Bill Clinton: “No, that's not true. We met with them in advance. We even offered to work with them on drafting a bill. We were told…”

“No, that's not true. We met with them in advance. We even offered to work with them on drafting a bill. We were told, ``No, you go ahead and put your bill in; then we'll put our bill in and then we'll work.'' They announced an approach where more than half the Republican Senators supported universal coverage. The bill never came. By the time it came to talk about the bill, there were zero Senators from the Republican Party on that. So--and by the way, then they released the memo of their strategist, Bill Kristol, who wasn't even ashamed to release the memo and say, ``You must not cooperate on health care because if the middle class ever gets security about health care, they'll probably support the Democrats again. Whereas, if we keep them all torn up and upset and angry, we can either keep them home or get them to vote for us.'' So I want--let me just say this--I want more than anything to have a bipartisan effort. I want more than anything to move this country forward, not see it go back. But I have not obstructed that bipartisan effort. My door has been open. I have wanted to work together. And I have seen a level of intense obstructionism that I never thought I'd ever see. So what the American people have to say is--first of all, I think we're going to do better than everybody thinks because jobs are up, unemployment is down, the deficit is down, the Government is smaller, all these things are different from the way it was before. We are doing things for ordinary Americans like middle class college loans, national service, tax cuts for low-income working people, the Family and Medical Leave Act. When people know this, I think we're going to do much better than the experts think, because I think people want to keep going forward, they don't want to go back. But whatever happens, I hope we talk. I have always wanted to talk; I have always been willing to meet. And I hope we work together. Mr. King. Worse-case scenario--they take the House. Could you work with Newt Gingrich?”