Hillary Claims She "Spoke Out Against" NAFTA Starting In 1992

Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigning in Indiana:

"I spoke out against it starting in 1992 -- the president made a different decision," Clinton said. "I think now with 14 years of experience under our belt, we can see that in some parts of our country there have been, perhaps, some economic advantages, but in other parts of our country, like where we are right here in northwest Indiana, it hasn't worked as it was promised, and therefore I think we need to renegotiate it."

Given that Clinton was the headline attraction at a pro-NAFTA meeting in November 1993 and was praising NAFTA in public throughout the 90s, the claim seemed interesting. When was she "speaking out" against it?

Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson says that Clinton argued against supporting NAFTA internally on the 1992 campaign before then-Gov. Bill Clinton decided to support it.

Comments

[Nonamnesiac]

While serving on the Walmart Board, Hillary, with Chelsea present, took it hostage while under fire, and demanded that her husband stop pushing for NAFTA. That was just before facing sniper fire in Bosnia.

[unsolved999]

Is it just me, or was there a lot of parsing in that statement? Even though I was against it, I fought for it, and it was good for some people, but not for the people here! Vote for ME!!!!

[ajax2]

This tree fell without a sound.

[caywen]

How can we believe anything Hillary says after snipergate?

And, sorry Hillary, but even if you did speak out against NAFTA in '92, just words. Maybe back then we needed solutions, not speeches, right?

[BrooklynLager]

No she didn't. Didn't she learn anything from Tuzla?

[cowman]

How do you speak out internally?

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

here's how. You speak your opinion in the internal meetings that are going on during the decision making process. Then the decision is made. Then the entire administration gets on board with the decision that is made.

Do you undestand now? It isn't that difficult to figure out is it?

Carl Bernstein, no fan of Hillary, has backed her up on this. So has Mickey Kantor. These people have more knowledge of the facts than you do. Deal with it.

[DinSea]

"deal with it" - could you define "it" ...

#1 - As she breathes, she lies; doesn't know there's a difference between truth & lies and that it MATTERS; tell the people what they want to hear and apologize (oops) or SPIN later. Why should we believe ANYTHING Clintons say - wagging their fingers, peeing on our legs & swearing that it's raining.

#2 - Patterns - issues treated one way before her campaign started and a different position after? Like most sociopaths, Clintons use words as instruments of manipulation; they are experts w/over 35 years "experience" using words to maneuver people for their benefit. We all do that to some extent, but there's an extra element of evil when you use words to promote FEAR and HATE, confusion & destruction , to ring an evil bell that can't be un-rung.

#3. You can't hitch yourself to your popular husband, use his clout to further your unbridled lust for power & claim his experience as yours ... then say you "spoke out internally" (an oxymoron) against his failings. HOG WASH!.

#4. "I stand on my own merit" ... ABOUT AS TRUE AS HER OTHER CLAIMS - insulting to be fed this hog wash. Politics is just a "game" to them; really doesn't matter ... how much havoc, how much damage... Doesn't matter ....

Clintons, go home! Hundreds of people - millions of dollars - cleaning up Clinton messes. See L.A. trial - Clintons $1.7million campaign contribution FRAUD. I hope they

[DAbraha]

oh...please such an explanation...this is how? Bill and Hillary in bed and Bill counsels with Hillary and shares his idea about NAFTA and Hillary says I don't think that is a good plan, Bill gets mad and calls Monica and shares the plan. Monica tells Bill that it is brilliant. Bill leaves a stain. Hillary knowing the fact that she has caused the stain by disagreeing Bill's plan now wants to reverse Bill's decision. Or is it a political posturing??

[sandiegoconservative]

I was against it, before I was for it . . .

[normathumb]

By definition, "speaking out" is making your voice heard. That is what the "out" part refers to. Speaking behind closed doors is not making your voice heard. Hillary "spoke out" in support of NAFTA. What your suggesting is akin to holding a lantern up under a blanket. IF Clinton was against it, she simply should have not said a word, you know, be true to herself instead of "speaking out" against her better judgement, if that was her better judgement.
Do you understand now? It isn't that difficult to figure out, is it?

[PrdAmerican]

Just like Kerry...i was for it before I was against it....or was it....I was against it before I was for it?? Oh what a tangled web we weave......

[SGreen]

"Clinton argued against supporting NAFTA" while in the shower or discharging feces, so nobody heard. They are still looking for the person or pet who walked by the restroom that day.

[wndrwrthg]

Of course she has been speaking out against it, but you cannot hear her words over the incoming sniper fire. By having to dodge and weave her words are garbled and indistinct.

[Kim445588]

Look dammit, she was for it when it polled /focused grouped well in Texas, and against it when it didn't in Ohio.

Stop bringing it up, like its a crime to flip flop on the very issue you are trying to nail your opponent with.

Sheesh!

[HaveyouPerspective]

Really, where do we find the nerve to hold these people accountable for their words? They are, after all, only that: words!

[presto]

Carl Bernstein, a Clinton biographer and journalist, said this earlier this year on CNN:

"'Bill,'" he recalled Hillary Clinton as saying, "'you are doing Republican economics when you are doing NAFTA.' She was against NAFTA. And if she would somehow come out and tell the real story of what she fought for in the White House and failed in a big argument with her husband she would end up moving much closer to those [John] Edwards followers."

[Spesabsquemetu]

REAL NAFTA TRUTHS THAT GO BEYOND 1992:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG00SWAqcvw

[cowman]

Excellent clip

[Spesabsquemetu]

White House documents reveal that HRC was actually a NAFTA supporter.
Hillary held FIVE strategy meetings in order to win congressional approval for Nafta’s passage.
Hillary helped Bill Clinton block opposition to Nafta from environmental and labor groups thus aiding Nafta’s passage.

Hillary Clinton was the featured speaker at a crucial meeting on 11/10/93 where 120 women leaders were asked to lobby the senate for passage of NAFTA.
Participants at the 11/10/93 meeting said of Clinton: “ Her remarks were totally PRO-NAFTA.” “There was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time.”

Clinton’s campaign now suggests that David Gergen’s assertion become the guide to use concerning whether Clinton’s claims of opposing NAFTA be believed.
Gergen, a former Clinton staffer, claims Clinton was “unenthusiastic” about NAFTA. The facts contradict his assertion: Clinton’s five strategic meetings, keynote address on 11/10/93 giving PRO-NAFTA remarks and lobbying key women leaders for pro-NAFTA support in the senate.

[presto]

She was a supporter AFTER Bill decided to go through with it. Well before the meetings you are discussing which were after the fact. As First Lady she had no choice but to support it later. In 1992 she was very much against it and that has been well documented.

[cowman]

If she claims those years as experience then she has to take responsibility for her actions. If she was just being a dutiful first lady, then it shouldn't count on her resume. You can't cherry pick your past.

[anywho]

Hey "Presto" NAFTA cost you and your fellow Americans over a million jobs. Your brethren are suffering.

Clinton NEVER gave any American ANYTHING except embarrassment.

We are these United States of America...­."thinking­" really hard.

[presto]

There is considerable evidence Clinton's comment is absolutely true.

Fom Sam Stein of the Huffington Post in February:

"In August in 92, we had to make a decision," Mickey Kantor former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Clinton adviser, and free trade advocate recalled for the Huffington Post. "President Clinton had to make a decision as governor, whether or not he would support NAFTA, and of course he did... Hillary Clinton was one of the great skeptics in the discussion as to whether he should do. So she was always skeptical beginning in 1992 and onward."

Indeed, as Kantor went on to note, Hillary Clinton long held reservations over the labor and environmental fallouts of the free trade agreement. In addition, she was, at the time, eager to see her health care reform (not NAFTA) pushed through Congress. As such, Clinton biographer Sally Bedell Smith writes in her book "For Love of Politics," her disapproval of the trade agreement was both political and philosophical.

The economic team and other key advisors, including Mack McLarty, Mickey Kantor, and David Gergen, were likewise urging Bill to use his momentum to push or congressional ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)...Liberal Democrats, including Hillary, opposed it primarily because it could take jobs away from American workers. But as an advocate of global economic cooperation, Bill was drawn to its free-trade philosophy.

[anywho]

Liar, liar, pants(suit) on fire!

[presto]

While you are not required to think before you post, it would boost your credibility some.

[anywho]

Pray, please define "think"?
Does it mean, think for myself?
Think outside the box?
Think, as in thoughtful?
Think as in "common sense"?
Think as in expecting a comment made by a prospective President of the United States to bare some resemblance to the truth?
Think as in losing my job (together with 400 other AMERICANS) after 18 years to the company moving to Canada as a result of NAFTA. Think as in being unemployed for almost a year after the next company I joined also went to Canada 18months later.
Think as in "I did not have sex with that woman"!
Think as in if I knew the war was a fabrication and a hoax before the invasion, how come Ms.Hillary didn't?

It is because I "think" that I know could never vote for a Clinton.

"The law is inside out, the world is upside down". Jean Valjean's cry in Victor Hugo's epic battle for freedom, "Les Miserable"