itsmeeeeeee

Top aide to Canada PM sparked NAFTA spat: reports

Top aide to Canada PM sparked NAFTA spat: reports - Yahoo! News

29 minutes ago

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A major controversy over the sincerity of U.S. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's attacks on NAFTA was triggered by the top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, media reports said on Thursday.


Harper has promised an investigation into the leak of a memo on a discussion between Canadian diplomats and a member of Obama's team. The memo said the Obama advisor indicated the criticism of the free trade agreement was primarily political.

Obama's team denied he was being insincere but rival Hillary Clinton said the memo showed her opponent could not be trusted. Both candidates blame NAFTA for U.S. job losses and vow to change or even abandon the deal, an act that could cripple Canada's economy.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Canadian Press said Harper's chief of staff Ian Brodie had initially played down criticism of NAFTA from the Clinton camp.

The organizations said Brodie told reporters from the CTV network last week that someone from the Clinton campaign was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt." CTV probed the remark and then ran a story focusing on Obama.

Harper's chief spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. CBC quoted her as saying Brodie did not recall mentioning NAFTA during his talk with CTV.

The affair is an embarrassment for Harper's right-leaning Conservative government, which won power in 2006 by promising to restore more morality to politics.

Critics, who accuse Harper of being too close to U.S. President George W. Bush, said the spat would damage relations with Washington if Obama won the presidential election.

A Clinton advisor told reporters on Wednesday that the furor had helped her win primary contests in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday.

Harper said on Wednesday that the leak was "blatantly unfair" to Obama's campaign. CBC quoted an unnamed Obama advisor as saying the leak was "really, really stupid."

The chances of Brodie losing his job would appear to be remote. Harper, who does little to hide his contempt for the media, is fiercely loyal to his staff.

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Veronica

I am sure the President Clinton may have had a hand in this. This is the slimy politics I am talking about. It was Clinton's team that said take the comments with a grain of salt. Why isn't this all over the news?????

itsmeeeeeee

hey hillary! can you say "NAFTA-GATE"?

YES, this definitely has the clinton's and the bush/gop's stench ALL over it!

they BOTH want hillary to get that nomination!

and they have now demonstrated that they aren't above doing ANYTHING IT TAKES - going even to the point of international interference in a U.S. election!

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Veronica

Where the "F" is the media on this. They don't want to inflame hostilities against the Canadians??? Where is Edwards?? He can not back this kind of BS politics.

HarperLee

Our MSM doesn't want to inflame Hillary Clinton.

An apology from a contributor to Daily Kos, 03/04/08, 8:41 p.m.

Apology from a Canadian about Obama/NAFTA Lie:


I saw a report on CBC (our public broadcaster) yesterday that said Canadian diplomats approached an Obama advisor because they were alarmed about Obama's NAFTA renegotiation comments. When the aid didn't reassure them, they created the lie that Obama told the Canadian gov't the tough talk on NAFTA was election rhetoric. Our Prime Minister has since denied that Obama said this to his gov't. He also apologized for the leak. And he has promised to investigate and fire whoever is responsible (I am not holding my breath).

I would never vote for our Conservative Party, but I still feel sick to my stomach about this. I fear that Canada cost Obama the Ohio primary, and maybe the nomination(still believe he will pull it out).

So again, I apologize on behave of all Canadians. Most of us would love to see Obama as the next POTUS. And I hope to repay youwhenever our next election is called.

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neptune

Sadly, it's looking like the blurb yesterday about an Edwards endorsement was bullshit.

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Did Clinton Win Ohio on a Lie?
by Paul Rogat Loeb

Suppose someone in the North Korean government released a false story that shifted a key American election. If Bush were negatively affected, we might be bombing Pyongyang by now. But this just happened with what Hillary Clinton called "NAFTAgate" Without it, she might never have won Ohio, or her margin would have been minuscule. But as a Canadian Broadcasting Company story reveals, practically the entire story was a lie, one that played so central a role in Clinton's Ohio victory that any claim she raises about emerging with a swing state mandate is thoroughly tainted.

Rest of article: http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/13269

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Holy Mudhead, mackerel! Morse Science High!
It's....disappeared!
-- Firesign Theatre

itsmeeeeeee

excellent question... but then, they wouldn't want to "pick on" hillary, now would they?

i emailed cnn and asked why they weren't digging into this story.
i suggest you contact all of the media outlets, too.

edwards - pffffft. i' really diappointed that he hasn't shown the courage of his own convictions since he dropped out of the race.

but i won't condemn him, as i don't know what he and elizabeth are going through right now with her cancer. could be they have bigger problems than this stuff, and i wish them both well.

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neptune

It's disappointing, about Edwards. *sigh* Last I heard they started that Iraq/Recession effort with MoveOn. Otherwise, they're MIA.

Edit: Also, her father died within the last week -- so they've been dealing with that on top of whatever else.

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Holy Mudhead, mackerel! Morse Science High!
It's....disappeared!
-- Firesign Theatre

Black_Knight

Doesn't matter if the story is a lie, the right and enemies of Obama will still repeat the story until it becomes true.

itsmeeeeeee

that's why obama supporters have to email the info to everyone they know and everytime they hear the lie, debunk it!

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