Clinton Gets Caught Again on NAFTA
Barack Obama is today criticizing Hillary Clinton on her efforts to pretend she never supported NAFTA. Just as a follow-up to my post on Friday, I want to remind folks who claim Hillary Clinton never praised NAFTA that, in fact, she did praise NAFTA - repeatedly.
According to NBC's Meet the Press, in 2004, Clinton said, "I think, on balance, NAFTA has been good for New York and America."
In her memoir, Clinton trumpeted her husband's "successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA."
And in 1998, Bloomberg News reports that she praised corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." Another direct quote.
I went over two of these three quotes - and some more - in my recent syndicated column, which you can read here. And, as predicted, this issue has now become the central focus in the Ohio primary - the primary that could decide the Democratic nomination.
However you feel about NAFTA - and if you are a typical American, polls show you likely do not like it - Clinton now trying to lie and say she never really supported NAFTA is an absolute insult. It further suggests that on really important economic issues, she's more than happy to lie about provable facts when it suits her political needs.
UPDATE: Here's another direct quote from Hillary Clinton on NAFTA. The Associated Press reported on 3/6/96 that she said, "NAFTA is proving its worth" and later praising NAFTA as "a free and fair trade agreement."
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At this point Clinton is only doing harm to the Democratic party. Do the right thing Mrs. Clinton... consider the whole rather than your part in it.
Please.
you are not getting the colossal ego of wanting to be the first couple ever, ever and probably the last to both achieve the presidency. they do consider themselves to be the whole and therein lies the problem.
youre kidding ..right???
when have the grifters ever done the right thing.....
Illinois and NAFTA
• Illinois has realized significant benefits from NAFTA related trade
• Canada and Mexico are Illinois’ two largest trading partners importing approximately 37% of Illinois’ total exports
• Illinois exports totaled more than $15 billion to NAFTA country partners in 2006 http://www
CLINTON! YOU GOT SERVED!
Great remarks from Clinton - not a surprise.
BUT PLEASE - I've written to factcheck.
She did NOT use the word. Newsday did. They said it was their word. Weeks ago when this mailer first surfaced. Barack was called on it then and did not correct it.
What difference does the exact wording make? Take out "boon" and replace "good for New York and good for America" and you have the same damn ad.
This argument is a loser.
marthlois
Didn't she also vote to expand it to include Peru?
Maybe you "wrote" to factcheck.
Here you go . . . I'll make it easy for you. Careful, though, they deal with FACTS!
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I can't understand why her advisers told her to put this topic in play during her Saturday morning flame out.
By doing what she did she pretty much dared the media to research her statments on the topic.
On Thursday I can see Tim Russert bringing up the topic during the debate, it's like she is trying to beat herself!
Why do you keep saying that Hillary never expressed any support for NAFTA? She did not say that. She did not say she said that. Is no one listening?
Have you read what Hillary Clinton actually said?
Hillary: 'Shame on You, Barack'
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"Shame on you, Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public — that's what I expect from you," Clinton said angrily, waving the mailings in the air.
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"Enough about the speeches, and the big rallies, and then using tactics right out of (former Bush political adviser) Karl Rove's playbook. This is wrong and every Democrat should be outraged," Clinton said.
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The brochure she was complaining about said that she had expressed support for NAFTA. If she is willing to admit she once supported NAFTA then there is no reason for her outrage. ISTM she is screaming from the rooftops that she never supported NAFTA and she is outraged that Obama would say otherwise.
The coverup is worse than the crime. She could have diffused all of this by admitting she once supported NAFTA and has since changed her mind, but instead she lies about her previous actions and then falsely claims Obama is lying when he points out the truth. Houston, we have a problem.
The coverup is worse than the crime.
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Clintons: "Coverups are us."
Bush senior, Mulroney, and Salinas authored Nafta
sure, Bill was in office when Nafta passed into law in 1993...but he did ask for side agreements on labor and environment
but the main thing is:
(as today's NY Times editorial explained)
trade agreements are not inherently bad
we live in a global economy, better get used to that
done right, globalization can be win win
do dems want a return to protectionist and isolationist times?
Except NAFTA has no safeguards for the American worker or the American consumer. The only ones benefitting from NAFTA are the rich and powerful. They pay foreign workers literally pennies on the dollar, yet they don't pass the savings on to the American consumer. All those extra profits go to open more factories overseas, and then the corporate bosses can buy mansions and islands to Bahrain of the UAE.
GET A CLUE!
slip of the fingers. ...buy mansions and Islands in Bahrain or the UAE.
You would be dead-wrong on that. It was not settled law. There was strong bi-partisan objection to it. Clinton did not have to approve t. He could have dropped it and left it at that.
Fer crissakes, READ:
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Bill Clinton could have done with NAFTA what Dubya did to the Kyoto Accords. Instead, he chose to support it, even when he was still campaigning. Remember Ross Perot on NAFTA and the "giant sucking sound" as jobs leave the country?
Remember Ross Perot on NAFTA and the "giant sucking sound" as jobs leave the country?
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You just beat me to it. Good ol' Ross. Just because you're a crank doesn't mean you can't be right.
You totally missed the point. Clinton supported NAFTA but now she lies and claims she never supported it. Worse, she is outraged that Obama would dare tell voters that she once supported NAFTA.
The problem is not that she supported NAFTA. The problem is that she lied about her support and then falsely claimed Obama was lying when he told the truth. She said he was "using tactics right out of Karl Rove's playbook." This is a serious problem. If she would lie about something so easy to check as this, what wouldn't she lie about?
Do any of you actually read the facts or are you just playing at being republicans by repeating the talking points without one iota of substance to back them up?
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And to think, y'all vote.
trade agreements are not inherently bad
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No, but this one is.
What's the surprise?
In one of the early debates,she advocated driver's licenses for illegal immigrants and then 5 minutes later when she sensed this would not be a good position politically -she just reversed her position. She almost bit Chris Dodd's head off for calling her on it.
It appears that she'll say anything to get elected.
Attaboy - repeat those talking points!
Of course, especially when she keeps serving up tons of evidence to support them.
There were several reasons I voted twice for Perot.
He said about NAFTA "If this goes thru, you'll hear a giant sucking sound of all the jobs leaving the US".
Okay, he was wrong about the sound....
Hillary supported NAFTA, and supported the invasion of Iraq.
Then, approaching a run for the Presidency, she decided, in her hubris and unwillingness to EVER admit a mistake and show weakness, to try and "finesse" both issues.
She is now paying the price, and deservedly so.
She's done.
Sally Bedell Smith and Bob Woodward are no friends of Hillary
Hillary fought against NAFTA
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Sally Bedell Smith: In the summer of 1993 she (Hillary) tried to scuttle NAFTA.
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WHY THE A.U.M.F. VOTE WAS A VOTE FOR U.N.
WEAPONS INSPECTORS AND DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR
A.U.M.F. was a firewall to stop and divert Bush from a fall (pre congressional elections) invasion (liberation) of Baghdad.
The US campaign to change the Iraqi regime started at end-July (2002), quietly, step-by-step, without a war declaration, without congressional approval and without much noise.
The Nation: "Antiwar forces in the United States and around the world can claim the recent UN resolution as a partial victory. The resolution does not endorse the use of force; it redefines the Iraq crisis, at least in the international arena, as one of disarmament, not regime change; and it will at least delay a US attack"
Hillary was PRO U.N., Bush was Pro War, Obama was PRO doing nothing.
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Somebody's reading comprehension skills are in need of an upgrade. The Nation piece, by Phyllis Bennis, quoted above, referred to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which Hillary obviously had nothing to do with. She voted for the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which every sentient being knew was not so subtly repackaged declaration for war. That was October 2002; the U.N.S.C. resolution was passed the following month in a final, desperate attempt to avert the inevitable war that people like Hillary Clinton knowingly enabled. If Hillary wanted a "firewall," she'd have voted for, rather than against, the Levin Amendment. Nice try.
I couldn't have stated it better myself Vic.
Hillary did not support the invasion of Iraq. She voted for the authorization bill and in her very detailed speech at the time she explained that she absolutely did not support invasion. Like lots of other senators she was urging UN inspections.
NAFTA was quite popular when it was enacted. Hillary, as has been well documented, had many reservations. She was, however, the president's wife and had no vote on anything. Nor was she a senator. Nor did she hold any other office. Can you imagine Laura Bush coming out now with an anti-Bush statement? Can you imagine her protesting the war? Come on.
Obama, of course, did not have a position at all.
Since that time, the NAFTA and its earliest supporters have evolved. Hillary has had reservations for a long time, well before she decided to run for president.
Obama and Clinton have voted exactly the same on all trade issues. He is creating a deceptive scenario simply because he can. Because people who don't know any better fall for it. It is a very complex issue and he knows her attempts to explain it will go over everyone's heads. The message above is an example of that phenomenon.
What was the title of that authorization bill?
Hey...the governator has a wife, with whom he has constant disagreements on matters of policy and they get along pretty well. Most people treat political discussion like a battle, rather than an exchange of ideas. When she said "Now I've found my voice" after Iowa, it was clear she was going to be a chameleon in every venue. So far...so bad for her effectiveness.
Again, why did Obama support the Peru Trade Deal, and what makes anyone think he wouldn't have supported NAFTA too if he was in Congress then? He would have.
That would be a valid point if he were in the Senate at the time and if we all had a national crystal ball. Unfortunately the topic being discussed here is that Senator Clinton is accusing Senator Obama of misrepresenting her stance on NAFTA.
no karmaburger obama is accusing her of misrepresenting her stance on NAFTA. he is the agressor. he supported the Peru Trade deal and he supported continued funding for the war. adore him if you will but see him clearly.
ps. i don't even support Hillary, I just think truth is important.
pps. how many posts is Sirota going to publish about the same thing? how many times is Huffington Post going to publish Sirota taking about the same thing?
I guess it would also be a valid point on his being against the Iraq invasion..
That would be a valid point if Hillary were in the Senate at the time and if we all had a national crystal ball. Obama certainly is misrepresenting her stance on NAFTA.
I believe the Peru deal is significantly smaller than NAFTA. In addition, he has said he is not oppose to trade deals in general as lond as they have safe guards to protect workers which Peru may have. More importantly, Clinton is trying to deny her support for NAFTA in much they way she blames Bush for tricking her on Iraq. I do not expect a candidate to be perfect but, I demand they be honest and able to admit a mistake.
And I expect a candidate to be smart enough to figure out that he or she could be duped, and therefore, INVESTIGATES before signing US lives away.
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Hillary has been promising to outsource US jobs since Bill left office. She loves war. Then she lies to us. God help us if she wins.
What we all have to understand is that we are moving towards global control of nations. Just as in Europe they now have the European Union, so too they want a North American Union, a Central American Union and a South American Union. Having NAFTA, CAFTA and ultimately the same in South America is all part of the grand plan. This grand plan believes that the average person is dumber than the corporate elite, and politicians of all parties are scrambling to cozy up to the moneyed elite.
One of Obama's chief economic advisers held Senior CEA and NEC positions and produced daily economic briefings for the President from the start of the Clinton administration.
Ironic that he'd have the man run on anti NAFTA talking points and camouflage his own track record by assaulting universal care.
David Cutler was CEA and headed the NEC, which gave the OVP its daily economic briefing in the Clinton years. He hides his role in helping NAFTA by bashing universal health care as a senior member of the Obama advisory staff.
Don't let the truth get in the way of your narrative. Exceptionalism, it's not just for colonial breakfast any more.
What does any of this have to do with Senator Clinton's denial of ever supporting NAFTA? It is a valid point and one that Senator Obama will no doubt have to address eventually but not at all relevant to this post.
Sally Bedell Smith and Bob Woodward are no friends of Hillary
Hillary fought against NAFTA
http://www
Sally Bedell Smith: In the summer of 1993 she (Hillary) tried to scuttle NAFTA.
http://www
That's just the point...ev
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What exactly is a "colonial breakfast?" *cough*wha
Still, David, I would be interested to hear your answer about Obama and Peru, for example, at some point. I will Google and look through your previous posts from before I favorited you here.
I support Obama. No one else (very much including Nader) even comes close in terms of having my confidence as a potential president and that's what we're voting for. Still, things like the first sentence of this op-ed bother me: http://www
They bother me a lot. Who exactly elected us to this leadership role that we have not been fulfilling lately? I am not used to hearing this type of seemingly utterly arrogant/tone-deaf rhetoric from him.
Here in Ohio we are getting robocalls denying that Hilly ever supported NAFTA. Oooh, her O'pponent is distorting her record. Pity the poor lady! Too many Americans have seen their job go to China, a nation that now owns us, or at least has us so indebted that we will be making payments for generations. What a crock!
China? In the North American Free Trade Act?
Nafta has NOTHING to do with china
Nafta is north american free trade accord, among US, Mexico and Canada
has no relationship to China
Please try to take the time to learn the issues.
Thank you for helping to set the record straight. I was shocked at her "Shame On You Barack Obama" diatribe from yesterday, calling him a liar for telling the truth about her previous support of NAFTA, while her whole campaign has been one long false attack against Obama. I don't know what she has lied about more, Obama's record or her own.
http://the
After reading that, all I could think of to say was "Wow!"
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