Hillary Clinton’s full remarks on female voters, taking a conciliatory tone when asked why more New Hampshire women didn’t vote for her:
“I have spent my entire adult life making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices even if that choice is not to vote for me.”
Is “Secretary Clinton, you’re not in the White House yet?” the new “You’re likable enough, Hillary”?
As Guardian US report Lois Beckett noted on Twitter, it definitely didn’t sit well with a lot of listeners:
A moment of complete timeline consensus on Bernie's "You're not in the White House yet." pic.twitter.com/K8Qa9hAJYe
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) February 12, 2016
Important to note after Hillary Clinton mentioning the death of Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill man who died after being shot more than a dozen times in Milwaukee in 2014: Maria Hamilton, Dontre’s mother, is a guest of Clinton’s at tonight’s debate.
“I completely agree with senator Sanders” on criminal justice reform, Clinton says, before noting that her first policy speech of the 2016 campaign was on that topic.
Hillary Clinton took a conciliatory tone when asked why more New Hampshire women didn’t vote for her, using a phrase so clever it seemed prepared. “I have spent my entire adult life making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices even if that choice is not to vote for me.”
It was a strong response to an issue that’s been dogging Clinton all week after surrogates like Madeleine Albright said “there’s a special place in hell” for women who don’t help other women.
When the moderator probed Clinton on that specifically, she handled it, too, masterfully, managing to answer without turning on either her friend or the younger women who’ve opted not to vote for her in droves.
“She’s been saying that for as long as I’ve known her but it doesn’t change that we need to empower women and men to make the best decision they can make; that’s what I’ve always stood for.”
Clinton’s surrogates made the mistake of not being deferential enough to younger women voters in their choice not to vote for her; Clinton herself isn’t falling into that trap.
Senator Bernie Sanders rails against limited access to healthcare, and against criticisms of his plans for universalizing Medicare:
Judy Woodruff asks Hillary Clinton about her problem with female voters, noting that in New Hampshire, 55% of women supported Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. “What are they missing about you?”
“I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices - even if that choice is not to vote for me,” Clinton jokes. “I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support - I just hope by the end of this campaign, there will be plenty more supporting me.”
Woodruff continues, asking about the “special place in hell” comments by Clinton supporter Madeline Albright about women who don’t support other women.
“She’s been saying that for as long as I’ve known her,” Clinton says, “but it doesn’t change my view that we need to empower everyone women and men to make the best decisions that, in their minds, they can make.”
“I would note, just for a historic aside,” Clinton notes. “Somebody told me earlier today that we have had something like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time in our history that there have been a majority of women on the stage, so we’ll take our progress wherever we can find it.”
The audience goes wild, then laughs after Woodruff tells Bernie Sanders that though he may be “in the minority... we still want to hear from you.”
Bernie Sanders has suggested that the main drivers of America’s high health care spending (and poor results) are the costs of health insurance and drug costs, both of which he could get under control with single-payer, universal health care. (Notably, as columnist Scott Lemieux has noted, “single payer” and “universal health care” are not the same thing, and you can get the latter without the former.)
But are the absence of pharmaceutical price controls – which is how every other country in the world controls drug costs – and the existence of health insurance companies really the two main drivers of cost and inefficiency?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, no: national drug expenditures were less than 10% of all national expenditures in 2013. Hospital care accounted for 32% of expenditures and physician and clinical services accounted for 20%. The net costs of (non-government) health insurance accounted of only 5% of expenditures.
Secretary Clinton, you’re not in the White House yet.”
Bernie Sanders, on Hillary Clinton’s plans for expansion of government
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