McCain Touts Free Trade In Colombia

Ariz. Senator Was In The Country When U.S. Hostages Were Freed

(AP)  John McCain hailed the economic benefits of free trade to Colombians Wednesday, raising the possibility of an eventual hemispheric-wide agreement even though a weak economy at home has soured many U.S. voters on trade agreements.

The GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting also toured Colombia's largest port by speedboat to review the country's U.S.-backed drug interdiction programs, a day after he praised President Alvaro Uribe for Colombia's anti-drug efforts but pressed him to improve the government's record on human rights.

McCain was in the country when Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors from leftist guerrillas, but he didn't learn of the rescue until he was aboard a flight to Mexico. Uribe called McCain to inform him of the success.

"He told me some of the details of the rescue, the dramatic details," McCain told reporters. "It's a very high-risk operation. I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia."

The Arizona senator got in several plugs for a proposed U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, opposes, suggesting the tariffs imposed on American goods now exported to Colombia would disappear under the agreement - creating jobs in the United States instead.

McCain was also promoting NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has said would benefit the U.S. economy over time. Such agreements have been deeply unpopular in several general election swing states like Ohio and Michigan.

And he said such trade agreements should be broadened to include other countries.

"I would like to see a hemispheric free trade agreement," McCain said at a news conference here. "I would like to see our continued assistance to countries like Columbia."

Protectionist sentiment at home is worrisome "because history shows that isolationism and protectionism has very unpleasant consequences," McCain said.

But he added: "I am committed to getting every single American displaced from his or her job because of foreign competition ... a new job and a better future."

Obama, who was speaking in Las Vegas to the United Steel Workers annual conference, said trade should work for all Americans and that it was a mistake for the U.S. to open its markets without asking other countries to open theirs.

In remarks aimed at McCain's trade stance, Obama said: "It's not change when he offers four more years of trade agreements that are written by and for corporate lobbyists, agreements that don't protect our workers, don't protect our environment, and ignore the plight of workers abroad. That isn't change."

McCain wrapped up a visit to Colombia and was headed to Mexico on a two-day Latin American swing he insisted was not intended to be political.

McCain began the day visiting a Naval hospital, where he handed out awards to soldiers wounded by improvised explosive devices.

Touring the Port of Cartagena, McCain rode a boat operated by the Colombian Navy but paid for by U.S. funds under Plan Colombia, a ten year, $5 billion effort to stem the flow of cocaine and other drugs out of the country. The fleet of boats, dubbed the Midnight Express, patrol the port day and night, intercepting other boats suspected of carrying illegal drugs out of the port.

"There is a long way to go to stem the flow of drugs into the United States of America," McCain said. "The progress I've seen since previous visits here has been substantial and positive, while recognizing that in human rights and other issues, progress still needs to be made."

He also reviewed Plan Colombia-sponsored efforts to search cargo containers suspected of smuggling drugs aboard large ships coming in and out of the port.

The Arizona senator is accompanied on the trip by his wife, Cindy.

[jtyler271]

****** News Flash ***************

After rigorously campaigning in Columbia, Canada, and Mexicao, McCain has surged ahead of Obama in those countries. He has also had a bump in the polls in England after his wife Cindy campaigned there.

Obama has focused on the US, and has risen in the polls there. Obama said that he has no immediate plans to campaign in Columbia because McCains lead is still within the margin of error.

Posted by kansas1946 at 07:17 PM : Jul 02, 2008

Quite possibly the funniest thing I have read all week.

[samsel3]

Let''s see........a new plane for the campaign, and a trip to Colombia and Mexico with his side kick Joe " The Weasel" liebermann.

Maybe they needed to stock up on Colombian cocaine & Mexican marijuana for the party............

[samsel3]

I understand that McCain can''''t stand the sound of Rattling Keyes. It''s supposed to set him off....

Ever notice how even tempered he is now as compared to before his run for office.

Maybe he''s taking Prozac. It sure looks like they have him medicated.

[DCropp]

Senator McCain, anyone who supports free trade with Colombia is a traitor in my book.

Colombians make less than a thousand dollars a year. They are not going to buy American products.

However, Colombians will be happy to see American businesses close factories in the US and open new ones in Colombia. They will be happy to sell their goods in the USA.

It''s time we call these proponents of free trade what they really are. Americans have not been this betrayed by our government since before the Revolution.

If McCain wants to continue King George''s policies of sending our jobs elsewhere, he better be ready for the Revolution. Support of free trade is the equivalent of Benedict Arnold.

[jmurrieta1]

Maybe Budweiser wants to start selling Coca-Cola, with real coca!

Then Cindy would be worth $200 mill, and she and John could buy even more votes.

[samthetvcat]

-----"I would like to see a hemispheric free trade agreement," McCain said at a news conference here. "I would like to see our continued assistance to countries like Columbia."-----

ha ha ha - this guy''s a walking talking gaffe machine . . . please tell me they got this on video because it''s a moveon.org ad just waiting to happen. Aren''t people just fed up to here of politicians caring more about the needs of the citizens of other countries rather than digging in and working on the tough issues here at home - like soaring gas prices, affordable healthcare, job losses, and declining housing prices in the suburbs?

This is the guy who thinks he ought to be elected because he saved a couple of bucks outsourcing our military contracts to France.

[sleepyric]

Er...pardon me John, but shouldn''t you be HERE instead of Columbia?? We want to hear what you are going to do HERE...not in Columbia.

[mswolfestock]

McCain has not lost touch with middle America (or everybody else who''s not a rich republican) so much as he has never been in touch in the first place.

[ronald56_98]

We do not need anymore job destroying trade deals, particularly with countries like Colombia, considering their record of human rights abuse.

Considering the adverse impact these trade deals are having on American families -- millions of jobs lost -- McCain appears to have lost touch with the heartland.

Please forgive my derogatory remark but McCain has a rich wife. McCain does not have to worry about skyrocketing gasoline prices, skyrocketing food cost, mortgage foreclosures and a host of other economic problems families in the heartland are confronted with daily.

[kissamaarse]

He touts free trade with Colombia because his chief advisor, Charlie Black, is a lobbyist on the payroll of the Colombian government. The elitist, pathologically hypocritical Double Talk Express is in full swing.

[frootloop47]

The latest NEWSWEEK Poll shows OBAMA with a 15-point lead over McCain.

[omaar-101]

Webb GI Bill Passes Senate, McCain Skips Vote !!

Note: John Mccain, What A Patriot, What A Hero, what an American Vet !!

Obama & Webb: What Radical Liberals...Ha !!!

Irony: That Lying George Bush Jr. gave Credit to John McCain, knowing Full Well, he had Nothing to do with the Bill or it`s Passing !!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008

/06/30/bush-wrongly-credits-mcca_n_110
02
4.html

Senate Republicans have broken with President Bush to help Democrats add support for veterans and the unemployed to a bill paying for another year of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The 75-22 vote also added billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to the $165 billion for the military operations overseas.

...The huge tally in the Senate was driven by $15.6 billion over two years to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and more than $50 billion over the upcoming decade to provide returning Iraq war veterans with sharply increased college aid.


Both Sens. Obama and Clinton voted in (Favor of the Bill.)

Note: Sen. McCain Skipped the vote

[mswolfestock]

Did anybody catch McCain being interviewed on ABC News Wednesday evening? I am here to tell you that he showed his true colors. They were on the plane returning from Columbia; talk turned to former General Wesley Clark''s comments RE: McCain not being qualified to be President based solely on his experience as a POW.

After McCain made a comment RE: it''s now up to Obama to distance himself from Clark, the reporter pinned him down. The question went something like this: "Well, then, can you tell us specifically how your experience as a POW has prepared or equipped you to be President?" The camera goes to McCain, and you can tell he wants to explode! He fidgets around, and then finally he says, and I quote, "Oh please."

THAT''S IT!! The reporter then said that it "took McCain several minutes to compose himself before he could go back on camera."

Then when McCain got back on camera, here was his answer: "I learned to love my country when I was deprived of it."

This poor man needs some help, NOW. I don''t think he will make it to November, especially if people keep on him RE: his non-existent qualifications. He''s just like a lot of other war casualties who did not receive adequate counseling and help once they got out of the war.

[frootloop47]

Cindy Hensley McCain: In 2000, she became chair of the now $300-million-a-year Hensley & Co.[37] ...
By 2007, she had an annual income of over $400,000 from Hensley & Co. and an estimated net worth of $100 million.
Ref: wiki

Hmmm,
Income seems straight forward.
So what is so SECRET about her income tax returns.
What is in there that she doesn''''t want people to see.
Hmmm

[omaar-101]

Note: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.

Their credit card bills peaked between January 2007 and May 2008, during which time Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another, while one of their two dependent children had an AmEx card with a monthly balance as large as $50,000.

[omaar-101]

Yet it is Barack & Michelle Obama who are the `Elitist` Though the Obama`s just Recently Paid Off Their Student Loans !!!



During the 2004 presidential campaign, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune was estimated to be worth more than $750 million, eventually released comparably limited information about her finances after repeated demands from Republicans who asserted the public%u2019s right to know because they said her finances were intertwined with those of her husband%u2019s presidential campaign.

The Kerry campaign had benefited from a $6.4 million personal loan Sen. Kerry secured using, as collateral, equity in a Boston townhouse the couple jointly owned.

Likewise, John McCain%u2019s presidential campaign benefited from Cindy McCain%u2019s fortune, using a `Legal Loophole` to travel the country in a Jet Owned by her company for Cut-Rate Fares.

Real Elitist: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.

[omaar-101]

Webb GI Bill Passes Senate, McCain Skips Vote !!

Note: John Mccain, What A Patriot, What A Hero, what an American Vet !!

Obama & Webb: What Radical Liberals...Ha !!!

Irony: That Lying George Bush Jr. gave Credit to John McCain, knowing Full Well, he had Nothing to do with the Bill or it`s Passing !!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008
/06/30/bush-wrongly-credits-mcca_n_11002
4.html

Senate Republicans have broken with President Bush to help Democrats add support for veterans and the unemployed to a bill paying for another year of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The 75-22 vote also added billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to the $165 billion for the military operations overseas.

...The huge tally in the Senate was driven by $15.6 billion over two years to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and more than $50 billion over the upcoming decade to provide returning Iraq war veterans with sharply increased college aid.


Both Sens. Obama and Clinton voted in (Favor of the Bill.)

Note: Sen. McCain Skipped the vote

[jack3213]

Obama is radical liberal pretending to be in the middle and promising Change he has no business doing- since he is not experianced in so many areas of life nor a true American patriot. For those who support a church going elitist hating the USA for 20 years be aware Obama is nothing more than a true hypocrit. If you worked hard all your life, for example, and happen to be rich you SHOULD NOT be obligated to give to the poor, as he wants, the poor need to work hard, too, like all the rest of us. You might not get rich, in this life, but you need to live with honorable American standards.

MCCAIN WILL WIN.

[gun661]

you rich retards are trying to destroy us.....i drive a four

[gun661]

retareds give up please