NAFTA-Gate first broke about a week ago and since that time we've seen flat out denials from Hillary's team regarding allegations that they discussed NAFTA with Canadian officials. Today, the Canadian Press ran a story which confirms those denials...
OTTAWA -- Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton never gave Canada any secret assurances about the future of NAFTA such as those allegedly offered by Barack Obama's campaign, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said Friday.With the NAFTA affair swirling over the U.S. election and Canadian officials skittish about saying anything else that might influence the race, it took the PMO two days to deliver the information.
After being asked whether Canadian officials asked for - or received - any briefings from a Clinton campaign representative outlining her plans on NAFTA, a spokeswoman for the prime minister offered a response Friday.
<bold>"The answer is no, they did not," </bold> said Harper spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.
The Canadian Press goes on to report...
That response will come as a relief to the Clinton campaign, which has angrily denied that it has engaged in the kind of double-talking hypocrisy of which it accuses Obama.
Suggestions of hypocrisy cost Obama critical votes in the Ohio and Texas primary - both of which were won by Clinton - and put a stop to his streak of a dozen straight primary wins.
Goolsbee's chat with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago was memorialized in this write up by Joseph DeMora HERE. Now the memo itself isn't all that damning I'll admit - the problem is in the way Camp Obama handled the whole affair. Parsing and denials were the order of the day. DeMora's memo surfaced on March 3rd, and Hillary's campaign posted the following on it's Fact Hub...
Over the last few days, the Obama campaign has made a number of false claims about its communication with the Canadian government regarding Sen. Obama's position on NAFTA.
We now find that there is a memo from the Canadian government that makes clear that the Obama campaign did in fact communicate with the government, making assurances to the Canadian government that are different from what he has told voters.
The following is a compilation of the false denials:
2/27/08 - "Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign insisted that no conversations have taken place with any of its senior ranks and representatives of the Canadian government on the NAFTA issue." [CTV, 2/29/08]2/28/08 - Burton: "Again, this story is not true. There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade." [ABC, 2/29/08]
2/28/08 - Rice: "There had been no contact. There had been no discussions on NAFTA." [MSNBC, 2/28/08]
2/29/08 -- Anchor: "So, completely inaccurate, did not happen, end of discussion." Sen. Obama: "It did not happen." [WKYC TV, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 - Goolsbee: "It is a totally inaccurate story...I did not call these people and I direct you to the press office." [New York Observer, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 - Burton: "There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade." [Politico, 2/29/08]
The following day Politico writer Carrie Budoff Brown posted a report about NAFTA-Gate in which an Obama aide admitted they knew the whole story when it initially broke, and yet they issued denial after denial on it.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Monday night that the campaign had known of the meeting between adviser Austan Goolsbee and Canada's consul general in Chicago since a Canadian television network, CTV, first reported the interaction last Wednesday."When they reported it, we were aware of it at that point," Burton said.
Three days later, reporters were still asking Hillary's campaign about the claim that they also contacted the Canadian government and the posted the following on Fact Hub...
"Unlike the Obama campaign, we can and do flatly deny this report and urge the Canadian government to reveal the name of anyone they think they heard from. The Obama campaign has given a variety of misleading answers to the press and the public about its top economic adviser's contacts with the Canadian government and should come clean about why they did so." - Campaign spokesperson, Phil SingerLast week, CTV reported that a senior member of Obama's campaign called the Canadian embassy, reassuring officials that Sen. Obama's talk on NAFTA was just campaign rhetoric. The initial report carried a strong denial of similar low-level meetings with the Clinton campaign:
"Low-level sources also suggested the Clinton campaign may have given a similar warning to Ottawa, but a Clinton spokesperson flatly denied the claim."
The Clinton campaign also offered blanket immunity to any Canadian official who could provide names of any initiators or recipients of such contacts.In contrast, the Obama campaign refused to confirm or deny the initial report. But over the next two days, Sen. Obama and his campaign made a series of false denials about its communication with the Canadian government about NAFTA. A memo from the Canadian government established that the Obama campaign did have a meeting, making assurances contrary to what Sen. Obama has told voters. A sample of misleading comments from the Obama campaign:
2/28/08 - Burton: "Again, this story is not true. There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade." [ABC, 2/29/08]2/28/08 - Rice: "There had been no contact. There had been no discussions on NAFTA." [MSNBC, 2/28/08]2/29/08 -- Anchor: "So, completely inaccurate, did not happen, end of discussion." Sen. Obama: "It did not happen." [WKYC TV, 2/29/08]2/29/08 - Goolsbee: "It is a totally inaccurate story...I did not call these people and I direct you to the press office." [New York Observer, 2/29/08]
I'm glad they cleared up the part about Hillary. Her campaign did not contact Canadian officials, were not contacted by the Canadian officials and in no way discussed NAFTA with Canadian officials.
No if's, ands or buts.
Meanwhile, last I heard Goolsbee is still trying to deny that he discussed NAFTA during that meeting in Chicago.
Ya know I like that Canadian Press report so much I think it's worth repeating...
After being asked whether Canadian officials asked for - or received - any briefings from a Clinton campaign representative outlining her plans on NAFTA, a spokeswoman for the prime minister offered a response Friday."The answer is no, they did not," said Harper spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.
Maybe now the press and media will stop bothering Hillary's team about this, and focus on why Obama's camp can't get their story straight when it comes to NAFTA-Gate.
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