League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation, Inc.
	New York State Government November 4, 2008 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues President of the United States

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of New York State and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Middle East, Health Coverage Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What is your position on Iraq and the Middle East? Answer from Bob Barr: According to published candidate information. I would put in place plans for withdrawal without undue delay. While I support an exit from Iraq as quickly as possible, I would not publicly announce a timetable to our adversaries. However, as President, I would begin to immediately and significantly begin to reduce both the military and the economic security blanket we are providing the government. Answer from Roger Calero: According to published candidate information. In a bipartisan effort, the war makers in Washington are using the military and political gains they have registered in Iraq since mid-2007 to extend the deployment of U.S. troops there and expand and deepen their aggression in Afghanistan. In contrast to both Democrats and Republicans, the Socialist Workers campaign demands immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. and coalition troops from both countries, and everywhere else U.S. forces are stationed. Answer from John McCain: According to published candidate information. Two generations of Americans have fought wars in Iraq; we cannot condemn a third to the same fate by letting that country become a failed state in which we must again intervene. Anchoring Iraq in a stable, prosperous region must be the purpose of American strategy in the Middle East. Answer from Barack Obama: According to published candidate information. Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. He will end it by withdrawing our combat troops over 16 months, calling a new constitutional convention, and urging Iraq's neighbors to work towards stability. Obama seeks a two-state solution--Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. Answer from Ralph Nader: According to published candidate information. The current political strategy of pre-emptive war in the Middle East is a disaster for both the American people and the people of the Middle East. Nader/Gonzalez propose a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Nader favors a two-state solution and believes that the United States needs to highlight the broad and deep peace movement in Israel and its counterparts among Palestinians and among Americans of the Jewish faith. Answer from Gloria La Riva: (According to published candidate information) We stand for the immediate removal of all U.S. and foreign forces from Iraq. All U.S. bases and the gigantic U.S. embassy in Baghdad should be shut down immediately. Reparations should be paid to the Iraqi people for the vast destruction inflicted on their land by the launching of an unprovoked war of aggression. Answer from Cynthia McKinney: According to published candidate information. Our government does not have the right to justify pre-emptive invasion of another country on the grounds that the other country harbors, trains, equips and funds a terrorist cell. Our commitments compel us to oppose U.S. government support for "friendly" regimes, both in Israel and in the Arab world, whenever those regimes violate human rights, international law, and existing treaties. Those same values compel us to support popular movements for peace and demilitarization. 2. What is your position on Health Care? Answer from Barack Obama: According to published candidate information. Obama will sign universal health legislation by the end of his first term, ensuring all Americans have high-quality, affordable coverage. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 annually; modernize our health care system to contain costs and improve quality; and promote prevention and public health. Answer from Roger Calero: According to published candidate information. The federal government must guarantee lifetime medical care and retirement pensions for all. No cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or workers compensation payments. Answer from Bob Barr: According to published candidate information. Regulations which mandate insurance coverage and inflate premiums should be eliminated. Controls which unduly restrict competition within the health care industry, and that limit access to insurance across state lines, should be ended. Moreover, current tax policy, which is biased towards employer-provided, comprehensive health insurance, should be reformed, encouraging individual purchase of less costly catastrophic policies. Answer from Ralph Nader: According to published candidate information. The state of health care in the United States is a disgrace. For millions of Americans it is a struggle between life, health and money. The Nader Campaign supports a single-payer health care plan that replaces for-profit, investor-owned health care and removes the private health insurance industry (full Medicare for all). Answer from Gloria La Riva: (According to published candidate information) The La Riva/Puryear PSL presidential campaign believes that quality health care must be free and available to all people. Capitalist insurance companies and providers must be dismantled and replaced with publicly-owned entities that provide health care for all. Answer from Cynthia McKinney: According to published candidate information. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a national health care system. The current system's high costs and widely recognized failures demand that bold steps be taken. The Green Party supports a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program as the only solution to the current disastrous for-profit system. Answer from John McCain: According to published candidate information. The problem with American health care is not one of quality, but one of cost. I have proposed a health care plan that addresses the escalating cost of health care to ensure more American families can afford access to the finest health care system in the world. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.