Kiara Ashanti questions Hillary about Socialized medicine

And she didn't like it one bit.  Clinton was speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists Presidential Forum when she was asked a question by freelance writer Kiara Ashanti:

Senator Clinton, at a time when the world's two biggest examples of socialized medicine, Britain and Canada, are moving away from the system and the people who are in those countries on the lower economic rung, those systems hurt them most, why are you still insisting upon moving that system in here, particularly when it will hurt African American communities more than anybody else?

Oh, man says Hillary.  That's a string of "misrepresentations about me and about, ah, ah, the systems in other countries....I have never advocated socialized medicine".  Hillary asked Ashanti if Medicare is socialized medicine.  His answer, "To a degree, it is".  Watch the video for Hillary's response.   Apparently Hillary thinks socialized medicine simply means the government tells you which doctor or hospital you have to go to.  And since, presumably, her plan doesn't do that then it's not socialized medicine. See?  It's an "attack by the right wing" against her, for 15 years!

Hillary ends her comments by telling Ashanti to "come introduce yourself to my staff and we will try to give you come information if you're interested in being educated instead of being rhetorical".  How freakin' arrogant.

Speaking of arrogance, Thomas Sowell noticed it in 2004:

A huge headline on the front of a recent issue of the New York Times Magazine said more than they intended: "Now Are We Ready to Talk About Health Care?" Inside was an article with the same title by Hillary Clinton.

The casual arrogance of that question is staggering. We talked endlessly about Hillary's proposed government-run medical system a decade ago and decided against it for many reasons. Now this re-run of the same issues proceeds as if the question is whether the rest of us are "ready" to talk about such things.

Speaking of rhetoric:

Britain has had a government-run medical system for about half a century, so it might be a good source of facts -- for those who are interested in facts, instead of political rhetoric.

For more facts, check out "The Clinton Blueprint:  The President's Health Security Plan".  It's a nice little book outlining what Hillary had in mind in 1993.  I posted a few excerpts here.  It is a nightmare.

As for the "misrepresentations about the systems in other countries", here's what Canadian doctor David Gratzer has to say about national socialized health care.

Thank you, Kiara Ashanti, for asking the question.  I wish there were more like you out there. 

This is our medical care we're talking about.  Do we really want to turn it over to a bunch of lawyers in Washington?

***Update***

Brian at Flashpoint has a few words of wisdom about socialized health care.

Comments

[Mary Ellen]

I saw the video and thought Hillary did a great job of answering the question, especially since she was allotted so little time. If Kiara Ashanti really wanted to discuss the issue, he would have stayed behind to contact Hillary's staff so he could talk. Instead, he ran out of the place with his tale between his legs.

Kiara Ashanti was looking for a soundbyte that he couldn't get because she wasn't going to let him do it.

It's too bad...Kiara made the right wing look pretty stupid and petty. Hillary-1 Kiara-0!