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Biden focuses on healthcare
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 10--MEHLVILLE -- Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told a packed gymnasium of largely union, working-class voters Tuesday that one of their key benefits, employer-provided health care, is at risk if Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin win in November.
"For the first time in American history, they want to tax your health care benefits," Biden said. "I am not making this up."
Biden's assertion was the most direct Democratic attack yet on what is expected to be a prime target in the next two months: the McCain proposal to tax employer-provided health care benefits.
Biden's audience also was key: blue-collar, often socially conservative Democrats situated in politically split south St. Louis County. Many of the area's residents are Catholic, as is Biden.
He and others emphasized that south St. Louis County could be pivotal in determining which party carries the state and possibly the White House.
"South County has one of the state's largest number of independent voters," said U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, who represents the area. "This is one of the key swing areas of the state."
In a passionate address that often found him flushed and shouting, Biden offered up health insurance as the best of numerous examples of the Republican ticket's proposals that he said aren't being discussed because the GOP knows such ideas are out of step with the views of American workers.
Biden pointed to Monday's visit in suburban Kansas City by McCain and Palin, where he said "the silence was deafening" when it came to any Republican plan for expanding access to health care or college education, or protecting American jobs and retiree pensions.
Biden noted that Missouri, like many other states, is seeing rising unemployment -- 6.4 percent in August -- and the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs, such as those at the Chrysler plants in suburban St. Louis.
Biden linked the loss of jobs and health care. American automakers are moving their plants and jobs to Canada, he said, because Canadian workers are covered by government health care. That reduces the manufacturing costs by 14 percent, he said.
But taxing American workers' health care is not the answer, he said. Under McCain's plan, Biden said, a person earning $50,000 a year, with employer-provided health care worth $12,000 a year, would be subject to income taxes on all $62,000. Now, no taxes are levied on their health care benefits.
McCain has been highlighting his proposed $5,000 a year tax credit to offset some of that tax hike, but Biden said that at least $7,000 would still be subject to the tax.
Biden also predicted that McCain's plan would prompt many businesses to drop health care coverage for their workers.
Biden contended that his Republican rivals aren't talking about such problems because they aren't concerned about average workers.
But in their quest for those working-class votes, he said, the GOP is spreading false information about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his proposals.
"We need a little bit of honesty in this campaign," Biden said, touching off cheers from the crowd of about 900 in the Mehlville High School gymnasium.
In response, Jack Jackson, co-chairman of McCain's campaign in Missouri, said, "John McCain understands that the only way to truly achieve real change and a healthy economy will be through tax cuts, reinvestment into businesses and by putting aside these negative attacks."
Margaret Lancaster, 61, of Ballwin, said she was pleased to see Biden so whipped up. "He spoke with fire in his belly," she said.
Biden's visit was his first to Missouri since he became the Democratic vice presidential nominee. The afternoon stop in Mehville came after a morning town hall meeting in Columbia, Mo.
At the town hall, Biden also zeroed in on health care, saying it was "a moral obligation" for the government to make it available to all Americans. Obama's plan would allow Americans without health insurance to buy coverage through the federal program that covers about 17 million federal workers and officeholders.
In response to a question, Biden also waded into the touchy subject of stem cell research.
"I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there's joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect," Biden said. "Well, guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem cell research?"
The national GOP issued a statement accusing Biden of being out of line with such comments.
At both Missouri events, Biden avoided singling out his Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Palin, a social conservative who has ignited her party's base -- and become a media magnet -- since her selection by McCain less than two weeks ago.
Biden praised Palin's selection as historic, and noted that he'll meet her in St. Louis on Oct. 2 for the vice presidential debate at Washington University.
Instead, the presidential campaign left it to Carnahan to take verbal digs at Palin. The congressman said her selection showed that McCain "buckled to the right wing of his party," especially since Palin had "zero experience in foreign affairs."
"There's no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick," Carnahan said, igniting cheers.
Biden chose at both stops to focus instead on McCain, who Biden called "my friend for real ... but I think he's dead wrong."
Tony Messenger of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
jmannies@post-dispatch.com
To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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