Tuesday, May 29, 2007

McCaskill: Asked, But Not Telling

Sen. Claire McCaskill tells the KY3 Political Notebook that several presidential candidates have asked her for her endorsement, but she won't tell us which ones. (Cough! Barack Obama! Cough!)

You can watch McCaskill say it at the end of a roughly 7-minute Q&A we had with her today HERE.

Besides ducking my questions about presidential politics, McCaskill talks about the illegal immigration bill and the recent raid at an Ozarks chicken plan, why she voted to continue to fund the war in Iraq and why she wants to introduce a bill that prohibits giving federal dollars to oil companies.

Again, click HERE to watch.

Some Highlights:

On whether SW Missouri warrants its own VA hospital: "I defer to the veterans of Southwest Missouri . . . There needs to be either a user friendly voucher system where they can access hospitals . . ."

Top VA Problem: Administrative. "They should be able to have a system that they can get somebody on the phone, get their questions answered."

On the Immigration Bill: "Unless it changes dramatically, I will be voting against. I'm not for expanding the guest worker program."

On the George's Immigration Bust: "I'm waiting to hear what happened to the employer. If anyone believes that that employer did not know there were illegal immigrants working in that facility, I've got a bridge I want to sell them."

On Gas Prices: "We're going to be pushing very hard in this energy bill to make sure we get a clean shot at taking those federal subsidies away from big oil."

On Iraq: "I believe what you will see in September, you will see the kind of peel off on the Republican side, that will allow us to move forward."

Note: McCaskill's spokeswoman called to say that in the interview the Senator mischaracterized Sen. Mitch McConnell's position on Iraq and a timetable for withdrawal. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said recently, “I think that the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall, and I expect the president to lead it.”

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