McCain Attacks Obama Over Debunked NAFTA Story

ABC's Political Punch:

Responding to a Canadian Television report that an aide to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, had reached out to the Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. to reassure him that Obama's anti-NAFTA rhetoric was not to be taken seriously -- a report the Obama campaign and the Canadian Embassy deny -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Thursday said that Obama seemed guilty of not being straight with voters, and called such behavior "wrong."

"I don't think it's appropriate to go to Ohio and tell people one thing while your aide is calling the Canadian Ambassador and telling him something else," McCain told reporters. "I certainly don't think that's straight talk."

Read the whole story: ABC's Political Punch

Comments

[BrooklynLager]

03:59 PM on 03/01/2008

Whoa, props to Amanda85 for fighting the good fight.

I'll repeat it once again: CTV is like the Fox News of Canada.

[Kadaniel]

11:39 PM on 02/29/2008

Although I support Barack strongly, I have to say that I would love to have someone explain to me how even a single job in Ohio or anywhere else in the US has been lost as a result of NAFTA. Seriously, is there any evidence? I am almost sick to my stomach to find myself agreeing with the obnoxious throwback George W Bush on this. But seriously, can't the people of Ohio accept the fact that they need to reinvent themselves, their skills and their industries to be competitive in a world which is, increasingly, seeing our work ethic, our willingness to get prepared and to sacrifice, and our educational system as becoming sub-standard. Spend a couple of months watching high school students in India (or China, or Japan, or Abu Dhabi etc.) preparing for their futures and you will see why we are losing jobs, We carry some kind of entitlement on our shoulders that says the world owes us a living because of our history of industriousness and invention. The problem is we are only as good as our last day of work and the world doesn't think it owes us anything at all. NAFTA is a scapegoat and (sorry Obama, you still have my vote) but failing to speak the truth to the people of Ohio is not your proudest moment in this campaign.

[TimN]

10:43 PM on 02/29/2008

Obama camp denies = Debunked

Hardly. There may very well be something to this, but honestly the CTV's "Canadian sources" doesn't sell it to this savvy citizen.

Speaking of which, how many of you HuffPo commenters are totally in the tank with the NYT and their McCain busting "unnamed sources"?

[janicen]

02:28 PM on 02/29/2008

Lots of complaints about Huffpo claiming that the story was "debunked" and that it wasn't posted more prominently, all of which are true, but let's at least give the site a little credit. At least they're posting something about it!!! This is a big story and I haven't seen it on too many other blogs and especially blogs that are unabashedly pro-Obama. And not a peep about the story on the MSM "News" channels. Huffpo may be pro-Obama, but at least they had the guts to report the story. I wonder if the hessitency to report this story is because of pro-Obama bias or fear of strong-arming from the Obama camp?

[MMB]

01:28 PM on 02/29/2008

SOMEBODY, ESPECIALLY IN THE HILLARY CAMPAIGN, NEEDS TO DEBUNK OBAMA'S VOTING RECORD ON THE WAR IN IRAQ. HE WAS NOT EVEN A US A SENAOTR UNTIL HE WAS SWORN INTO OFFICE IN JANUARY OF 2005. SO HE DID NOT VOTE ON THE SAME MEASURE THAT HILLARY AND THE REST OF THE SENATE DID. THIS HAS BEEN MISREPRESENTED BY OBAMA AND OVERLOOKED BY CLINTON.

WILL SOMEBODY SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT SINCE IT SEEMS TO BE A MANTRA OF OBAMA'S THAT HILLARY VOTED FOR THE WAR. HELL, HE DIDN'T EVEN VOTE AS HE WASN'T EVEN A US SENATOR YET!!!!!!!!!!

[amanda85]

06:04 PM on 02/29/2008

Hey, if Hillary was in the German parliament in 1939, she would have approved Hitler's invasion of Poland.

Yep, just as absurd...

[trbone]

09:00 AM on 03/01/2008

Typical answer from a koolaid drinker. Do you know Ted Kennedy and the rest of the liberals of his day voted for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing that Vietnam War. Nobody talks about the fact that it didn't take courage to speak against the war in '02 in a liberal district. That was the popular view there anyway. Not to mention there would be zero consequences for being wrong when he wasn't even in the senate yet. What everyone forgets is this was only months after 9/11. By the way that new kind of politics that you are exhibiting looks a lot like the kind

[bullseye]

12:57 PM on 02/29/2008

McCain the old toad is a rambling fool. That picture of him hugging Bush. Wonder where his advise is coming from? Guess what! They realy want Obama out of the picture and are starting early to do the GOP dirty lies game. Hey McCane get a clue, you are out dated and I can not wait for Obama to do him justice. War hero, thanks and now move over, your blocking traffic.

[Ping]

12:53 PM on 02/29/2008

McCain has just said that NAFTA was good. McCain is toast.

[djjlynch]

12:46 PM on 02/29/2008

Hey, It is not debunked. They are naming names and giving places

[amanda85]

06:06 PM on 02/29/2008

They're MAKING STUFF UP. The Canadian government, the only authority qualified to speak on this matter, has declared that IT NEVER HAPPENED. So, you fascists and clintonistas (I know, synonyms...) shut up and stop lying.

[hoopesaz]

12:38 PM on 02/29/2008

BLOGS lose credibility when they post with an innacurate title. Debunked by whom? By Obama supporters? The story clearly hasn't been "debunked" as evidenced by another story on this same site:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/29/canadian-paper-stands-by-_n_89177.html

[Ping]

12:55 PM on 02/29/2008

The Canadian Government has denied the story.

[amanda85]

06:11 PM on 02/29/2008

Too bad clintonistas are too stupid to understand the difference between a PRIVATE NETWORK owned by a bunch of right wingers and THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT...

[almondleaf]

01:16 PM on 02/29/2008

The Canadians are standing by their story and have named a name. Why is this story buried? I kept looking for it but the Huffington Post has made it nearly invisible. If it was Clinton it would have been "above the fold". You know it! If you continue to throw biased weight behind Obama to game the vote for him and the media has been doing an A1 job there, you are only postponing trouble in the general election. Pop the balloon of illusion here and now and DEAL WITH IT. We've had 7 years of cognitive dissonant dysfunction. Lets stop setting our side up as more of the same. THAT AIN'T CHANGE!!!

[amanda85]

06:08 PM on 02/29/2008

"The Canadians are standing by their story and have named a name."

No, you imbecile.

A Canadian PRIVATE NETWORK is standing by that lie, and that's Canada's right-wing TV. The Canadian government has repeatedly stated that the incident **NEVER HAPPENED.**

Now, are you an idiot or a liar? Both maybe?

[JackMehoffer]

11:35 AM on 02/29/2008

Wonder how many thousands of points the market would fall the day that ever happened?

[rollingdivision]

11:22 AM on 02/29/2008

Who said what to whom on the proposal to unilaterally abrogate treaties with our two biggest trading partners is unimportant. What is important is Obama is going around promising to repair the Bush administration's supposed alienation of our friends around the world. And this is how Obama plans to do it? By dealing with our neighbors and trading partners in Canada and Mexico with threats and ultimatums? What if the Canadians and Mexicans refuse to bend to Obama's dictates on Nafta and rightfully demand the US live up to the legal signed agreement? Cut off trade? Impose economic sanctions? Impose extreme tariffs? Break off all cooperation? Military action? What Senator Obama is your plan for the day after you command Canada and Mexico to bend to your commands on Nafta? Ready, Fire, AIM!

[Ping]

01:00 PM on 02/29/2008

We fix the trade relations with China.

[Gwhiz27]

11:12 AM on 02/29/2008

So Obama is like any other politician. I tend to believe that this dealing did occur.
Something interesting I read in another blog and folowed up with a google is Obamae's claim that he regretted a vote on the Schiavo case. Well, he never voted for it-only 3 republicans did, and that was Frist, Santorum and Martinez (FL), it was passed by unanimous consent. In fact, John Warner of Virginia, a republican was totally against involvement in this case. The vote I believe was on Good Friday-so Obama was no even there.
My poimt, he is like all the others, no different, he wants to bend his record when it either tells a good story or when he knows most voters won't do a bit of research on their own.

[LDW]

11:09 AM on 02/29/2008

You should change the headline, Huffington Post. This story is not "de-bunked", and has been confirmed by CTV again today, naming Obama's senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, as the person who spoke with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

[amanda85]

06:13 PM on 02/29/2008

"This story is not "de-bunked", and has been confirmed by CTV again today"

Hey moron,

do you know what CTV is? It's a **PRIVATE** network owned by a bunch of right-wing corporatists.
Do you believe everything you hear on Fox?

The CANADIAN GOVERNMENT has dismissed the story as utterly false. That's it, the rest is a bunch of lies.

[almondleaf]

06:55 PM on 02/29/2008

And do you,believe everything YOUR government tells you?
You really need to try stopping the name calling .
It makes you look like the moron and I'm so sure you're not.
not.

[rollingdivision]

10:55 AM on 02/29/2008

Canada is the biggest market for U.S. exports, and Mexico is No. 2. U.S. companies sell them $380 billion of Made-In-America products, which grew to that level because of NAFTA. Scrap the pact and the old pre-1994 tariffs would snap right back in. So we're going to take a time out. Does that mean Obama will stop the over Billion dollars of US manufactured goods going to Canada and Mexico everyday? If so, where will Obama store these goods. Will Obama tell the workers at the factories to also take a timeout from earning a living, while he unilaterally cancels negotiated, congressionally ratified, implemented treaties with both Canada and Mexico. So Obama will just unilaterally approbate Nafta? It' gone regardless of what Canada and Mexico want or believe they have a legal right to? Tell Mexico and Canada to just warehouse the goods headed for the US until they meet Obama's new demands. It's so easy.

And just how will these action be viewed in the international community? Positively? No, nations will question the value of the word of the US and it will put a damper on all future negotiations and agreements with the US. If the US doesn't live up to it's already signed treaties how or why would any nation trust the US? This sounds strikingly like Bush's go it alone diplomacy. It's the Obama cowboy diplomacy of trade agreements.

[Ping]

12:59 PM on 02/29/2008

McCain, the Presidential Candiate who represents the lobbyist interest in this election, has just come out and said that NAFTA has been good for America.

McCain, wrong on Iraq, wrong on NAFTA

For a weaker America where everything is owned by the Saudis and China, vote McCain.

[mcfried]

10:39 AM on 02/29/2008

I'm trying to understand why McCrazy is calling the Canadian Ambassador a liar? Is he on a quest to make the Republicans look more ridiculous to our foreign allies? He’s picking a fight with the Canadian Embassy to score political points. This is the man you want running the country - good grief.

[LDW]

11:07 AM on 02/29/2008

CTV has confirmed the story at least three times, and today they named Obama's senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee as the person who talked to the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

Obama is lying to voters. Again.

[mcfried]

11:59 AM on 02/29/2008

McCain is still picking a fight with the Canadian embassy

[amanda85]

06:14 PM on 02/29/2008

"CTV has confirmed the story"

Hey moron,

do you know what CTV is? It's a **PRIVATE** network owned by a bunch of right-wing corporatists.
Do you believe everything you hear on Fox?

The CANADIAN GOVERNMENT has dismissed the story as utterly false. That's it, the rest is a bunch of lies.