Carter Slams Ted Kennedy over health care

[wyldwolf]

n a 60 Minutes interview to promote his new book, White House Diary, former President Jimmy Carter ripped the late Sen. Ted Kennedy for delaying health care reform legislation "out of spite."

Said Carter: "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. It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."

"He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/09/16/carter_slams_ted_kennedy.html

[geek tragedy]

1. Jimmy is clearly in "I'm old enough to say whatever

I goddamn want to" mode.

Yikes.

[seattleblue]

33. Yes he is old enough to tell the truth and not worry about it.

[craigmatic]

2. I wish he'd have said this sooner so Teddy could rebut him. Still, it's not

out of the realm of possibility. Kennedy did plan to run for president and the health care issue would've been his signature issue to run on. It does seem plausible that Kennedy would block HCR for that reason.

[chimpymustgo]

4. It's quite plausible. And I don't believe Carter would lie.

[karynnj]

20. Perspective is everything - It is very possible that Carter thought Kennedy

fought his plan so he wouldn't succeed, but that may not be what happened. It could be that - just like the Clintons - Carter had a plan that could not pass Congress and he failed to work with the House or Senate enough to pass it. One thing these 2 very different Presidents had in common were that both were Governors with no real understanding of the cultures and ways of doing things in the House and Senate. It really seems like he wants to blame Kennedy for his own failings. I know I heard more of the Nixon and Clinton healthcare plans than I did of Carter's.

I would need to read some histories of Carter's Presidency and the Senate at that time to really know if Kennedy had either the power or the desire to stop Carter's plan. It was not until 1980, that many (10) great liberal Senators lost elections when Reagan won. Most of these had far more seniority than Kennedy. In fact, though he had somewhat more seniority in 1977, Kennedy was kind of what HRC could have been had she stayed in the Senate - someone with more power because of who she was than her position in the Senate. He was not the chair of the appropriate committee until 1987 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Health,_Education,_Labor,_and_Pensions#Labor_and_Public_Welfare.2C_1947.E2.80.931977 Before 1980, the liberal wing of the Senate would have been led by people like Frank Church (who gave the keynote at JFK's convention), Birch Bayh, Jacob Javitts, Gaylord Nelson, George McGovern and many others. Kennedy was not yet the liberal lion.

A few years ago, I found Jody Powell's 1984 book and was stunned at the anger he still felt towards Kennedy. I don't take what he wrote at face value because of that obvious animosity, but here is how he described Kennedy.

"If someone proposed a political novel featuring a character with Kennedy's record of nonaccomplishment in the Senate - not to mention the personal baggage that he has acquired - who was nevertheless a perennial and serious candidate for the highest office in the land, it would be dismissed as impossibly fantastic. Yet we found ourselves, well before the midterm point in the Carter administration reading excited and adoring speculation in the press about whether or not the savior from MA might consent to offer himself in service to his party and the nation by running against an incumbent President of his own party."

As you can see, this is written long before Kennedy racked up the long list of accomplishments that he was to achieve. I seriously doubt that he had the power to have unilaterally stopped Carter's health care plan. What I DO remember is that part of why Kennedy ran is because Carter was NOT working hard on issues like healthcare.

[WI_DEM]

3. Well, EMK blocked Nixon too, but he later admitted that was a mistake.

[karynnj]

21. EMK was a second term (and then started his third term)Senator when Nixon was in office

This was at a time when there were many Democratic Senators with far more seniority. He was not that powerful.

He could not have blocked Nixon. What has been said was that he did not work to support Nixon's plan - a big difference.

[DURHAM D]

5. Ted was also one of the Senators who blocked Clinton on health care as well. nt

[karynnj]

22. Every Democratic Senator on the FINANCE committee was against it

per Hillary's book. (As you know, it would have needed support of both HELP and Finance). HRC refused to consider the alternative backed by Finance Committee member Bill Bradley. Kennedy was not singled out as being against it.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. Carter, of course, is right.

Ted Kennedy killed healthcare reform in the United States in the 1980s. Carter tried to compromise with Kennedy and other Washington Democrats, but Kennedy opposed Carter's idea to phase the national health insurance program in and make it dependent on the budget. That created a rift between the two that never really healed.

As for Kennedy not wanting him to have major success in that realm of life, well I can't say.

But as for healthcare, Kennedy essentially said it was his way or no way and, well, he was right.

[Whisp]

15. that is so disapointing.

I wonder how he felt about the misery he could have saved by just not being a stubborn jackass.

wicked ego driven world

[Drunken Irishman]

16. Thankfully, Kennedy saw the error of his ways.

[karynnj]

23. I wonder how CARTER felt about that - from Drunken Irishman's

comment, NEITHER could compromise. (In addition, it was not just Kennedy, but that entire wing of the party.)

[ProSense]

7. Kennedy was doing the progressive thing

wanting all or nothing.

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

This is a useless exercise.

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.

The "ifs" ended in March.

[Deep13]

8. The "ifs" won't end until 2014 when most of the insurance reform bill...

...goes into effect. If we lose this year and in 2012, the Rs will repeal it before most people see any benefit.

[derby378]

25. And even then...

...since there is no actual reform until we get either a public option or single-payer or something of a likewise progressive, egalitarian bent, we continue to wait for healthcare reform in America.

[area51]

28. +1 n/t

[ProSense]

32. "If we lose this year and in 2012, the Rs will repeal" That's called a

Republican pipe dream.

[Arkana]

13. Kennedy at least realized his mistake, even if it was 30 years on.

[Deep13]

9. Is it fair to say that Kennedy viewed anything short of ...

...a Canadian-style single payer as a failure? If so, he should have compromised with Carter or even Nixon. This is hindsight talking, of course. Considering the insurance reform we got and how long it took, a more generous law before the country became Reaganized would have been an improvement. I can't help wondering now if the reason an insurance reform bill finally passed was because Sen. Kennedy was no longer around to hold up the works. Just speculating, of course. Historians don't have the luxury of being sentimental.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Didn't Kennedy say this was his biggest mistake?

I don't think Kennedy would have "rebutted" Carter over this.

[mitchum]

30. Unlike Carter, who has never expressed regret for bringing that "personal relationship with Jesus"..

horseshit into the political arena.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Teddy Realized His Mistake

He said he should have worked with Nixon as well.

It was a long time ago. Jimmy Carter should let him rest in peace.

[BluegrassDem]

12. Ted Kennedy admitted he stopped health care reform in the 1970's

He said it was his major regret. Carter is telling the truth. Whether it should be said or not, I don't know. I guess Carter doesn't have the same warm and fuzzy feelings as we do regarding Ted, so maybe he feels it's okay to say this stuff.

[Deep13]

14. If it's true, then he should say it. nt

[David Zephyr]

17. This story is true and it is not wrong for President Carter to say this.

It is a sad fact, but it is true.

[Politics_Guy25]

18. Also

Don't forget Carter lost re-election due to the Kennedy primary challenge. He has a right to be harsh.

[David Zephyr]

24. Carter would have won the election if John Anderson hadn't run.

Anderson hurt Carter far more than Teddy ever did. Anderson killed us and made Reagan's victory a done deal.

And, of course, there was the famous October Surprise arranged by Poppy Bush and the Iranians.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

29. That's true but at least some of Anderson's support came from disillusioned Kennedy voters

Especially in states like Massachusetts, where President Carter would probably have won without Anderson's vote

[David Zephyr]

34. I must confess that I worked in Ted's 1980 campaign in California.

I'd volunteered for Carter in the primaries of 1976, but worked for Ted in 1980. That said, I clearly supported Carter against Reagan.

I don't know any disillusioned Kennedy supporters who threw their votes away to John Anderson because we all knew what Ronald Reagan represented.

Anderson took a lot of independent voters away from Carter.

And don't forget the falsely created "oil shortage" that everyone screaming at the pumps.

Carter, like Obama, was too naive and trusting of the GOP. When you take office, you clean house. Look at the shit that hangovers from Poppy Bush's administration caused Clinton his first years from Travelgate to FileGate and, of course, that most famous of all Poppy Bush hangovers, Linda Tripp, working right in the White House. When you take office, you clean house and you move the treacherous into other locales.

I will give you that any primary challenge hurts an incumbent. Teddy shouldn't have run and having read the bios on his behavior during that 1980 primary where he was snorting cocaine and banging women with his wife in the same house, well, that turned out to be a lousy chapter for me. So, yes, it hurt, but it wasn't what brought Carter down.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. Reragan Got A Majority;More Votes Than Reagan And Anderson Combined

However we will never know how Anderson changed the dynamics of the race. Most of the research suggest Reagan would still have won, but with a smaller pop vote and E C vote margin.

[David Zephyr]

37. I'm aware of that. I worked in that election.

You have the score card right. The same score card would show that Reagan also got more votes than Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy (who wasn't on the ballot obviously) together. My point to the other poster was that the influence that Kennedy's primary challenge months before the general election didn't hurt Carter as much as Anderson did after the Primaries and into November, where a sitting President also had to debate two candidates (similar to Poppy Bush, another sitting President had to debate both Bill Clinton and Ross Perot). I was young then and I worked in Ted's primary campaign and then later in Carter's the same year. I truly didn't Ted's primary challenge as hurting Carter as much as Anderson later adding a second voice carping at Carter, along with other factors: the phony oil shortage, and then there was also the nascent rise and influence of Richard Viguerie's crafty melding right wing splinter groups, gun advocates, together with decentralized (until then) evangelical Americans with his mailing list.

I guess what I am saying is that blaming Teddy Kennedy for Carter's loss seems to be a convenient whipping horse for many moderates and loyalists to the President today who are upset with the Left for staying on Obama. I understand that dynamic and actually think that at this point it is not healthy for the Left (me included) to sticking it to the President so close to a General Election.

And, I do agree with you that Reagan would have probably won, even with Anderson, out of the race, but as you said, we will never know. But I was very politially active then and the wave that swept the nation is evident in the size of Reagan's electoral victory.

Edited for my lousy spelling.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

39. Ad Did I, For Ted Kennedy

" I'm aware of that. I worked in that election."

THe older I get the more I realize material conditions and not personalities affect elections. It was just a Republicant year as 010 and 012 will be, God help us, if the economy doesn't improve.

[tritsofme]

19. Ted waged a nasty and misguided primary against President Carter.

Kennedy's anti-Carter tirades showed up in numerous Reagan ads during the GE, it was disgusting.

I don't blame him for any animosity, and I am not under the impression that Kennedy's motives back then were anything but politically self-serving.

[Onlooker]

26. Carter was a right-wing Democrat ...

... He's full of shit. Carter cut programs, deregulated trucking (severely damaging the Teamster's and creating a generation of Reagan Democrats), was pro-nuke, talked human rights but embraced abuses in South America, had no urban policy, and was pro-corporate. I worked on the Ted Kennedy for President campaign and than was a paid field coordinator for the Carter campaign in 1980. He was very unpopular among liberals and a lot of working people. Carter's health care bill probably sucked, and I don't remember him putting forth any significant effort to get the bill known. For him to criticize Kennedy on health care is a disgrace.

[ruggerson]

27. that's how I remember it too

[mitchum]

31. Absolutely! Jimbo started the rightward drift of the party. Fuck him.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

35. They never really got along, but I must say that Carter is awesome. He was awesome as my governor.

He was awesome as my president. And he's awesome NOW! I love Uncle Ted, God rest his soul. But to be fair, he and Carter never really got along. As for President Carter, he says what he means and means what he says. We need much more of that in the Democratic Party.

As someone put bluntly, we are too kind and not nearly NASTY enough!

Cheers, President Carter :toast:

[Phx_Dem]

38. Pretty tacky considering Kennedy is not hear to defend himself.