Political Punch

I am now remembering the Clinton controvesy-- The smear who they can't sway--- I voted for Mr. Clinton the first time-- I see the smear machine gearing up to destroy whoever gets in their way-- Look out America, hear it comes-- sick, disgusting smears of Clintons past.
I am started to lean to John Edwards for real experience-- Hillary being the first lady is not experience enough and by you telling us Obama is not experienced for just being a senator a few years---well, look in the mirror-- The real experience in Jon edwards or McCain.
I am tired of politicians telling us we are stupid for our votes and opinions--you work for us--at least that is the way it is supposed to be.

Otillap is one of the few here with their head screwed on straight. I lost a Daughter due to medical malpractice and greed by a greedy "non-profit" HMO. They proceeded to destroy my medical records so the case could not be tried in court. Is this ethical? I think not, and it will be a cold day in hell before I let my case go without accountability.
Lack of ethics in this country is killing our citizens.

John Edwards certainly did not behave in an ethical manner taking credit for a Bill that never passed, Blaming the demise of the bill on President Bush (Which was not the complete truth) and using Natalie S. Name and legacy as a vehicle to promote himself. I have to question his strategy. He obviously went into NH planning to take down his biggest rival, to position himself into the final two with the candiate he feels he could defeat. So I assume he sees Clinton as the Threat and Obama as the easier oponent to defeat. Instead it seams that he has brought down Clinton and himself in one night. Good Job Edwards, now we will most likely get stuck With Obama. The most inexperienced of all the candidates.

Both Sen. Clinton and John Edwards know full well that even with universal health care people die. People die everyday in Canada and all over Europe. And some of these people die because procedures, which could actually save the patients, are not being performed. In fact, euthanasia is practiced in some European countries. A 1997 study indicated that "approximately 8 percent of all Dutch infant deaths result from lethal injections." Is that the kind of change that you want for America?

To parade around this family and make them unknowing dupes for one's political agenda is morally and ethically untenable. This case in no way represents a lapse in health care. It's interesting that two trial attornies are aing this case in political as well as media arenas.

"Or even, more cynically, that the failure of Edwards' bill to become law means that Edwards' weaknesses as a legislator cost her her life."

Hillary never said that. She just called Edwards on claiming credit for a law that never passed. Hillary has fought for universal health care for decades. Everyone is walking around saying 'universal health care' now that it's popular. It's only popular now because Hillary has fought for it for years. And John Edwards is a con man. Soon he'll be gone forever, thank goodness.

I agree with Steve on this one, "If you think insurance companies are the worst offenders when it comes to denying services, wait until the government gets involved."

Mandates are essential. I know of one family with new SUVs, flat screens, etc., that doesn't bother with health insurance. So the rest of us pay. It makes it more expensive for those who can afford health care and limits treatment for those who cannot.

The government can't get anything right and we're going to trust them with health care, of all things?! More government oversight and controls, yes; but let's not put them in charge.

Bryan Shuy, you make a very good point that really I (as a dem) have not thought about much because it's a frequent Rep argument... Edwards has made his fortune essentially jacking up the cost of our healthcare. Sheesh. Who would've thought?! If we get universal healthcare, maybe there will be no more 'Edwardes'???

Edwards says he's clean. But look how he gangs up with Obama all the time, just to deal with Hillary. (And people say Hillary is inept!) Can't Edwards stand on his own two feet? He'll need Obama and Obama will need him to face the republican nominee, that's for sure! And I don't believe that works well!

Hillary's health care efforts when her husband became President was one of the biggest busts on record, as far as promising something she could not deliver. She is also all too willing to compromise with the health insurance companies who are bottom line answerable to their board of directors and have to show greater and greater profits each year. Edwards is correct, the insurance companies need to be slapped down so that government can set up a level playing field. It is a disgrace, that our country stands alone as the only industrialized nation not to have universal health care coverage. Hillary for all of her finger jabbing and resume bragging, has not gotten us any closer than any other candidate, with the exception of Bill Richardson, to universal health care. Bill Richardson's resume really beats all of Dem nominees' as far as experience hands down and he is, I think, the most sincere of all the dems about getting us out of Iraq.

The sad truth is that a liver transplant would probably not have helped - perhaps it may have extender her lif for weeks or even months, but at the end of the day she was in a 'persistant vegatitive state'

Our health care system is in crisis, but as somebody pointed out, rightly, this has more to do with the litigious nature of our current society, something which is *definately* not going to get cured under a Clinton or Edwards administration.

The other point is that liver transplants are hugely expensive, just like the NHS in Britain, are we to drive up healthcare costs because insurance companies and hospitals are going spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to revive the dead?

*That's* why healthcare costs are going crazy, coupled with the obligation of primary care hospitals and doctors having to treat illegal immigrants for free.

I don't suppose Clinton/Edwards/Moore etc wil cover that in the press....

If you think insurance companies are the worst offenders when it comes to denying services, wait until the government gets involved. Soylent Green is people.

Ambulance chaser Edwards doesn't know what a conscience is.

We definitely need health care reform. And insurance companies are sometimes wrong.
BUT, the main culprit in this issue is the enormous cost of health care in the US. And it is rising astronomically. Look at what we spend on drugs annually, $250 billion now. Are we healthier than people in other countries? No. Note that insurance companies are not responsible for rising health care costs. They are businesses trying to make a profit. Government has to change their motivation by changing the system.

Edwards has made millions, which came from where? From all of us who pay for health insurance. That is the truth of our lawsuit society. Take a look at his new house and tell me again how virtuous he is.

By Hillary's campaign strategy, maybe we should consider Chelsea, since she also has so much "experience"....

By the way, Spock, I don't think anyone died because of not having a hip replaced. Wouldn't the hip have been wasted on someone who only had days to live? I'd like for someone to explain how our health care system is "the best in the world".

Did anyone catch the lie both of them agreed on? If a bill does not come out of Congress How did President Bush kill it? The only way the President can kill a bill is to Veto it after it comes out of Congress, If they both said it did not come out of Congress that means they killed it not the President. Oh the webs we weave when we try to deceive.

First of All Edwards is looking for a way for his lawyer buddies to make more money.

Heres a clue - In Britain a 65 year old woman was turned down for Hip replacement because of her age and she died a little while later., in Britain they have the health care system that the libs want here if not worse.

So instead of looking only here start looking at the countries that have the system they want. We have the best healthcare on the face of the earth.
70,000 people leave their country to come here or India for Health care because their Socialized Health care stinks.

We need Tort Reform to bring costs down. Nothing Else.

I may not be a doctor , but when did a liver cure Leukemia??

Come on Edwards I now you argued before jurys bring up that poor little kid sob stories, but when you want to bring theses stories to us please make them factural and without holes.

barbara f - He is funded by George Soros, he is in bed with the off shore markets.

So John "Chavez" Edwards thinks he deserves the Presidency, maybe he should move to Cuba, I hear they may be looking soon!

The scary part here Clinton is the best choice on the lib side at least if she wins the General Election, she may stay moderate, the other two will bring upon us Communism!!

I think Edwards is taking a leaf out of the Rove/Bush book of labelling. They call John Kerry a flip-flopper until every media outlet pickup on it. Now he is trying to label H. Clinton. He has jumped on the Obama train since he came in 2nd in Iowa. I wonder what she has ever done to him. It was her husband who was in office. I hope the public is smart enough to see through his brand of bull. I don't know who I would support, but I am tried of his attacking her.

Clinton has a valid point. We need bipartisan cooperation on health care and a multitude of issues. And not every politician can effect a bipartison solution. And it's also true that, with respect to health care policy, lives are at stake. Is there a direct link with respect to Sarkisyan's death and the Patient's Bill of Rights? Maybe not. But what about the next Sarkisyan? Are we so short sighted as to not care?

NO ONE IS CONSIDERING EDWARDS NOW THAT HE SHOWED HE IS OBAMAS DIRTY WHITE BOY AFTER THE NH DEBATE! OBMA TALKED HIM INTO ATTACKING CLINTON AND THEN TURNED ON HIM...EDWARDS IS OUT! FOR GOOD. HE SCREWED UP ROYALLY

Wait a second. Doesn't anyone remember that Edwards made between $40 and $80 MILLION (he won't say how much) suing doctors for things they didn't do wrong??? He tried cases for over a decade suing doctors blaming infants' cerebral palsy on doctors not performing caesarean sections. Did he care that there wasn't a shred of evidence linking cerebral palsy to natural birth (then or now)? Whatever, he was getting paid, big time. And who paid Edwards? It wasn't the doctors, it was the insurance companies, meaning you and I. And when those insurance companies raise their rates and lower their services because of great lawyers and bad science, we all suffer.

I'm not saying that what happened in Nataline's case isn't a tragedy, but is John Edwards the answer? More like the problem...

Google search Edwards and cerebral palsy; it's well documented in many sources including the Wall Street Journal.

Realistically, none of the 3 Democratic Senators has passed a significant bill. All of them spent too little time to get sufficient clout in that organization to accomplish much. Even spending a lot of time in the Senate doesn't guarantee you'll get much done (see Kerry). I think out of all the candidates that started a year ago, the only Senators with significant legislative accomplishments were, clearly, McCain, and to perhaps a bit lesser extent Biden.

So if you're going to pick your President by that criteria in the Democratic Party at this time, you have to vote None of the Above.

But it's not clear to me that this is a factor in selecting a President.

Let's face it, all of the candidates want to be President. The question is then, "Which candidate would be the best President for the people of the United States?" Does anyone really believe that candidates who are beholden to corporations, drug companies, oil companies, and their lobbyists would make the best President for the American people? John Edwards is the ONLY candidate who will stand up for the people and will not cater to the lobbyists or large corporations. This is clear from his record. He is also the ONLY candidate that polls show will be able to beat any Republican candidate in the general election. So.....let's get real! The ONLY Democratic candidate who is truly electable and who will truly work for the American people is John Edwards.

I'm disgusted by Hillary's campaigning tactics but in a conflicted fashion, I'm not sure I want her dirty politics to stop. It is Bill and Hillary's ugly politics that propels voters towards Obama's message of hope and healing. I don't know about you, but everytime I hear Hillary attack Obama or Edwards, I turn her off and embrace Obama further.

The Clinton campaign will stop at nothing. Shame on them. John Edwards is speaking to the actual difficulties people are having making ends meet in a time when American maldistribution of wealth is greater than any time since 1929. Hillary, meanwhile, talks about...Hillary and how she deserves the presidency because of "35 years" of experience. Give me a break. She's been a Senator for six years. Edwards is right: there are two candidates of change, and Hillary isn't one of them.

Edwards is nothing more than a useless, opportunistic demagogue, who has absolutely nothing good to show from his years in public life.

In the debate, he was asked what one big thing he has accomplished. We now know that that one BIG thing, the Patient Bill of Rights which never saw the light of day, was his "biggest" accomplishment.

Of course, he couldn't think of anything else --- there was none.

And so I wince whenever I see this guy speaks because I know that what will come out of this dude's mouth will be nothing more than a play on people's emotions. Simply stated: all passion, no substance.

This opportunist should stay out of the race right after New Hampshire.

The ESSENCE of what John Edwards believes is the rightful RESPONSIBILITY of our elected leaders is the point here.

The patient's Bill of Rights would have been a good start and a warning flag to over-priced, under-providing health insurance companies. Companies who, I hope are soon going to be faced with extinction when the RIGHT President is elected.
EVERY AMERICAN should have the right to good healthcare, every single person. Rich or poor. healthy or struggling with illness. All of us.

Furthermore, we need shorter work weeks and longer vacation times, because this rat race is driving us crazy.

We are like little hamsters in cages, turning that BUY!BUY!BUY! cage as we are distractedly being brainwashed by corporate advertising. Work more so you can buy more!

having "more stuff" doesn't qualify as adding to our quality of life.
It simply requires us to work more to be able to afford those things we are told we must have. At inflated prices, even.
European countries like France and England and Norway and Denmark have no problem with granting this inalienable right to their citizens AND balancing their budgets. Nor does Canada.
So the only holdup is....the insurance lobbyists, it appears to me.
Americans, the true trustees, the stewards of our country, need to register the fact that John Edwards has taken NO money from Lobbyists who haunt DC. He is beholden to no one except the American people for his campaign funding. No INSURANCE, NO OIL COMPANIES, the two biggest baddest debbils in the American economy today...HE OWES THEM NOTHING.

That's a very advantageous place to start your term in the White House if, in fact, you DO plan to do a little butt-kicking.

And BTW, John Edwards made his money fighting the insurance companies and WINNING IN A COURT OF LAW BASED ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL RIGHTS OF HIS CLIENT, winning on points of law AND STANDARDS OF REASONABLE ETHICS that the companies were BLATANTLY IGNORING.

Who could possibly say that was not an honorable way to make a living?

Certainly not a true American.

How is attacking a mother who just lost her child due to bad claims practices on the part of a health insurance company helping Hillary? Or furthering the dialogue in this country?

Or having anything to do with fixing this problem.

This is nasty, political nonsense. And Mrs. Sarkisyan should not be attacked for speaking her mind after her child's death.