I want you to watch this video:
Now I want you to read this account of a November 10, 1993 meeting on NAFTA that occurred at the White House (emphasis mine):
Two attendees of that closed-door briefing, neither of whom are affiliated with any campaign, describe that event for ABC News. It was a room full of women involved in international trade. David Gergen served as a sort of master of ceremonies as various women members of the Cabinet talked up NAFTA, which had yet to pass Congress.
“It wasn’t a drop-by it was organized around [Hillary’s] participation,” said one attendee. “Her remarks were totally pro-NAFTA and what a good thing it would be for the economy. There was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time.
David Gergen went on national television to tell the nation (and the people of Ohio) that Hillary Clinton strongly objected to NAFTA prior to its passage. Yet, David Gergen, himself, organized a meeting between Hillary Clinton and ‘women involved in international trade’ where Clinton unambiguously boosted NAFTA. David Sirota has a list of other examples where Hillary Clinton boasted about NAFTA, including in her own autobiography. Jake Tapper reports:
And as the AP reports today, the recently released 11,000-plus pages of her First Lady “schedules show her holding at least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping to win congressional approval of the deal.”
This inconsistency can be resolved if David Gergen wants to tell us that Hillary Clinton worked her butt off to help pass NAFTA because it was an important priority of her husband, but that she personally disagreed with the policy. We all could somewhat understand that. I think it would be an odd use of her time and credibility, especially when Health Care was her portfolio, but she can shill for policies she doesn’t believe in all she wants if it serves the interests of her husband. We, however, reserve the right to pass harsh judgment on such calculating cynicism. All those ‘women involved in international trade’ that took Hillary at her word will probably be disappointed to learn that she didn’t believe in the very policy she was so robustly advocating.
However, the converse is probably the truth. Clinton’s strong advocacy of NAFTA prior to its passage and her consistent praise of NAFTA ever since (up until this campaign), as well as her leadership role in the pro-free trade Democratic Leadership Council, all indicate that was not lying then…she (and David Gergen) are lying now. Watch it again.
