Canada: Didn't mean to suggest Obama's two-faced

Hilary Clinton is the one making this up and she will stop at nothing to destroy the Democratic party if she does not have her way.

'Shame on you Hilary Clinton'.

Please NO MORE Bush/Clinton/Bush-Mccain/Clinton!!!!!!!!!!

Obama '08

Jeff says we shouldn't listen to Canadians, like John Chuckman and others. I wonder if the King of Double Standards has the same view of the Canadian who leaked the "memo"?

What we do up here in Canada with our memos is our business, not yours. It is obvious that the memo was 'distributed' to the press to alleviate any anxiety that Canadians may feel about the future of NAFTA. To use the term 'leak' infers that there is a conspiracy brewing up here to interfere in your political process to the advantage of one candidate over another. Dream on. We have more important things to focus on such as who's going to win the Stanley Cup. The most likey scenario is that the memo is an accurate reflection of what the Obama group said which then became public. If there is a concern, it is yours, not ours.

David Mccaig,

Eh?

Jaxon, to answer your question, no, I don't think foreign countries should be able to determine who our president is. They don't get a vote.

I agree with McCaig, though, that this memo obviously wasn't "leaked." Obama has a history of telling different audiences different things. If he didn't want his two-facedness put on display he should've stuck to one story rather than changing his position depending on who he was speaking to. Pretty typical.

Why am I not surprised that Canada's gov't would get involved in this? They're a bunch of rightwing Bush/Cheney loving tools.

Obama's campaign has just issued a forceful statement in response to the CTV story. Here it is:

"The news reports on Obama's position on NAFTA are inaccurate and in no way represent Senator Obama’s consistent position on trade. When Senator Obama says that he will forcefully act to make NAFTA a better deal for American workers, he means it. Both Canada and Mexico should know that, as president, Barack Obama will do what it takes to create and protect American jobs and strengthen the American economy -- that includes amending NAFTA to include labor and environmental standards. We are currently reaching out to the Canadian embassy to correct this inaccuracy," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
On balance, I'm strongly inclined to believe the Obama camp on this one. He's a guy who has said he's been against NAFTA since he was a candidate for the Senate, and has taken heat for it. The Canadian officials quoted are conservative, pro-NAFTA politicians with an interest in tamping down the push to reform our trade policies. And the article itself is very thinly sourced. My guess is Obama's campaign at some point contacted the Canadian embassy as a courtesy, and that was spun into this story - without direct quotes, of course - claiming his rhetoric would not be followed through on.

Bottom line, however - this story, though likely inaccurate, highlights the need for us all to keep the pressure on both candidates, and ultimately, on the new Democratic administration and Congress in 2009. If we want to reform trade policy, we're going to have to really hold all politicians' feet to the fire.

: From the Politico's Ben Smith - a repudiation of the story now from the Canadian embassy:

A spokesman for the Canadian Embassy to the United States, Tristan Landry, flatly denied the CTV report that a senior Obama aide had told the Canadian ambassador not to take seriously Obama's denunciations of Nafta.

"None of the presidential campaigns have called either the Ambassador or any of the officials here to raise Nafta," Landry said.

He said there had been no conversations at all on the subject.

"We didn't make any calls, they didn't call us," Landry said.

"There is no story as far as we're concerned," he said.

No offense...but if you don't like our media...what the heck are you doing on this blog?

Even the Canadians know Obama (and his defense lawyer, Frank James) is just blowing smoke on NAFTA.

The above memo is just being polite. Even the Prime Minister of Canada has noted that politicians in the U.S. promise things about NAFTA they don't seriously intend to do once away from the campaign stump.

Obama's been caught in yet another lie, and all the defense journalists in the world can't make that lie disappear.

Obama's been caught in yet another lie, and all the defense journalists in the world can't make that lie disappear.

Posted by: Bruce | March 3, 2008 4:47 PM

The return of crybaby Bruce.

Bruce being a died in the wool RNC propaganda TOOL what on earth would you know that The Swamp doesn't. Give my regards to Karl Rove and his surrogate Hillary Clinton. Repeat after me Barack Obama, Barack Obama 2008!

Canada: Didn't mean to suggest Obama's two-faced

We know that. Throwing mud and casting aspersions about Barack Obama is Kiki McClean's job.

Hillary Clintons Sr campaign adviser was on TV tonight doing just that, making disparaging comments and generally engaging in politics that would make Karl Rove proud.

Just like Hillary Clinton implying that Barack Obama might be Muslim. Not that being Muslim is bad, but the fact that Mrs Clinton could have just said nothing, or that Barack Obama has said repeatedly that he's a Christian.

I couldn't care less what religion somebody is but it's yet another example of the below the belt tactics the Clintons have engaged in of late. She keeps digging herself a hole that will be mighty tough to crawl out of.

Hillary Clinton is more of the same old dirty tricks.

This story first appeared last week in the Globe and Mail and other Canadian papers. It is clear that one of Senator's Obama's main advisors tried to assure Canada on the subject of NAFTA by saying that anti-NAFTA speeches were just campaign rhetoric. In other words he didn't mean what he was saying to the voters of Ohio. The issue is to whom was Senator Obama being truthful: the voters of Ohio or the Canadian government? Is Senator Obama a man of his word or merely a man of words?

So a meeting took place, but not the way it was initially described by the Canadian press.

It would be nice to see the memos of all the Canadadian government's contacts with the candidates.

Could the media start asking the candidates about these contacts? And, also, can the media start asking pundits and surrogates if they think the Canadadian government's statement was a lie?

After having the last Presidency HANDED to us, this entire nation has gone underground. And what did we get...war and outsourcing as our reward. ALL HOPE is just about gone until this Senator from Illinois emerged from the ashes like a beacon. And now that hope is being threatened by a ruthless feminist. She and Bill have crossed every line and made it where I will NEVER support a Clinton again. Not even against a republican.

Jeff:

What about John McCain, the king of flip-flops?? First he was against the Bush tax cuts, now he is for them. Then he was against the privitization of SS, now he is for it.

It is clear that one of Senator's Obama's main advisors tried to assure Canada on the subject of NAFTA by saying that anti-NAFTA speeches were just campaign rhetoric. In other words he didn't mean what he was saying to the voters of Ohio. The issue is to whom was Senator Obama being truthful: the voters of Ohio or the Canadian government? Is Senator Obama a man of his word or merely a man of words?

Posted by: ejhickey | March 3, 2008 8:16 PM

So in other words you'll only believe the memo that cast aspersions on Obama but not the one that exonerates him.

"The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."

Case closed.

Do you Obama supporters listen to yourselves?! MY God, it's 2000 all over again! Obama is so great! He can't do wrong! Nevermind what the truth is! It's all the Clinton's fault! The blind and dumb are once again being lead to the the cliff! So long American democracy! Hello Hollywood Politics!

Nevermind what the truth is! The blind and dumb are once again being lead to the the cliff! So long American democracy! Hello Hollywood Politics!

Posted by: Paul | March 4, 2008 12:43 PM

The gospel according to Paul. So we have no right to our opinion. We are dumb and blind. Let me get things straight, if anyone disagrees with Rev Paul American democracy is in danger, and people posting in the Chicago Tribune are now the Hollyweird elite.

Paul the dark sordid underbelly of the American dream stares at you from your bathroom mirror.

Obama 2008 like it or not.