McCain, Huckabee talk tough on Social Security
SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Two Republican presidential candidates had some tough talk Thursday about Social Security's future at a forum sponsored by the nation's largest group for seniors.
John McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, called for another debate on President Bush's plan to create private savings accounts as part of Social Security. He also urged citizens to become less reliant on Social Security as a retirement income.
"The dirty secret in America today is that Medicare and Social Security are going broke. They're going broke and they're not going to be there for future generations of young Americans, and we owe them the responsibility to make hard choices now," McCain said.
McCain and Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, were the only two Republican presidential candidates to attend Thursday's forum, sponsored by AARP and televised on Iowa Public Television.
Huckabee proposed giving retirees the option of a one-time Social Security payout. He also trumpeted the Fair Tax plan to encourage personal savings. The Fair Tax would eliminate all federal income taxes in favor of a national sales tax.
"The reason why we hit such a roadblock (reforming Social Security) is partly because of the word 'privatized' accounts," Huckabee said. "
A better word would be 'personalized' accounts to empower you as a consumer to look out there on the horizon and make some decisions about your life and your money, and the government would be a partner."
AARP has been an opponent of private accounts as part of Social Security .
Organizers of the forum were disappointed that only two candidates agreed to participate in the forum. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas would have been the third participant, if he hadn't dropped out of the race last week.
Sen. Barack Obama was the only Democratic frontrunner who didn't attend a similar AARP event in Davenport last month. The lack of candidates for the GOP event meant numerous format changes, a different moderator and no live national television coverage.
What was supposed to be a debate among candidates became a town hall meeting. Organizers said about 700 people attended.
"It's unfortunate that we don't have the other candidates, and that this won't be broadcast nationally," said Lisa Davis, national director for the Divided We Fail campaign. "It's a missed opportunity."
"If we went to every single debate offered, that's all we'd be doing," said Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Romney and Rep. Ron Paul have events scheduled in central Iowa today.
"I don't know what they were afraid of," Huckabee said Thursday.
"They're the losers for not being here for the discussion."
Dean Borg, host of Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press, moderated the 90-minute discussion, during which the two candidates fielded questions from Borg, readers of the Sioux City Journal and audience members.
McCain and Huckabee talked about ways to decrease the cost of health care and to make it more accessible to citizens who can't afford insurance.
McCain wants to:
• Create tax credits to help offset the cost of health insurance premiums
• Combat the problem of widespread malpractice lawsuits
• Encourage the use of personal health accounts
• Create more competition in the healthcare industry by making more options available for citizens Huckabee wants to create a preventative healthcare system where illnesses are diagnosed and treated quickly, instead of waiting until health problems become more expensive to treat.
Huckabee and McCain agreed that chronic disease treatment is a major problem that could be partially cured with preventative health care.
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