Angry Bradley Defends His Health Plan

A visibly angry Bill Bradley lashed out at Al Gore on Monday, blasting the vice president for what he called distortions of his health care plan and the “worst use of scare tactics I have seen in many years.”

Bradley’s wrath was triggered by an interview with Gore published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday in which the vice president said Bradley’s health care plan would “devastate tens of thousands of people with long-term debilitating diseases such as AIDS.”

Bradley said the interview “made my blood boil” and, after months of criticism on the topic from Gore, he decided to respond in a news conference. He was joined by San Francisco city officials and gay leaders.

“You can only take it so long,” said Bradley, pausing several times to gather himself as he angrily defended his plan. “This is just another example of the kind of meanness in politics that is fundamentally destructive of an open dialogue about issues, about the direction of the country. Frankly, today’s episode he should ashamed of.”

The former New Jersey senator, a longshot in national polls leading up to the next voting in the Democratic presidential primaries on March 7, defended his health plan as one that would preserve existing services for those living with HIV and provide even more money for community health clinics.

“Making sure that AIDS and HIV patients have access to health care is a prime part of what I’m trying to do,” he said.

Gore, campaigning on education issues in New York City on Monday, issued a statement defending his comments in the interview. It repeated that Bradley’s health plan “will not begin to cover the many services required by people with HIV/AIDS.”

“Instead of addressing the legitimate concerns about his health plan, Sen. Bradley today launched another negative personal attack on Al Gore,” the statement said. Later Monday, in an interview with a New York television station, Gore declared: “I have never attacked Sen. Bradley personally.”

In the Chronicle interview, Gore said Bradley’s plan does away with Medicaid, hurting those with HIV who depend on the plan for prescription-drug benefits and other resources. Bradley’s plan, however, would set aside money to allow those eligible for Medicaid to purchase private health insurance.

Bradley’s angry reply came after he delivered a speech at the Sierra Club, where he launched an aggressive attack on the environmental record of Gore and the White House for being “long on promises and short on actions.”

Speaking to about 100 people, Bradley promised to make protecting the natural environment his “first principle” if elected president.

“It’s impossible to look around this magnificent state--with its sweeping coastlines, its majestic mountain ranges and stark deserts--and not want that beauty to remain for our children’s children,” he said. “We have to use our prosperity to protect the things we cherish, and that make us special.”

Gore flew from Washington to northern New York on Monday to pitch an education message he hopes will appeal to hard-core Democrats and independents alike. At Medgar Evers College in a gritty section of Brooklyn, Gore won cheers from a predominantly black and Latino audience when he declared that education reform must begin with “high-quality preschool for every child in every family all across America.”

Earlier, addressing a predominantly white audience of students at the University of Rochester, Gore got an equally warm response to his pledge to increase federal help with college tuition and reduce the growing reliance on loans.

“Our families need more help paying for tuition,” Gore said. “Yes, they must have access to loans, but they need other resources as well.”

With both audiences, he tied the need for education reform to the information revolution and the increasing importance of specialized knowledge.

In his speeches, Gore stepped back from the sharp-edged exchanges with Bradley that marked the New Hampshire primary. New York’s primary is March 7.

“My opponent, Sen. Bradley, is a good man. But I believe he is a good man with plans that leave out” college tuition aid, support for expanded preschools and increased federal aid for public elementary and secondary schools, the vice president said.

Today, Gore was expected to receive the endorsement of the National Abortion Rights Action League, countering criticism from Bradley that the vice president had a mixed record on abortion votes during his tenure in Congress.

In the past, NARAL President Kate Michelman has said that both Gore and Bradley are reliable supporters of abortion rights. She has also said she is confident in Gore’s support for abortion now, even though he cast a series of anti-abortion votes when he was in Congress.