Clinton and SChip

[angrychair]

Clinton clearly has little to crow about. Though her and Bill did make themselves multimillionaires by racking in millions in speaking fees from Wall St firms and fees from private colleges that screwed poor people, not much else.
She likes to bring up SChip a lot. So, let's ask the actual writers of the Bill, Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, and what they think:

Sen. Hatch stated:
"I do like her," Hatch said of Hillary Clinton. "We all care about children. But does she deserve credit for SCHIP? No - Teddy does, but she doesn't."

Sen. Ted Kennedy (FYI, despite all her quoting him and tying herself to Kennedy's legacy, Kennedy endorsed Obama for president in 2008) he stated:
"Asked whether Clinton was exaggerating her role in creating SCHIP, Kennedy, stopped in the hallway as he was entering the chamber to vote, half-shrugged.

"Facts are stubborn things," he said, declining to criticize Clinton directly. "I think we ought to stay with the facts."

Or let's ask another noted Democrat, Henry Waxman, who's committee approved the Bill in the House:
"It was a bipartisan bill. I don't remember the role of the White House," said Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has not endorsed a candidate in the presidential race and who was the chief Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which deals with health matters. "It did not originate at the White House."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/14/clinton_role_in_health_program_disputed/?page=full


While I grant you that some are willing to give her some credit, like Fact Check, fine I guess. The Bill's authors are not willing to give her credit. The Bill's chief supporters are not. I didn't say it, they did. She didn't write the bill, fight for it in Congress and it took two attempts to get it to pass due to opposition from the WH.

It is in very poor taste and an insult to the memory of a great man like Ted Kennedy that she would attempt to steal the glory and accomplishments right from the man's grave.

[pdsimdars]

1. Very nicely done

"It is in very poor taste and an insult to the memory of a great man like Ted Kennedy that she would attempt to steal the glory and accomplishments right from the man's grave. "

It's who they are, what they do.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Before some start fluffing up their chest up on this, Hillary was not in Congress

At the time the bill was introduced so she name would not have been on the bill. She made a presentation in Congress to have health insurance and they could not get it through congress. She then went with getting insurance for the children. Yes, Ted Kennedy worked very hard on getting this through congress and was not here for the final ACA, but he left his mark on this bill also.

[angrychair]

3. Made a presentation

So that means she can take credit for something that other people, primarily Ted Kennedy, worked their ass off to achieve? She gives herself a The Lion's share of the credit, literally.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Who else made the presentation? Health care was one of Bill Clinton's

Agenda list, had been tried by other presidents and failed, failed in Clintons administration but he tried. If you go back and read my post again you will find I gave credit to Ted Kennedy on SChip and he work for ACA also. Hillary did make the presentation to Congress. It was known as Hillarycare.

[angrychair]

10. I understand that

It doesn't change the fact that she has repeatedly taken credit for SCHIP when that credit is not her's to take.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Hatch and Kennedy worked very closely together on several things and became close friends.

Yet another oddity of politics (like the close friendship between Scalia and Ginsburg).

See: http://www.politico.com/story/2009/08/the-ted-kennedy-i-knew-026482

[onecaliberal]

5. It's all they've got.

It is in very poor taste and an insult to the memory of a great man like Ted Kennedy that she would attempt to steal the glory and accomplishments right from the man's grave. "

[ebayfool]

7. Yeah, she's very good at wrapping herself in other's accomplishments & ideas ...

more snips/

Kennedy said he patterned the SCHIP plan on a similar program Massachusetts had approved in 1996. Kennedy's account was backed up by two Bay State healthcare advocates who met with Kennedy in Boston to discuss the possibility of taking the idea nationwide: Dr. Barry Zuckerman, director of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, and John McDonough, then a Democratic state legislator and now the executive director of Health Care for All, a healthcare advocacy group.

Kennedy said he patterned the SCHIP plan on a similar program Massachusetts had approved in 1996. Kennedy's account was backed up by two Bay State healthcare advocates who met with Kennedy in Boston to discuss the possibility of taking the idea nationwide: Dr. Barry Zuckerman, director of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, and John McDonough, then a Democratic state legislator and now the executive director of Health Care for All, a healthcare advocacy group.

McDonough, a Democrat who has not endorsed a presidential candidate, also said it was Kennedy who developed the SCHIP idea after that meeting. "I don't recall any signs of Mrs. Clinton's engagement," McDonough said. "I'm sure she was behind the scenes, engaged in lobbying, but it is demonstrably not the case" that she was driving the effort, he said.

After meeting Zuckerman and McDonough, Kennedy sought out Hatch, and the two worked on the bill together, offering it as an amendment to a budget resolution. But President Clinton - much to the surprise and anger of Kennedy - lobbied Democratic lawmakers to oppose the Hatch-Kennedy amendment, the lawmakers and staff members said.



Me? I'd say Kennedy and Waxman have more credibility.

[dsc]

8. This would be the same Orrin Hatch who said Judge Garland would be the best we could hope for

from a Democratic President but now won't vote for him or is this a different Orrin Hatch?

[jillan]

9. Thank you for bringing this up again. Teddy did all the work

And she takes credit for HIS bill.