Fact Check: Hillary Clinton on NAFTA - would be boon to economy, flip-flopped for election

jefferson_dem

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:17 PM
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Fact Check: Hillary Clinton on NAFTA - would be boon to economy, flip-flopped for election

Fact Check: Hillary Clinton on NAFTA
November 20, 2007

Hillary Clinton Thought NAFTA Was A "Boon" To The Economy. According to a Newsday issues rundown, "Clinton thinks NAFTA has been a boon to the economy."

Hillary Clinton Said NAFTA Was A Victory For President Clinton, Would Lead To An Economic Improvement. In 1996, 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." 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." And according to a Newsday issues rundown in 2006, "Clinton thinks NAFTA has been a boon to the economy."

** On polling: Bloomberg News reported, "Clinton's positioning on trade reflects the changing nature of the debate in the U.S., which increasingly focuses on concerns over outsourcing and the shift of jobs to other nations such as China and India rather than on the benefits of tariff reductions. It also -- as with Republicans grappling over illegal immigration -- demonstrates the extent to which grassroots sentiment can alter candidates' platforms. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll conducted in January found 39 percent of Democrats believe free trade hurts the economy; only 18 percent say it is a benefit. Both parties agree that a backlash on trade helped Democrats in the 2006 elections. West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, said U.S. workers have been 'so decimated' by unfettered competition that 'I think the American people understand they will be hit by it.' Clinton promoted her husband's trade agenda for years, and friends say that she's a free-trader at heart." < Bloomberg News, 3/30/07>

SF Chronicle: Clinton's Position On Trade "Clearly A Flip-Flip To Unions And Industry Sectors" And A "Bid To Outflank Her Rival, Senator Barack Obama..." "Add to this Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton's coolness to the idea. Her husband moved earth and sky to win passage of the NAFTA trade pact with Mexico and Canada in 1993. Now she favors periodic reviews to continue such deals, a "timeout" on new ones, and more federal officials to oversee complaints. It's clearly a flip-flop favor to unions and industry sectors hit by layoffs and cheap imports and bid to outflank her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, who is more favorable to free trade."

http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/20/fact_check_hillary_clinton_on.php

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OHdem10

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:22 PM
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1. According to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC shortly after Hilary

enterd the Race, Nafta came up. Andrea explained
that HRC did not agree with Nafta when the Bill
was passed. As first lady she could not run around
defying her husaband. Alan Greenspan said on MTP
HRC is more liberal than her husband.

It is easy to charge flip flop.

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jefferson_dem

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:25 PM
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2. Perhaps so. That sounds like Obama's situation on the war, which has been lambasted by Hillary, etc

...when he tamped down his opposition during the Summer of 2004, as we had two IWR supporters on the ballot.

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Dogmudgeon

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:26 PM
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3. 1996. That was 12 years ago.

Barack Obama learns from his mistakes; Hillary Clinton flip-flops.

Got it.

--p!

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RaleighNCDUer

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:29 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. She was defending NAFTA as recently as two years ago.

thinks that 'maybe' there might be a 'few' things to 'fix'. She is NOT in favor of scrapping it, and starting from the ground up.

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rinsd

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Tue Jan-29-08 05:31 PM
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5. Newsweek says Obama attack on Clinton NAFTA misleading

But the ad's claim that Clinton "championed NAFTA" is misleading. It is true, as we've noted before, that Clinton once praised the North American Free Trade Agreement that her husband championed. As recently as 1998, she praised business leaders for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA," adding later that "it is certainly clear that we have not by any means finished the job that has begun." But her position on trade shifted before her presidential run: In 2005, for example, she voted against the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and she told Time in 2007 that "I believe in the general principles represented, but what we have learned is that we have to drive a tougher bargain."

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