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Elizabeth Edwards and McCain Spar over “Cheap Shots”

April 21, 2008 8:28 PM

ABC News' Raelyn Johnson: Though her husband's presidential bid was sidelined Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Sen. John Edwards is actively playing presidential politics.

Edwards has recently lodged a variety of criticisms against the Republican nominee John McCain for not offering universal healthcare.

"He has not spent a single day not protected by a federal health plan, not a single day of his entire life, and yet he denigrates this care," said Edwards in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

Appearing yesterday on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" McCain called Edwards' comments a "cheap shot".

"It's a cheap shot, but I did have a period of time where I didn't have very good government health care," said McCain.

Today, Edwards responded to McCain writing as a guest blogger for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank she recently joined as a senior fellow.

"That is not a cheap shot, it is a potentially life and death question for tens of million of Americans. And it is a question Sen. McCain must address," wrote Edwards.

"Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity. That is true. But it has nothing with my point — which is that the problem with Sen. McCain's health care plan is not how it affects us –- but how it affects the tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions who, unlike Sen. McCain and myself, do not have the resources to pay for quality health care."

While Democrats Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are engaged in their own contest—Elizabeth Edwards has had no problems taking the republican nominee to task for weeks.

In March, appearing at the Association of Health Care Journalists, Edwards argued said she and McCain had one thing in common, "Neither one of us would be covered by his health policy." ABC's News' Jake Tapper has that write-up HERE.

Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after the 2004 presidential election, and just over a year ago was diagnosed with incurable cancer. She argues that McCain's proposals would make it difficult for insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions like melanoma and breast cancer. In 2000, McCain was diagnosed with malignant melanoma.

Since Sen. John Edwards' departure from the race, Elizabeth Edwards has not endorsed a candidate—just as her husband has not.

However, during and interview on ABC News' "Good Morning America" she told Robin Roberts she preferred Sen. Clinton's healthcare plan to Sen. Obama's with the belief that Clinton's is truly universal.

"You need that universality in order to get the cost savings ... I just have more confidence in Sen. Clinton's policy than Sen. Obama's on this particular issue."

April 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (22)

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Posted by: brenda | Apr 24, 2008 10:54:35 AM

Posted by: Laura | Apr 24, 2008 4:19:51 PM

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