Jimmy Carter Slams Ted Kennedy On Health Care

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CBS

(CBS) The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, champion of the recent health plan legislation, actually delayed comprehensive coverage for Americans for decades, says former President Jimmy Carter. It was Kennedy's actions to kill Carter's own health care bill that made Americans wait more than 30 years for meaningful coverage, says Carter in an interview with "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl.

"The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed," he tells Stahl. "It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill," says Carter. And Kennedy, who then ran against the president for the democratic presidential nomination, did it out of spite says Carter. "He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life," he tells Stahl.

In a diary he kept during his presidency, Carter vents about Kennedy's attacks and criticizes Kennedy's own health care bill. The following entry is reprinted in Carter's new book, "White House Diary." "Kennedy continuing his irresponsible and abusive attitude, immediately condemning our health plan. He couldn't get five votes for his plan," Carter wrote.

Carter also tells Stahl that if his energy conservation program, which at the time lowered America's daily dependence on foreign oil by 50 percent, had continued, America would be better off. "Unfortunately, now we're probably importing 12 million barrels a day, since part of my energy policies were abandoned."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/16/60minutes/main6872344.shtml

[LostinVA]

1. It wouldn't surprise me if that happened

Ted Kennedy did alot of good, but he also definitely did a few "FU" things in his political career.

[gateley]

3. Yeah, most of them have. nt

[LostinVA]

8. Yup

[Hannah Bell]

51. me neither. & i think he knew what he was doing when he went along with bush's fucked up school

bill, too.

[gateley]

2. He may very well be right. I wish we had implemented many of Carter's policies.

We'd be much better off today. I think he was before his time.

[Liberalynn]

30. I sure feel that way about his energy policies

People should have listened to him back then. Think of all that might have been saved. Not just in dollars but maybe lives as well.

[karynnj]

46. That is one area where Carter was fantastic

He was prescient that we could not indefinitely use the among of oil that we were. It is too bad that the Carter doctrine part of that assessment (that until we didn't need it, we would fight for oil) outlived the part where we should move quickly to reduce the amount needed - so we wouldn't have to fight for it. (In a 2009 SFRC hearing with Carter, Lugar spoke of how the first Gulf War was fought for oil - consistent with the Carter doctrine)

[hlthe2b]

4. Sadly Kennedy and Carter never got past their animosity

for one another.... I guess they were both too human in the end. :shrug:

[gateley]

5. +1 nt

[jobycom]

12. Well said. nt

[onehandle]

6. Nixon may have been the last Liberal President, but Carter was the last Progressive.

Sad, but true.

[ProSense]

11. Kennedy's approach was far more progressive than Carter's proposal.

Carter and Kennedy could not agree on a health care reform plan for the country. Kennedy wanted an ambitious, mixed private-government plan with comprehensive coverage, while Carter thought such a plan far too expensive given the troubled economic times, and instead proposed an incremental plan to be phased in over five to ten years.<77><82><83> Neither plan gained any traction in Congress,<82><83> and the failure to come to agreement represented the final political breach between the two.<84> (Carter wrote in 1982 that Kennedy’s disagreements with Carter's proposed approach "ironically" thwarted Carter’s efforts to provide a comprehensive health-care system for the country.<85> In turn, Kennedy wrote in 2009 that his relationship with Carter was "unhealthy" and that "Clearly President Carter was a difficult man to convince – of anything."<86>)

link

[No Elephants]

24. Doesn't matter. "He {Kennedy} couldn't get five votes for his plan."

And it was more liberal than Carter's plan, not more progressive.

[karynnj]

45. Explain that distinction please

Not to mention, did carter have anywhere near 50 votes for his?

[Hannah Bell]

52. kennedy wanted the same damn thing we're getting now. a "mixed" plan = private profit on the public

dime.

the worst, because the public money is a guaranteed inflator of cost.

[No Elephants]

29. Democrat, puhlease.Joe Mc Carthy loving, war mongering, Nixon was NOT the last liberal President.

[tabasco]

36. That's the stupidest post of the day.

Non-congratulations.

[xchrom]

7. And? They had a rivalry.

Not much new under the sun there.

They are both still outstanding
Democratic politicians.

[frazzled]

9. A much better explanation here

There were many many other elements--not only his having delegated the job to four different agencies who came up with four different plans and then fought amongst themselves, but the growing "stagflation" that created a mood in the country to curb government spending. It's a long read, but I think pretty well documented (for a Wiki article).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Doc_Tropics/United_States_health_reform_under_Carter

[gateley]

32. Thanks for the link. nt

[No Elephants]

33. Better, or more to your liking? Carter no doubt has a POV, but he WAS there and is a pretty honest

person. Wiki authors/editors usually have a POV, too--and an agenda--but they weren't there.

[frazzled]

34. More complete

It is footnoted with a number of articles from the period, which round out the picture, as well as more recent accounts. It acknowledges Kennedy's role (both in goading Carter to take on health care and then, for political reasons, countering him on it). But the many other factors this article discusses are relevant, and perhaps Carter is simply failing to face them after all these years.

Wiki articles like this don't get away with the point of view of one author. They are constantly updated and edited by a range of people. This article was fairly scholarly, and I'm sure was the work of dozens if not hundreds of people.

[karynnj]

39. Carter is very honest, but like any politician ambitious enough to run

for President, he is concerned with his reputation. In addition, if anything, Carter's reputation for telling the truth has ignored that he is a more complex person that the near saint that he often is portrayed as. Carter and his people have never forgiven Kennedy, which is understandable, but not commendable. (It is telling to me that he does not forgive Kennedy, but hosted a William Calley day when he was released from prison.) However, as that link shows it was not just Kennedy opposing his plan that doomed it. I really think that part of the problem with both Carter's and Clinton's efforts was that they did not understand Congress well enough when they attempted this.

What I dislike here is that this is one year after Kennedy died. Carter has been out of office for 30 years. Had Carter passed health care, it would have been, with Camp David, the cornerstone accomplishment of his Presidency. Yet Carter did not make the claim in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s - he waited until now. That leaves no possibility of Kennedy responding and. I suspect, that many of the most senior Senators of that time are also dead.

The reason it makes little sense to me is that Kennedy in the late 1970s was not the liberal lion he became. He was not the chair of the committee that oversaw healthcare, Senator Williams, who was kicked out over ABSCAM in 1980 and who died in 2001, was. Now, obviously during the year Kennedy opposed him, he did criticize Carter's actions on this. Kennedy's star power was less in the Senate, than in his place with the American people as the surviving Kennedy brother. That celebrity was behind the media pushing Kennedy to run - long before he himself signaled any likelihood of doing so. Part of the media pushing that was the perception that Carter was failing.

[bluestateguy]

10. Divisive primaries can sure leave open wounds for a long time

In this case 30 years.

[ProSense]

13. No kidding, and this comes

just in time for this year's election.

If Truman had passed health care...but he didn't. If Clinton had...but he didn't

There are a lot of "ifs" in hindsight.

[BillH76]

16. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Jimmy Carter has been a great ex-President.

[BrklynLiberal]

20. That is the truth.... Hindsight is always 20/20.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Is that really a slam?

Didn't Kennedy admit it was a mistake?

[NYC Liberal]

19. Anything to keep the "Democratic infighting" meme going,

even with one of them in the grave.

[Dappleganger]

21. Do you really think that's why Carter put that in his book?

You can't find a more dedicated democrat than Jimmy Carter. He hardly strikes me as one who would feign infighting in order to hurt this party. Carter has been thrown under the bus way too many times.

[NYC Liberal]

23. No no. I love Carter. He wrote it because it happened. It's the media that's going to

latch onto anything that keeps that meme alive and hype it.

[Fearless]

15. This is all because he ran against him in 1980.

Incidentally Kennedy said that he later believed that the all or nothing approach wasn't useful, that he could've had some version health care under Carter or Nixon had they compromised.

[No Elephants]

26. I heard Kennedy admit he'd played politics w/Nixon's plan and regretted it.

(Said he did not want a Republican admin. to get "credit" for passing health care. (Maybe especially Nixon, JFK's adversary, but that part's my speculation, nothing he said.) By the time he'd reconsidered, it was too late: Nixon was distracted by Watergate.

I never heard him say the same about Carter, though. Shocking that he repeated that behavior, given Kennedy called health care "the cause of my life." Many lives lost, not to mention loss of momentum for liberal plans..

[Fearless]

38. The Carter plan was missing something important... though I forget what...

I'd have to look it up sometime.

[karynnj]

44. I don't think it was Kennedy alone, but the Democrats who rejected Nixon's plan

It was not as "black/white" as playing politics.

[Divine Discontent]

17. I respect them both. Obviously, they conflicted horribly on the way to get things done. If Jimmy

says that he believes that Teddy didn't want him to have major success then I believe he would know. Sadly, politics can be horribly ugly. I respect them both, for all the work they did, especially Teddy, and I truly admire Jimmy.

[Kolesar]

18. The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Best show on TV since Bill Moyers and PBS NOW were canceled. Best network show, at least.

[Demeter]

22. Among Other Things

Kennedy was the dog in the manger.

[wisteria]

25. Well, I suppose this is Pres. Carter's attempt to clear away the cob webs.

His words are strong against Sen. Kennedy, but Sen. Kennedy did try and undermine him, whether it was because he wanted to run or for some other reason, we will never know. But, I respect the efforts of both men on behalf of our country.

[No Elephants]

27. Love them both, but Kennedy had no business playing politics with health care under Nixon and Carter

Too many lives lost.

[dmosh42]

28. Kennedy also killed off Dorgan's drug impotation bill in 2008.

Kennedy was chmn of Senate Health and welfare committee, and was floor mgr for the FDA bill amendments. Everyone wanted the cheaper drugs through Canada, so Dorgan put up and amendment to allow it. Kennedy and Kerry, along with Republican Thad Cochran of Miss put up another amendment requiring inspections of all imported drugs, and it passed. It effectively was a 'poison pill' for Dorgans amendment, because the FDA already said they didn't have the resources to do all that inspecting. Of course nobody reported it in the news, and Kennedy and Kerry went on their way as top recipients of "Big Pharma' money. I watched it play out on C-Span, and made a post on here, and was immmediately told the report wasn't true. Well, it's in the congressional record.

[No Elephants]

31. He was just helping Obama keep his private deal promises.

You will find killing of that bill attributed to Reid, Kennedy, Kerry, etc., but the order came from the WH, aided and abetted by the FDA. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/did_obama_pressure_fda_to_kill_drug_import_amendment.php

Yep, the same Congress over which Obama supposedly has no influence, was doing the bosses's bidding.

"At the same time, neither the FDA nor the White House has denied Dorgan's charges. The White House declined to comment in detail on the allegations today. But a White House official told TPMDC's Christina Bellantoni that "whenever there is a communication with the Hill on legislation, it is coordinated and reviewed by OMB. That is the standard process." OMB is the Office of Management and Budget.

All of this is occurring against a backdrop of President Obama's controversial "deal" with the pharmaceutical industry in June, under which the industry pledged $80 billion in discounts for consumers in exchange for protection against tougher measures targeting drug companies. The industry group Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association pledged to back Obama's overhaul.

A key part of that deal was reportedly for the administration to kill any drug import measure like Dorgan's."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/did_obama_pressure_fda_to_kill_drug_import_amendment.php

(If you google, you will find other articles to similar effect.)


After that, Dorgan decided not to run again, even though his seat was in no apparent danger.

[karynnj]

43. Obama was not President in 2008, Bush was

You are speaking of a similar attempt in 2009 in the HCR bill. Though TPM blames Obama, there were a few Democratic Senators from states with big drug industries on the Finance committee, Manendez and Carper were 2 of them, that made it clear that they would not vote for a different provision that would have cost the drug companies a huge amount of money.

As you know, passing HCR required every single Democrat. The agreement with the drug companies also kept them from piling on against it and gave seniors a break on the donut hole.

In both cases, Dorgan put his bill up as an amendment to major legislation. In both cases, concern for the underlying bill passing caused Senators FOR THE IDEA. (Both Kerry and Kennedy co-sponsored Dorgan's 2007 legislation S242 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:2:./temp/~bdY3mo:@@@X|/home/LegislativeData.php?n=BSS;c=110| ) I assume both would have happily voted for it if it were a stand alone bill.

[karynnj]

42. Very inaccurate account - and I will link to the Congressional record to prove it

Dorgan proposed drug importation as an amendment to the HELP committtee's Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act, which is a landmark piece of legislation that increased the amount of oversight on food and drugs. We still have inadequate regulation, but this was an improvement. At the time, the concern was that adding that amendment would kill the entire bill. Here is the information on that bill - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN01082:@@@S

The Cochran amendment was not co-sponsored by either Kennedy or Kerry, here are the cosponsors:
COSPONSORS(9):

Sen Carper, Thomas R. - 5/2/2007
Sen Nelson, E. Benjamin - 5/2/2007
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. - 5/2/2007
Sen Bennett, Robert F. - 5/2/2007
Sen Enzi, Michael B. - 5/2/2007
Sen Burr, Richard - 5/2/2007
Sen Menendez, Robert - 5/2/2007
Sen Specter, Arlen - 5/3/2007
Sen Domenici, Pete V. - 5/3/2007

They did vote for it, but Kennedy explained it as done to let the overall bill to pass.

As to Kerry and Kennedy going on their way as "top recipients of "Big Pharma' money", you are off-base.

Kennedy's last campaign was in 2006 and it was clear it was the last one. (One sign that this was the case was that Kennedy did not save any signs after the 2006 campaign for use in 2012 - I know this because I was lucky enough to go to a Hyannis rally the day before the 2008 election. Kennedy had always done a rally there on the eve of the campaign, but in 2008 he was too sick and asked Kerry to do it. At that rally, the Kerry people brought signs that had Kerry for Senate on one side and Kennedy for Senate on the other - the Kennedy signs say at the bottom paid for by Kerry's 2008 Senate campaign.)

As to Kerry, he is not among the top 20 recipients for the 2008 cycle, which includes all 2007 and 2008 donations from the companies and the employees of the companies. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=H04&cycle=2008&recipdetail=A&mem=Y&sortorder=U (Here is the top 20 from PACs - again no Kerry - http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/pacrecips.php?ind=H04&cycle=2008

Before you make what is really a quid por quo accusation, you really should do the research to prove it. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[dmosh42]

49. Stop with the snowjob!

The whole country wanted cheaper drugs, which is still the case. Kennedy said he would bring it up as a separate issue, which was more bs. Naturally, he wasn't going to sponsor the Cochran(Miss. Repuke)amendment, but K&K did add their name in a vote passing the poison pill. Never had an explanation, because nobody reported it publicly.

[tblue37]

35. Carter wasn't an insider, so the insiders took him down.

I think Ted Kennedy was a great senator in many ways, one of the greatest, but he was also in many ways a spoiled rich kid with a strong sense of entitlement, and he considered the presidency to be his birthright. I can well imagine him pulling a "party of no" routine on Carter, deliberately blocking him to ensure he would eventually fail, even if it hurt the country, just as the Rethugs are doing that to Obama and the Dems.

I have long admired Carter and lamented the fact that as an outsider blocked at every turn my insiders he was unable to do much of the good he meant to do and tried to do. He has sued his freedom as a nonpolitician to go into the world and do good. He and his wife are truly decent people.

BTW, I suspect that one reason Obama isn't as liberal as so many of us (including me) want him to be is that he is all too aware of the force that the true power brokers can bring to bear if he rocks the boat too hard.

[Amonester]

37. Too aware?

Or too scared?

It might well be both... and in a way, quite understandable.

[Bragi]

40. Always an advantage to outlive your opponents /nt

[WhiteTara]

41. all of Washington was in on that debacle

Carter was an outsider and they never let him in.

[madokie]

47. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of respect for Ted Kennedy in his later life

but he destroyed Carters chances of being reelected. I remember it well, in fact like it was only yesterday
Further more the reason President Carter couldn't and didn't get more done was no fault of his. He was pressed by his own party, he being an outsider from the south and by the same crew of traitors who took the reigns when raygun was installed as pResident. He was getting hit from both sides, the right and the left. Yea I remember it well.

[JCMach1]

48. We have Teddy to thank for NCLB...

[Yeahyeah]

50. Oh no.Not Saint Teddy.