From desmoinesregister.com:
Five Democratic presidential candidates who spoke at the Heartland Presidential Forum Saturday in Des Moines could do little more than nod and listen as person after person – mostly out-of-state residents – shared emotional stories of perceived injustice.
And the audience of 3,600 did not hesitate to express emotion. As they listened to descriptions of loss of health insurance, the stench of a nearby factory farm, or a family split up by immigration officials, the crowd frequently yelled out: “That ain’t right!” and booed.
Hillary Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, felt the glare of their displeasure after Billy Lawless, a Chicago immigrations rights organizer, asked her if she’d commit to giving undocumented workers a path to citizenship in her first 100 days as president.
Clinton, who spoke via telephone after weather prevented her flight to Iowa, said immigration reform is a top priority.
But Lawless pressed her, asking if she’d do it in the first 100 days.
Clinton said it’s up to Congress to pass such reform, but as president she would do as much as possible.
The crowd booed, apparently upset that she wouldn’t commit to a 100-days promise.
Chris Dodd, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, was the next candidate to get that question, and he quickly answered: “Absolutely, absolutely.”
I'm sorry folks, we try not to be negative here, but the whole audience at the Heartland Presidential Forum was filled with a bunch of clowns. First of all, immigration reform is not a top priority - Hillary was forced to say this to appease the booing animals. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that Hillary's main focus is on the biggest issue of our time: health care. She understands that a socialized health care system is the only fair answer, and to be stuck in the greed motivated free-market times of the 19th century would be absolutely insane. But these clowns want to focus on immigration reform? Hillary actually has a sensible plan for immigration reform - she knows it takes more than 100 days. She also knows it's not something she can do alone and needs the legislature on board. For these questioners to pretend they don't know this fact is illustrating intellectual dishonesty.
And for Chris Dodd to try to come in as the big hero and give the crowd a resounding "absolutely" was just sickening. This was clearly pandering to the audience, and ignoring the real obstacles that are in the way of enacting effective immigration reform. How dare you Chris Dodd for attempting to marginalize Hillary. She was being attacked from all sides, and you had the opportunity to take the high ground and defend her. All you did was add fuel to the fire, and you should be ashamed of yourself. When Hillary becomes president, don't expect any high ranking positions Dodd. When you attack Hillary during the election, you're only hurting yourself for the consequences you'll have to face after she's elected. I would be very careful if I were you.
7 comments:
How is it fair for me to pay for your health care? The "greed motivated free-market" is the only reason we have the best health care in the world. People with universal health care in the form of socialized medicicine in Europe and Canada come to the U.S. to get treated for their illnesses rather than enduring all the governement red-tape and possibly dying or becoming more ill before treatment is made available in their home countries.
You Hillary supporters sound just like her when you personally attack those who disagree with Hillary rather than having a real, meaningful debate with them. It just so happens that illegal immigration IS one of the biggest campaign issues right now. If she wanted questions about health care, she should have planted people in the audience to ask about it like she usually does.
Health care reform is important, but I think the real answer lies in government giving tax credits for those who purchase health insurance or pay out of pocket for health care and letting the market set the prices. I don't need "big brother" telling me what medical treatments I qualify for. That should be up to me and my doctor.
I would boo hillary too. hillary wants to overtax the already overtaxed hardworking middle America. She is a socialist and she is in bed with terrorist supporting states like the saudis. You are extremely misinformed.
I don't feel bad for you at all when you come on to other blogs and post that the candidate that they support is like a toilet overflowing with diarrhea. You're a real classy one.
I think your comment that "everyone knows" that immigration reform isn't a top priority is unfortunate. You clearly missed one of the most overarching messages of the Forum which was to link immigrant plights with say, the family farmer, the homeless, and the poor in general. If immigrants are part of the backbone of the working class in this country, we all benefit from coming up with immigration reform and fast. I work with immigrant families every day and they are living in a type of fear that is shameful. Deportation is not a solution and family separation is not an American value. People like Lou Dobbs and Tom Tancredo have become mainstream voices that spew vitriolic messages and dehumanize immigrants. THey make it so that a real, open, and honest debate and search for solutions is impossible.
So back to the Heartland and the boos- when Democrats like Rahm Emanuel are calling immigration the 'third rail' of politics, we should all be ashamed. Our legislators shouldn't shy away from tough issues whether it's an election year or not. And the boos were aimed towards Hillary's response last night- not necessarily her. She should not expect immigrant communities to swallow the line that CIR is important but that she won't necessarily make it a priority if she's elected president. Our immigrant communities vote and that answer is not good enough for them. If it were Obama saying the same thing, boos would've equally ensued. Point is that Democrats shouldn't take the immigrant community vote for granted, and sending that message was important.
Thank You.
P.S. The question was not whether she'd get immigration reform done in the first 100 days of her presidency- it was whether she'd make a move to pass it within the first 100 days, and as many of us know, the first 100 days show the candidate's top priorities. And clearly immigration reform isn't a top priority for Hillary, which is her own decision, but it was good that people let her know that they weren't happy about that, pushing her to consider immigration reform as one of her top priorities- ALONG with health care.
I couldn't take your poll because Hillary has no good qualities I can think of. Not one. She's not your run of the mill dishonest, powermongering politician--she's the queen of them. We don't need more of the Bush-Clinton cartel in the White House. These criminals have raped our Treasury, sent thousands of our young soldiers to their death in the name of oil, allowed warrantless spying on the American people, and reduced our personal liberties greatly. Don't waste your time campaigning for this woman. She is just more of the same old...
"Hillary was forced to say this to appease the booing animals."
Calling the crowd that disagreed with Hillary "animals" is NOT positive, as at the same time you request of your commenters to "please keep all comments positive and pro-Hillary."
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