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Hillary Clinton's NAFTA Sincerity Problem
March 20, 2008 11:30 AM
The Clinton campaign sent out talking points for supporters today, which included this odd little "myth" versus "fact."
"Myth: Contrary to her stated opposition to NAFTA, Hillary Clinton attended NAFTA meetings to work for its passage.
"Fact: It is no secret that passing NAFTA was a priority of the Clinton Administration, but numerous contemporary accounts make clear that Hillary Clinton was personally opposed to NAFTA, and her position on NAFTA was and remains consistent."
OK, first of all, that "Myth" is not a "Myth" -- it's a fact.
Clinton attended NAFTA meetings to work for its passage. True statement. Period. End of story.
As we reported yesterday, on November 10, 1993, Clinton headlined a briefing and rah-rah session for businesswomen to support NAFTA.
And as the AP reports today, the recently released 11,000-plus pages of her First Lady "schedules show her holding at least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping to win congressional approval of the deal."
Our friends at the Clinton campaign should look up the word "Myth" in the dictionary.
But the more troublesome question I have is one the Clinton campaign has repeatedly refused to answer ever since we talked to two attendees of that 1993 meeting in which then-First Lady Clinton was telling businesswomen NAFTA would be good for the country and the economy.
If "Hillary Clinton was personally opposed to NAFTA" at the time, as her campaign now claims, why was she telling the American people that it was good for the economy?
Why did one attendee of that November 1993 meeting -- unaffiliated with any campaign -- recall the meeting to me by saying Clinton's "remarks were totally pro-NAFTA and what a good thing it would be for the economy. There was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time. Folks were pleased that she came by. If this is a still a question about what Hillary's position when she was First Lady, she was totally supportive of NAFTA."
Clinton is not claiming her position has evolved, mind you.
She's saying she opposed it at the time. And the facts are: she publicly and privately spoke in favor of it at the time.
So….was she being sincere then?
Or is she being sincere now?
- jpt
March 20, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (145)
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Hillary lied and won Ohio based on insincere comments and a dishonest attack on Obama about NAFTA. She delayed releasing her records until now in order to hide it.
She is a fraud for this and needs to apologize for her dishonesty. She held at least 5 events aggressively pushing NAFTA as a good thing. Now she's claiming Obama is personally attacking her when he points out this gulf between her words and her deeds. Uh?
Posted by: Axl | Mar 20, 2008 8:08:40 PM
Obama lied to us. His judgement is not the judgement for a President of the United States of America. My goodness people Senator Obama should be a preacher like his friend or a professor!! Or else go back to being a crooked lawyer. On my Grandfathers World War II grave I will not vote for him. We love America. We don't God Damn America.
Posted by: Fae | Mar 20, 2008 6:41:18 PM
Jose - I see you will vote for Mccain if Hillary is not the nominee. Which means you will continue to sell oranges on the street corners for the next 4 years. Do not be that stupid. America can not stay in Iraq or take another 4 years of George Bush.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 20, 2008 6:36:54 PM
Clinton fans....continue to deny your candidate is a liar. Your spin will not work...all you've done is cost the Democratic Party the General Election in November. Senator Clinton should have withdrawn months ago.
fake clinton if clinton is the nomenie me and my whole family from my father to my cousins will vote for mccain.thief
Posted by: dia20 | Mar 20, 2008 6:06:43 PM
Mary,
I think maybe you were trying to make a point but it was lost in a lot of nonsense.
Posted by: Larry | Mar 20, 2008 5:27:37 PM
Hillary secrets ahve finally been uncovered. Let's see if the media will play this for 7 days like they have the Rev.Wright video! Hillary is a Lair, that simple!
Posted by: oquail | Mar 20, 2008 5:26:28 PM
Barack Obama lumping Geraldine Ferraro in with his controversial pastor. LET ME TELL YOU WHY..
In his speech, Obama drew a comparison between the two individuals.
“We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias,” he said.
Geraldine Ferraro cooment of Obama was: "Obama wouldn’t be where he is if he were white"
What is racial about this??
What this man is doing is he is spewing that stuff out to young people, and to younger people than Obama, and putting it in their heads that it’s OK to say ‘God damn America’ and it’s OK to beat up on white people, You don’t preach that from the pulpit.
Posted by: Mary | Mar 20, 2008 5:22:35 PM
This is the first time I've heard a Democrat refer to FoxNews as fair and impartial.
Wow, you really are uninformed.
Posted by: Syl | Mar 20, 2008 5:21:41 PM
Clinton fans....continue to deny your candidate is a liar. Your spin will not work...all you've done is cost the Democratic Party the General Election in November. Senator Clinton should have withdrawn months ago.
Posted by: Syl | Mar 20, 2008 5:19:21 PM
FactCheck 2,
Please point out an example of how Obama's relationship with Rezko violated the public trust in any way. That's the big gaping hole in the story which is why no one is covering it. Also, Obama cleared the air on this issue with the Tribune and the Sun-Times (as the Tribune itself stated) a week ago. Keep chasing those rainbows though...
Posted by: FactCheck3 | Mar 20, 2008 5:14:38 PM
BILL,
LET ME GUESS, YOU WATCH CNN OR MSNBC THAT IS IN THE TANK WITH OBAMA. FOX NEWS HAS THE MOST RATINGS RIGHT NOW AND IT IS FAIR & BALANCED. YOUR JUST MAD THAT THEY ARE DISCOVERING THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMA & EXPOSING HIM. TOO BAD..VOTE FOR HILLARY.
Posted by: Jose | Mar 20, 2008 5:13:57 PM
DAVE,
BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HUSBAND & THE REV. WRIGHT. DO YOU HONESTLY WANT US TO BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED HER TO DIVORCE HIM BECAUSE OF WHAT SHE DIDN'T OR DID BELIEVE IN OF NAFTA. I DON'T THINK SO. MR. OBAMA IS MARRIED WITH A WIFE THAT HAS EXPRESSED HER COMMENTS OF HOW SHE FELT ABOUT AMERICA AND WE DON'T EXPECT HIM TO DIVORCE HER. LETS GET ONE THING STRAIGHT, HE IS CHOOSING TO HAVE AS A FAMILY MEMBER REV. WRIGHT WHICH IS CONSIDERED AS ANTI-AMERICAN. PLEASE DON'T TALK ABOUT HILLARY'S JUDGEMENT BECAUSE OBAMA'S IS PRETTY AWFUL & HE IS DISHONEST.
Posted by: Jose | Mar 20, 2008 5:10:33 PM
Jose,
Fox News gives the truth and is fair and balanced? You just lost all credibility.
Posted by: Bill | Mar 20, 2008 5:06:51 PM
HOW CAN WE LET OBAMA GET AWAY WITH THIS!
Obama discussed the racial views of his white grandmother Tuesday, a topic he revisited Thursday in an interview with 610 WIP, Philadelphia Sports Radio. In the interview, Obama denied his grandmother held racial prejudices and described her as a “typical white person.”
“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity — she doesn’t,” he said. “But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know there is a reaction. That has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way.”
But Obama described his grandmother Tuesday as a woman who was at times fearful of black men.
“I can no more disown (Wright) than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe,” he said.
WHY DOES HE CONTINUE TO LIE? EVERYTHING IS CATCHING UP TO HIM & OF ALL THINGS HE COMPARED HIS WHITE GRANDMOTHER TO A ANTI-AMERICAN REV. WRIGHT.
WAKE UP PEOPLE. LISTEN TO FOX NEWS WHERE THEY GIVE THE TRUTH & ARE FAIR WITH BALANCE. THEY LET US MAKE THE DECISION WHILE THEY REPORT IT.
Posted by: Jose | Mar 20, 2008 5:01:52 PM
Criticisms about Obama's "present" votes say more about the people criticizing him than they do about Obama. Voting "present" is a typical measure used by legislators in Illinois to keep a bill alive that is not agreeable in its entirety. Also, to accuse Obama of being "spineless" when it comes to his voting record is flaunting your own ignorance. He was hardly "spineless" when he took on the Illinois government, the Illinois police force and the republicans in order to push through a bill that required videotaped confessions. This bill was hugely unpopular when it was first introduced by Obama and he managed to get it passed and win over his critics. Thanks.
Posted by: Edward | Mar 20, 2008 4:55:27 PM
Even if we accept that HRC did not agree with NAFTA, which is her campaign's position, I still don't understand why she would travel the country promoting it. If she had a philosphical difference with something her husband was trying to do, she shouldn't have taken an active role in getting it passed. If it was, in fact, something that she thought would harm America, it scares me that she would nevertheless do this. Was she thinking, "this will really screw over a lot of Americans, but it's good for my husband's political career, so I'll pretend like it's a good thing"? Anyway, because Bill was her husband of well over 20 years at the time, we all know that she must have possessed his views, and if she didn't possess his views, she should have done something, right? I mean isn't that the lesson of Rev. Wright?
Posted by: Dave | Mar 20, 2008 4:55:14 PM
What is in question is Clinton's sincerety, not her position, mind you.
She said she was against NAFTA. Fine. But the record clearly shows that she supported it. This is what everybody calls lie.
Posted by: catiger | Mar 20, 2008 4:50:30 PM
"You should ask David Gergen.
He was actually there for these meetings, and he is on record that Hillary was not sold on NAFTA."
Then release the meeting record and minutes!
David Gergan was Clinton's speech writter. Is it a conflict of interest?
Posted by: catiger | Mar 20, 2008 4:46:43 PM
Well, Hillary's words are cheap. She just says what is expedient and she thinks 'we' want to hear. She'll say anything, make infuriating lies because she says voters memories are short.
Posted by: vmcgreen | Mar 20, 2008 4:45:18 PM
What about Obama's public support and committment to voting yes on the NAFTA-based model the Peru Free Trade Act in
2007. Most major labor, consumer protection, environment and human rights group opposed it. Obama would tell you that the Act had labor and environmental protections built in. As Edwards pointed out to Obama, in the last debate he was in, that enforcement of the compliance aspect of the Act would be left up to the Bush administration, and was Obama trusting Bush to enforce it? Both Obama and Clinton publicly supported this Act and said they would vote for it and then last Fall neither bothered to show up and vote on it. Obama people, quit the pipedreams. Your candidate is not who you think he is, so take the time to really look past the speeches and look at his record or lack of. Like attacking Clinton on her Kyle-Lieberman
vote but he couldn't get his sanctimoneous butt into D.C. to even vote on it. If you look at that record it's just like all his "present" votes,
he puts himself in a position where he can attack his opponents by making sure he doesn't have a record they can attack. Talk about spineless.
Posted by: alpaig | Mar 20, 2008 4:43:57 PM
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