Hillary Hits Back At Rivals Over Lobbyist Money
Hillary Clinton has taken fire for weeks over her decision to take money from federal lobbyists, but she hit back during the HuffPost/Yahoo!/Slate Candidate Mashup.
"I think it's a little inauthentic for people to say don't take money from lobbyists but it's okay to take it from their spouses, their children, their associates, and from people that work for the companies that employ them. That is...kind of an artificial distinction."
Clinton said her commitment to providing health care for Americans shouldn't not be questioned even if she took money from health care industry-linked donors.
"I think it's somewhat silly that anybody would look at me with the record that I have and the extraordinary incoming fire that I've taken for 15 years and suggest that talking to people, even working with them is somehow out of bounds," Clinton said. "Nobody is going to be surprised when I unroll my coverage plan that I intend to dramatically reign in the influence of the insurance companies."
For his part, even Obama admitted he's tainted by campaign cash. "Money is the original sin of politics, and when you're running for President, you're going to do some sinning when it comes to raising money because otherwise you can't compete," he told Charlie Rose. He said it's worth it "to unify the country and overcome the special interest-driven agendas in order to actually get something done."
But John Edwards assailed the idea of negotiating with drug companies and private insurers in any way.
"I know that some of those who are running on my side, the Democratic side, argue that you should give them a seat at the table, you should negotiate with them, compromise with them," he said during his interview with Rose. "The reason we don't have universal health care is these people have absolutely no intention of giving away their power voluntarily."
When asked, Edwards wouldn't say whether he'd turn down campaign donations from executives at insurance and pharmaceutical companies.




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The Huffington Post | Michael Roston | September 12, 2007 10:08 PM