Clinton: ‘I’m Just Getting Warmed Up’ and NAFTA
EmailABC News’ Kate Snow, Sunlen Miller and Eloise Harper Report: Senator Hillary Clinton says she fully expects to win tomorrow and move on to Pennsylvania and the other states that hold contests beyond tomorrow’s big primary day.
“I’m just getting warmed up,” said a confident Clinton.
Clinton says she has just one measure of success tomorrow — “Winning.” Asked several times what precisely would constitute a victory on Tuesday (would she need to win big? Win in all four states?) she returned to the same answer four times—“Winning. Winning. Winning. That’s my measure of success. Winning.”
“Ohio is key to winning the presidency,” Clinton told reporters early Monday in Toledo. And having traveled through the buckeye state for the past 24 hours, she said “it feels really good out there”.
But on this day before the big contest, she was also eager to continue to draw contrasts with Senator Barack Obama.
Clinton zeroed in on a new report about a memo written by a member of the Canadian government, which suggested that the Obama campaign had indirectly given members of the Canadian government some assurances that any talk about reforming NAFTA on the campaign trail should be viewed as nothing more than election year politics.
“Well if you come to Ohio and you both give speeches that are very critical of NAFTA and you send out misleading and false information about my position regarding NAFTA and then we find out that your chief economic advisor has gone to a foreign government and basically done the old wink wink, don’t pay any attention this is just political rhetoric. I think that raises serious questions,” Clinton said.
“I would ask you to look at that story. Substitute my name for Senator Obama’s name and see what you would do with that story,” Clinton said, suggesting that the story would be getting more attention if it were about her, rather than about Senator Obama.
The internal document, obtained by the Associated Press, recounts a conversation between a senior economic advisor to the Obama campaign, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago.
“Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign. He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,” the memo read, according to the Associated Press.
Gooslbee told the AP that the memo was an inaccurate portrayal of his private discussion with the Canadian officials and called it a mis-representation of his words. He also told the AP that he was surprised that such a low-level meeting had created so much controversy.
Later Monday, Obama acknowledged his senior economics adviser did meet with Canadian officials, but disputed the Canadian government memo that said Obama’s rhetoric on protectionism shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
"It turned out that the Canadian consulate in Chicago contacted my, one of my advisors, Austen Goolsbee, on their own initiative, invited him down to meet with them. He went down there as a courtesy and at some point they started talking about trade and NAFTA," Obama said.
But his said that everything Goolsbee spoke about was in line with his views on NAFTA: "The Canadian embassy has confirmed that he said exactly what I’ve said on the campaign trail which is that I believe in trade but that it is important for us to have labor standards and environmental standards that are enforceable and that I would intend to take modifications in amendments to NAFTA that will make them enforceable," Obama said.
Obama turned this story around on Clinton and said they are the ones fueling the argument: "This notion that Senator Clinton in peddling that somehow there is contradictions or winks and nods has been disputed by all the parties involved. What’s not disputed is that Senator Clinton and her husband championed NAFTA, worked on behalf of NAFTA, called it a victory, called it good for America until she started running for president. That is indisputable. That is a fact. And so I know that the Clinton campaign ahs been true to its word in pulling a kitchen sink strategy."
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Seriously, some news room needs to run the test that Hillary is suggesting, just so you can finally get your internal bias exposed.
Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | March 3, 2008, 10:18 am 10:18 am
why are we not checking into this guy?
What about the London times and his slumlord and his middle east dealings
Posted by: Bishop | March 3, 2008, 10:28 am 10:28 am
THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU ABC NEWS FOR RUNNING THIS STORY. AT LEAST THERE IS ONE SITE THAT RUNS UN-BIASED STORIES.
Posted by: stevem | March 3, 2008, 10:45 am 10:45 am
The health of the US economy depends on a host of factors, many of them international.
Any candidate’s statement suggesting withdrawal from NAFTA or other international trade agreements, especially with our North American neighbors, should throw up red flags to voters.
When a campaign starts to label its own policy statements as political posturing before the culmination of an election process, voters should view this as a pretense to the manner that such an administration would conduct itself should it actually win an election.
Posted by: Ken | March 3, 2008, 10:51 am 10:51 am
So much for Obama’s doubletalk. He won’t be responsible for it; his handlers will, and the media will bless them both.
Posted by: georgia | March 3, 2008, 11:12 am 11:12 am
To Richardo Brown: Did you lose your way, or is that a paper for your class?
Posted by: georgia | March 3, 2008, 11:15 am 11:15 am
She has lost!
Her last objective is making Obama loose against MacCain.
This is so disgusting.
Posted by: Mark | March 3, 2008, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Maybe I am crazy but this Canada thing is a bit fishy…I think it is odd that we know that the Bill Clinton was just associated with the Canadian business person Frank Giustra with a whole lot of money donated to the Clinton foundation and now on this page it is stated the question — Why is the conservative Canadian government leaking this memo and getting involved in a Democratic primary race?
Posted by: marie | March 3, 2008, 11:33 am 11:33 am
Yeah Marie, blame it on Clinton as usual. Never mind that the Obama camp NOW says that a meeting did take place, and NOW say that Goolsbee was simply misunderstood. The Canadians didn’t LEAK the memo, they sent it around their government to allay fears over NAFTA as business as usual. Even when caught red handed you Obama supports refuse to face facts. The thing that most of Obama’s friends remmember about him, is his ambition, first and foremost. He’ll say and do anything to get elected. Just like every politican.
Posted by: JR | March 3, 2008, 11:44 am 11:44 am
Of course Obama isn’t going to be held responsible for this. Once again it simply gets “explained away.” No questions asked. What other promises do you suppose he has made while speaking out the other side of his mouth. While he is promising healthcare do you suppose he is sending messengers out to meet with the pharmaceutical and insurance companies telling them not to worry, this is just a political tactic? What about more affordable college for our young? Suppose he has representatives calming the banking institution telling them not to worry, they’ll still be able to screw over our young americans, this is just a political tactic? WHEN WILL THIS GUY BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING????
Posted by: Jake H | March 3, 2008, 11:46 am 11:46 am
She is right I can only imagine the day before a primary and it was the other way around and the Hillary camp got caught in this NAFTA thing, what would of been happening all now.
Every chat site, blog, newspaper, media house phone would be ringing off the hook on this. The TV stations would have a major “Breaking News” event, reporting on the Hillary camp lie.
Advertising would take a back seat to the trailers of every spoken word Hillary ever said on NAFTA. The talking head would be going at it for hours calling for her to drop out of the race.
She is so correct with this now the MSM is trying to dump this story like a hot potato, and pretend it never happened.
Posted by: SJ | March 3, 2008, 11:51 am 11:51 am
Prediction: The two candidates will evenly divide the delegates tomorrow. Obama will maintain his lead in elected delegates. Clinton will stay in the race until the bitter end. Obama will still have a delegate lead going into the convention, but the Clintons will find a way to sleaze the nomination away from him. The convention will be very ugly, splitting the Democats. McCain will cruise to an easy win in November.
Posted by: Don | March 3, 2008, 11:52 am 11:52 am
Sorry, in my last sentence I misspelled Democrats.
Posted by: Don | March 3, 2008, 11:56 am 11:56 am
Just Getting Warmed Up?
Hillary you’re about to be
Sent To The Showers!
Bye Bye Hillary! Take Bill with You!
Posted by: reaganfan | March 3, 2008, 12:01 pm 12:01 pm
I agree 100% with you Don. The dems aren’t going to win this time around once again. The voters are split too evenly between Clinton and Obama and there has been too much hostility and negativity between the candidates and their supporters. The repubs will stay in control another four years and the dems (myself included), have no one to blame but their own tunneled vision selves.
Posted by: Julie | March 3, 2008, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm
What do you call the student who graduates with the lowest GPA in his/her medical school class?
Doctor.
Okay, honestly though. I know quite a few people who have failed the bar exam, CPA exams, performed poorly on GMATs, etc. That stuff happens. I never test well with standardized tests and I would not consider myself to be dumb (I’m sure some of you here will disagree).
Your question may be a valid one, but I would encourage you to look at the factors that truly matter to you (improving the economy, how to end the war in Iraq, immigration reform, etc.). If in the end the fact the she failed the first time matters most to you, then you should definitely cast your vote in a way that let’s you sleep at night (by the way, that is not meant to be “fear-mongering,” just an honest opinion).
Posted by: LOM | March 3, 2008, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
Hilliary Clinton is so cold that she is “only getting warmed up” NOW… Wow, and they thought BUSH was distorted from reality!!!
Posted by: cba | March 3, 2008, 12:15 pm 12:15 pm
What is this Rezko affair in comparison to Hillary Clinton’s Whitewater scandal, her spectacular profits from cattle futures trading already in the late seventies, Travelgate, Filegate, just to mention the highlights of her highly questionable and heavily investigated affairs. All cases with MANY loose ends, with the GOP waiting to pick them up as soon as she’ll be the nominee.
Do Democrats don’t remember these affairs? Can anybody explain? I really don’t get it.
Posted by: Harold | March 3, 2008, 12:16 pm 12:16 pm
Warmed up on NAFTA? She supported it and now is running her tail off in Ohio telling them what they want to hear and her story on NAFTA changes when speaking in Texas LOL and those poor people in Ohio are not any the wiser apparently. People need to stop and think for a minute and remember the Clintons from the 90′s…the lawsuits, the guilty charges, why Bill can’t hold federal office again since he has been found guilty of a federal charge of perjury. These people have not changed.
Posted by: Brian | March 3, 2008, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
I’m going to get alot of hugs. Heading out to the Obama rally in Houston.
Isn’t Hillary having a hard time filling up seats?
Who wants to be screeched at?
Posted by: JB | March 3, 2008, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Martha – per an MIT study, there as no correlation to failing the bar exam with regards to classes, states, reviews, etc. The end result as anecdotal at best – anyone can fail a bar exam and failure has nothing to do with intelligence or quality of education. In fact, passing the bar does not guarantee a license to practice.
Posted by: DCVoter | March 3, 2008, 1:32 pm 1:32 pm
Harold – since you have a need for facts, the republican machine spent 40 million tax payer dollars trying to take Hillary Clinton down for the things you mentioned. She was exonerated on all counts and the best they could do was expose Bill’s sexual exploits that 60% of Americans did not care about and 80% of Dems did not care about. They lady has been vetted so there is nothing to explain. If you need to educate yourself, the facts are on the Internet and in government documents. You can use the Freedom of Information Act if you want your own copy of available reports.
Posted by: DCVoter | March 3, 2008, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
Brian – check the transcripts of the last debate, both voting records, and factcheck as well as the WSJ to find out both candidates support NAFTA where it works and want to fix it where it doesnt by renegotiating the agreements. Obama pitched and supported the latest deal with Peru which is identical to NAFTA and Clinton voted against it.
Perhaps you need to do more research using legitimate independent sources instead of campaign websites or blogs. I am a strong believer in uniting the country not just the party by helping each other not be lemmings of campaigns or the biased MSM.
Posted by: DCVoter | March 3, 2008, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
GOVERNOR ANN RICHARDS: “Well, no wonder. No wonder we can’t figure it out. Because the leadership of this nation is telling us one thing on TV and doing something entirely different.”
Posted by: BMurphyNYC | March 3, 2008, 2:52 pm 2:52 pm
The man Harold makes a point indirectly that is.
This Rezko thing reminds me alot of the Whitewater accusations. From memory I seem to recall vague assertions and unfounded allegations about the Clinton’s tie in to a nefarious real estate deal in Arkansas. But the Grandiose Whitewater allegations was much ado about nothing. Ditto Travel Gate.
Seems that this Rezko thing is starting out a lot like these phony accustations/investigations of the past.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | March 3, 2008, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
Commander Guy – time will tell… I did see that after the FBI Mole information was reported on “several meetings between Rezko and the Governor and Rezko and Obama” and possibly taped secretly by that mole, Senator Clinton’s camp asked the Obama camp to release documents regarding communications and meetings with Rezko. Most likely, the Obama camp will not release the documents given their several days of denial until proven guilty by the Canadians with a memo they are currently trying to explain away regarding NAFTA. Of course, they could probably say those documents were release to the FBI and are part of the investigation therefore they cannot comment. LOL
Posted by: DCVoter | March 3, 2008, 3:01 pm 3:01 pm
sen clinton, i am hoping for a big win for you. i am 71 and a die-hard democrat–my grandfather instilled that in me many years ago. i also would like to see an investigation on obama’s background, as to whether he really is a muslum–i am afraid if he gets in he won’t last sorry to say. i don’t think this country is ready for a african-american president. he may be a good person, but i just don’t he is always truthful in what he is going to do. also, can you tell which president encouraged the nafta, and wrote it up for the next president to sign. i was thinking it was president g h w bush. but i just can’t remember for sure. i am going to vote for you and all, 7 of my children are. their dad worked for ford motor co had to retire on disability in 81 and then passed in 86, but there are now a lot of workers in all the auto industries are losing jobs and it is sad all their jobs are sourced out to foreign countries so these companies can make bigger profits and if this keeps up i will be left with no pension nor health insurance as will many many others will. thank you and “God Bless” you in winning the election. i admire you so much and pres clinton and chelsea has grown into a very attractive “lady”. please have obama’s “true” religion as i belive he is a muslum.
Posted by: ramona r stewart | March 3, 2008, 3:51 pm 3:51 pm
Yes Ramona, Bush Sr is the NAFTA architect. If I remember right, Bill Clinton in his first 3 years was having trouble with the Republican congress and they wanted that passed in exchange for cooperating on another bill. Hillary Clinton is on record as not being in favor of it in 1993. She stated in the debate that she feels it is good for some parts of the country but bad for other parts and already has a 4 point plan to fix it so it works for everyone. Obama parroted her answer in the debate so they both have the same stand on that issue.
Posted by: DCVoter | March 3, 2008, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm
Ohio is key? HILLARY IS A JOKE. Why not Texas? In case she didn’t know, Texas has 193 delegates up for grabs and Ohio only has 141! The reason she mentioned Ohio and not Texas is they are now predicting she will lose Texas. Shame on Hillary, if anyone should know better than to not believe the polls, it should be her.
I was feeling bad for her, of course not bad enough to actually vote for her tomorrow. But, I am sick and tired of their spin and moving of the goal post after every single contest.
If she does not win BIG tomorrow, she should drop out. Eventhough I don’t support her, I had no problem with her staying in the race but this bull is to much.
As far as the Canada story, OBAMA SHOULD COME OUT AND SAY THE US WILL NOT BE THREATNED. And a vote for him is a vote for Green Tech. and less dependence on OIL! In other words, the Canadians can kiss his and our Amer. you know what. Imagine those little basta/// threatening us……
Anyway, IF HE DOES NOT ADDRESS THIS ISSUE TODAY, HE WILL LOSE TOMORROW. While Hillary is sure she will lose Tex. I am not so sure she will. I don’t expect she will win by the huge margin that she NEEDS, but I still don’t think she will lose.
Posted by: TRC | March 3, 2008, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
If Hillary Clinton does lose in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday, Barack Obama should send dinner invitations to 10 or 12 journalists(?)who bent over backwards to take shots at Senator Clinton. I believe in Freedom of the Press, but not Freedom of the Mess. And that is exactly what the news media has made of the Democratic Primary rade for president.
Posted by: PJay | March 3, 2008, 9:24 pm 9:24 pm
Yes, I guess Hillary is just getting warmed up. The attacks were successful because of Bill visiting CANADA this past weekend. Bill got the ball rolling.
What Hillary and Bill fail to realize is–THEIR CORRUPTION WILL BE DISCLOSED WITHIN A WEEK.
AMERICA needs to see once and for all just how DISHONEST America’s most famous COUPLE has become.
Posted by: Gregory | March 4, 2008, 1:48 am 1:48 am
Bill visited Canada? I suppose he was also at the meeting with Obama’s advisor and the Canadian government? No wait, he set the meeting up, right?
LAPTYT!
Posted by: yellowdogdemocrat | March 4, 2008, 3:24 pm 3:24 pm