AP: Colombia Trade Deal Splits Clintons

[DrFunkenstein]

WASHINGTON - The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that her husband, the former president, supports a free trade agreement with Colombia that she strenuously opposes.

The acknowledgment adds new hurdles to the New York senator's bid to woo Democratic voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who believe free trade agreements have eliminated thousands of U.S. jobs. On Sunday, she demoted her chief campaign strategist for his role in promoting the Colombia pact.

Her campaign spokesman, Jay Carson, said in response to a query from The Associated Press that the senator's opposition is "clear and firm." He added: "Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue. President Clinton has been public about his support for Colombia's request for U.S. trade preferences since 2000."

On Sunday, Mark Penn left his post as top strategist for Clinton's campaign after it was reported that he had met with Colombia's ambassador to the United States to discuss passage of the agreement. Colombia was a client of Penn's large public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.

Many labor unions, including the CWA, oppose such trade deals, saying they displace U.S. jobs and encourage abuses of workers and the environment in other countries.

Hillary Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, noted his opposition to the Colombia deal Tuesday when he spoke to the CWA group moments after Clinton left the stage. He said he opposes the treaty "because when organizing workers puts an organizer's life at risk, as it does in Colombia, it makes a mockery of our labor protections."

Obama did not mention Penn in his 25-minute speech to CWA activists. But in a conference call arranged by his campaign, Teamsters President James Hoffa called on Clinton to cut all ties with Penn, who continues to advise her campaign.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_trade;_ylt=AlFZRe7U2aerPdna0asCHYRWr7sF

I'm sure that Pennsylvania voters won't even notice this, let alone care about it. Big Clinton blowout. I'm thinking she'll win by 15% to 20%.

[anonymous171]

1. ouch.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Don't be fooled, Hillary is a free trader like Bush and her husband Bill who signed NAFTA

Her so-called "opposition" to free trade now is nothing more than empty rhetoric. Actually, it's a bald faced lie. Hillary should know a thing or two about that, she's a pathological liar.

[DrFunkenstein]

3. Just Because She Surrounds Herself With Free Trade Economists

Doesn't mean she is going to listen to them. I'm sure she will listen to her heart.

[LisaM]

4. I think Hillary is more liberal than Bill is. n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. Me too n/t

[Yael]

5. Not that she will be the nominee, but if she were somehow to win

It will be SAFTA signed, sealed and delivered before the ink dried on the news reports about it being debated.

[David Zephyr]

6. Hillary's "campaign" or what is left of it has become a joke line now. Nothing more.

A joke.

[Barack_America]

7. So her husband and top campaign advisors are FOR the trade agreement...

But we voters are supposed to believe that she is categorically opposed to it?

Um, no. Sorry, but no.

[blm]

8. Sure, she opposes it - she's in a Dem primary race still. If she had won by Super Tuesday

as she planned, she wouldn't be so 'strenuously' against a trade agreement all the top advisors closest to her are for, including her husband.

[killbotfactory]

9. Bill Clinton is in favor of the trade agreement as well.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/8/155951/7982/918/492329

But then, who wouldn't be in favor of free trade with a country where pro-government paramilitaries runs large amounts of cocaine and butcher union activists on a regular basis?

[berni_mccoy]

10. Ooopsie daisy!

[Zachstar]

11. Your link is messed up please use the link tag in the HTML lookup table!

[DrFunkenstein]

18. The Link Works For Me. Are You Sure There's a Problem?

Let me know.

[Zachstar]

12. The split is going to harm the campaign badly.

Parts of her campaign seem to support the deal and she does not. Leading to chaos.

[Whisp]

14. she should renounce, reject, disown and pounce on bill

for this.
what hipocrisy.

Leave that church, Hill!

[Barack_America]

15. She did call for Obama to split with Goolsbee today...

So what does that mean for Bill?

http://communities.canada.com/shareit/blogs/theelephant/archive/2008/04/08/hillary-clinton-obama-s-nafta-gate-not-dead.aspx

[Celebration]

16. I recommend every response above mine for a Duzy

This thread is sad, funny, and insightful at the same time.

[mdmc]

17. yup

best of gdp