Suddenly, Hillary Clinton Is a Critic of the TPP

[KamaAina]

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18284/suddenly-hillary-clinton-is-a-critic-of-the-tpp

In her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton has lately promoted herself as a populist defender of the middle class. To that end, she attempted to distance herself last week from a controversial 12-nation trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would set the rules of commerce for roughly 40 percent of the world's economy.

As with similar business-backed trade pacts, labor unions, environmental groups and public health organizations are warning that the deal could result in job losses, reduced environmental standards, higher prices for medicine and more power for corporations looking to overturn public interest laws. And so, in her quest for Democratic primary votes, Clinton is suddenly trying to cast herself as a critic of the initiative.

“I did not work on TPP,” she said after a meeting with leaders of labor unions who oppose the pact. “I advocated for a multinational trade agreement that would 'be the gold standard.' But that was the responsibility of the United States Trade Representative.”...

CNN has reported that during her tenure as U.S. secretary of state, Clinton publicly promoted the pact 45 separate times. At a congressional hearing in 2011, Clinton told lawmakers that “with respect to the TPP, although the State Department does not have the lead on this—it is the United States Trade Representative—we work closely with the USTR.” Additionally, secret State Department cables published by the website WikiLeaks show that her agency—including her top aides—were deeply involved in the diplomatic deliberations over the trade deal.

[arcane1]

1. One doesn't spend nearly a million dollars on polling for nothing!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. True, but I don't think Hillary is getting her money's worth.

[Ed Suspicious]

4. It leads to her appearing reactionary and false. I think she needs to get a more solid and

consistent message. To hell with the polls. I bet she's one hell of a lawyer, she just isn't a terribly good politician.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

19. Tin ear, that's for sure. Hillary could learn a lot from Bernie.

[magical thyme]

3. she can afford to oppose it now

it's in serious danger of dying hard, thanks to the Hawaii meeting. Once a bunch of other countries saw how it would raise the cost of pharmas, they started backing away.

[dangerous dan]

5. Flip-flop!

Speaking in Australia in 2012, she said the "TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world's total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment."

[KamaAina]

7. Welcome to DU!

[NCTraveler]

21. Yeah. Flip flop.

Wasn't that attached to Kerry by republicans? Nice people you are emulating.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Suddenly? She has express her concerns already, it has not been suddenly.

[Vincardog]

29. Right Last week she wanted to tell us her opinion on the TTP after the election.

[Thinkingabout]

33. Here is some more information:

TPP must produce jobs, raise wages, & protect security
An MSNBC reporter asked Clinton on April 21 whether she had concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the Obama administration is in the process of negotiating, According to CBS, Clinton responded, "Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security. We have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive. It's got to be really a partnership between our business, our government, our workforce, the intellectual property that comes out of our universities, and we have to get back to a much more focused effort in my opinion to try to produce those capacities here at home so that we can be competitive in a global economy."
Source: National Journal 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls , Apr 27, 2015

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_Free_Trade.htm

[Vincardog]

39. Does she mention that it must suborn our LAWS to corporate control?

How about raise drug prices world wide?

produce jobs in China India and other low wage countries

and raise wages in those same countries

and increase prosperity of the .001%

[Thinkingabout]

41. I am concerned about gun control issues.

[Armstead]

42. You should be concerne about the whole damn thing

It's a boatload of rotten. Trade agreements should be only about trade. Period.

They should not meddle in civil law, and public policy of participating nations.

[Thinkingabout]

47. And too many deaths by guns.

[cherokeeprogressive]

53. And here's some MORE information: “I did not work on TPP..." but Susan Rice says she DID.

Who's telling the truth?

“I did not work on TPP,” she said after a meeting with leaders of labor unions who oppose the pact. “I advocated for a multinational trade agreement that would 'be the gold standard.' But that was the responsibility of the United States Trade Representative.”

She "advocated for A (capitalization and emphasis mine) multinational trade agreement that would be the gold standard? Or... did she call TPP "the gold standard"?

My question is this... did she TEACH the Master, or did she LEARN from the Master? "It depends on what the meaning of IS, IS."

[Divernan]

8. Hillary doing "progressive" is like Pat Boone doing heavy metal!

Pat Boone eviscerates Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water

&feature=youtu.be

Mick Jagger wept! With the exception of the one guitar solo, those musicians were lobotomized. Back in the 50s, Boone could take an R&B classic from Little Richard or Fats Domino and surgically remove any trace of soul from the recording. Flash forward to 1997, he dons leather & records “In a Metal Mood,” a collection of hard covers. Songs by Deep Purple, Judas Priest, AC DC, Alice Cooper all received the Pat Boone bleaching. Oh, the humanity!

[xocet]

16. I think Pat Boone mortally wounded that song.

[MrMickeysMom]

34. Holy FUCK!

Make it STOP!

[Enthusiast]

38. I like this............

"Back in the 50s, Boone could take an R&B classic from Little Richard or Fats Domino and surgically remove any trace of soul from the recording."

[HFRN]

9. does anyone really believe she wouldn't have voted for it, if she were still senator? nt

[Bluenorthwest]

46. Well, she voted against CAFTA while in the Senate. Of the 13 Senators who voted for TPA recently

6 of them were in office and voted for CAFTA. Those same 6 also voted for NAFTA as members of the Senate or the House.
I'm in a Union and I've followed trade policy for most of my life. But DU wanted to talk about Hillary with the TPA vote as well, DU could have been focused on those 6 Senators.

Bernie Sanders voted against NAFTA and CAFTA and many of the other crappy trade deals. He is my choice on the issue and for nominee. However, of our spectrum of candidates, Lincoln Chafee is far and away the strongest free trader, having voted for and promoted all that came his way, including CAFTA. Which Hillary voted against.
Hillary Clinton has always had standards for trade deals. She likes more of them than I do, but she rejects the worst of the worst. A mixed bag. This makes Sanders the better choice, but I think if a person is actually an activist in trade policy, knowing the actual nature and voting records of important political figures is far more useful than dealing in rhetoric and characterization. Reality can be very useful.

[beam me up scottie]

10. Wait, wut?

Weren't we told repeatedly that she couldn't come out against it because it would be disrespectful to her boss?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

20. That was Thursday; today's Friday.

[beam me up scottie]

23. I'm waiting for those people to show up and say they were right!

She's been against it all along and it just weighed on her conscience until she had to speak up.

Or something.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

25. I'm sure Hillary herself has some poll-tested explanation for her shift in position.

[Motown_Johnny]

32. and we have always been at war with Eastasia n/t

[GoneFishin]

11. Yeah, sure.

[hootinholler]

12. I feel a breeze

[Motown_Johnny]

14. As do I, but it may shift at any moment. n/t

[NorthCarolina]

13. Bloomberg Business News has a different take on her claim

Bloomberg
Jan 10, 2013

In an article titled: "Hillary Clinton's Business Legacy at the State Department"

"She’s pressed the case for U.S. business in Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in China’s shadow. She’s also taken a leading part in drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free-trade pact that would give U.S. companies a leg up on their Chinese competitors. The State Department even has had limited success in prying open Chinese markets to U.S. companies. In 2011, after extensive haggling with U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, the Chinese government allowed Titanic 3D and other Hollywood movies to be shown in Beijing theaters. And that same year, after talks with Clinton, the Chinese relaxed so-called indigenous innovation rules that kept U.S. companies from competing for government technology contracts there. “Not that they would ever admit that the Americans—that the secretary—said this, and therefore [they] changed,” says Clinton, who’s been careful not to brag too loudly about these deals. “A lot of this you cannot claim, because then you kind of force the people on the other side to lose face.”

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-01-10/hillary-clintons-business-legacy-at-the-state-department#p2

Hmmmm....what to believe ...

I know, I believe I'll vote for Bernie!

I know exactly where he's at on TPP...no question about it.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

26. Imagine that? A politician unafraid to express an opinion and lead on an issue. Go Bernie!

[Motown_Johnny]

15. This is why we must wait for debates.

She needs to try and get her story straight.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

22. Well, at least DWS made sure Hillary has PLENTY of time.

[restorefreedom]

17. am i standing near a farm?

cuz i am smelling manure.....

[AgingAmerican]

18. "I advocated for it as Secretary of State"

"But somebody else screwed it up..."

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

24. As Hillary is fond of sayin..."the buck stops there."

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. "I did not work on TPP" Um... Hillary? Yeah, Susan Rice says you were PART and PARCEL.

“She was integrally involved in all of the major initiatives of the first term of the administration,” said Rice, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations when Clinton was Secretary of State. “She was instrumental in formulating and implementing the rebalance to Asia, of which the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a part.”

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18284/suddenly-hillary-clinton-is-a-critic-of-the-tpp

[KoKo]

36. ...! She was taking credit for working for it...before she decided she was against it...

She will eventually claim she didn't really know what was in it. Sigh....

[cherokeeprogressive]

37. And her most ardent supporters will take it as Gospel.

Can't wait to hear her wiggle out of a question concerning TPP during the debates. Come to think of it, I wonder if Debbie DNC would even allow the question.

[restorefreedom]

44. i am sure hillary wasserman shultz

will keep tpp questions out or minimal.

[FreakinDJ]

28. Does anyone seriously believe her

Fool me once. ..

[eridani]

30. I thought she had learned something from the "sniper fire" incident

Namely, that any claim a public figure has made can be instantly checked and compared with previous claims due to those internets tubes. Apparently not.

[DonCoquixote]

31. I guess Bill is coming out

aka mr. "minister of explaining stuff."

[Betty Karlson]

35. This is a very phoney statement.

The deal is looking to be delayed and wounded and maybe even killed, with several countries balking over the big American pharma protections in it.

She knows that the TPP riles the Democratic left wing, but waits to speak out against it only after outside forces are likely to hurt or kill the damned thing?

I was willing to give her a pass on her belated support for equal rights (that is an issue that takes a long time to be resolved, aspecially for people over a certain age) and I was glad when she went public about her change of heart.

But now I feel duped. She really doesn't come out against odious matters until it is politically safe to do so. She really hasn't changed since 2007. And for what little it is worth, she just lost my confidence in her leadership. This isn't leading, this is following.

[Evergreen Emerald]

40. This is a good example of low information voters

They hear something that is not true. It is restated again and again, until they believe it. "Suddenly, Hillary Clinton Is a Critic of the TPP," is an example. It has not been sudden. It has been the same stance she has had from the beginning.

An agreement is not a bad thing, depending on what is in it. That is what Clinton has said all along.

[Armstead]

43. That's becuse the Elites don't give any information

She'll tell us after the election what her specific trade policies would be

You're right, she's not suddenly a critic of TPP. She just mouths off a bunch of platitudes to avoid telling us where she really stands..

However Hillary accidentally dropped her real priorities in among the platitudes in an article she wrote not very long ago that's posted on DU regarding the TPP.

Among other lofty goals, she said a trade agreement like TPP should "promote ..the coherence of our regulatory system"

Do you understand what that is code for? It means all nations should abide by the same laws and public policies set by.....whom? How about shadowy entities designated by Big Corporations and their minions?

[restorefreedom]

45. exactly

instead of bringing other country standards to ours, we will drop to theirs.

bigger profits for the corporate overlords

somehow, certain people always forget to flesh that out. funny, that

[cherokeeprogressive]

49. What bullshit. Are you calling Susan Rice a liar? Hillary said she "didn't work" on TPP.

Susan Rice says she was "integrally involved".

Who's telling the truth?

[KamaAina]

54. I'm going with Susan.

And the Giants.

[cherokeeprogressive]

55. I'm going with Susan also...

and if there were no Bums, I'd be a Giants fan as well.

[cherokeeprogressive]

50. "the same stance she's had since the beginning"

Laugh. Out. Fucking. Loud.

So you're throwing Susan Rice under the bus AND calling her a liar? Because she begs to differ.

[azmom]

48. Bernie's position is solid - NO

[djean111]

51. She said it was "The gold standard", FFS. n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

52. Ambiguous is a constant .