Hillary against federal funding of needle exchange programs

[killbotfactory]

I was actually quite surprised she was against needle exchange programs to fight the spread of AIDS.

There are few differences between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on details of domestic policy, but previously unreported exchanges at recent New York meetings revealed one. Obama favors federal funding for needle exchange programs; Clinton doesn't, according to their comments at the video-taped events, which included a tense, revealing exchange between Clinton and a veteran AIDS activist, Charles King.

Of course, it turns out it's all political triangulation nonsense.

In the unusual 1998 compromise, Clinton Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala announced that the administration's scientific review had found needle exchanges safe and effective -- but that the administration would nonetheless maintain a federal ban on funding them.

Clinton responded to King's question (1:10:40 in the video above), after some prodding, by saying, "I want to look at the evidence on it" to see whether needle exchange would prevent the spread of HIV without increasing drug abuse.

Shalala, King responded, had "certified" the safety and effectiveness of the programs.

"And then she refused to order it, as you remember," Clinton said.

King replied that that had been her husband's decision.

"Well, because we knew we couldn't maintain it politically," Clinton said, and went on to discuss the trade-offs in that dispute with Congress. "I wish life and politics were easier," she said.

Video here
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0707/A_needle_exchange.html

Another article about this here
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=1919

Is this how we want to defend and fight for democratic ideals?
Is this the type of person we want reforming our Healthcare industry? Someone who is willing to sacrifice proven effective AIDS prevention methods because She and some political strategists decided it would be too politically unpopular?

"We’ll have as much spine as we possibly can, under the circumstances"

Is this supposed to inspire people to support her?

[Mythsaje]

1. She's apparently got plenty of support, regardless.

Everything is measured...cost efficiency, politically speaking. Like determining whether it's more cost-effective to engineer a life-saving technology into a vehicle or simply pay damages in court. Whether it's cheaper to pollute and pay the fines rather than come up with a viable way to protect the environment.

Whichever costs less in the end.

[IndianaGreen]

18. The Clintons threw LGBTs under the bus when it became convenient

and they will do so again. Why are we surprised when the Clintons stay true to form?

Two triangulators for the price of one!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Fuck Hillery! She's just Lieberman with more corporate donors.

nt

[ruiner4u]

3. is DU the official anti Hillary site? christ...

[killbotfactory]

5. Hillary is wrong on this issue

She knows she's wrong, too, and pretty much admitted it on videotape.

If she wants to be a democratic presidential candidate, she's going to have to appeal to democrats.

[ruiner4u]

6. if she wants to be a democratic presidential candidate and win

then she will need to appeal to 51% of the electoral college.


Otherwise we will have another another gore 2000.

[killbotfactory]

7. And how will the support of federal funding of needle exchange programs

make or break the election?

Especially since she has acknowledged on videotape, that her political position against it is complete horseshit?

[ruiner4u]

9. I didnt say that at all...

I was referring to the daily anti hillary pig pile that goes on here, responded to the far left "well hillary did this" mantra, and just reminded you all that in our system of governance we have an electoral college process that lets the minority have some small say in who gets elected president. If the anti hillary brigade on here would spend the same amount of time on Mittens and Rudy and dredge up every little thing they say and do, we might actually have a chance in getting a <Gasp!> centrist who might actually have a chance and uniting this country.

[sandnsea]

11. This is the primary

Fighting the Republican candidate comes in the GE.

The reason there are daily "Hillary did this" posts, is because she is shown to fail the Party every single day. If she wasn't afraid of her own shadow and vague on every single issue, then people wouldn't criticize her.

I mean, come on, John Kerry supports needle exchange. I didn't see that hurting him in 2004.

Is this what she really said about spine???

“We’ll have as much spine as we possibly can, under the circumstances,” Clinton responded."


http://www.liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=1919

[karynnj]

27. We're in the pre-primary stage

Hillary is the front runner, and may well be our nominee - but not one vote has been cast yet.

[zulchzulu]

16. If she wants to win, she has to ignore the "uncomfortable issues"

I mean, AIDS...it's so...bad. Yuck. Who wants to talk about that... icck...

:sarcasm:

[karynnj]

26. Gore won - he did get more votes in FL

He lost many to various kinds of voter suppression. The problem was not the candidate, but the way the election was run. Why didn't the Justice department take the felon list problem more seriously before the election? A Palm Beach County employee had already found her husband's name on it and they had found that his inclusion was unjustified - weeks before the election. Correcting that alone would have been enough.

[zulchzulu]

15. To point out one of the many disappointments with Clinton is not to make it...

...an "anti-Hillary site".

If you want puff web sites for her candidacy, go to her site or a few others spinning off her site. You won't find anything about this issue there. You can relax and not have to worry about scrutiny regarding her record. Check out her theme song. Look at pictures of her dog. Whatever...

[IndianaGreen]

19. Saint Hillary is beyond reproach, particularly when she is in the wrong by taking the fundie side!

Saint Hillary seems to be in the wrong a lot lately, such as when she tied herself to our failed Cuba policy on her statement this week in which she placed herself solidly on the side of Bush and the crazy Miami Cubans. Even Biden supports a policy change, but not Hillary.

[Hieronymus]

4. She's obviously trying to stradle the fence .. Pity.

[orleans]

8. "why oh why oh why oh why?" --my daughter at age two. n/t

[NYC]

10. New York had a needle exchange program.

The conclusion was that it served its purpose.

Now, I'm wondering if we still have it. After Giuliani and Bloomberg, maybe not.

[jgraz]

12. And the hits just keep on coming

What party is this woman in again? :banghead:

[RC]

14. We all knew the answer to that before she announced.

Our choice on the General Election Ballot will be which shade of Conservative will we vote for? It won't matter the party affiliation.

[Forkboy]

13. Time to grab a cab to Real St.,Hillary.

And that applies to anyone who doesn't support the idea.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Like tmfun said on this thread, Hillary is another Lieberman

This is another example of Hillary being tied to the failed policies of the past.

Nothing like letting AIDs continue to ravage the world! Needle exchange programs have a proven record of success in reducing AIDs.

[jmp]

20. What the Dems really need is an idiologically pure & principled ...

Loser.

Nothing moves the progressive agenda forward like sitting on the outside whining about "stolen" elections ... and how America would support the left's agenda if only the MSM wasn't controlling the dissemination of information.

Vote for Edwards!

Vote for Kucinich!

Vote for Karl Marx if you like.

Just don't whine when the GOP wins the White House again.

[killbotfactory]

21. In my opinion, Hillary will stall the progressive agenda for eight years

She's so damn scared of taking any risky political position, it's infuriating.

[sarcasmo]

22. I am still undecided, but she is clearly not the most liberal candidate.

Run Al run.

[AtomicKitten]

23. Many residents here in SF bitch and moan about the needle exchange program.

In their view, it just provides more used needles on the ground in parks here.

That's how a good idea goes bad.

I think the implementation of the program requires better planning.

[killbotfactory]

24. Is the alternative better?

Here's the thing. It's not just that she's against federal needle exchange programs. It's that she lied about her reasons against it. She states that she would like to work out how effective they are before supporting the program, but is then called on that position, because under Bill the program was studied and proven effective. She backtracks and then says it was never implemented, because they couldn't politically maintain the program. She basically admits that her current position is just a political calculation and nothing more.

This issue isn't burning up the campaign trail because of controversy, so what is she scared of? Is she scared of this issue because it polled badly in the late 90's?

[AtomicKitten]

25. I prefer when a candidate just states their views on policy --

and allows the chips to fall where they may rather than the tired traditional political double-speak/rhetoric that is meant to bamboozle.