Hillary Clinton PRETENDS She Never Praised NAFTA

[mod mom]

Hillary Clinton Pretends She Never Praised NAFTA
Posted February 14, 2008 | 06:20 PM (EST)

-snip
The Huffington Post has followed along with a laugh-out-loud piece in which the chief architects of NAFTA (many who are now wealthy corporate lawyers and lobbyists) are now saying, no, no, Hillary Clinton was really opposed to it. These are the same people, of course, who are looking for jobs in the Hillary Clinton White House.

What a total joke, really. This campaign clearly thinks we are all just a bunch of fools.

Hillary Clinton has made statements unequivocally trumpeting NAFTA as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Buffalo News reports that back in 1998, Clinton attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and thanked praised corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." Yes, you read that right: She traveled to Davos to thank corporate interests for their campaign ramming NAFTA through Congress.

On November 1, 1996, United Press International reported that on a trip to Brownsville, Texas, Clinton "touted the president's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would reap widespread benefits in the region."

The Associated Press followed up the next day noting that Hillary Clinton touted the fact that "the president would continue to support economic growth in South Texas through initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement."

-snip
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hillary-clinton-pretends-_b_86747.html


Clinton promoted her husband's trade agenda for years, and friends say that she's a free-trader at heart. ``The simple fact is, nations with free-market systems do better,'' she said in a 1997 speech to the Corporate Council on Africa. ``Look around the globe: Those nations which have lowered trade barriers are prospering more than those that have not.''

Praise for Nafta

At the 1998 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, she praised corporations for mounting ``a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of Nafta.'' She added: ``It is certainly clear that we have not by any means finished the job that has begun.''

Clinton ``is committed to free trade and to the growing role of the international economy,'' said Steven Rattner, a Clinton fundraiser and co-founder of Quadrangle Group LLC, a New York buyout firm. ``She would absolutely do the right thing as president.''

There was little evidence of a protectionist tilt to Clinton's trade views during either her 2000 campaign or first years in the Senate. She stressed issues such as homeland security and children's health care, and wasn't a major voice in trade-policy debates.

-snip
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=atUKcP4eSEvY&refer=politics

[madrchsod]

1. that is the experience she is talking about....

she`s ready from day one....no thanks, your husband and friends have done enough for this country, we do`t need any more

[mod mom]

2. kicking cuz I'm tired of the lies!

[OHdem10]

3. Andre Mitchell stated Hillary was never for Nafta even when

Bill was passing the darn thing.

[mod mom]

6. Well then should we trust the research at the links or Scooter Libby's friend Andrea Mitchell?

[antigop]

13. ZING! n/t

[rodeodance]

20. good for ms. mitchell.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Matt Taibbi ripped her a new one on NAFTA last night on Bill Maher's Real Time.

[antigop]

5. Sirota followup: The blindness of candidate fealty

http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/02/the_blindness_of_candidate_fea.html

What we have here is a perfect example of how candidate fealty can cause people to literally blind themselves to the facts. My column includes a direct quote from Clinton thanking corporate interests for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." That's a direct quote from Hillary Clinton. And the idea that it has been "revealed" by numerous sources is positively absurd. The "sources" claiming she didn't support NAFTA all that much happen to be the same people who are now looking for Cabinet secretary appointments in her White House. And, of course, they have no concrete proof of their assertions. Yet, somehow, we are expected to believe their fact-free assertions over Hillary Clinton's own words.

This blindness, mind you, is very prevalent. I have received a bunch of email saying much the same thing. And it is really quite sad. Message to Clinton partisans: Please try to deal with the facts. Some things you can spin, other things you can't. Hillary Clinton's attempts to deny she ever supported NAFTA shows she doesn't know that simple truism - and sadly, neither do some of her supporters.

[mod mom]

7. Here's more incidences:

from the Huff Po link:

"In her memoir, Clinton wrote, "Senator Dole was genuinely interested in health care reform but wanted to run for president in 1996. He couldn't hand incumbent Bill Clinton any more legislative victories, particularly after Bill's successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA."

Yes, we are all expected to just forget that, so that Hillary Clinton's campaign can manufacture supposed "outrage" that anyone would say she supported NAFTA - all at a time her chief strategist, Mark Penn, simultaneously heads a firm that is right now pushing to expand NAFTA into South America."

[tishaLA]

8. She went all the way to Switzerland to praise NAFTA?

and now she's claiming she didn't think it was a boon? OMG.

[sandnsea]

9. More NAFTA quotes

2003: Hillary Clinton Expounded on Benefits of NAFTA, Calling it An Important Legislative Goal. “Creating a free trade zone in North America—the largest free trade zone in the world—would expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization. Although unpopular with labor unions, expanding trade opportunities was an important administration goal. The question was whether the White House could focus its energies on two legislative campaigns at once . I argued that we could and that postponing health care would further weaken its chances.”

2003: Clinton Called NAFTA a “Victory” For President Clinton. In her memoir, published in 2003, Clinton wrote, “Senator Dole was genuinely interested in health care reform but wanted to run for President in 1996. He couldn’t hand incumbent Bill Clinton any more legislative victories, particularly after Bill’s successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA.”

1996: Clinton Said “I Think Everybody Is In Favor Of Free And Fair Trade. I Think NAFTA Is Proving Its Worth.” A questioner pointed out that UNITE opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement, backed by the Clinton administration, on grounds it sends American jobs to Mexico. In March 1996, three years after President Clinton signed NAFTA into law, Hillary Clinton said, “I think everybody is in favor of free and fair trade. I think NAFTA is proving its worth,” she said, adding that if American workers can compete fairly, they can match any competition. “That’s what a free and fair trade agreement like NAFTA is all about,” she said.

1996: Clinton “Vowed That Her Husband Would Continue To Support Economic Growth In South Texas Through Initiatives Such As The North American Free Trade Agreement.” AP wrote, “Mrs. Clinton vowed that her husband would continue to support economic growth in South Texas through initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Rio Grande Valley empowerment zone, which allows tax breaks to businesses that relocate to the border.”

1996: Hillary Clinton “Touted” President Clinton’s Support for NAFTA, Saying it Would Reap Widespread Benefit. On a trip to Brownsville, Texas, Clinton “touted the president’s support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would reap widespread benefits in the region.”

http://thepage.time.com/saturday-obama-campaign-release/

[mod mom]

Thank you sandnsea. I thought folks here were interested in the truth instead

of propagating lies. I thought we all had enough of that with *.

[antigop]

10. Great thread, mod mom! Thanks! n/t

[grantcart]

11. well shame on you just shame shame shame on you

"Did that work? Mark? Bill? Did I say it tough enough? Paul? James?


Now what?

[EndElectoral]

12. Great link on this below

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hillary-clinton-pretends-_b_86747.html

[Stephanie]

15. David Sirota - same article as teh OP >

She is consistently disingenuous. No wonder she's fallen so far behind.

---snip---

Hillary Clinton has made statements unequivocally trumpeting NAFTA as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Buffalo News reports that back in 1998, Clinton attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and thanked praised corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." Yes, you read that right: She traveled to Davos to thank corporate interests for their campaign ramming NAFTA through Congress.

On November 1, 1996, United Press International reported that on a trip to Brownsville, Texas, Clinton "touted the president's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would reap widespread benefits in the region."

The Associated Press followed up the next day noting that Hillary Clinton touted the fact that "the president would continue to support economic growth in South Texas through initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement."

In her memoir, Clinton wrote, "Senator Dole was genuinely interested in health care reform but wanted to run for president in 1996. He couldn't hand incumbent Bill Clinton any more legislative victories, particularly after Bill's successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA."

Yes, we are all expected to just forget that, so that Hillary Clinton's campaign can manufacture supposed "outrage" that anyone would say she supported NAFTA - all at a time her chief strategist, Mark Penn, simultaneously heads a firm that is right now pushing to expand NAFTA into South America.

What a total insult to America's intelligence.

[Stephanie]

14. Can we get this on the front page, please?

:hi:

[mod mom]

16. I'm sending this to reporters around Ohio. If anyone else has contacts pls do the same.

:hi:

[Stephanie]

18. Send it to CNN

Unbelievable she is trying to get away with this!

[Marie26]

17. Bernstein agrees - she wasn't for NAFTA

Carl Bernstein wrote a comprehensive biography about Hillary Clinton - I'll take his word for it.

"Bernstein: Hillary Clinton’s economics, the ones she preached to her husband in the White House are much closer to John Edwards then you would think. She argued with Bill Clinton when she was First Lady, her husband, she said ‘Bill, 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 Edwards followers."


http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/31/carl-bernstein-says-hillary-clinton-fought-against-nafta-when-bill-implemented-it/

[Stephanie]

19. The direct quotes say otherwise.

Bernstein can speculate but we have her own words to go by: "...in Davos, Switzerland, <she> thanked praised <sic> corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA."

[Marie26]

21. No, they don't

Berstein is not speculating - for his biography he interviewed hundreds of people who knew & worked with Hillary Clinton. He's spoken with White House staffers & HRC friends and employees to get the inside scoop on the Clinton White House. Carl Bernstein is one of the best journalists we've got - Pulitzer Prizes, Watergate expose, etc. And he's also an unabashed liberal. When he says that Hillary argued against NAFTA, he has facts to back it up. And apparently Andrea Mitchell, another Washington insider, says the same thing.

But as First Lady, there was a limit to what HRC could say in public - she can't publicly undercut the President's policies, anymore than a Clinton Cabinet member could. If Bill Clinton wanted NAFTA, she could not oppose that, however much she argued against that position in private. It's just like how Barbara Bush only revealed that she was pro-choice after her husband's Presidency ended. Hillary Clinton has always been more leftist, even more socialist than Bill Clinton, so this is very much in line w/that.

[mod mom]

22. Bernstein is endorsing Hillary-check out the sources and dates given.

[Marie26]

23. Endorsing Hillary? Link?

Since when do reporters "endorse" a candidate? I'm gonna have to ask for a link on that one. I think it's unfair to assume that Hillary always agreed with Bill Clinton's decisions. It's like assuming that Barbara Bush must be pro-life because Bush Sr. signed anti-abortion legislation. First Ladies are independent people w/opinions of their own - but they cannot usually voice those opinions in public if they are in opposition to the President's policies.

[mod mom]

26. my bad on Bernstein BUT I stand by the examples at the links

[4themind]

25. Perry Mason: "So was she lying THEN or is she lying NOW?"

[sandnsea]

28. Out of her own book

2003: Hillary Clinton Expounded on Benefits of NAFTA, Calling it An Important Legislative Goal. “Creating a free trade zone in North America—the largest free trade zone in the world—would expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization. Although unpopular with labor unions, expanding trade opportunities was an important administration goal. The question was whether the White House could focus its energies on two legislative campaigns at once . I argued that we could and that postponing health care would further weaken its chances.”

2003: Clinton Called NAFTA a “Victory” For President Clinton. In her memoir, published in 2003, Clinton wrote, “Senator Dole was genuinely interested in health care reform but wanted to run for President in 1996. He couldn’t hand incumbent Bill Clinton any more legislative victories, particularly after Bill’s successes on the budget, the Brady bill and NAFTA.”

If she disagreed, that was the time to clarify it. Or maybe when she was cozying up to Indian business taking jobs overseas.


http://thepage.time.com/saturday-obama-campaign-release/

[Baconfoot]

24. So now the First Lady supposed to undermine the party line? NT

[mod mom]

27. Thanks to Hope and Change for posting this Meet the Press on Clinton + NAFTA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ0swdRvYgw

[antigop]

29. HRC 2004: "I think, on balance, NAFTA has been good for New York and America." Oh, brother... n/t

[mod mom]

30. I don't get it-I thought DUers were sick of getting lied to. Evidence is produced

showing that their candidate lied, but hey no problem-they stick with her.

I wish they would spend the time, and do the research. Her and Bill's connections to Bush/BCCI financier Jackson Stephens is what did me in!

[antigop]

31. Research? You want research? LOL! n/t

[Scurrilous]

32. K & R

:thumbsup: