Joy Behar: Republicans 'Never Mention Health Care'

Photo of Justin McCarthy.
By Justin McCarthy | February 5, 2008 - 16:46 ET

None of the Republican presidential candidates have a health care plan, according to “The View’s” Joy Behar, known for putting ideology over facts. On the February 5 edition, where Super Tuesday was the dominant subject, Elisabeth Hasselbeck told her struggles voting as a Republican in New York City. First, Joy Behar charged that Republicans “never mention health care.” After Hasselbeck noted the media just does not promote their plan, Behar responded in a mocking tone.

BEHAR: Your party never mentions health care. The Republicans never bring up the subject. I’ve been watching them. I watched every single debate.

SHEPHERD: Because they’re more on the spending on the war.

BEHAR: Why not even bring it up as a possible solution? Come up with- Republicans have their own ideas. What is their idea on health care? Nothing! Zero!

HASSELBECK: I think the media doesn’t put out what they say.

BEHAR: Oh, the media!

Behar apparently is not looking hard enough. Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts made news for requiring all residents to have some form of health insurance. Additionally, McCain, Romney, and Huckabee all have health care proposals on their website, and the Heritage Foundation examined the health care proposals of both John McCain and Mitt Romney.

"In the case of Senator McCain, the major tax change would be the creation of a universal health care tax credit that would be available to every citizen. This would equalize the tax treatment of health insurance and make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans. In the case of Governor Romney, the change would be in the form of a universal tax deduction for health care expenses. Also both candidates would pursue health insurance market reforms. In the case of Senator McCain, he would create a national health insurance market, where individuals and families would be able to buy health insurance across state lines.

"In the case of Governor Romney, the heavy lifting on health insurance market reform would be left to the states, though the Governor would also redirect existing federal funding to the states to help states to expand coverage to low income individuals. Romney’s major objective is to encourage the creation of new state insurance markets where individuals and families would be able to purchase health insurance, own their policies like other types of insurance policies, and take their coverage from job to job without a tax or regulatory penalty."

Also of note, Elisabeth Hasselbeck told her experience of requesting a Republican ballot in New York City, after the poll workers assumed she was a Democrat. It is notable that the major network’s news divisions are headquartered in New York.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now, did you try to go, did you vote this morning?

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I did. I went for a run then I ran into the voting booth today thinking I can get it done before I came here and feel good that is was, you know, checked off, did my civic duty. And I went in, I ran in and said “okay look for my name,” you know, you tell them your address. And they sent me to my district table. But name wasn’t in the book. So then I had to do the paper ballot, which was fine. But they said “okay, no problem, here’s your ballot, and here’s this form you just stick it in the envelope.” When I go down and I have my pen ready and I’m all excited in the corner and I move my fleece out of the way, and I go to go color in, all of a sudden the only names I’m seeing are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, everyone on the Democratic ticket. They gave me the ballot as if I were registered as a Democrat, so I-

GOLDBERG: No, damn them! Damn them!

SHERRI SHEPHERD: What did you say?

JOY BEHAR: It’s a trick!

HASSELBECK: Well, I had a little after run sweat going which then was just exacerbated by the whole process. So I went over and said “excuse me ma’am, I think you gave me the wrong ballot. No one- none of my choices are on here and it’s bothering me.” So she said- I said “I’m a registered Republican.” Well, you hear lots of this in the voting booth, you know, because everyone’s hutching the paper. All of a sudden-

BEHAR: Silence.

HASSELBECK: Silence! Everyone looks over like “the Republican’s in the room.” So I just take the ballot. I don’t even have time to go to the corner and hide. I filled in my vote right in front of her. I folded it, gave it to her and I just- she promised me that it would get there safely and fine, but I finally got my Republican ballot. But she just assumed I was a Democrat.

BEHAR: But you live on the Upper West Side.

SHEPHERD: We don’t have no Republican, Democrats over here.

HASSELBECK: It took her forever to find the Republican ballot. “We have one in here somewhere!”

GOLDBERG: You should have gone, you should have gone to the Upper East Side. That’s where you would have found them. That’s where you have a hard time.

BEHAR: You have to pick the right side of town.

—Justin McCarthy is a news analyst at Media Research Center.

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BEHAR: Your party never

BEHAR: Your party never mentions health care. The Republicans never bring up the subject. I’ve been watching them. I watched every single debate.

Thank goodness I've stopped relying only on Joy Behar for the news.

Thanks, Chris!!!

LMAO!!! I was really feeling a little down today, and you just cracked me up!!

Excuse me, Joy, did the candidates decide what to talk about in the debates, or did they have to answer the questions they were asked; and who picked the questions?

Once again, Joy speaks, and shows her A$$.

 

mb,Aw shucks, don't mention

mb,

Aw shucks, don't mention it. You've given me many laughs, so it's only fair trade. :)

Show of hands

"...did the candidates decide what to talk about in the debates..."

And it's a little hard to address the issues when the Republican candidates are only allowed to raise their hands in response to questions as was the case with the gestapo Nurse Ratched mediated Iowa debate(?).

Health care is not a real

Health care is not a real issue. It is a fabricated issue whose sole purpose is to advance us into a socialist state.

“The more one considers the
matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a
redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined,
than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State.” Bertrand de
Jouvenel

It's all about power.

 

Ditto

rbosque;I agree with your point. It is all about transfer of power from the people to the state.
To Joy from the view: It is funny, when I was reviewing The US Constitution; it does does not discuss Health Care for its citizens. Please help me locate the Article and section where that it listed.

I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary. President Ronald Reagan

Yup. The Gov't is supposed

Yup. The Gov't is supposed to "...promote the general welfare." Not provide it.

The "welfare" in

The "welfare" in "...promote the general welfare..." had absolutely nothing to do with what is called welfare today.  Today it means to punish producers and reward social parasites by redistributing wealth earned by the producers.  Every one of the "entitlement" programs is a violation of the Constitution.

I am one of the uninsured Americans, and it isn't by choice like so many are.  BUT, it is not the responsibility of the taxpayers to provide my healthcare. 

"A communist is someone who reads Marx.  An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx."  Ronald Reagan

Precisely.

Precisely.

I agree with you, the only

I agree with you, the only reason clintons healthcare plan is getting attention, is because it is a radical change that will run us into the ground!

 

"give me a break!" - John Stossel

Hey, you're a sailor...so is my son.

I could not agree more with your post. I'm an ER RN and NO ONE is denied health care. I sure wish these women would let their viewers know what would really happen with the health care their candidates propose.

Hey, you're a sailor...so is my son.

I could not agree more with your post. I'm an ER RN and NO ONE is denied health care. I sure wish these women would let their viewers know what would really happen with the health care their candidates propose.

That's because

we mean-spirited Republicans think that it's not the government's job to provide it! DUH! See "Canadian Health Care System."

libs never seem to mention

libs never seem to mention terrorism, or smaller government, or tax reform, or energy solutions...
they do talk about global warming/cooling/climate-change/whatever quite a bit...

libs are forever

trying to make non-issues into issues. You can bet if it's something that actually matters to the safety and longevity of the country it will never, ever be mentioned in a liberal's agenda. They're too busy running around playing Chicken Little with the environment, playing Robin Hood with our hard-earned dollars, and playing possum when it comes to defending our freedom.

Lord I hope this show goes

Lord I hope this show goes away soon...and all those involved.

BT, If Clinton or Obama win

BT,

If Clinton or Obama win it all, it's going to be five day a week valentine to them.

Healthcare

Perhaps if Democrats stopped HealthSCARE and started talking about how Teddy Kennedy and Democrats turned it into Healthscam where hospitals, doctors, insurance and the bio systems all pad bills, there could be a debate on healthcare.

The GOP has a solution and the debate is over.

Behar has to learn that debating healthcare is like debating it is morning.......it simply is and it is settled.

I'm all for busting the money system behind it. Bust the profit structure and prices go down.

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

"Bust the profit structure

"Bust the profit structure and prices go down."  WRONG!  Bust the profit structure, and the good is no longer produced or the service is no longer offered.  Now, if you had said "get the government out of the healthcare business so that it stops distorting the market and prices will go down", I'd have agreed with you. 

"A communist is someone who reads Marx.  An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx."  Ronald Reagan

I guess I'm not familiar

I guess I'm not familiar with NYC is there a big difference? It seems very .... ummm patrician and possibly racist. Also ballots are paper in an envelop?  We in the backwoods of Dallas, actually Arlington, Texas use voting booths and scantron cards unless you vote early or absentee. 

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

The Back woods of Big D

The back woods of Arlington/DFW..that's funny! The new home of the GREAT Dallas Cowboys stadium. The back woods would be Oklahoma.
Don't forget that #2 pencil.

I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary. President Ronald Reagan

Nope.  Here in the

Nope.  Here in the backwoods of Oklahoma, we use a scantron card which is marked by a felt tip pen.  And, in case you were wondering, we have indoor toilets, hot and cold running water in our houses, and even air conditioning.  Why, we even have paved streets and electric lights, and telephones. 

"A communist is someone who reads Marx.  An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx."  Ronald Reagan

Not that Behar is relevant,

Not that Behar is relevant, but if this is the general perception it's only because Republicans have not been out there pushing HSAs enough.

In fact, however, there was a piece of legislation, in 2006 before the Democrat coup, that would have allowed employers to offer HSAs in lieu of HMO memberships. This would have virtually cut healthcare costs by 1/3 practically overnight. But the RINOs (like McCain) did not support it. President Bush said he would sign it into law, but it never got to his desk.

If the GOP is in trouble, it's precisely because of this kind of stupidity. They punt on 3rd down....

Same story

How funny, earlier today I posted a comment in Newsbusters under the Repulican candidate poll about my experience voting as a republican in NYC this morning which was similar to Hasselbeck's and several other people added their experiences elsewhere. I would love to hear more stories like this!

I'm voting in Alexandria,

I'm voting in Alexandria, probably the most liberal town in Virginia, next week. I'm sure my experience will be similar when I ask for a Republican ballot.

Well! I think Elisabeth just

Well! I think Elisabeth just might have a "Jesse Jackson-style" case of "Voter Disenfranchisement" here, eh? AND whodduh thunk?!? It happened, yet again, in a predominately DEMOCRAT district ... as MOST, if not ALL so-called voter disenfranchisements do.

I love Behar's snooty "your

I love Behar's snooty "your party" remark. As if being a liberal Democrat is just what everyone else in the country is and Liz is a leper for not toeing the line. Talk about living in a bubble!

Saddam Hussein and terrorism. The rest of the story...

http://www.regimeoft...

 

Republican Health Care

Hey BEHAR, it's called "Get off your fat @ss and stay away from the Oreos!"


"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"-Aristotle

another good reason

Joy's another good reason why men shouldn't have given women the right to vote.

Speaking as a

Speaking as a woman,

 

AMEN.

You are right. I cannot think of one woman right now worthy of leadership. Shrillary is not a leader and certainly not Pelosi.

Although, I would follow Dr Cheney. Why doesn't she run?

WhatAMaroon

Only Dems can pull that off

 

GOLDBERG: You should have gone, you should have gone to the Upper East Side. That’s where you would have found them. That’s where you have a hard time.

BEHAR: You have to pick the right side of town.

Don't be silly, ladies, that only works for Democrats.  Dead ones.  Or illegal aliens.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.