McCain dodges question on Viagra, contraceptives ""I certainly do not want to discuss that issue,"

[DogPoundPup]

Yes he was riding on his "Straight Talk Express" Bus ... :crazy:

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (AP) -- Republican John McCain prides himself on being a straight talker. But he resisted being dragged into a discussion Wednesday about insurance companies that cover Viagra but not birth control products.

"I certainly do not want to discuss that issue," the presidential candidate said when a reporter asked him about it on his campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express."

A few seats away was Carly Fiorina, a top McCain supporter who stirred talk about the topic at a recent Washington breakfast with reporters. The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, discussing consumer-driven health insurance, mentioned something "I've been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice."

Fiorina is among McCain's most prominent female advisers, and seen by some as a possible choice to be his running mate.

When asked Wednesday if he had voted in the Senate against a proposal to require insurance companies to cover contraceptive products, McCain replied, "I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don't recall the vote... I don't usually duck an issue, but I'll try to get back to you."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MCCAIN_CONTRACEPTION?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Now here's more about this Carly Fiorina in TODAYS press :

McCain surrogate Fiorina's campaign gaffes drawing criticism Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Carly Fiorina has headed a major Silicon Valley corporation, ascended to the rank of America's top female business icon, authored a book - and now is on the short list of possible GOP vice presidential candidates.

But now the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard has a new challenge: As a leader of Republican National Committee's 2008 "Victory" drive and a chief adviser to presidential candidate John McCain, she's being buffeted by intense criticism that, as a star campaign surrogate, she is playing fast and loose with the facts.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the nation's leading abortion and reproductive rights group, told The Chronicle that she sent Fiorina a copy of McCain's voting record on women's health issues this week after Fiorina publicly misrepresented McCain's positions.

Fiorina made the comments - reported by the Washington Post - during a speech about women and health insurance, in which she argued that "many health insurance plans cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice."

Keenan said a McCain presidency would offer women no such choice. "Obviously, she doesn't know his record," she said. "He really did vote against a proposal that would have required insurance companies" to cover prescription contraception in the same way they pay for Viagra.

It wasn't the first such slip-up, Keenan said. Fiorina's public reassurance to a group of former Hillary Clinton supporters in Columbus, Ohio, raised hackles after she said the Arizona senator "has never signed on to efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade."

read more @ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/09/MN8D11M9QC.DTL