About 20 ADAPT activists were arrested outside Sen. John McCain’s Washington, D.C., offices April 29, according to The AP. The arrests occurred after the activists were refused a meeting with the GOP presidential candidate over a legislation designed to expand Medicaid coverage to more disabled people who want to live in their own homes.
"If he should be president, it would be ironic that he comes from a party that talks a lot about family values,” said Bob Kafka, national organizer for ADAPT. “Families are devastated because they don’t have a choice to keep people at home.”
Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean said in a release that the incident shows that McCain is out of touch with the needs of Americans with disabilities.
The two Democratic presidential candidates are co-sponsors of the legislation, the Community Choice Act of 2007, which allows people with disabilities the choice to live and work in their own homes and communities.
"At a time when John McCain is on the campaign trail talking about health care choices, he refuses to explain why he opposes a bill that would let Americans with disabilities choose how and where to live, work and receive care," Dean said. "I am proud to lead a Party that supports the fundamental right of every single American to make his or her own choices about where to live and work. John McCain is either profoundly out of touch with the needs and challenges confronting Americans with disabilities or just doesn't care."
