, the men and women who are serving under the most difficult conditions, the best trained, the best equipped, most professional, most dedicated, finest military this country has ever had.
Thank God the American people support them 100 percent, no matter how they feel about the war.
O'Brien speaks rather negatively about Obama's war in Afghanistan.
Actually, I'm surprised he raised the issue at all.
Libs rarely speak of war now that the responsibility for it lies with Obama.
While O'Brien did treat McCain with respect during the interview, O'Brien couldn't, or wouldn't, keep his Leftist bias and disdain for the Republicans in check.
At least he didn't do any "McCain is old" jokes. After all, tomorrow is another day.
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