Bread and Circuses - 2008
So once again the media is focusing on a complete non-issue and rallying around it like frat boys around the hot girl about to pass out. As a point of clarification they could easily make themselves, I would like to correct the following two mistakes (misstatements, lies, propadanda, etc) currently being bandied around by the liberal media:
1) A representative from the Obama campaign met with the Canadians and assured them he was in favor of NAFTA despite his rhetoric in Ohio.
Actually, what happened was Austan Goolsbee met with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago at their request on February 8th of 2007. According to a memo leaked to the press Dr Goolsbee about the campaign's positions with regards to Canadian trade and economic relations. Among the topics discussed was NAFTA, brought up by the CHCGO. Goolsbee stated the Obama campaign was not interested in removing NAFTA all together and would instead seek to renegotiate new terms and language on labor mobility (outsourcing) and environmental protections. So far that doesn't sound like anything different than what the campaign has been saying all along, even in Ohio. The drastic language used in Ohio was a challenge to the Clinton campaign to commit to walking away from NAFTA if Mexico and Canada refused to renegotiate on such things as labor mobility and environmental protections. Somehow this got spun in the media to be a meeting where the Obama campaign was promising to leave NAFTA intact despite their promises to renegotiate.
2) A representative from the Clinton campaign met with the Canadians and assured them he was in favor of NAFTA despite his rhetoric in Ohio.
This story began with a story on CTV based on an offhand comment by Ian Brodie, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The comment itself was widely heard and has been sourced by more than one individual, but there is no evidence beyond the assertion made during what was by all accounts "a slow news event."
So in other words, the whole thing is complete hogwash and unverifiable he-said/she-said stuff.
Let's just drop it.
1) A representative from the Obama campaign met with the Canadians and assured them he was in favor of NAFTA despite his rhetoric in Ohio.
Actually, what happened was Austan Goolsbee met with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago at their request on February 8th of 2007. According to a memo leaked to the press Dr Goolsbee about the campaign's positions with regards to Canadian trade and economic relations. Among the topics discussed was NAFTA, brought up by the CHCGO. Goolsbee stated the Obama campaign was not interested in removing NAFTA all together and would instead seek to renegotiate new terms and language on labor mobility (outsourcing) and environmental protections. So far that doesn't sound like anything different than what the campaign has been saying all along, even in Ohio. The drastic language used in Ohio was a challenge to the Clinton campaign to commit to walking away from NAFTA if Mexico and Canada refused to renegotiate on such things as labor mobility and environmental protections. Somehow this got spun in the media to be a meeting where the Obama campaign was promising to leave NAFTA intact despite their promises to renegotiate.
2) A representative from the Clinton campaign met with the Canadians and assured them he was in favor of NAFTA despite his rhetoric in Ohio.
This story began with a story on CTV based on an offhand comment by Ian Brodie, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The comment itself was widely heard and has been sourced by more than one individual, but there is no evidence beyond the assertion made during what was by all accounts "a slow news event."
So in other words, the whole thing is complete hogwash and unverifiable he-said/she-said stuff.
Let's just drop it.