A Video Recap of the LiveStrong Democratic Cancer Forum with Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, and Kucinich.

LiveStrong Democratic Cancer Forum with Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, and Kucinich. — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Monday afternoon, four Democratic presidential candidates (Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, and Kucinich) participated in the LIVESTRONG Cancer Forum, moderated by Chris Matthews on MSNBC. Much like the CNN/YouTube debate last month, this forum addressed the concerns of “real” America, not “corporate” America. I applaud that.

Republican or Democrat, I want our next president to be “for the people” not “for the party”. So these types of debates are exactly what I hope we will continue to see more of. I also happened to post on the issue of universal health care on Friday, so this forum was particularly interesting to me.

Before we go any further, take a moment to view this short video about how devastating cancer is to American families. (Warning: If you cry easily you might want to wait until you’re alone.)

It was disappointing not to see Barack Obama at this forum, but even more disappointing is the fact that none of the leading Republican candidates will attend the forum on Tuesday, only Brownback and Huckabee will be in attendance. Personally, choosing fund-raising events instead of taking time to address the critical health care needs of the American people, is quite telling.

As he did on Meet the Press yesterday, Armstrong expressed his disappointment that other candidates chose not to attend. “It is my belief, like a lot of other Americans, that the next occupant of the Oval Office must discuss this critical issue with voters,” Armstrong said at the beginning of the forum.

I didn’t catch the whole debate. But fortunately, through the miracle of YouTube, I’m able to bring you a brief video-recap.

In this clip, Lance Armstrong talks briefly about why he is sponsoring this debate.

Cancer is the number one killer of Americans under age 85, and the candidates need to “answer the cancer question”.

The cancer forum was held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This news clip is a quick overview of the debate and also has some reactions from the audience.

This was the opening statement by John Edwards…

The next clip begins with Hillary Clinton, talking about the importance of quality affordable health care and the need for universal health care. Then goes to John Edwards, where he tells us how universal health care will cost 90-120 billion dollars a year, money he will get by ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Bill Richardson wants to increase cancer research by by 206% over 10 years, and Dennis Kucinich wants the health care system to support the people when they need it.

The video was taken by Cedar Rapids Gazette photographer Jim Slosiarek…

There seemed to have been a lot of talk about a “war on cancer”…I’m not sure I like that analogy very much.

From NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum
Right off the bat, Richardson called for a renewed effort in Richard Nixon’s war on cancer. “This president wants a surge in the war in Iraq,” Richardson said in his opening statement. “I want a surge in the war on cancer.” Instead of simply allocating more money for research funds, Richardson said presidential leadership is needed to win this war. He promised to use both the bully pulpit of the president to promote healthy lifestyles and to have the same motivation John F. Kennedy had when he said America would go to the moon within 10 years.

This is a clip of Richardson’s whole interview (13 minutes), and he did have a lot of smart ideas, and interesting comments.

Hillary takes this theme even further, with an explanation of the current administration’s “war on science”. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with Hillary 100% on this one, I just don’t like the “war” analogy very much…

“The president of the united states has been leading an assault on science and research, and it’s not only in their budget priorities. I mean think about it. The two priorities of this president have been the war in Iraq, and tax cuts for the wealthy. neither of which he’s paid for, while he has cut the budget for the national institutes of health and national cancer institute.”

Personally, I believe the forum was a very productive, informative, and beneficial tool for the American voters, me included. The one aspect that was a turning point for me, was when Edwards explained that he differs with Hillary Clinton on who should be involved with putting together a universal health plan. Hillary believes the drug companies and the insurance industry should have a seat at the table, John Edwards does not. I have to agree with Edwards on that one.

Well, that’s a wrap on my wrap-up. I didn’t have a chance to surf the BlogHer blogrolls to see who else was posting on this topic, so if you did…please add your link to comments. Thanks.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and CatherineBlogs.com