McCain receiving Social Security benefits

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today/AP

Republican presidential candidate John McCain says he is receiving Social Security checks, but he says the system needs to be fixed if future generations are to enjoy the same benefits.

The senator from Arizona is about a month shy of his 72nd birthday and would be the oldest president elected.

Last week, McCain said the system for funding Social Security is "a disgrace" because it forces young workers to pay into a program that is unlikely to benefit them in its current form.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-07-17-mccain_N.htm

[NMDemDist2]

1. WTF????? the guy has had two jobs in his whole life

Navy dude and Congressional dude.

so he's double dipping already? how can you collect SS when you aren't freaking RETIRED ?????? his Senatorial income has GOT to be higher than the cutoff where you lose benefits

:wtf:

[RamboLiberal]

2. And he's also rated fully disabled by the Navy and is

receiving those checks as well. If I had the money resources of the McCain's, I think I would've been content to just take the Senate salary and refuse the other government checks.

Especially the likes of McCain always want to cut government benefits to those that need it most and preach the "bootstraps" messages.

[JeanGrey]

7. You don't know a lot about Social Security, do you?

He's entitled. He's 72. He can work and draw full benefits.

[stray cat]

3. McCains health insurance plan would deny him coverage

I'll listen to McCain when he is no longer a "kept husband" and has to live within a budget and he denies his SS benefits and socialized health care. Of course, then he would be denied coverage due to pre-existing coverage.

[grilled onions]

4. why can he be classified as disabled

yet still rake in those checks yet many who are disabled are very much restricted to how much they can earn or lose disability payments?

[wishlist]

5. After age 65, there is no earnings limit so he can draw full Soc Sec checks

Only people under age 65 are subject to an earnings limit or disability requirement to draw full benefits. Although he can draw full Social Security, most of it is countable income that must be reported and subject to some Federal Income taxes.

[RebelOne]

15. I'm 69 and collecting social security. I'm also working full-time.

But I have to pay taxes on the combined income.

[Tab]

6. Not to defend McCain in general

but if he honestly paid into it under the rules, he's entitled to it.

[Doremus]

9. I don't disagree but if the creep had any class he'd tell them to give them to someone more needy.

'Course, we already know he has no class, so I guess it's a moot point. ;)

[rasputin1952]

8. Senate pay, medically retired as a Captain from the Navy &

SS...then add what his wife earns for doing virtually nothing and you have the essential poster child of every Republican nightmare, someone who gets an "awful lot of money for doing nothing".

Then again, that may be the ultimate Republican dream.

[sam sarrha]

10. i doubt that.. gov workers dont get it, or military.. his wife is a gazillionare, he'd have to apply

to get it,, no way

[Jersey Ginny]

11. What did he get 100% disability status for?

I thought disabled meant you were so impaired that you couldn't work/function without help. His policies are impaired, but he's been working technically. Please explain.

[RamboLiberal]

14. LA Times article from April

Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a “disability pension” from the Navy.

When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return.

On Monday, McCain’s staff identified the retirement benefit as a “disability pension” and said that McCain “was retired as disabled because of his limited body movements due to injuries as a POW.”

McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. “Tortured for his country – that is how he acquired his disability,” Salter said.

Certain types of military and veterans pensions are either partially or completely tax-exempt, depending on the seriousness of the disability. In McCain’s case, the exemption is 100%.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/22/nation/na-pension22

I've read of vets more grievously injured than McCain who can't get full disability payments are rated at much lower percentages.

[WhiteTara]

12. I hate him n/t

[GoldenOldie]

13. McCain is called a "Triple Dipper"

He is receiving 3 separate checks from the taxpayers. 1 - Military Disability 2- Social Security 3 - US Senator.

He whines that the young are paying for social security of the elderly while at the same time he is receiving 3-cuts "Dips," out of the youth. Who can explain why McCain is receiving 100% military disability while he is capable of and is proving that he can work 24/7. McCain has no credibility. The taxpayers have funded his existence from birth to grave and yet he will not support the disabled veterans who have nothing and are fighting to simply exist.

[WhiteTara]

16. now I really hate him!