Bill Clinton: “Well, Senator Rockefeller made a big mistake today. He's a wonderful man, but he made a big mistake. He read a press…”

“Well, Senator Rockefeller made a big mistake today. He's a wonderful man, but he made a big mistake. He read a press report and assumed it was true, I mean--[laughter]--or fully accurate. That is, he read a report of someone else's characterization of what I said and assumed it was fully accurate. And the people who were characterizing it obviously were characterizing the conversation in the light most favorable to their position. I don't mean that the press misreported it. I mean the press reported it accurately. But that's what they do. When you have private conversations with people, they often characterize it in the light most favorable to their position. I think that's what happened. I didn't say anything differently in that meeting than I have said repeatedly, which is that we are and we should be flexible on the size of the alliances--that's already been said by Secretary Bentsen--and that in order to have a health care plan which passes muster in the Congress, we have to have some way of showing how much taxpayer money is at risk over a 5-year period. That's required of every bill passed by Congress. That's all I said, and I think the interpretation of it--while I don't dispute whatever they said, I think that the folks who communicated that to the press were doing it in the light most favorable to their own position. I understand that; that's fair game. But I would caution Senator Rockefeller to not think that I'd left his position. In many ways he's the heart and soul of this fight for health care. And if we change positions, he and I, we're going to try to do it together. Thank you.”