Public Advocate Highlights Largest-Ever CPAC
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference wrapped up Saturday, with Public Advocate's "Socialized Medicine Makes Me Sick" campaign getting lots of support.
"There was a constant crush of people coming to our booth to sign their petition 'telling Hillary where to stick it,'" said Eugene Delgaudio, president of Public Advocate. "At times the crowd was so big we ran out of clipboards and pens and people couldn't make their way through the exhibit hall."
The three-day event at Washington's Omni Shoreham Hotel was a remarkable success for Public Advocate's campaign to stop socialized medicine. 700 conservatives came to Public Advocate's booth to put their signature to a petition opposing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's support for so-called "universal health care," making it one of the conference's most popular exhibitors. Over half also signed up to help Public Advocate preserve American health care from government mismanagement.
"The response was overwhelming, beyond anything we predicted," said Delgaudio. "At times the conservative crowd lined up to sign their petition blocked the walkways and claimed every available pen and clipboard, put people were patient and waited in line to tell Hillary where to stick it."
"There was a good flow of people from Canada and Europe who came to us to tell their horror stories of dealing with so-called universal health care," said Delgaudio. "Hillary's plans for IRS-style health care will lead us down their road to substandard care, skyrocketing costs through higher taxes and the higher death rates seen in Europe, partly from people dying while on waiting lists for what used to be routine care.
Public Advocate staff had to scramble to reprint more petitions, as the three-day supply was nearly exhausted in just the first day.
An even bigger hit was the Friday debut of the "Hillary Clinton Barf Bag," featuring a likeness of the New York senator and the slogan "Socialized medicine makes me sick!." The 2,500 bag supply was quickly snapped up, with attendees making their way to Public Advocate's table to grab over 1,000 on the first day alone. The remaining bags were all claimed by excited attendees by Saturday morning.
"We had people scouring the hotel and exhibit hall to find us and get their 'Hillary Clinton Barf Bag" and sign up to help us fight socialized medicine," said Delgaudio. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Anger over socialized medicine is brewing. It's clear that preserving our health care is the sleeper issue for 2008 and Hillary Clinton, or any candidate who advocates more government in health care, is walking into a buzzsaw."