Political Punch

If you're going to claim 35 years of experience, you can't conveniently forget portions of those 35 years that you don't want to talk about like WalMart, which would hurt you with those working people you claim to be so concerned with now. Why not proudly talk about WalMart and explain to all the hard working people you left because they are different now than they were back then and you just couldn't put up with their anti-union ways. Don't try and just bash someone else to take the attention off of your own days you are ashamed of.

While she's talking about her love of unions, I never heard anything come up from her talking about being a "WalMart" person and it doesn't really surprise me because most people's attention is only gotten on the negative and that would be really ugly and probably just as bad if not worse than Obama being such an "elitist".

Please people stop claiming Hillary's hands have been tied by the DNC. Hillary and Bill are the DNC. They are the status quo of the party. The people that tied their hands are the voters. They decided the status quo is not good enough, not this time.

Obama was written off as early as he announced his run for the presidency and Hillary's inevitability was signed off by almost everyone including the media. Obama stuck in there and voters pulled him through. So, yes he is the new kid on the block and yes he has substance and character to get the job done. He has the right combination like Bill Clinton did back in the 90s. Obama is what Bill was in the 90s (without the sex scandals) and if Hillary were not running he'd be stumping for Obama like no tomorrow.

As for the walmart case. I think we have bigger fish to fry than that but I think the point people are trying to get across here is that Hillary portrays herself as the underdog or fighter when it works for her otherwise she's whatever the poll wants. She is not a sincere person so I'd say she lacks the character needed for the top job in this country. She does have a little substance but not as much as she's claiming because her husband's substance is tied in with hers (very unfeministic). If we have to say Hillary is qualified because of Bill then women will have an even more uphill battle in the future to hold this position because not every capable woman can marry a past president. As for Rezko, Hillary is exercising caution herself because the Clintons are tied to Rezko. People fail to realize that Obama does not have one hundreth the connections the Clintons have. He is not tied to their connections. Obama is the classic underdog in this race. Besides, Rezko worked with other candidates like the Bushes as well so all that crap about Obama-Rezko scandal is another smoke screen to divert attention. They don't have dirt on Obama so they go after people he knows or may have known that say or do controversial things and if that's not selling then they make something up. The man on his own is too boring (ie of high standards) for the media. Scandalous translates to interesting which translates to dollars for the media.

So please let's cut the crap and get on with the real debate at hand.

Anybody has the right to shop wherever they want. Nobody has to be pro-union either. But that’s not the question. But Hillary Clinton has marched into Ohio and PA talking about how she loves unions and hates trade deal, while her record doesn’t back her up. Walmart has one of the worst anti-union records in America. A Walmart VP who sat on the board with Hillary for 4 years said “Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living.” I don’t know anybody, including my 95 year old mother, who would not have had something to say about that.

But it doesn’t end there. Hillary claimed all over Ohio that she had always been anti-NAFTA, but when the White House records were released, they showed she was a cheerleader for NAFTA. This week we find out that Mark Penn went to Colombia to help on a NAFTA-like trade deal. Then we find out that Bill Clinton was paid almost a million by a Colombian pro-trade group. But it gets worse. Colombia has the worst anti-union record in the western hemisphere. They don’t just fight unions, they murder union leaders. Almost 500 have been killed since Uribe has been president and there’s more on the hit list. Hillary Clinton’s record, whether you’re talking about 17 years ago or the people she is paying this week, just doesn’t hold up. Clintons don’t stand for working people. If they did, they wouldn’t take almost a million bucks from thugs. It’s all a bunch of words calculated to win votes.

Honestly, we who support Obama have never as geevill states, turned our noses down to people who work and shop at walmart...that is crazy. MOST of us are struggling in this economy too. I am so not that kind of person. I drive a car that sucks down just as much gas as everybody else. My rent ( no i am not a home owner) is over $2000 ( 2bed room utilites are separate)I have my student loans in deferment, my kids attend overcrowded La schools. I am a single parent who would love to get a tax break. Ironically, i would have loved to see a woman as POTUS. Unfortunately, I felt deceived by Hillary. She did not represent me or the women like me. She is to be respected and admired for her contributions, however. I am looking for the candidate who is able to unify our nation, national leaders, our enemies, rehabilitate our schools and way of life.

There are so many wonderful people I have met in Obama blogs sites. To read this kind of description just made me sad.

Hillary has good people and so does J. McCain. We should stop fighting and start seeing what we have in common.

Just my $0.02

Wal-Mart has how many employees? That is rhetorical since the elitist Obama supporters turn down ther noses at those who work and shop there.

ChrisO, But I thought she was a fighter? She didn't much fighting at WalMart and if she did she sure didn't win any battles.

Wow, what a non-story. So Hillary Clinton took a board position with a company, and failed to completely transform the company and eliminate every objectionable practice? People sure have a screwy idea of how much influence a new board member has on a company.

And for the person who said "Hillary provided them with the legal advice they needed to translate this disdain into 'acceptable' contracts for Walmart workers." She was a board member, not the company counsel. I'm sure WalMart had plenty of lawyers to provide them with whatever advice they needed.

The issue is honesty.

Hillary met with women business leaders to help pass nafta.

The issue is honesty.

Hillary in her book called nafta a great success.

The issue is honesty.

In 2004 Hillary said to business group that on balance Nafta had been good for America.

The issue is honesty.

Now Hillary claims she was against Nafta from the beginning.

The issue is honesty.

Hillary claims that she has always been against nafta.

The issue is honesty.

In 2004 to a business group Hillary said on balance nafta has been good for america.

Hillary was a corporate lawyer on the board of walmart and she didn't take issue with its labor practices.

The issue is honesty.

Let's not forget Michelle Obama's work on the board for a subsidiary of Wal-Mart. For heaven sake people. They're all politicians they all have unsavory connections. This was 17 yrs. ago. What in heck were you doing then?

Sen Clinton did not win the fight she had at Walmart on either issue...environmental changes or women...

after she left after years of this work one more woman was on the board an/or on the executive team.

She had one environmental store built which others derided and only a few of things were used on a national level (shylights in stores I will give her...but that is not much to claim for someone being praised for her "environmental efforts")...

so Yes considering she was given the position mostly because Walton knew he needed to change the fact there were no women...he chose the governor's wife...
Yes who had access to the Governor of the state they operated in.

So Yes since they won't release the minutes of any of the meetings...(here is a theme we haven't seen before)but claim these things but there are no results...and the union issue was at the start of Wal-Mart's standing on this issue when Clinton was on the board... Yes it is an issue.

eyes open, I'd forgotten that about the employees getting WalMart stock - and you're right, they did post the current price right at the front of the store. The years when Sam Walton was still alive are the ones that made WM what it is. It gave the store its brand that appealed to so many Americans. Sad what's happened since he died.

Jackie, you're exactly right about ammo. Hillary has shown tremendous restraint. The Republicans and 527s won't. Obama is unelectable. Thank Howard Dean and the crazy left-wing Dems for this mess!

I guess that Obama gets to use WalMart, but if Hillary puts a web page up about Rezco everyone would be screaming foul....For God's sake she wasn't even supposed to mention that she would have left the church.

I think that Hillary has used a lot of restraint (hands tied by DNC) but she really has more current ammunition if it really goes to war.

Walmart had a similar position to a lot of companies in the eighties when Clinton was on their Board. She was able to mitigate their corporate policy regarding the environment and hiring and management practices with women and minorities. Arkansas like Texas was a right-to-work state and there was no way that any individual was going to impact a major corporation regarding unionization in these 2 states.

Then again the labor practices of Walmart did not become an issue untill the last 10 years or so....and a big issue for Democrats especially in California.

I'm pretty sure that it has been over 20 years since Hillary actually served on the Board.

Meanwhile I gotta tell you that I was a community organizer in the early eighties...and there is nothing noble about it. I do not believe that anyone should believe that that position is "experience" for the job of President of the US.

Good point, questioner, about Michelle Obama and TreeHouse Foods. And her involvement is very recent.

I never shop as WalMart.

the original walmart, where you didn't make a lot of money but you got STOCK, and every day you checked out it's price in the front of the store...

and you were treated pretty darn well and that stock kept growing and growing and growing so that

by the time they retired, there were a lot of walmart employees with big smiles on their faces and plenty of bucks in the bank.

how come you don't mention the role of Michelle Obama and her role as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc>

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[20] a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007.[21] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[22]

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.[23]'

And she even said some nice things about Hillary:

"Despite her criticisms of Clinton during the 2008 campaign, when asked in 2004 which political spouse she admired, Obama cited Hillary Clinton, stating, "She is smart and gracious and everything she appears to be in public—someone who's managed to raise what appears to be a solid, grounded child."[31]

This information is available in Wikipedia.

27 years ago and what did you expect Hillary Clinton to do as a member of the Board??

Note, it was not until 2001 that these women even filed suit. The suit encompasses alleged violations of gender discrimination dating back to 1998 only.

As an aside, this is the largest class action in history with over 700 documents filed thus far. This is a nightmare for the judge.

How can Hillary Clinton be held responsible for actions of Wal-mart from 1998 to present??

I realize that Wal-Mart is a nemesis of unions, but people obviously love this store.

I shop at Walmart.
My wife shops at Walmart.
My family shops at Walmart.
My cousins shop at Walmart.
My friends (all 22 of them) shop at Walmart.
Their family shop at Walmart.
Their friends shop at Walmart.
Their....... the truth is everybody shops at Walmart.

I shop at Wal-Mart every day.

So what nothing else could found on her this story is the pits.

Rogers AR. is a very small town Wal-Mart is nothing like it is today in the 70's it was where people could get a few pleasure's in life Sam Walton was a fine man being the typical white person poor in AR. it was a blessing.The world has evoledand so has wal-mart

"This was 27 years ago. Walmart was not what it is today."

No, it was worse. It had a total disdain for unions and and women workers. Hillary provided them with the legal advice they needed to translate this disdain into 'acceptable' contracts for Walmart workers.

Bill and Hillary's ethics in a nutshell: as long as they pay, it's very much OK.

This was 27 years ago. Walmart was not what it is today. She was on the board of directors. How many women were working on the board at WalMart, or other companies at that time?

WestCoastMessenger,

Your initials WCM stand very well for

Wal and Clinton-Monger or Wal and Clinton-Mart.

What do you prefer?

You extreme leftists can hack away all you want at Hillary for working to improve Wal Mart. There's not a person here who can't say they haven't shopped there.
========================================
Lauren shops at WalMart.
========================================

35 years of experience!

But you just have to nitpick. Oh, did I tell you that I worked for Walt Mart during that time!

Oops, you really got me there.

This is YEARS ago. Who cares. I don't care if she was involved Walmart in the past and I am an Obama supporter.

I don't hold Walmart against Hillary.

Says Clinton, after Walton calls her on stage, “I’m so proud of this company, and everything it represents. Anytime I travel and I tell people I’m from Arkansas...Wal-Mart’s on top of the list, and everybody wants me to tell them about Wal-Mart and Sam Walton and Helen Walton and all of the Wal-Mart associates. It makes me feel real good about what we’re able to do and what we can show and the sort of leadership we’re given.”

UNTIL SHE KNEW SHE WANTED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT
THEN SHE KNEW SHE WOULD HAVE TO THROW THEM ASIDE. SHE WOULD NEED THE UNIONS ON HER SIDE IF SHE EVER WOULD STAND A CHANCE TO WIN.
SHE THREW THEM FROM THE BUS AND THEN PROCEEDED TO RUN THEM OVER WHEN SHE RETURNED THEIR $5000.00

LIKE I HAVE SAID BEFORE ANYTHING TO WIN
AT ANY AND ALL COSTS

Where's the lie?

Clinton is so busy trying to throw the kitchen sink at Obama that she loses track of why she is in this campaign to begin with...to get votes...and her actions over the last month should tell her something......

Everyone knows that Clinton was on the wall mart board.

Everyone doesn't know how many fundraisers Rezko had for Obama or which days he sat in the pews of his American hating church.

The latter would be news. The Walmart issue was old 16 years ago.

And by the way, they aren't the largest company in American because working Americans hate Walmart. Unions don't like Wallmart. Americans do.

PA VOTERS ARE SEEING AND LEARNING.
RIGHT ALONG WITH THE UNIONS.
SOME PEOPLE THINK IF THEY GET HILL THEY WILL GET BILL BACK . I WONDER IF THEY STILL WANT THE TWO OF THEM? ANOTHER TRADE DEAL. 800,000.00 COLOMBIA PAID BILL . SO LETS PLAY DEVILS ADVOCATE HILL GET THE PRESIDENCY . BILL GETS TO PILLOW TALK TO HER EVERY NIGHT I WONDER HOW LONG IT WOULD BE BEFORE COLOMBIA TRADE DEAL WOULD SUDDENLY BECOME A GOOD THING.

Wow -- MSNBC has a negative article on Obama. Specifically, about his flip-flop on campaign financing. This might be a real miracle.

You are one of the finest lawyers, legal persons, that I've ever met or I've known," Walton effuses. "Without any question, you’ve added more to our board than any person we’ve ever had on that board.”
SHE MUST HAVE HELPED OUT IN SOME WAY TO GET SUCH RAVE REVIEWS. SILENTLY HELPING TO NOT LET THE UNIONS IN?
THERE IS JUST TO MANY TO COUNT WHY THE UNION JUST MIGHT SWITCH SIDES. I WONDER IF THEY REGRET SUPPORTING HER YET? I AM SURE THEY WILL

cappamore, good point. WalMart was a good company when Hillary was associated with them; Rezko was always a low-life when Obama associated with him.

On January 21, during the Democrats' contentious South Carolina debate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said that when he was a community organizer in the 1980s and "was working on those streets watching those folks see their jobs shift overseas, you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."

Clinton struck back, saying that she had been fighting Republican ideas

REALLY ISNT UNION BUSTING SOMETHING THAT THE REPUBLICANS DO.
SHE SCREAMS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HOW COME SHE DOESNT SCREAM FOR WORKERS RIGHTS..YOU KNOW TO UNIONIZE?

WOW SHE IS STRICKING OUT ON ALL FRONTS.

Hilliary caught in another lie, what--Did the sun come up this morning too?

Hillary is a hypocrite. Not as bad as Obama but a hypocrite nonetheless.

The story is her work for Nuke Them Goldwater, Her work for Wal-Mart, and now she says she will not muzzle Bill. Well why should she she can say one thing and Bill another, and we can choose to believe what we want to believe.

It's a perfect political solution.

Will the real Hillary please stand up?

tomdavie: thanks for making the point about the timeframe on this. I also know very well that Wal-Mart was a completely different type of company back then and was seen as a positive organization.

On the other hand -- Rezko was a low-life the whole 17 years that Obama knew him.

@ Sonya

The President has the final decision. For example, when Hillary was FIRST LADY she was anti-NAFTA, but the President, (BILL CLINTON) supported NAFTA.

Did NAFTA pass or not?

Thank you.

He will have agree with her decisions like Michelle with Obama's or Cindy's with McCain's.

WalMart during the years Hillary served on its board did not have as negative a connotation as it does today. In fact, it wasn't until after Sam's death that the company's thirst for expansion and profits overtook any other credo the company may have held.

During Hillary's board years, she goaded the company into stricter environmental practices. In fact they built a store they derisively called "Hillary's Green Store" which was a forerunner and model for successive stores. She also constantly fought for more women in management positions (though she was not successful in that fight).

That's just one of the reasons I boycott WalMart to this day.

No integrity from the Center. It's the end justifies the means for everyone who thinks Obama would do good.

This story is like Obama working for Rezko, the slum lord.