TORONTO, March 7, 2008
Report: Clinton Team Also Talked To Canada
Canadian Press Says Someone From Campaign Gave Assurances To PM's Office That Her Harsh Words Were For Show
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., signs autographs for supporters before speaking at the 26th Annual Jefferson-Jackson-Hamer Day Dinner at the Canton Multipurpose & Equine Center in Canton, Miss., Thursday, March 6, 2008. (AP)
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The report comes just days after a Canadian government memo stated Barack Obama's senior economic adviser told Canadian officials that the Illinois senator's own comments about NAFTA were for "political positioning." The release of that memo helped Clinton defeat Obama decisively in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Ohio, where the trade treaty is unpopular.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Press quoted an unidentified source as saying that Ian Brodie, Harper's chief of staff, made the comment last week to a crew for Canada's CTV television network during a press gathering to discuss Canada's budget. According to a person with knowledge of the incident, the source was a CTV journalist.
The Canadian Press story said a CTV reporter asked Brodie about remarks by Clinton and Obama that they would seek to renegotiate NAFTA.
"He said someone from Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. ... That someone called us and told us not to worry," the journalist quoted Brodie as saying, according to the report.
On Thursday, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said the campaign "flatly denied" the suggestion that a Clinton adviser had told Canadian government officials to take the candidate's tough talk on NAFTA with "a grain of salt."
Brodie did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
"Ian Brodie is alleged to have made an offhand comment about a rumor to a reporter. He does not recall saying it," Sandra Buckler, a spokeswoman for Harper, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Some Democrats, as well as Canadian opposition parties, have accused Harper's Conservative government of meddling in the U.S. primary elections - in which Obama is in a close race with Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination.
In Ottawa, Canadian opposition parties demanded Brodie be fired.
Harper told lawmakers in Parliament that the government would investigate the entire affair, referring to the alleged leaks about both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.
"We're going to investigate this entire matter and take whatever action that is deemed necessary based on the facts that we are able to discover," Harper said, a day after he called the release of the memo unfair and possibly illegal.
Canada's New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton blasted the alleged leaks.
"There can be no doubt about it: The leak from within the Canadian government has had an impact now on the American elections," Layton said. "That is about the worst thing a country could do to another country - to have an effect on their democratic process."
The U.S. ambassador to Canada called the release of the memo "unfortunate."
"The prime minister yesterday stated that it was regretful that it happened and it shouldn't have happened," Ambassador David Wilkins told the AP on Thursday. "Now we need to get it behind us and move forward and continue to actuate the positive and build on this great relationship we do have."
Both Obama and Clinton said last week they would use the threat of pulling out of NAFTA to persuade Canada and Mexico to negotiate more protections for workers and the environment in the agreement.
NAFTA is unpopular among many blue collar workers in the United States who say it has cost American jobs.
A CTV report last week by Washington-based journalist Tom Clark said that both the Obama and Clinton campaigns gave Canada assurances over NAFTA. But the report led with Obama, and all the attention since then has been on his campaign.
Clark told the AP he had multiple sources on his story including a senior official at the Canadian embassy in Washington.
His TV report said a senior member of the Obama campaign contacted Canada's ambassador in Washington and told him any tough talk on NAFTA would just be campaign rhetoric. The Canadian embassy and the Obama campaign have both denied this.
Clark's report also quoted sources as saying the Clinton campaign made "indirect contact" with the Canadian government to express their support for NAFTA. The Clinton campaign has denied this too.
A 1,300-word memo obtained by the AP on Sunday, widely circulated within the Canadian government, said Obama's senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, told Canadian officials in Chicago that the debate over free trade in the Democratic presidential campaign was "political positioning."
Goolsbee later said his comments were misinterpreted, and Obama denied offering the Canadians any such ideas. "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything," Obama told reporters Monday in Texas.
Harper earlier denied his chief of staff leaked that memo, but didn't say anything about the CTV's report last week.
ABC last week reported that Brodie was Clark's source. Earlier this week, Buckler, the Harper spokeswoman, said "Brodie does not recall discussing the matter."
On Monday, Clinton seized upon the memo to criticize Obama.
"I think that's the kind of difference between talk and action that I've been talking about," Clinton told reporters while campaigning in Ohio. "It raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches against NAFTA."
The Canadian Press report raises questions about the Clinton campaign doing the same.
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See all 73 CommentsPosted by jntlw
Does a clinton being a liar suprise anyone? It is the core of who they are.
There should be a do-over of the Ohio election. This whole thing is bringing back memories of the eight years of Clinton Sleaze.
"A 1,300-word memo obtained by the AP on Sunday, widely circulated within the Canadian government, said Obama''s senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, told Canadian officials in Chicago that the debate over free trade in the Democratic presidential campaign was "political positioning."
Goolsbee later said his comments were misinterpreted, and Obama denied offering the Canadians any such ideas. "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything," Obama told reporters Monday in Texas.
Posted by jone775
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A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth can get it''s pants on......Winston Churchill
This is something that liars know very, very well. Telling a lie at a strategic moment will get the desired results, and the truth will come, but too late....
You stated the the"TV report [CTV] said a senior member of the Obama campaign contacted Canada''s ambassador in Washington and told him any tough talk on NAFTA would just be campaign rhetoric. The Canadian embassy and the Obama campaign have both denied this."
Paul Loeb, Huffington Post, writes%u2026
%u201C%u2026But as the CBC report and others makes clear, the core of the story turned out to be false. The Canadian government contacted Goolsbee to clarify Obama''s position on trade, not the reverse. Although Goolsbee did meet with Canada''s Chicago consul general George Rioux (not, as was reported in the original leak, Ambassador Michael Wilson), there''s no evidence that he ever described Obama''s position as mere political posturing. Instead, Goolsbee responded to Canadian questions by clarifying that Obama wasn''t pushing to scrap the agreement entirely, but that labor and environmental safeguards were important to him. The memo was simply inaccurate, as even the Harper government now acknowledges after a firestorm of criticism by opposition parliament members, who''ve accused the Harper government of trying to help their Republican allies across the border by trying to take down the likely and stronger of the Democratic candidates%u2026%u201D
Wow, HRC said one thing and did another? I can hardly believe it. Now if she can just get all the lemmings to forget that she pledged not to campaign in Florida and then did she might just steal this election after all.
Enough talk! They wish to subvert the democratic process! They wish to destroy our way of life! To arms, my fellow Americans, to war we go again, against Canada!
Hmm, let''s hope we don''t get our butts kicked again, like they did to us last time.
Posted by pakaal at 04:32 PM : Mar 07, 2008"
Yea....well we didn''t want that frozen wasteland anyway? Well except for maybe Ontario...and New Brunswick is nice and Nova Scotia, PEI, Quebec, Saskatchewan, B.C., the Yukon...Right, we never really wanted Newfoundland!
And, my greatest thrill is to watch the Dems select Billary and wait the coattails convince me to vote for an anti-American like Bill Clinton to a third bite of the apple. Listening will be a blast! The laughter when they leave will be infectious.
The Clinton Foundation must be vetted for foreign interests.
Happiness is winning a Presidency with honor.
Obama reached people in FL through the internet and you call such campaign against a former first-lady with name recognition, fair? Yeah, I have a used car and you have a new lexus; and we both have cars?
What about a 50/50 split. Participation and Punishment for breaking the rules...oh, that''s not fair?
The quesion comes down to...why would Brodie, in the middle of Budget talks, whimsically start talking to the press about US primary conversations at all? What, we''re to believe this was idle chit-chat? Not a chance.
The fact is that he had not spoken to anyone from the Obama camp.
Posted by cemlo2 at 05:33 PM : Mar 07, 2008
The Obama camp has admitted Goolsbee did speak to Canadian officials but what was said was taken out of context. I am sure the NAFTA debate in the US was being talked about in Canada especially when the memo surfaced. NAFTA does involve Canada after all. So I have no problem believing it got brought up. Brodie was said to have made an offhand comment about a rumor, which he claims not to remember making. You need a little more than unidentified sources and rumors to make a news story legitimate.
AND IN MICHIGAN, CLINTON WAS THE ONLY NAME ON THE BALLOT; EVERYONE ELSE FOLLOWED THE RULES.WHY SHOULD THOSE TWO RIGGED PRIMARY ELECTIONS COUNT FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN FRAUD? IN TEXAS THERE ARE REPORTS OF CLINTON STAFF TAKING OFF WITH CAUCUS SIGN IN SHEETS.
It''s seems reasonable to conclude that the friends of Bush in Ottawa have a Hillary tilt.
I wonder why? It''s possible that the answer could be found in the Clinton tax returns or the list of foreign donors to the Clinton Presidential Library which they also refuse to release.
Hillary is part of the problem not part of the solution.
First of all, her main argument for why she is more qualified than Obama is that she has more experience than he does. I guess she believes that being married to a president makes you qualified to be one because she doesn%u2019t really have much experience in any position other than First Lady; if that makes you qualified to run the country than I guess her argument holds true.
Second, Hillary had slammed Obama for his supposed contact with Canada to reassure the Canadian Government that he did not really dislike NAFTA; he was just saying he did for political gain in the presidential race and he would then go back to supporting NAFTA after the election.
Then we come to find out it was ACTUALLY HILLARY CLINTON who had contacted the Canadian government to ensure them that she would not change the trade deals the US has with Canada but she needed to be critical of NAFTA for the short run because her opponent had been making headway by not supporting NAFTA in REAL POLICY.
Third, Clinton blasted Obama for his implied connection to Rezno, who has been investigated for fraud and Hillary has cried corruption and lamented about ethics.
HELLO%u2026DOES ANYONE REMEMBER A LITTLE THING CALLED WHITEWATER!!
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Posted by sierra20071 at 06:40 PM : Mar 07, 2008
+ report abuse
Bull. It was madse clear the rules. Now that she can''t win by the rules she''ll cheat to win
They claim Clinton is secretive about her finances...when she has had tp release tax records year after year, and has had more scrutiny to her finances over the years than anyone else in the country.
They try to claim the Canadian NAFTA scandal is Clinton''s mess, when the Obama camp has admitted that, contrary to what they originally said, their camp did indeed talk to the Canadians and give reassurances.
They ask for her to explain her experience, and she does. And they ignore it and keep asking it as if she never resp;onded.
They ask her to back up her foreign policy experience. She does. They ignore it and keep asking as if she never responded.
They bring up a lawsuit by a spurned businessman looking for vengeance. But they never mention that the claim against Hillary was thrown out of court because of no evidence 2 years ago and was upheld in appeals court.
Obama is aksed to give specifics on his plans. He really doesn''t, (yes i have been to his website and read his white paper). instead he chants "Yes We Can" and preaches hope, and ignores the questions.
I guess it takes a lot of years, maturity and experience to learn that ignoring things does not make them go away.
Even the Canadian media are trying to sway the democratic primary.
Let''s give the Canadian GOP some payback when it''s their heads on the chopping block - Canadian liberals, thanks for getting to the bottom of this!
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