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

[thoughtsoutloud]

The irony is that HRC hangs in there hoping for something dire and awful to happen to Obama, while Bill is starting to look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I wonder if the possiblility the catastophic event might be their own has crossed their minds.
That red face and obvious anxiety level cannot be good for a guy his age with a bad heart history

[pjfahey]

This is insane! This woman really said that Hillary did nothing about health care? You may disagree with her plan and/or her effectiveness (I sure do) but this woman's statement is ridiculous! Of course the press is on the fact that Bill Clinton is human and got upset, but this woman is an idiot!

[LeoMarvin]

Agreed. I'm for Obama, and this is less flattering to him than to Hillary.

[thymetwo]

She worked on health care, refused to listen to other ideas, fought tooth and nail and I would ask you, do we HAVE health care. For all her work and I won't deny she did work, we have exactly nothing.

[biglover]

This woman did not say that. She said that once the measure was totally rejected, that the issue of health care was not brought up again and that's a fact. I remember it clearly. As I said earlier, maybe she was so devastated by the total rejection or whether Bill's admin told her to drop it, we don't know. But the issue of national health care never came back up again during the administration.

Now those are the facts and that is what this woman asked him. I wish some of you posters would be more accurate in your comments instead of just throwing crap at the wall and hoping it sticks.

[midwestvoter]

Haven't read all the previous posts so forgive me if I am repeating someone else's observation, but what struck me the most about this video was how few people were in the audience. No matter what anyone thinks of Bill, having so few show up to see a former President had to bug him. And isn't West Virginia supposed to be strongly favored for Clinton? Wow.

[brizzle]

Yep, exactly my thoughts.

[Gasparilla]

Big friggin deal. He argued with her. Good for him. Is there anything, anything, that so many of the Obama supporters don't get their undies in a twist over?

[fnygy]

As an Obama supporter with my panties completely intact, I'd like to agree with you here. This lady was simply wrong and the president has every right to point it out as forcefully as he sees fit. She says she "remembers" it differently, but the record is very clear. Mrs. Clinton worked her ass off for that health care plan. And she failed.

[biglover]

fngy - the point the woman made and correctly was that after the health care plan was so soundly rejected, nothing more was done for the next 6 years about health care - Nothing whatsoever. Those are the facts.

[mikekev58]

"Victory has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan".

In fact, it was the Democratic Congress that failed. Hillary Clinton was the head of a presidential commission, so it was beyond her ability to get health care passed. She presented a proposal, and thanks to millions in ads from the medical industry and the anti-Clinton Republicans, along with the every weakening Democratic Congress of the time, her proposal was torn to shreds.

If she failed, it was not for lack of effort and good will.

But the narrative - the MSM narrative which Obamanistas ironically repeat - is that she somehow is responsible for 40 million people not having health care.

We are through the looking glass.

The rebuilding of the Democratic party begins immediately after Barry's concession phone call to President-elect McCain.

[SayonaraSnot]

Oh, Bubba

[MPeter]

I thank the lady for her courage and honesty. Clinton has gone postal. He is as psychotic and deluded and his wife. Thank you lady for courageously facing him up. You are a great American and make me love this democracy more!!!!

[seenitall]

the only way Bill wasn't going to be neutered by Hillary was to get her the nomination...snip, snip.

[era996]

Mr. President to you

[ellen63]

There he goes again, the finger-wagging Bill Clinton, disdainful of anyone who disagrees with him. It is so unbecoming for a former President to behave this way. While it is true that Hillary worked hard on health care, with voluminous papers to show for it, she has not been the stalwart Senator Ted Kennedy is on this issue. Once her plan was defeated, in part because her of refusal to bend to other approaches in the Congress, she did retreat to nurse her grievances about what she felt was a personal rebuke. Of course, everything with the Clintons is personal. We need a President like Obama to speak to the issues in a way that he himself acknowledges must be larger than any one individual. Bill Clinton's behavior violates this notion. Ted Kennedy, John and Elizabeth Edwards, among others, will continue to fight for the people on health care and poverty in America. By the way, Clinton, in his eight years of office, never traveled to Appalachia or other stricken areas. Nor did Hillary behave like Eleanor Roosevelt. Instead of ministering to the broken and defeated, as Eleanor and Franklin did, the Clintons hightailed it to Martha's Vineyard, Hollywood and the Hamptons. To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, in his debate with Dan Quayle: 'No Eleanor, Franklin, Bobby (kennedy) or John (Edwards) are you, the Clintons." Patricia Burstein

[racetoinfinity]

True. They are neoliberals pushing the corporatist plutocratic agenda that they are part of and that benefit them, personally. Hillary had to go back to her earlier more progressive stances this year to get traction, but I'm so glad Obama (a sincere almost-progressive - or at least a sincere person) - will be the nominee.

[hwebb54]

Typical Obama supporter. Crazy hippies who don't know facts about anything.

[SayonaraSnot]

Except for the part about her being correct.

[DMSmith]

Correct??? Are you out of you mind?!

She worked hard for Health Care, successful or not. That is in the public record. I too remember. Her active involvement in Health Care went on for many many months with coverage of it in the press and on T.V. continually. This woman took a vacation fro reality.

As for Bill...there's a limit to the lies about you and your administration that you can stand. This is another of the lies. I don't blame him for wanting to set the record straight!

That woman was doing her country a huge disfavor, and I hope she is never allowed to forget her public lies.

[txshldm0007]

Here goes the clintonian again being another elitist clintonian.

What hippies are second class citizens for you?

[DShawn233]

LMAO, I remember when Republicans called Clinton supporters "hippies" in the 90's. My how the times have changed.

[protagonia]

DShawn233 See Profile I'm a Fan of DShawn233
LMAO, I remember when Republicans called Clinton supporters "hippies" in the 90's. My how the times have changed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

neo-con rule #13 -

Just say what it takes to get what you want. The lie of the week, the day, the minute. Change it when you want, to suit your needs. You needn't believe it to say it. Lying to others is just a means to an end. You don't need to mean anything you say because life and people are all bullshit anyway, including the one saying the lie. It's the "Bully's way".

Once the goal is achieved, everything will be alright, right? Bullies will dominate the world! And what a wonderful place it will be. Hell on Earth.

[racetoinfinity]

She's not a typical Obama supporter. She just was wrong that Hillary "didn't do anything". Hillary did plenty and stubbornly wouldn't hear other points of view or meet others halfway or bend. She blew it.

[biglover]

Again, is anybody home. The woman make a correct statement which was that after the health care proposal was rejected, Hillary never brought it up again and the matter died right there. She worked hard while it was viable, but once rejected she never did anymore on the issue. That is a fact. That is a fact. Get your head's out of the clouds.

[Brebro]

Yeah, and you "Love James Carville," adds up. Crazy hippie or not that lady Bill was wagging his famous finger at was right. I remember too. Don't you remember hwebb54 or is your memory fading in old age? Or maybe a selective memory suits you better. You're going to vote for Mccain? Really?

[sciabattoni]

Bill, a bit testy. The charge, a bit unfair.
No one can say HRC didn't TRY to make a big health care push.
I sense she really would make a great prez, but the problematic and sniping campaign has not seemed to verify that feeling. She looked great early on (before Iowa), then, it got worse and worse.

[rh654]

1) Working hard for long hours doesn't mean anything unless there are results.

2) Hillary set back health care 20+ years due to her failure to achieve success.

3) Hillary further set back health care progress by her refusal to set incremental goals - she played all or nothing and WE all lost because of her ego to "win".

I believe that we would be much further along in fixing health care if someone with more maturity and less ego had been leading the Health Care reform charge under the Bill Clinton Administration.

[hwebb54]

Results?

Like the 130 "present" votes your candidate had in the State Senate?

What has your candidate EVER done?

Ethics reform doesn't count either. That never helped anyone but the government

[aeaton]

Do you read at all? The "present" vote issue is dead. It's a common strategy in Illinois politics used by nearly ALL legislators. Obama voted yes or no on over 4000 votes in the legislature. He has a stronger record than Clinton in getting his measures through. Her hard work often amounts to NOTHING.

This candidate has run the most effective campaign in modern history. Bodes well for someone to run a government. Hill's campaign has been incompetent, to say the least.

[OlskoolDem]

put the gun down I know your bitter,

[WriterGuy]

Please, that old non-story? Try some truth, instead:

THE FACTS: Obama acknowledges that over nearly eight years in the Illinois Senate, he voted "present" 129 times. That was out of roughly 4,000 votes he cast, so those "presents" amounted to about one of every 31 votes in his legislative career.

Illinois legislators often vote "present" and for a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes blocs of lawmakers do it as a protest in some dispute over rules and procedures. Obama was often joined in his "present" votes by 10 or 20 other senators.

In other cases, lawmakers do it to signal objections to the details of a measure that they support in principle. They also use "present" votes as strategic moves to defeat legislation or, of course, simply to avoid taking a firm position.

There's more at the following link:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/24/fact_check_obamas_present_votes/

[era996]

What did he do?
Stayed and chered his pastor
Did say cerap about that poor old grandmother that raised him, though

[rh654]

The vote of "present" is first a small minority of the votes Obama has placed - second the vote of "present" is a common vote for elected representatives to take in the state.

But none of Obama's votes or actions meant a disaster for the health care reform like Hillary's failed and miserable attempt to reform health care that lead to a complete disaster that failed to make any headway and has pushed back the effort for two decades.

[SmootyBooty]

Spot on. We are STILL without any comprehensive national plan for health care BECAUSE of Hillary Clinton, and even (especially) Bill knows that...

[mikekev58]

Smooty, completely through the Looking Glass, blames Hillary's efforts for the US not having a comprehensive national health plan.

The Republican Congresses and the current occupant of the White House have nothing to do with that lack of a national health plan.

The lobbyists for the medical industry have nothing to do with that lack of national health care plan.

The right wing radio hosts and their dittoheads have nothing to do with that lack of national health care plan.

Yes, the person who worked and put forth a plan is to blame.

Smooty, just how dark is it where you have your head?

[Jeffin90019]

In Clinton-land, you tell the big lie to win the big prize and then finesse your way out of the lie later - after you victory lap. And woe to those who try to contradict Bill. Has anyone given much attention to the many ways he's hurt her campaign. It's almost like he's being passive aggressive and saying, "I'm the only President Clinton in this family!"

[Binx101]

This brave woman is also the voice of America.

The Bloated former President and Current man about town - is talented at changing the point.

Hillary did not accomplish anything with Health Care and that is the most significant fact. Whether she worked on it or not - is only relevant to the lawyering intent. The results were evident and still are.

Nada, Zilch, Nill, Skerberk, Zip ...Zero

We consider the Clintons Collaborators and partly responsible for the Neo Con grab for power.
We wrote about it today

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[MoeSart]

Yeah.

Ridicule the guy that beat the Repubs twice AND the effort to throw him out of office just because the Repubs couldn't beat him on election day.

Line up with Obama, who will lose at least 40 states in November. Says a lot about the intelligence of the Obama crowd.

And, the Dems will wonder again why they can't win a POTUS race.

[aeaton]

Um, Bill won barely 40% of the vote in 1992 due to Ross Perot. Then in 1994 the GOP took over congress under his watch. In 1996 the GOP had a weak candidate against an incumbent.

Obama is a stronger candidate than Bill ever was.

[biglover]

Yeah and honest too. Bill destroyed the democratic party in 1992 and while I don't think he was a bad president, he certainly ruined the party. Obama is the new face of the Dems and the Clintons can't stand it. It's called jealousy.

[mikekev58]

Polls of Perot voters showed them pretty evenly split between Bush and Clinton.

The great victory of '92 was the Clinton campaign's ability to go up against the GOP smear machine and fight back instantly. Unfortunately, the smear machine didn't accept the election results and went on a witch hunt, thanks in no small measure to the NY Times.

I would think a true progressive would've looked on the Republican takeover of Congress in 94 as a badge of honor. Clinton attempted to speak to gay rights, national health care, and addressing the terribly imbalanced fiscal situation that resulted from the Reagan years. The takeover meant that "progressive" issues had been rejected by the American people, but at least they were placed on the table.

The takeover of '94 might also serve as a cautionary tale to those "progressives" who think that American voters don't look closely at issues. Barry will tack right in the general, but he will be hamstrung by his impressive liberal voting record, his ill-considered personal associations, and his overbearing demeanor.

This was never meant to be Barry's time.

He is not The One.

[WriterGuy]

40 states? No one thinks that -- not even Karl Rove or John McCain.

Keep on living with your head in the sand, and wait for the REAL campaign to begin once Obama is the nominee. John McCain will be revealed to be the flip-flopping sell-out that he is. I don't think the 78% of Americans unhappy with Bush's second term will really want to elect a man who wants to pretend it's Bush's THIRD term...

[biglover]

Pat Buchanan and even Morning Joe admitted the Repuglicans are toast. It's over puglie thugs.

[leftcoastliberal]

Clinton beat the Republicans by co-opting Republican themes (like welfare reform) and triangulating so hard (don't ask, don't tell) that he ended up governing as a Lite Republican. Maybe that was all that was possible in the '90s (though I doubt it), but certainly we can have a real progressive win this time.

[mikekev58]

Now I don't think Barry will have the opportunity, but putting aside probability, he would find out just how powerful the "anti-progressive" forces are once he gets into the White House. I've read Obama's fine print and listened to him closely. Despite the high liberal rating. the bar for "progressive" thought and action is set very low.

They won't get the chance to be disappointed by his many compromises in the Oval Office, but rest assured he would govern right of center, like all Presidents do.

[biglover]

MoeSart - go back to the freeeper site you came from. You are so obvious it is ridiculous.

[campgranata]

I always get a kick when Bill Clinton waves his finger and shouts at the crowd; 'TELL THE TRUTH, TELL THE TRUTH', and I wonder if he is talking to them or himself.

[campgranata]

Hillary's health care package failed because,she would not take any advice from the experts. Donna shalala, Health and human services secretary said the package was too large, too unwieldy and more in keeping with the franklin Delano Roosevelt years during the economic depression not the economic good times when Hillary's husband governed. not taking advice from experts has always given her problems but she doesn't appear to learn does she. Hillary is that wonderful combination of arrogant and ignorant.

[POdVet]

It's rather well documented why Hillary's health care reform failed. The Insurance companies spent millions wining, dining and outright bribing so called experts to denounce her plan. This Obama supporter just shows typical Obamabot relish in intentionally spreading lies to try to slam Clinton.

[MilwaukeeDan]

She did work hard at Healthcare reform.........but it was tough to get the job done with all that snipper fire going on....................

[DMSmith]

What she faced, oddly enough, was sniper fire of the political kind. And, clearly, it's not stopped yet. Her very hard work met with such rabid antipathy that the results were not what we might have hoped for. And, had she been successful, we'd be in much better condition now as regards health-care and the costs of it. In addition, she learned her lessons well, and has proved to be a highly effective Senator. She put her heart and soul and much hard work into health care and for some silly idiot to publicly challenge that - to Pres. Clinton, no less - is beyond words. His reaction was minor considering the insult.

You GO Bill. Don't let them get away with the lies.

[mikekev58]

Thanks DM...unfortunately, you've most likely cast pearls before swine, but it's good to see something other than rabid, knee-jerk anti-Clinton ranting.