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In a conference call with bloggers this evening, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was "taken aback" by Sen. John McCain's endorsement of her proposal to create a government agency to buy up and refinance mortgages in foreclosure during last night's presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama.
"Flattery won't get him any closer to the White House, especially since what I proposed seems to be different." Clinton said. According to Clinton, McCain's proposal,
"would let banks profit. I would not." Clinton promised to introduce a bill to institute the new mortgage rescue plan. She also lauded Obama's "comprehensive" plan to help middle-class families, and said she was "pleased" that he had endorsed her call for a 90-day moratorium on mortgage foreclosures.
The foreclosure crisis was one of several issues Clinton addressed during the 20-minute call. In her opening statement, she talked about her efforts to help the Obama campaign, noting that she has spoken at more than 50 events and raised more than $10 million for the Democratic ticket.
Clinton said Obama performance in last night's debate "closed the deal" with voters. According to Clinton, the debate was McCain's "last chance" to present a positive vision to voters, but what he offered was "more of the same." She she said she looked forward to Democratic victories in both the White House and Congress in November, although she's taking nothing for granted. In particular, she said there was a good chance that the Democrats would achieve a "filibuster-proof" 60-vote majority in the Senate.
In response to a question, Clinton talked about her efforts to block a proposed rule that would require federally-funded health care providers to certify their willingness to hire nurses and other health professionals who have religious objections to abortion and some forms of contraception.
She referred to a Sept. 19 op-ed piece that she co-authored for the New York Times that called the proposal, the "latest salvo in [Bush administration's] eight-year campaign to undermine women’s rights and women’s health." Clinton and other critics say the rule is unnecessary, since a law already exists allowing health care providers to refuse abortion services. Also, critics say the rule's language is so broad that some forms of contraception could be defined as abortion. According to the editorial, the rule could also lead to providers refusing to perform other services, such as administering HIV tests.
Clinton said she is continuing to press the issue in meetings with Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Levitt, along with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) Clinton said, “I cannot wait until this administration is gone and we can start doing good things again, instead of trying to prevent bad things from happening!”
Another blogger asked whether Clinton was involved in any particular state or local races. Clinton said she had campaigned for a number of local House and Senate candidates. She noted that there was a chance to pick up four Democratic congressional seats in New York state, and that she has campaigned for Senate candidates in North Carolina, Kentucky, Minnesota and several other states. However, she said, "Our candidates are being outspent." She urged progressive bloggers to "adopt a candidate" to cover.
Clinton also said bloggers had an important role to play as watchdogs on politicians and the mainstream media. In response to a question, she said that progressives can't ignore conservative media outlets such as FOX news. Clinton was interviewed by FOX after last night's debate, and has appeared on the O'Reilly Factor. FOX has millions of viewers, she noted, "and not all of them are dyed-in-the-wool conservatives," but people who want to "see what the other side is doing." The good news, she said, is that there are so many other media outlets, on cable and in the blogosphere.
By the way, in September, Clinton detailed her proposals for dealing with the financial crisis in a 22-minute speech on the Senate floor, which can be viewed here:
Additional proposals and comments on this and related issues are on her Senate website.
