Clinton Camp responds to NAFTA meetings revelations: Hillary was personally opposed to NAFTA

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http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/repeat_after_me_hillary_clinto.html#more

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From time to time, Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign e-mails instructions to its surrogates -- the political leaders and other supporters who champion Clinton on television and radio -- on how to respond to hot issues of the day. Sometimes, the campaign is nice enough to copy reporters on the messages, as one more way to hammer home its message.

One of those so-called "talking points" e-mails just popped into The Swamp's inbox, an obvious response to several stories (such as this one and this one) this morning on the 11,000 pages of appointment calendars from Clinton's First Lady days, which were released yesterday by the National Archives.

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Myth: Contrary to her stated opposition to NAFTA, Hillary Clinton attended NAFTA meetings to work for its passage.

Fact: It is no secret that passing NAFTA was a priority of the Clinton Administration, but numerous contemporary accounts make clear that Hillary Clinton was personally opposed to NAFTA, and her position on NAFTA was and remains consistent.

For example, one of the NAFTA meetings she attended was run by David Gergen who has clearly stated that Hillary Clinton was opposed to NAFTA. According to Gergen, Hillary “was extremely unenthusiastic about NAFTA. And I think that's putting it mildly.” He said: “If I could just add one other post script, Anderson, on NAFTA, I was actually there in the Clinton White House during the NAFTA fight and I must tell you Hillary Clinton was extremely unenthusiastic about NAFTA. And I think that’s putting it mildly. I’m not sure she objected to all the provisions of it but she just didn’t see why her husband and that White House had to go and do that fight. She was very unhappy about it and wanted to move on to health care. So I do think there’s some justification for her camp saying, you know, she’s never been a great backer for NAFTA." (David Gergen, Anderson Cooper 360, 2/25/08)