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Rothfus Delivers RNC Remarks

Just a few minutes after 3:30 p.m., PA-12 GOP candidate Keith Rothfus took to the podium at the RNC to deliver a speech about his own battle with cancer and the need to repeal Obamacare.

A transcript of the remarks has Rothfus opening his speech by saying that health care and Medicare are important issues that will get a lot of play in this election – “and that’s a good thing,” Rothfus said.

He also stressed the importance of patients and their relationship with the doctors who treat them.

“Having developed and survived a very rare form of cancer that kills 75 percent of its victims within five years, I know all too well the importance of a healthcare system that empowers the doctor-patient relationship, and respects the decisions of the family.”

That is why, Rothfus said, there is “no greater threat to the health care of our nation” and senior citizens than Obamacare.

He said that the first path to saving Medicare is repealing the President’s healthcare plan.

“My district, Pennsylvania-12, has one of the largest concentrations of Medicare populations in the entire country. My opponent, Congressman Critz, voted over 20 times to support Obamacare, including voting against the repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which empowers not doctors and patients, but bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

Rep. Mark Critz’s (D-Cambria) campaign spokesperson Mike Mikus said that Rothfus’ speech neglects to mention the shortcomings of the Republicans’ health care plan, which he said would turn Medicare into a voucher system and lead to increased costs for seniors.

Mikus added that Critz received the Social Security and Medicare Hero Award from the Alliance for Retired Americans, and sponsored legislation that prohibits funds to be spent on developing or implementing a system that cuts Medicare benefits, eliminates guaranteed health coverage for seniors or creates a voucher plan.

“Today’s speech is further proof that Keith Rothfus wants to end Medicare as we know it by turning Medicare into a voucher program,” Mikus said.

“Mark Critz has been recognized for his work to prevent the dismantling of Medicare and cuts to benefits, Keith Rothfus is proudly promoting his plan to end Medicare and force seniors to pay more so he can cut taxes for the wealthy. That is the difference in this race.”

Rothfus ended his speech by saying that the Romney-Ryan-Rothfus is the only presidential ticket that will ensure the survival of Medicare for today’s seniors and the program’s future recipients.

“To repeal, to replace, to restore – vote Romney-Ryan, and – in western Pennsylvania – Rothfus. Thank you, and God bless America.”

18 Responses

  1. Please understand I meant no ad hominem, I was merely trying to help. And by all means, which of my delusions have I failed to defend? I agreed that Bush’s policies didn’t work, pointed you to a President with whose economic approach I largely agree (see the great depression of 1920) and even referred you to a work which represents my arguments cogently and without partisanship. I’m actually enjoying this now, so I’ll happily continue defending my position to your satisfaction. Which points need I elucidate for you?

  2. When people are losing an argument, and don’t know how to defend their delusions, they usually succumb to critizize speling. I may not be able to spell, butt my economics actualy ad up

  3. If you are legitimately interested in examining my arguments instead of knocking down straw men, read “Economics In One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt, a work with which I agree almost entirely. No tea party, no distortion, no lies. Also, just to lend a helping hand, you should look up the difference between “their,” “they’re” and “there.”

  4. Why do you keep telling me what I believe? To be clear — I don’t think we’ve had a President who got it right since Warren Harding. Twist that. I dare you.

  5. Government payrolls all expanded under Reagan, Bush 1 and 2. Yet they’ve decreased under Obama by 600,000. ff those jobs weren’t shed, the unemployment would be 7.8%. And if the rate of government job increase only matched that of Bush 2, then the unemployment rate would be 7.3%. Shouldn’t your argument work? nope it does not. Tea Party distortion and lies. Voodoo economics

  6. Your done arguing because your “voodoo economics” has been tried for 3 decades and hasn’t created any sustain economic prosperity. Your arguments are bunk. The Clinton era saw the greatest economic growth EVER. And republicans took it and flushed it down the toilet. Now their blaming their mess on the guy whos trying to clean it up. I have evidence. You have problems

  7. I’m not a tea partier either, Marx would be proud of you trying to force me into a group. No matter where the 1% shop, they create jobs. The corner deli is no more virtuous than any other place of business. If it is not demanded, resources should be and will be allocated elsewhere. Recessions are caused by the business cycle which is created by fractional reserve banking. I’m done with you now, you’re too ignorant to continue arguing with.

  8. Sounds like a typical tea party conspiracy theorist to me. And your views of the healthcare system is just false. We had a a free market based system for decades and it didn’t do anything. And how many of the top 1 % shop anywhere other than Jaguar, and Saks 5th Avenue?. They don’t shop at mini-malls, the local Ford dealership or deli shop. We’ve seen what tax cuts did for the majority of Americans during Reagan and Bush Jr. They create vast amounts of wealth for the very rich while creating harsh recessions for everybody else. Your supply-side worship is what George H.W. Bush would call “voodoo economics”

  9. We don’t have a market-based anything, and certainly not healthcare. The government intervenes and regulates everything to death. As to your point about civil society, you drastically overestimate need. I have tenants who are on welfare, but have bottles of Grey Goose in their kitchen and big screen tv’s. As to those in legitimate need, image how preferences would change if the wealthy were allowed to keep the 40% of their wealth that is now being expropriated? At the very least, their spending would create vastly more jobs than government does with their money, and it will do so in areas demanded by the market. I distrust government, as you should be able to tell, and place no faith in a CBO estimate, which has every incentive to find that government needs more money and needs to stay involved in everything.

  10. @John. I don’t really think you know what your talking about. The america your describing doesn’t seem to have existed. Before Medicare, 50% of seniors lived in poverty, now that number is 10%. Civil society can only help a few. We’re a nation of 300 million, and most of those people struggle finacially. Civil society won’t be able to care for all of them. And your comment about people not dying in the street..thats just stupid. Of course people were, before government intervention, there was no sanitation or garbage disposal and the healthcare was crap at best. We’ve had a market based healthcare system for decades and costs have skyrocketed and quality has gone down. Oh and those numbers I cited are from the CBO, the congressional budget office. You should check it out

  11. @Paindy, correct, I do not believe that the government (I assume that’s what you mean with the nebulous and communist “we”) is charged with or constitutionally able to provide retirement benefits for the middle class. Nor am I by any stretch of the imagination a member of the GOP. I want to empower the individual to provide for him or herself. Again, those who have legitimate need can (and have) been able to get help from civil society without any help whatsoever from the government. But maybe those who do not have legitimate need will take personal responsibility for their own well being if they know that Uncle Sam won’t swoop in and save the day if they piss away all of their money without saving and investing.

  12. I’m getting my numbers from Fact Check, and many others including the WSJ have debunked the myth as well. http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/no-end-to-end-medicare-claim/.
    We didn’t used to have entitlement programs, and no one was dying in the streets. Civil society is closer to the problem and better equipped to help those who actually need help. Fraternal organizations used to pool resources and pay doctors based on the member’s being well rather than sick. There is no end to the possibilities of how the free market can (and has) handled healthcare.

  13. Regarding the Ryan plan, in the harsh new Randian world of GOP politics (I mean you John Galt), Seniors are dead economic weight. GOP extremists no longer believe it is necessary to provide a proper retirement for the Middle Class as this excess baggage drains our economy. But it was the creation of the Middle Class that made this nation great! http://youtu.be/mlftYKpCJBs

  14. It is deplorable that KEITH the Candidate Rothfus’s campaign is playing the cancer card. This desparate act shows the Mr. Rothfus’s campaign is melting down fast! Mr. Rothfus has been totally MIA to help cancer victims in Western pa. This should surprise no one. All Mr. Rothfus cares about is kowtowing to Beltway elites in his crusade to return to the Beltway.

  15. What ignorant statements by someone who benefitted from having health insurance. Do those without insurance deserve to go bankrupt because they or a family member get sick?

  16. @John. Wrong, that figure is correct and has never been successfully challenged. Need to stop getting your numbers from the Heritage Foundation. There the ones who proposed the healthcare mandate

  17. Mikus is an idiot. The $6,400 myth has been debunked and debunked and debunked. Shut up about it already.

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