Posted on 08/04/2005 5:59:22 AM PDT by madprof98
Health care main focus of remarks
With his recent heart surgery as a reference point, former President Bill Clinton spent most of a session with black journalists Wednesday talking about health care issues. But first, he had some choice words about Georgia's new voter ID law.
"All over America there are efforts to restrict access to the vote under the guise of preventing voter fraud. And I say guise --- look at this Georgia bill, all the ID you've got to produce to register to vote," Clinton said at the opening session of the National Association of Black Journalists convention at the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel.
Clinton called on Congress and the Bush administration to support extension of the portions of the Voting Rights Act that would otherwise expire in 2007, and he said he thought voting rights should be extended to those who have been convicted of a crime and served their sentence.
Clinton also dealt with a question about the presidential ambitions of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). She would be "the best there ever was" if she became president, but he didn't know if his wife would run, Clinton said.
But for most of a brief speech and question-and-answer session, Clinton focused on a range of health care questions, from childhood obesity in the United States to AIDS in Africa.
Clinton, who had quadruple heart bypass surgery last year, said he was feeling better than he had in years, but said the experience left him more determined to do something about the nation's health care problems, which are "horrible for this country and the future of our economy."
Clinton said the nation doesn't pay enough attention to preventive medicine, while it spends more on average than any other country on the last two months of life.
"We may be the most religious country in the world, but we're also the most reluctant to go to heaven," the former president said.
Clinton said he had become involved in a project with the American Heart Association on childhood obesity, which he said threatened to make America's children "the first generation to have a life expectancy lower than their parents," due to heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.
He cited an Emory University study that he said showed that 27 percent of the growth in health care spending can be related to rising obesity levels.
The former president said the William J. Clinton Foundation had made progress in bringing down the cost of treatment and testing for AIDS to $160 per person a year in six African countries, India, China and other AIDS hot spots around the world. For $500 million a year, he noted, treatment could be provided to every AIDS sufferer in the world.
Yet only 25,000 of the 500,000 children with AIDS worldwide are receiving care, he said.
"This is literally an organizational and money problem," Clinton said.
This was Clinton's third appearance at an NABJ convention. He attended the 1992 convention in Detroit as a candidate for president, then returned as president to the 1997 convention in Chicago.
The democrats have been doing that for almost 50 years, and the poor folks are still begging politicians for their next block of government cheese. You'd think more blacks would start to catch on.
Proof positive that Clintoon didn't listen much to his friend Mr. Graham in New York recently. Religion doesn't do squat to get to you to heaven. Salvation is found through the narrow way, the Light of World. It has NOTHING to do with what we do here, how much we give to AIDs, cry with widows, etc. ,it's about what was done for us by the Prince of Peace, something we couldn't do for ourselves.
The Clinton MO for Hilary's 2008 presidential is here. Bill, the more popular of the two, is going to prepare the way for her by stroking his left-over constituency and increasing a constituency who will vote for Hillary. The president has co-opted the eager, hard-working immigrant voter population, so they have to scare up voters who doesn't care about private ownership of their lives. They need people who exist at the public trough. I just want these people GONE from our public scene.
Touche.
I DO think that she is worse.
He's afraid the democrats won't be able to get the dead to vote or his buddies to vote two or three times.
Translation: "If they do not let us continue to cheat at the polls, we will never win another elected office."
...just like Bubba's administration was the most ethical in history...
One of the most remarkable things about politics is that it makes "experts" out of anyone who decides to assign himself that title. Why anyone would think a bloated, dysfunctional psychopath like Bill Clinton has any credibility to discuss "health care issues" is beyond me.
Billy Jeff is still a despicable POS.
Ever tried to get into a political rally without photo ID? Can't be done. Why shouldn't the same security measures be in place to protect the voting?
One would have to wonder at the thought process going through a potential Dem voter when they hear this kind of thing since it's so transparently obvious that what he is really saying is 'let's make it easier for fraud - since this kind of fraud will benefit us more than the other guys'. I can't imagine the potential fence-sitting voter out there saying that he/she will ignore this as influencing how the vote is cast and strictly vote 'on the issues'. Takes a lot of stupidity and callousness to be happy to support a party that engages in fraud to win an election. How could you trust them once they got in? I'm not talking about the committed Dem voter here - just that group in the middle.
My first inclination is to say SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP !!, but everytime he comes out of the woodwork it's just a reminder that we have to keep these people away from the presidency. A good person with Bill's heart problem would have died on the spot, but not Bubba. They have made a deal with the devil. They will never die. And this 500 million figure he's throwing around. It's easy to talk big bucks when it's not your own. Typical dem lib. I feel no responsibility for these victims. We have to quit bolstering up these third world countries.The strong will survive.
better there than Chappaqua
If Hillary runs (a divisive figure and suggested lesbian), her disgraced (rapist, perjurer, impeached) husband will be coming with her as the first metro-sexual lady.
I don't think Americans would want anything to do with that disgusting mixture.
The Clinton's have never lived off of their own money.
Hillary already has Oct.31, 2008 circled with big red broken hearts. Bill needs to make sure he's not alone with her that day.
> Voter fraud is the rats last strong suit.
No, they still hold four more trumps:
Social Security
Medicare
Race
Class
I'll go you one better. If you are on any sort of public assistance, i.e., welfare, food stamps, WIC, etc., you should not be allowed to vote. As soon as your sorry ass is off the public dole, then your voting rights would be restored. This, coupled with having to prove you are who you say you are would result in every bedwetting Liberal being voted out of office.
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