Here’s a little reminder about who Mickey Kantor is:
Mickey Kantor served as U.S. Trade Representative, 1993 to 1997, and as Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton, 1996 to 1997. Kantor was the lead U.S. negotiator in the creation of the World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. He oversaw some 200 trade agreements between the United States and other countries. Kantor served as national chairman for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992, and is a member of the board of several prominent corporations including Monsanto.
And here’s a little reminder about what he thinks of Hoosiers:
Kantor was a Friend of Hillary for her 2000 Senate run (along with FOX News creator/owner Rupert Murdoch) and was recently used in the Indianapolis Star to perpetrate a lie about Hillary Clinton’s early opposition to NAFTA.
Clinton’s campaign pointed to remarks by former Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, former Clinton adviser David Gergen and former Clinton spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers who have said they remember Hillary Clinton being skeptical and unenthusiastic about NAFTA.
But those character witnesses were quickly exposed as unpaid shills:
What is the proper word for the claim by Hillary Clinton and the more factually disinclined supporters of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination – made in speeches, briefings and interviews (including one by this reporter with the candidate) – that she has always been a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement?
Now that we know from the 11,000 pages of Clinton White House documents released this week that former First Lady was an ardent advocate for NAFTA; now that we know she held at least five meetings to strategize about how to win congressional approval of the deal; now that we know she was in the thick of the manuevering to block the efforts of labor, farm, environmental and human rights groups to get a better agreement. Now that we know all of this, how should we assess the claim that Hillary’s heart has always beaten to a fair-trade rhythm?
Now that we know from official records of her time as First Lady that Clinton was the featured speaker at a closed-door session where 120 women opinion leaders were hectored to pressure their congressional representatives to approve NAFTA; now that we know from ABC News reporting on the session that “her remarks were totally pro-NAFTA” and that “there was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time;” now that we have these details confirmed, what should we make of Clinton’s campaign claim that she was never comfortable with the militant free-trade agenda that has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of union jobs, that has idled entire industries, that has saddled this country with record trade deficits, undermined the security of working families in the US and abroad, and has forced Mexican farmers off their land into an economic refugee status that ultimately forces them to cross the Rio Grande River in search of work?
The Clinton’s architect for implementing NAFTA was Mickey Kantor, who says that Hoosiers ‘are shit’. And that’s not all that different from how Hillary views hardworking people that don’t vote for the Clintons.
…a telling anecdote from her husband’s administration shows Hillary Clinton’s attitudes about the “lunch-bucket Democrats” are not exactly pristine.
In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach.
“Screw ’em,” she told her husband. “You don’t owe them a thing, Bill. They’re doing nothing for you; you don’t have to do anything for them.”
Hey, maybe you like free trade. Maybe you like being lied to and called ‘shits’. Maybe you don’t mind having Hillary Clinton advise the president to ‘screw you’. Maybe you should vote for her.
Update [2008-5-2 10:9:30 by BooMan]: This YouTube is even worse.
hat tip to mintosh.
All I can say is “Liagra.”
As an acupuncturist, I treat back spasms regularly. This happens to people, primarily men, who sit in chairs in front of computers all day. I kid you not.
I suggest getting up regularly, like twice or more an hour, drink more fluids, and learn some simple forward bends, as in hatha yoga basic postures. Keeping the legs/thighs stretched really helps too.
Heating pads help, but mostly it’s preventative actions that will tone the stiff back muscles, and keep blood circulating in the muscles. The problem stems from the musculature being compressed for long periods of time, thus restricting blood flow. The tissue is literally starved of oxygen and glucose, and the electrochemical properties that operate muscles goes haywire — electrolyte imbalance from fluid loss and lack of oxygen and food from the blood cause the muscles to contract uncontrollably.
thank you for the advice. I’ve been taking offered advice on a kind of ad hoc basis and some of it (who knows which part) has helped moderately.
Make absolutely certain you don’t have a spinal nerve or spinal cord problem before you do anything active or let anyone do anything manipulative.
It takes time for things to heal and regenerate, be patient.
It’s my understanding that this video is like a million years old. Maybe he likes the people from Indiana now.
no, he is still lying to the people of Indiana.
how does the Obama campaign put this to use without be attacked?
Crooked politicians never die. And they don’t fade away either. They just work in the shadows. Or even in the light of day sometimes.
To take a bit from MacArthur’s farewell address to Congress
“old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
Like Rove.
Oh my gosh – this is the funniest thing I’ve seen yet in this campaign. It tells the story of the past month better than any commentator!
I wrote on this issue in my diary around the time of the Ohio and Texas primaries, when it was the issue du jour.
Lawrence O’Donnell, who managed the Senate Finance committee at that time and was intimately involved in all aspects of the NAFTA issue because of his position, had this to say about the Clinton claim on NAFTA.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23394339/
Right around that time Dee Dee Myers was doing a book tour, and she repeated the claim of Clinton’s unspoken opposition to NAFTA. And once again the claim was contradicted, this time by Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/02/hillary-and-barack-afta-nafta.html
What I found most interesting about the NAFTA debate was how a memo on Austan Goolsbee’s comments to the Canadian embassy was leaked to the Canadian Press. Why would the embassy employee who authored the memo, Joseph DeMora, ever be so indiscreet? Although, we don’t actually know who leaked it to the press. And even more curious was the fact that Harper’s chief of staff, Ian Brodie, had commented to reporters that the Clinton campaign had contacted the Harper government with reassurances concerning NAFTA. The fact that the “wink-wink” to the Canadians apparently came from the Clinton campaign went virtually unreported. The Harper government later denied that it occurred, but this doesn’t explain why Brodie said it.
The comments in the memo that drew the most attention appear to have been DeMora’s own characterization rather than Goolsbee’s actual words. And despite the characterizations of the memo in the press and by the Clinton campaign, the memo — judging from excerpts — doesn’t appear to say anything that differs from what Obama has previously said on the NAFTA issue.
http://www.laborradio.org/node/8036
Very good. If only lies stacked on top of lies could be exposed in 30-second spots.
There was a great diary on Kos a week or so back explaining the whole mess. In short, the Harper gov’t’s in cahoots with the Republicans, accidentally leaked something harmful to Hillary, and outright made up something harmful to Obama to cover it. Chances are that Brodie either made a mistake or was showing off the Harper gov’t’s “tight connections” with the US. Harper and his cronies are what are called “American integrationists” up here. They want Canada to be completely subservient to American interests – preferably a territory or protectorate, as this will make a lot of money for them and their friends. But it’s a very unpopular position, so they have to be sneaky about it.
the new YouTube (in the update) shows that Kantor went on to call Hoosiers ‘worthless white n*ggers. Nice guy.
Where is that footage from? That’s pretty devastating, if that gets out to the people in Indiana who need to see it.
It has to be from The War Room documentary (which I have somewhere on DVD). But it might be from the cutting room floor. I’m not sure.
If anyone has the numbers of talk radio shows in Indianapolis make those calls.
cue lambert strether in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and ACTION
“You guys are all mentally ill and deranged.”