Hillary Pretends to Oppose the TPP

[amborin]

Hillary Clinton Pretends to Oppose Pacific Trade Deal

By Jonathan Chait

Hillary Clinton has learned some new stuff about this treaty she used to love.

There is a long tradition of Democratic presidential candidates posturing against free trade on the stump only to reverse themselves in office.

Hillary Clinton’s announcement today that she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership would seem to fit snugly within that tradition.

snip

But Clinton’s opposition to TPP is a little different, because she served as secretary of State during the treaty negotiations and never registered her dissent.

Indeed, she praised the agreement over and over and over, even calling it “the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field.”

Now Clinton has repudiated a treaty with which she has closely associated herself.

She has framed her opposition in carefully hedged terms that leave her multiple escape avenues.

“As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,” she said, going on to add, “I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”

Is anybody going to believe that she will actually oppose the treaty as president?

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/hillary-pretends-to-oppose-pacific-trade-deal.html#

[FreakinDJ]

1. Honesty is not a word associated with Hillary

[tazkcmo]

2. She also pretends

To dodge sniper fire, to be a progressive, to have a southern accent and to actually give figs about the former middle class.

On Edit: Also pretends to care about Flint, MI. She get their water back yet or has Michigan already voted and she can go back to ignoring them again?

[FarPoint]

3. We could benefit from a Democratic Congress to stop TPP.

Let's begin there...

[FreakinDJ]

4. Really - Hillary and the 3rd Way are working tirelessly to stack the House and Senate

with 3rd Way candidates

You were hoping 3rd Way/Wall St would drop their love affair with Free Trade/TPP

[virtualobserver]

5. oh please.....

just enough third way Dems would vote for it, and Hillary would sign it.

[Optimism]

12. In the remaining debates and town halls ...

Someone MUST ask Hillary directly, "As President, WILL YOU SIGN THE TPP if it reaches your desk ??"

[Aha]

8. First, we must elect a President who is totally committed to ending "free trades"

and begin fair trade negotiations.

That person is NOT Hillary "Gold Standard for Free Trade" Clinton.

[hollysmom]

6. Hillary has just said she would oppose any trade policy unless it increases jobs in the US

While I think that is nice, it is not my problem with most trade bills.
I am one of the people who does not think that corporations are more important than people. Now I know the trouble Mitt got in with corporations are people, and that is bad enough, but it is not in these trade pacts, that corporations are more powerful than people, we can vote something to preserve the environment and the trade organizations in the WTO or in the individual pacts can over rule our votes if it costs them money doing business, excuse me. Can you tell I am still pissed that they over ruled that US could label meat to the country of origin!

You can work hard to get an environmental law passed, but like with Keystone, they can sue after the fact because they can't dump and pollute (I.e. shit where they want).

[Broward]

7. Only the naive and stupid believe Hillary on this.

If it's Hillary v. Trump, she'll have to keep up the charade.

[Lizzie Poppet]

9. ...until 30 seconds after her convention acceptance speech.

[RiverLover]

10. That's what third way dems do! Talk populist to get elected then act RW in office.

[colsohlibgal]

11. +1000

Exactly. Obama talked like Chris Hedges running then once in office here comes Larry Summers and his ilk as his financial team. And single payer health care...not hardly. Oh and this TPP scam.

I don't trust HRC or DWS a bit. Buyer beware.

[Broward]

16. Fool me once shame on you.

Fool me for the umpteenth time shame on me.

[BillZBubb]

13. Clinton is being totally duplicitous on TPP.

It comes naturally to her. "As of today" indeed. Only a simpleton buys that kind of evasion.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

14. With the shit she's spewing, she better not oppose TP.

I'll see myself out.

[stillwaiting]

15. Certainly if she had any misgivings about the TPP it would have been

expressed in her emails. You would think.

Even ONE email? ANY hesitations or problems that Secretary Clinton had with ANY part of the travesty that is the TPP? A sentence? A word? No? Well, that's unforgivable and exposes her completely. Completely.

[BernieforPres2016]

17. The key phrase is "as of today"

As Donahue of the Chamber of Commerce says, she will come around after the election.

[99th_Monkey]

18. Hills will continue lying that she opposes TPP

but if she's elected to WH she'll insist on a few "tweaks" in TPP -- consisting of
toothless pro-worker/environment wordsmithing -- that will magically transform
it back into her beloved "gold standard".

Mark my words.