Bill Clinton: “Yes, but let me try to defend myself first. Tonight, how many times tonight did I go out of my way to explain this…”

“Yes, but let me try to defend myself first. Tonight, how many times tonight did I go out of my way to explain this problem from the insurance companies' point of view? A lot, right? And let me further say, I went to Connecticut the other day, which is the other big center of health insurance companies, where five of the six biggest companies in Connecticut refused to join in this health insurance association multi-million dollar attack on our health care reform efforts. And I complimented those companies for what they're trying to do. So I believe that we have a lot in common. And I believe most insurance companies support universal coverage. And I would be more than happy to continue to work with them. What I have tried to do is to answer the attacks on our plan by the ads, the multi-million-dollar ad campaign, that I don't have the money to answer in paid ads yet--I hope I do someday--from the health insurance association. Nothing would please me more than to tone down the rhetoric, to sit around like we're doing now in private and recognize that a lot of companies, particularly a lot of the bigger companies, have done a lot to help control heath care costs. I guess what I want to do is to try to take the initiatives that you've already taken and that you've proved we can take to help larger companies, to help Government employees, to help others control health care costs and make those available to all Americans, first with coverage and first with affordable rates for people who have small businesses. I can't believe we can't reach agreement on this. I think we can. And nothing would please me more than to have this conversation with you and everybody in your business all over America. And I thank you for what you said.”