With all the talk about who started what and which camp is engaging in race baiting, I'm absolutely disgusted that President Clinton felt the need to interrupt his amazing trip to Africa (where his foundation is helping to save millions of lives) to once again remind us that he never (ever!) played the race card against BHO. Anyone who looked at that video of him knows what a load of crap those attacks against Bill were.
Now that BHO's moved into general election mode, he's trying to pull this garbage on McCain. How sad that they're wasting precious time replaying the same tired and broken record when millions are suffering around the world - and right here at home. There's no substance to him or his message, so he has to use distractions like race to win points with voters.
Well folks, there's one politician (or should I say former politician) who gets it. He spent the last week in Africa to further the work of his foundation, and the various initiatives working on the ground there and I just got an email from him that re-caps what he accomplished in just those few short days. Check it out...
This morning our plane touched down in Mexico City, where I will be speaking at the opening of the International AIDS Conference in just a few hours. It'll be a fitting conclusion to a week spent evaluating the progress we've made in our fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.
Here's a few things we've accomplished:
* Launched programs to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mothers to their babies in six countries, including Ethiopia.
* Helped governments, including Rwanda, strengthen rural health care programs to help more people access treatment in remote areas.
* Negotiated a 30% reduction in effective malaria medicines that will help people in countries like Liberia cure the number one killer of African children.
* Supported the WHO's revised policy to treat all infants in Senegal and around the world for HIV/AIDS immediately after they are diagnosed.
I've posted an update on our blog www.clintonfoundation.org/blog about the remarkable people I've met and the places I've visited. I hope you'll take a look and leave your comments.
It's been a memorable journey, and I'm grateful for your support along the way.
And here's what President Clinton had to say on his blog about his trip...
Submitted by: Bill Clinton
I'm in Mexico City today for the International AIDS Conference. As I prepare my remarks, I can't help but reflect on the people I've met and the places I've seen during my six-day trip through Africa.
I have been blessed over the years to travel extensively around our world, both as President and now as a private citizen. I've always found that intelligence, hard work, and determination are equally distributed across the planet, but access to health care, education, and economic opportunity is not. This is especially clear in many rural areas of Africa, where villagers face challenges surpassed only by their indefatigable spirit.
This trip was a terrific opportunity to meet and learn about some extraordinary people. I spent a day with coffee and cassava farmers in rural Rwanda who are increasing their productivity and incomes with the help of the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative. We also broke ground on a new hospital in the Burera District - the last district in Rwanda to open a hospital.
One story I heard really encapsulates the importance of our work, and I want to share it with you. Along with Beatrice, a community health care worker, I was invited to visit the home of Jean-Pierre, a 15-year-old boy, and his sister Eugenie.
Eugenie, who is now 19, has taken care of Jean-Pierre since she was 13, after they lost their parents to a disease that was likely AIDS. In 2005, Jean-Pierre was diagnosed with advanced AIDS symptoms severe enough to keep him out of school. But thanks to the treatment and kindness Beatrice delivers to their home, Jean-Pierre's health has dramatically improved, and he can now live an active life like any other teenager. Although he does have some catching up to do, he's doing well in his third-grade class. One day, he hopes to become a doctor, and when Jean-Pierre is old enough to care for himself, Eugenie would like to open her own shop.
It was a moving visit. These two young people spoke so bravely, even though they've been faced with profound adversity in their short lives. Beatrice's compassion and devotion to her job are unwavering, and I'm so proud that the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative had a hand in providing her with the training and resources to do what she does best - help bring health care and hope to families in need.
This has been a particularly meaningful trip, reaffirming to me the importance of our work and strengthening my resolve to do even more. I hope you'll join me as we continue our efforts to ensure that more people with AIDS - especially children, like Jean-Pierre - can live healthy, full lives.
Look I know Bill's not running for office, but the fact that he campaigned for his wife left him open to attacks that would have been shot down for the BS they were if they'd come from any other candidate. But because BHO's the media darling and Dean's guy, he got away with what he did to Bill in the lead-up to the SC primary.
The work Bill's doing is important - he and his foundation are saving lives and his work will make a serious difference to the people of the nations he's visiting for generations to come.
In this silly season of he said / he said, I think it's vital that we keep in mind what really matters here. Like his amazing wife, Bill gets it. He should be celebrated - not attacked. He should hold his head up high - not feel the need to set the record straight on something we all know was unfair and untrue.
Like millions of others here and around the world, I am (as always) in complete and total awe of the work he's doing. I hope has a good long run at this effort because people need him and his dedication and drive to make a difference.
Here's Bill's message about his trip - Imagine A World Without AIDS...
And, if I read KnowVox's comment / request correctly, here's a video of the comments Bill made in the lead up to SC's primary. This was the one BHO used to attack him as a racist.
Anyone with eyes and a brain can see that had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with setting the record straight re BHO's attacks on his wife over the Iraq war and the candidates respective records.
"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you?re knocked down, get right back up. And NEVER listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on."
Hillary Clinton - June 7, 2008
