Today, Senator Clinton got a little pissy about a couple of fliers…
There’s something really wrong with this, though. Let’s start with the facts.
Her argument with the health care flier is that it misrepresents her position by claiming she would “force” people to buy insurance. But she would, so that’s not a lie.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., this morning left open the possibility that, if elected, her government would garnish the wages of people who didn’t comply with her health care plan. “We will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it’s that or it’s some other mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments,” Clinton said in an appearance on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”.
The NAFTA mailer says she said that NAFTA was “a boon” to the economy. They took that from a Newsday article, and Newsday has since clarified that that is their word and not hers, but at a press conference, Obama pointed out that the mailer had been made before that clarification.
Furthermore, she’s been stumping in Ohio, one of the most economically depressed states and one of the ones hardest hit by NAFTA, by saying she’s going to scrap NAFTA. This is funny, since NAFTA is considered by Bill Clinton to be one of the shining jewels of his Presidency. Let’s see what Tim Russert had to say about it this morning:
Thus, both mailers are factual. And she’s one to talk. Remember New Hampshire?
No, the problem here is with the completely hypocritical tone. The health care mailer went out weeks ago. Her campaign complained about it then. FactCheck.org wrote about it 20 days ago. The NAFTA mailer is over a week old. Feigning outrage as though you’ve never seen them before is a bit disingenuous.
Since when do Democrats attack one another on Universal Healthcare?
Um, well, there was that time earlier this month when your surrogate pulled a Godwin and compared an Obama ad to a Nazi march. (Predicted by Jackfruit back on December 22. He wins a cookie.) You’ve also personally repeatedly accused him of having a health plan that “leaves 15 million people uninsured.” In that video you even go on to say “Just because Senator Obama chose not to present a Universal Healthcare plan…” which sounds like an attack. There’s also these four items pulled up by the Obama campaign:
2/23/08 — Clinton Attacks Obama on Universal Health Care: Clinton Said Obama Does Not have A Plan To Provide Affordable Health Care To Everyone. “I have a plan to provide affordable health care to everyone. My opponent does not,” she said. “What that means is we will continue to leave people out, the insurance companies will continue to be able to charge outrageous rates, we will not get the prevention that we need by covering everyone.” [Chicago Tribune, 2/23/08]
2/22/08 — Clinton Attacks Obama on Universal Health Care: Clinton: Obama, Unlike Edwards, Refused To Take Political Risk And Cover Everyone. “It is not enough to say, “Let’s come together.” We know we’re going to have to work hard to overcome the opposition of those who do not want the changes to get to universal health care. You know, when I proposed a universal health care plan, as did Senator Edwards, we took a big risk, because we know it’s politically controversial to say we’re going to cover everyone. And you chose not to do that. You chose to put forth a health care plan that will leave out at least 15 million people. That’s a big difference.” [Texas Debate, 2/22/08]
2/20/08 — Clinton Attacks Obama on Universal Health Care: In “Get Real” Speech At Hunter College, Clinton Asks Who Obama Would Choose To Leave Out Of His Health Care Plan. “One of us has a plan to provide health care for every single American with no one left out, no excuses, no exceptions. I believe health care is a moral right, not a privilege and I will not rest until every American has access to quality, affordable health care, and I cannot wait until I can work with the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, our own Charlie Rangel. My opponent leaves out at least 15 million Americans. The question is who would you leave out? Would you leave out he man who called me from Northern New York who had an insurance policy that wouldn’t pay for the operation his son needs. Or the woman who called me from Long Island who couldn’t get bone marrow transplant for her daughter? Or the mom who said, what am I going to do with my son who has congenital heart problems and we don’t have insurance? I don’t want to leave anyone out. I am not running for president to put band-aids on our problems, I’m looking to solve them once and for all.” [Clinton speech at Hunter College, States News Service, 2/20/08]
2/9/08 — Clinton Attacks Obama on Universal Health Care: Obama Says “No We Can’t” On Health Care. “During a rally with nurses in Tacoma — a largely female crowd — Clinton said, “When it comes to health care, my opponent is saying no we can’t. Well, I say yes we can.” Obama has used “yes we can” in campaign speeches to deflect charges his upstart campaign can’t succeed.” [Newsday, 2/9/08]
Then there’s the fact that at the rally before the press screed, she was again comparing Obama to Bush:
“He promised change as a compassionate conservative,” she said referring to Bush, “and the American people got shafted.”
The line, delivered with a passion not always seen from the New York senator, brought the hundreds at Cincinnati State College to their feet.
“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,” she continued.
And in the press screed she compared him to Karl Fucking Rove! And this is two short fucking days after she said:
And — and you know, no matter what happens in this contest — and I am honored. I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored.
Some in the press are wondering if this is her “Dean scream” moment. I’m wondering if she can pick a personality and run with it. Polite and considerate? Must be Thursday. Outraged and angry? Saturday. I liked the warm and caring Hillary Clinton that I saw on Thursday. I wish they’d let her out to play more often.
