John McCain. Glib he is not. When asked a reasonably straightforward question about why insurance companies cover Viagra but not Birth Control - McCain was STUMPED!
First of all - someone ought to get him copies of the play book. There's a dodge and weave move that he shouldn't have to reach for. It's politics 101.
Here's the RIGHT (lame) answer:
"That's a very good question Young Lady! First of all, health care in this country is a mess, and when I am in the White House, I'm going to clean it up. We're going to look at every single decision about how health care is paid for, what is paid for, who is getting special treatment, and we're going to root out fraud and waste in the system and make sure that the average American is getting the health care they need... (this needs to take about 5 minutes of blather to fill up the reporters allotted time).
If this doesn't work - the reporter has the temerity to say: "But, Senator, you didn't answer the question"
Then, with slight disdain and anger;
"Well, with all due respect I did. We're going to look into it - We're going to get it fixed if its broken, and I'm not going to sit here with you and parse every decision made by the Insurance Industry expect to say that you're darn right, we need to make sure that American's have the best darn health care system in the world, and i'm committed to that."
This is the standard: agree, obfuscate, and refocus. This is the trick that all candidates use when posed with questions that they haven't already got talking points on.
It's politics 101.
And McCain just got an "F".
The reporters question was fair, interesting, and worth a thoughtful response. But short of that, an elegant dodge shouldn't have been that hard to come up with.
I can't wait to see what happens when he's buttonholed on Fannie Mae or the Bear Sterns bail out, or the sub prime mess, or the cost of ethanol after the floods in the Midwest destroy the corn crop.
Someone get this guy a new earpiece, his batteries must be running low.
Or, he knows he's not the candidate, and he's just running the clock... but that's another story.