On Flu Vaccine, Kerry missed an opportunity...

[mumon]

This is my one real gripe about the debate.

Both Bush and Kerry, in response to this question, resorted to their positions on other things: Kerry on the general need for health care, and Bush for tort reform???


Now I believe the question was for Kerry, and he should have, IMO, made the following points:

1. There's going to be unplanned for events in a presidency. Like 9/11.

2. We're going to restore the nation's public health infrastructure. Here is where he could have sneaked in his health plan, but public health is more than just insuring everyone. It is, in effect, a matter of national security if we cannot get a vaccine distributed quickly and safely to most Americans.


3. He should have looked at Bush when he was from Mars when he said, "tort reform." He should have- even if it was piggybacking on another question- mentioned that if this were the 1918 pandemic, it wouldn't be a really good idea for a president not to get a flu vaccine.

Otherwise, of course, Kerry looked like the president more than Bush. And so Kerry won. But I was a tad piqued at this response- it's the sort of thing that turns voters off. Luckily, Bush was worse at it.

[eileen from OH]

1. There was another one, same question - CANADA

I was yelling at the tv that he missed this one. ..

Bush said that he was "working with Canada" to get the vaccine.

Kerry should have asked if that was the same Canada where seniors can't get their damn prescriptions.

eileen from OH

[GiovanniC]

3. Absolutely.

I was saying the same thing. So was my mother, who called after the debate to say, "Why didn't Kerry hit him on the drugs from Canada thing?"

Bush made it sound like Canada was a dangerous third-world country in the second debate when he explained how hazardous those Canadian drugs can be (which is also a crock of shit). But now he FLIP-FLOPS and says that he has no problem with pharmaceuticals from Canada? First he's for Canadian drugs, then he's against them. Maybe Bush can have a 90-minute debate with HIMSELF.

[DaveinMD]

2. I agree with this

My wife, who is pregnant, almost got turned away for the flu shot the other day. Everyone in line was pissed off and many were blaming Bush and our current health care system. We could make a lot out of this issue.

[nonconformist]

4. As well, he should have mentioned biological attacks

They're always warning us about bio attacks so it was the perfect opportunity to illustrate how unprepared Bush has made us for something like that.

He should have pointed out that 36,000 people die each year in the US from the flu. Flu is a serious risk to our citizens and a large portion of those deaths could be prevented if they had a flu vaccine. He should have tied it to the threat of biological terrorism and how prepared would we be - would we have the vaccinations and medications we needed - if something like that were to occur?

Dying from the flu is a much larger risk than terrorism is, but it seems that terrorism is sometimes the only way to get people to listen. Make them think about it... this president can't even manage to ensure we have a vaccination for something that kills 36K a year.