Bill Clinton's Angry Confrontation With Voter (VIDEO)

From "CBS News RAW": While campaigning in Fayetteville, W.Va., Bill Clinton argued with an audience member over claims made by Hillary Clinton that she improved health care during his administration.

Comments

[Rharte]

Watch out! When Bill starts wagging that finger, you better take cover cos there is a lie about to hit. And it ain't pretty. I can't believe this is the same Bill "Most popular president" Clinton the the world used to know. Hmm. If only fingers could speak.

[northcan]

Obama is humble, Clinton's are 'puffed up with false pride'. Their criminal activity, freindhip with the Bush family is a deliberate attempt to thwart what really has been going on with 'elected' Presidents for over 40 yrs.

This time around, their arrogance has cost them support from the very people protecting them 'in crime', and it is showing. Also thier political coffers have dwindled due to courageous official guarding voting fraud, campaign financing and donations.......all being watched carefully as the Clintons head off into Court in California in November.

They are 'restrained' from illegal activity......this is hurting them, especially foreign donars who in the past funded their campaigns in part, now being watched. (illegal for foreign countries to donate).

[Rixar13]

Bill and Hillary worked hard for health care and I supported Bill in 92 and beyond. They are awesome...

[OrganizersWin]

I am curious what the words "worked hard" mean exactly. If I remember correctly, within 2 years of being in office, Pres. Clinton had successfully empowered the right-wing nut machine by distancing himself completely on progressive issues, instead of using his slogan of 'hope' to forge a new paradigm farther towards those very same issues, and move the country to the 'left'. Hillary was NOT elected by the people, yet was "in charge" of 'getting it done'.... she went off behind closed doors and then reemerged with a wonderful future in the world of insurance company lobbyist donations. Bill ran on the same issue in 1996, and still 12 years after that... where is the health care?

Pres. Clinton dealt first with the WTC bombing (93) before gutting welfare, and while pushing NAFTA et al. He deregulated everything, including the financial industry and enviro. polluters, all the way up to the wonderful TELECOM (screw america) ACT of 1996... he even got some "bombings" in along the way... while we focused on OJ SIMPSON and MONICA for the entire decade, instead of holding him accountable.

Sen. Clinton's plan NOW is being praised by insurance companies for the simple reason that forcing everyone to join a corrupt system, does not remove the corruption. Using OUR tax dollars to ONLY subsidize 'payments' to insurance companies who take 30% before denying your claims is the OPPOSITE of what we need- which is "single payer", bypassing her corporate donors... don't you agree?

[Oakland]

Bill was better than Reagan/Bush, but not by a hell of a lot. Not only did he NOT do health care, he did NOT do corporate welfare reform. He was tough on the babies, but how could he possibly bite the hands that feed them? Corporations are the problem and the politicians and the laws that reward them. Obama better take them to the woodshed, or else he's no different than those that came before him. .

[tbone99]

Regulations to prevent the 'denying of claims and preconditions is part of the plan.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

That was a great comment!

[Sunsprite]

Let's prove it.

[politicgirl999]

The better statement is Prove Obama worked hard on anything ? You can't

[enskog]

Bill Clinton a Tarnished Legacy

That should be the head line. Sorry, but I won't be sobbing over not seeing side-show-Bill in the future.

[whatsthatsound]

Notice how Bill starts to smile when he sees he has the crowd with him. He's into it! There's blood in the water. He was STOKED! Like Michael Jordan. Oh, how I wish there were more separating our political leaders and our sports stars.

[jackpinesavage]

First: Bill Clinton didn't start campaigning on health care until he was forced to do so because both Paul Tsongas and Bob Kerrey had detailed health care reform proposals. So he jumped on the bandwagon. Second: they appointed Ira Magaziner to head the task force; Ira had failed at just about every grand idea he consulted on, but he was a pal of the Clintons so he got the job.

Every retelling of the events surrounding health care reform paint it as the worst kind of goat rodeo. Nobody ever knew what the F was going on. There were thousands of people having thousands of meetings, but nothing ever really got done. This is why the proposal was so late getting put into play...it never really got finished. They were warned by other Democrats who had been working for reform for a long time about what to do and what not to do...and more importantly how to do/not do it. All that advice was ignored.

They flubbed the process badly. Sure, they had enemies and opponents (particularly Gingrich), but when they got the window to do it, they came up way short. And since they couldn't even explain the damned thing, it was easy to manipulate for the Republicans. (And when it started, there were Republicans who were for it.) The heckler had her facts wrong, but she nailed the gist of the history.

Don't remember, read a book...

[blaze]

What I remember, not reading a book, but reading the newspapers at the time.. was that Hillary's health care was very popular in Congress. 80% approval in the Senate. I remember Bob Dole (Senate leader) standing and supporting the action in the Senate. Then Bill Kristol sent his famous memo stating that "We can't let the Clintons win anything". That's when it all changed. Then the press started talking about how many pages in the plan (It's this big... you can barely throw it down the stairs). Then the Harry and Louise ads came out by the insurance companies.

The plan was reviewed in all the major papers and looked very good to me, considering that in this country, you must take baby steps to get any comprehensive reform in place.

The CBO stated that with the Clinton surplus, we would eliminate the debt by the year 2008. That of course was completely scuttled by George Bush so that we are seeing 10 trillion dollar debt and more.

When Gore was running, he said that after the debt was eliminated/reduced, he would put that surplus in a "lockbox" to protect Social Security and Medicare. He was ridiculed for the "lockbox" statement (as well as nearly everything else).

It's truly sad to see Obama supporters rely on the Right-wing trash brigade for their talking points, but there you are. They have even branded the Clintons as racist which is the biggest pile of bullshit that I've ever seen.

[PJay1]

Whether or not Hillary worked on health care (reform), the bottom line is that it is now worse than ever before. Her secret meetings a la Dick Cheney certainly didn't help her cause. In fact, this secrecy was probably a big reason for her failure to get it done.

What she is proposing is not "universal health care" but rather (private for profit) insurance reform which will benefit the insurance and drug companies on the backs of the middle class, you know, those "hard working Americans". Mandating that people buy insurance, lest the be fined or have their wages garnished, is NOT universal single payer health care but rather a giveaway to the insurance companies.
Period.

[Limitless]

Yes they had secret meetings but isn't it interesting that party loyalty and the drive to get things done never stopped Republicans from getting their way. It is not the time to continue browbeating Democrats for trying to accomplish some good thing. The fact is that Democrats have not learned how to work together. If they don't learn soon they will continue to be in the wilderness. Todd Gitlin, former SDS president outlined this in his book, The Bulldozer and the Big Tent.

[belief08]

I wholeheartedly agree. You're 100% accurate, I only wish we can get this through to the brains of that group of voters that Clinton touts constantly. It's like they have been brainwashed to her pandering methods. I did my research and I found out about Universal healthcare. I saw a news report on regular television; it covered the in(s) and out(s) of Universal healthcare in Massachusettes. The only people it did not benefit was the people that could not afford healthcare period. They interviewed this young musician that said he was being fined $1000 a month until he obtained insurance. This is so not right for people that can't afford it. How is this going to work for the college students? There has to be another way to do this.

[wwsword]

The woman is completely wrong. I closely followed the fight for universal healthcare. Whether you agreed with the Clinton's plan or not, they worked their butts off to get it done.

There is a pattern with Obama followers of infiltrating Clinton rallies and heckling the candidate, her husband, and their daughter. The Obama campaign is very cult-like.

[JavaCityGal]

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me how hard someone worked or not -- the bottom line is did they deliver?

I can't imagine going to my boss after an important failed project and telling him, "oh, but I tried really hard".

[lysistrata]

Obama has not even tried yet. He won an election against Alan Keyes for crying out loud.

At least the Clintons tried and worked their buts off for it. If you have an impossible job to do and you can't do it even if you put the best effort in it your boss should just fire you, you can't deliver even if the task is impossible? What would you tell your boss if he should ask you?

Suppose you are the boss, would you never respect the hard work?

[Swift2]

Note the place and the headline: "Bill Clinton gets angry at heckler," not "crazy old lady gets confused about the facts." Maybe she's conflating two things: Hillary became less visible at some point because of the endless heckling from the right about the "two for one" business, and the "Tammy Wynette" "baking cookies," etc. It was hard being the first activist first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.

So Hillary kept a lower profile while she put together the task force.

Were there mistakes? Sure, in retrospect. Did she work hard to get it done? Absolutely. Oh, but that's right. She didn't campaign for Obama's measly "reforms", so she must have done nothing.

[ReportThis]

I liked Hillary better when she kept that "low profile." I will like her more when she drops completely out-of-sight.

[WaveFunction]

Generalizing about Obama's supporters from one mistaken and outspoken supporter is almost as crazy as being a mistaken and outspoken supporter.

[gbht12]

Nice! Cult like. The point is that Hillary did not want to take advise from others regarding her healthcare policy, it was her way or the highway thus it didn't go anywhere. She had her opportunity to do something but it failed. I think that is what the person in the audience was trying to say. I am a Obama supporter and I don't appreciate your insult of calling me a cult member. He has registered millions of new voters, young voters, I don't think that is a positive remark to address to young people!

[Softnsweet]

wwsword ,

Yes, the Clintons did work hard on trying to get universal health care passed. What they did not do was include the people that could help them get it passed. Hillary kept the it close to her breast and did not let anyone help. When they tried to get it passed the very people she needed did not help.

Obama said that to her in one of their debates. She went in a back room with who she wanted to help and closed everyone else out.

She is that way today and that is why I will not vote for you. The lady was right. It did not pass and blew up in her face just like everything else they have done.

[MKLA]

So, Hillary Clinton identified health care as an area of reform in 1993-1994, when many politicians said the system wasn't broken. She tried but failed to get health care reform past not only Republicans but Democrats, who in their typical inability to come together, offered their own competing plans. And Obama supporters side with a heckler with crazy-eye (come on, don't TELL me you don't see it) who says, "Hillary promised to reform health and abandoned it after 20 days in the White House"? Huh? Hillary has admitted mistakes were made in her 1994 plan. Obama failed to get himself elected to Congress six years later - are we to take that as an everlasting indication of his ability to succeed?

What was Obama attempting to do about health care in 1994? Oh, he was busy writing a book? About health care? Hmmm. Not so much.

[lysistrata]

Truman was for national health care and could not get it. Obama will have a more Democratic Congress, Clinton had a Republican majority, but the insurance industry has the money and power.

Maybe now since some of the big corporations would like to cut health insurance for their employees there could be a chance and maybe not. Jay Rockefeller already said, it will not get on the table in 2009 and maybe not in 2010.

But the Obama people are sure the world will fall to his feet and do whatever he wants to be done. It is easy, he will just snap his finger and voila.

[NoSillyName]

Bill, don't get so riled up. Remember your heart condition.

[standforpeace]

I love the fact that Bill would use "millions of pages of documents that we've released" as evidence of Hillary's hard work. New Rule: You can't use released documents as a defense for anything as long as there are documents that you are withholding as the Clinton library has refused to release so many documents that could prove damanging to Hillary. Either release all of the documents that don't require a security clearance to view or refrain from references to documents when arguing your case. No more cherry picking of the historical record.

[Swift2]

Doesn't bother you that a) more documents were declassified by the Clinton administration than any previous administration, that they're releasing their administration's documents at a faster clip than any previous administration -- just wait for W's document dumps in 2040. But you know you can always feel good about yourself by using the talking point that Karl Rove suggested for Obama in the British newspaper about 9 months ago.

[Durango]

As someone who has litigated open records cases I can tell you from experience it doesn't matter a whit how many documents they have declassified.

The interesting material is what they don't want you to see.

So when our opponents bragged about the three boxes of materials they handed over we called Bullshit. The interesting stuff is what they tried to hide.

[CC1]

Rude is rude, regardless of the candidate you support.

[beetlejuiceonline]

Everything Clinton says in this video is fact. The heckler doesn't know what she is talking about.

This is the reason Hillary supporters will refuse to vote for Obama if he is the nominee. We will switch to McCain and he will win a landslide victory.

[bigbingtheory]

Then you don't have very good ethics do you? You'd actually vote for Mc Cain because you disagree with some Obama supporters? Pretty petty.

And you have a poor memory. The woman was correct. Hillary did not deliver on her health care promises nor did Bill deliver on any of his populist rhetoric, in fact he sold us out.

I supported them through the 90s. I defended them and campaigned for them and I remember the times very well. I remember doing all of this despite the fact that I was deeply disappointed that they weren't delivering the goods. I realized that I was used.

This is why so many Democrats are tired of the Clintons. But here's an important difference between us and you. We'd hold our nose and vote for her because the stakes are too high and you'd piss away your vote and enable the Republicans. Kind of like the Clintons did through out the 90s.

[Eoin45]

"Everything Clinton says in this video is fact." Regardless of whether that's true, Bill Clinton lost the right to wag his finger at anyone the day of his dalliance with Monica. That was the direct cause of GW Bush's election and the subsequent disastrous 8 years. All those dead in Iraq would still be alive if Bill had kept it in his pants.

"We will switch to McCain and he will win a landslide victory." What you're saying is, I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue and when that doesn't work I'm going to vote for someone who is the polar opposite of what both Hillary and Barack stand for - just for spite. You reveal yourself to be incredibly childish and immature. I agree with bigbing theory. You don't have very good ethics.

[lysistrata]

You are naive if you believe Bush was appointed because of Monica. As far as I remember Al Gore won the election.

Next you Obamamanians are not very gracious, you won and you still spew hatred for people who have different opinions. True not all of you, but way too many. Grow up.

Obama will be the next president and he will not be able to deliver all you expect, not even with a majority in Congress.

[cinemabon]

Speak for yourself. Many Hillary supporters, including my mother, will support Obama if he is the nominee. That is a veiled threat and unworthy of a democrat. Talk about a sore loser. Would you expect Obama supporters to give Hillary a second thought if that is your attitude?

[Ariane]

I agree with you the heckler does not know what she is talking about, but that is not a reason to vote for McCain who is SO opposed to what Hillary is for!!!!! I admit I too have had moments where I have thought of voting for McCain and the things that triggered it were not logícal.

It is inevitable a lot of Democrats will be very disappointed not to get who we REALLY want to vote for and be stuck with a lesser of evils. But we should not let our anger confuse us about which IS the lesser evil. ( It's NOT the other Democrat.) McCain has flip flopped madly to cave into the right. His latest is opposing abortion even in rape or incest. He's even backpedalled on torture. He distrubingly keeps mixing up Sunni and Shia & sings Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran like its a joke to get us into another war when our military and finances are already overstretched. Universal health care? Forget it. We wouldnt have as much an improvement as Obama's plan which is at least better than McCains. The Supreme court alone is a huge reason not to vote for McCain & could have very serious LONG-TERM effects on our liberties- -and confirmation only requires a simple majority, so without a huge Democrat majority in the Senate, it just takes a few Democrats voting with the Republicans to end up with more rightwing Justices.

[lysistrata]

I am a Democrat, I would never vote for McCain. If I must I will vote against McCain, but otherwise why bother, I will stay home.

But McCain is no danger to Obama, the money is for Obama.

After Bush things will get back to normal. We always go with the lesser of two evils unless the SC says otherwise.

[Swift2]

I was with you up to the end. I won't ever do that. I first heard that kind of pig-headedness here, when Hillary was 20 points up. "I won't vote for her, I'll vote for McCain first," they said. Please, wake up. Nothing's worth that.

[700poundNASCARFAN]

if Bill is going to keep using that, he should at least change it up a little. His response is the same as every other time someone has "interrupted" his speech. Boring, the funny thing is there are too many stupid people there and they start cheering. Also isn't that a super small crowd for a former president to draw in? pretty pathetic!

the clinton Circus continues.

[bigbingtheory]

I think the heckler nailed it when she said "they promised and they didn't deliver."
'nuff said. Hillary and Bill caved again and again to Republican pressure and smears. We had a decent economy in the 90s, not much else.

[lysistrata]

Obama promised and he will deliver? We will see.

[Swift2]

So, FDR, whose plan was to bring health care just after social security, is a big failure, and so is Harry Truman, and every president since then. LBJ? Why, that's just for old people!

Come on. They're losing. Can't you admit the truth NOW? They did their damnedest. They got defeated, and it wasn't because of lack of trying. It had a lot more to do with the $300 million campaign launched by the insurance industry called "Harry & Louise," which Obama's campaign shamefully echoed this season. It had a lot to do with Rush Limbaugh and Newt and the "Republican Revolution," which is now in shambles.

"They caved." Well, you know, they didn't. But when the House and Senate are in the hands of a zealous opposition, you resort to a kind of guerilla warfare. You're damn lucky that Bill was tricky and sneaky enough, and tough enough with his vetoes, in the '90s. There were lots of moments when Bill was all we had between us and Newt's Madmen. And that's the truth.

[Crozier]

IF YOUR PREMISE IS that Clinton's Trojan Horse Republicanism - signing most of the Gingrich neocon agenda, but calculatedly using the veto on some issues giving him cover, The DLC gave us DOMA, DADT for the neocon theocrats and "welfare reform" for the secular neocons, while providing subsidies for the Corporations they both serve.
To the liberal and progressive wings, the STFU was always predicated upon: " You think we're bad for you, well imagine if you have the real Republicans."

The Corporations will turn John McCain.....failed son and grandson of four star admirals and more, bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, who crashed after a few sorties and who took advantage of being the scion of an important family to get special Viet treatment after they learned who he really was. He divorced his wife to marry a rich heiress. He has always been conservative, but he adopted a fascist-lite approach in 2000 and since then, has become a full fledged complete Corporate Whoremaster.

The MSM will turn McCain into MacArthur and make him a world class hero rather than a world class poseur.