Hillary Clinton Comes Out Against TPP

[Raine1967]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Wednesday, breaking with President Barack Obama on the 12-nation trade deal that is set to become a key part of his legacy.

"As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it," Clinton told Judy Woodruff of PBS "Newshour."

"I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages and advance our national security. And I still believe that's the high bar we have to meet," she said. "I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the agreement. But I'm worried. I'm worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement. We've lost American jobs to the manipulations that countries, particularly in Asia, have engaged in. I'm worried the pharmaceutical companies may have gotten more benefits -- and patients and consumers fewer. I think there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

Progressives have been pushing Clinton for months to take a position on TPP, since Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), two of her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, came out against it long ago.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-tpp_56157832e4b0fad1591a9289

[geek tragedy]

1. That will be one interesting vote in February 2016.

Obama will be for it.

Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley against it.

Presumably Jeb! and Thirsty Marco will be for it, Trump and Crazy Ben will probably be against it.

What will House Republicans do?

[ram2008]

2. Flip Flop Flashback

Hillary in 2012: "..we need to keep upping our game both bilaterally and with partners across the region through agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP. Australia is a critical partner. This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world's total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/politics/45-times-secretary-clinton-pushed-the-trade-bill-she-now-opposes/"

Lol! But I guess it's a good thing.

[merrily]

64. We've just seen the flip. We'll see the flop if she gets the nomination.

[winstars]

3. Hillary haters complaining in 3, 2, 1...

Too late
Too early
Didn't say enough
Said too much
Flip-Flop

[retrowire]

5. or...

maybe we're allowed to express skepticism?

no?

oh then I'll just be quiet then.

[SoapBox]

8. You just be quiet and march your

Zombie self to the polls for, ya know, The Inevitable One because that's what The Entrenched Establishment Crowd tells you to do.

[SoapBox]

6. At least she's predictable!

Guess this was where the Weathervane stopped...for today anyway.

[riversedge]

9. or...

my--- candidate said no a long time ago.

[dogknob]

15. Use of "Haters?" Check. naming possible arguments as if doing so invalidates them magically?

Check.

Welcome to Discussionist.

[Control-Z]

17. She hasn't been privy to what was in it

once she left her position as SOS. Think maybe a lot of changes were made in the 3 years since?

[Jim Lane]

30. Any mook with a search engine has been privy to a lot of what's in it.

For example, per her statement, she's "worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement"? That was known months ago. USTR said it wasn't in, and the Secretary of the Treasury said it wouldn't BE in because the US wouldn't even try for it because there was so much opposition.

Several chapters have been published in leaked near-final drafts. We'll see if "maybe a lot of changes were made" from the drafts that were widely available.

My guess is that the most objectionable provisions are in substantially the same form as they were when she left office. The negotiating has been over fine points, such as the exact number of years of patent protection for new drugs.

[Control-Z]

32. Yeah, because leaked docs

are so complete and reliable.

[daleanime]

42. And we been allowed....

any better information?

[Jim Lane]

54. The leaks were not denied. I suspect we'll now learn that they were fairly close to the final.

In the leaked versions, perhaps the single point that's drawn the most flak is the ISDS. Is anyone suggesting that there was nothing remotely like that in the version under negotiation as of Clinton's departure from State? It's really integral to the whole scheme.

Let Clinton explain to us how the version that Congress will vote on differs from the one that she described as "the gold standard". I'll be fascinated to hear what changes in the polls in the agreement precipitated her change of heart.

[DonCoquixote]

60. frrankly

if someone with her connections and power as SOS did not see any bugs under the hood, she is either a fool, or a liar, neither of which offers any comfort.

[merrily]

66. Shame on you for not capitalizing Mook's name!

[Jim Lane]

69. I was standing in solidarity with the DUers who do not have a "caps friendly" keyboard.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

[merrily]

70. es verdad, mi hermano, venceremos

[billhicks76]

20. Hating Two Faced Politicians

Too little IS too late. Your so smart to see that coming. Lol. When it mattered she was silent and trust me supports it. Look at Honduras and the crime she supported there. The fact is TPP is set so now she Pretends she was against it and you wonder why people hate her? You need to take the goggles off.

[raindaddy]

23. Wondering if all the Hillary lovers who argued in support of the TPP will flip as well..

[Auggie]

24. I'm not a hater, but it is too late

[ozone_man]

41. We'll take it as a positive.

But keep close scrutiny. Yes, it is likely a calculated ploy to draw in the left/environmentalists.

[24601]

50. Stomp out bullying from those who follow HRC's methodology of accusing anyone who doesn't

supported of being a hater - or a right wing fanatic or whatever.

And doing it preemptively as well!

Sounds like the vast third-way conspiracy trying to muzzle our legitimate opinions. I will not submit to this bullying.

Believing she's not the best choice for the Presidency is not hating - got it.

[artislife]

52. Can we help it if WE are paying attention? nt

[merrily]

65. Which one of those would actually be false again?

[Hiraeth]

4. well, duh.

[SandersDem]

7. If Hillary came out against it now...

the wind must be blowing against TPP....perhaps we have reached a critical mass of objection and this thing can be stopped.

I will give her credit for making the right decision here, but my vote is going to the guy I never doubted.

[OrwellwasRight]

39. +1

[daleanime]

43. Or it a done deal....

so anything say now doesn't matter.

[artislife]

53. I tend to this is correct, saddly. nt

[merrily]

67. Or a candidate who is making her seem somewhat more evitable is against it.

I can't take this seriously. Once the primary is over, she'll say she was referring to some tiny bit of it that she wanted to see changed, but it's better to have the TPP as is than to do without it entirely. I'm staying with the description of "gold standard" she gave it previously as being her actual position.

[NonMetro]

10. Again, She's The Last Horse Out Of The Barn! It's A Distubing Pattern With Her!

It's like the Planned Parenthood thing: Bernie denounced the GOP as soon as those phony videos came out, Hillary about 2 months later! Her campaign people need to have a long talk with her about this. A really loooooooong talk! And not next year!

[Blue_Tires]

11. Even though she's been helping negotiate it??

Seems legit...

[pampango]

12. I have my doubts too but her involvement did end 2 1/2 years ago. There have been many

negotiations and changes since then.

[Bubzer]

14. Perhaps the fix is in...

[Control-Z]

18. She had been.

She had been helping negotiate it. She was helping while SOS. Think perhaps some changes were made since?

[artislife]

55. This is from 2013

http://infojustice.org/tpp


Does it sound like a great trade agreement with only roses and rainbows for the American, hell--- global, worker?


NAFTA screwed pretty much everyone but the corporations who made a lot of money.

[The River]

13. What They Say

and what they do after being elected are often two different things as Obama has proved.
I'll stick with someone who doesn't have to be pressured to do the right thing.

[d_legendary1]

22. Pressured to do the right thing FOR VOTES!!!

Let's get it right! If Republicans won't vote for Conserve-Dems why should I or any left-leaning individual for that matter?

[TeamPooka]

16. The Bernie Effect. nt

[dbackjon]

19. Good news

[Robbins]

21. what this says

they are hoping this ends her failing poll numbers.

I see a satregry forming going into first debate.try selling herself as true progressive in race.Hope this scares off Biden.and say
everything you like about bernie you get from me but i have been tested against the republicans.

It would last long enough to win nomination.then she starts to move back to the right.

[restorefreedom]

27. exactly. nt

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

25. Never believe a word the Clintons say on trade

Remember how Bill vowed in 1992 that he was going to "stop coddling Chinese dictators?"

Instead, he ended up giving them permanent Most Favored Nation status, opening the doors for outsourcing to Beijing's labor force of prisons and sweatshops.

They'll sell out labor again in a heartbeat. It's the DLC way.

Anyone who falls for this again is a gullible sap.

[tularetom]

31. You didn't have to add the "on trade" part

They've been lying to us for 20 years and getting away with it because we were convinced that republicans were the only alternative.

This TPP thing is just the latest scam. She's convinced the thing is going to go through so her opposition is meaningless. She had nothing to gain by supporting it, just like the Keystone pipeline, which, due to the falling price of oil, won't get built for a long time, if ever.

[restorefreedom]

26. this is a calculated political decision.

One criticism I have never leveled against Hillary is the one that says she's not smart. The debates are in a week. Bernie is positioned to clean her clock on every major issue. By adopting his positions in some cases several decades after he did, and claiming them as her own, she'll be able to sound like the big heroine who's the front runner to beat Trump.

this is all designed to minimize what was destined to be a horrible debate performance by Hillary and to water down the contrast between her and Bernie. She also gave her self wiggle room in the way that she said she was against it by saying something like the way we know it to be now. I don't doubt for a minute that if she were to get into the presidency she would turn around and support her corporate friends and sell us all out.

and, the lateness with which she made this decision shows once again that she is a follower and not a leader.

[rury]

35. K&R!!!!

and, the lateness with which she made this decision shows once again that she is a follower and not a leader.

DAMN STRAIGHT!!

[Maedhros]

28. Just the other day, a poster predicted that Hillary would do this --

-- with nearly EXACTLY the same wording -- right after the TPP was approved and it was too late to stop it.

Hats off to that poster.

[randome]

29. "As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it."

Is that the same as being against it? I don't think so. She's hedging her bets, rarely a good thing to see but somewhat understandable since she's a politician.

Headline writers get too excited sometimes, I think.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[arcane1]

56. Methinks the headline writers were the intended audience, not us.

We're supposed to only see "Clinton Opposes TPP" and miss the subtlety.

[SandersDem]

33. Oh Noes.....

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/7/9474151/hillary-clinton-tpp-flip-flop

[OrwellwasRight]

40. Is Hildebeest now an OK moniker here on DU?

I mean, I concur in not finding her terribly honest or pincipled, but that name seems excessive...

[upaloopa]

45. That is the name they use for Hillary on

Freerepublic. I wish some people would stop carrying water for wing nut repubs.
I think today there was a OP relating Hillary to Hitler
Now there is a silent tribute to the author.

[OrwellwasRight]

46. It's not cool.

I'd alert, but the only time I ever alerted on a reprehensible post, I was voted down 6-0. And, most times I serve on a jury the offense seems trivial, so maybe I am overreacting.

[upaloopa]

47. I did not alert because I was alert stalked

twice and I don't think the jury systems works well right now

[OrwellwasRight]

71. Hey lookit!

They hid the post. Maybe the juries sometimes work after all.

[upaloopa]

72. I told someone about it and they alerted

[SandersDem]

36. Oh Noes Number Two!

She supported it in HER BOOK....

https://twitter.com/RyanLizza/status/651909186259943424

[LiberalElite]

37. Well

weathervanes do come in handy sometimes.

[thereismore]

38. "As of today"

could mean tomorrow might be different. No promises broken.

[retrowire]

44. dat careful wording...

"as of today"

nope.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

48. Good.

Even FDR had to be pushed to the left. I support Sanders but this makes me feel better about voting for Hillary if she is the nominee.

[Jack Rabbit]

49. It's too late for it to mean anything, nevertheless . . .

. . . I won't have to hold my nose quite as hard when I vote in the general election.

[MisterP]

51. everyone knows she'll support something once the polls hit 57% against

and even more people doubt she'll have any compunction about pushing for it once her hand is off the Bible two Januaries from now

[ALBliberal]

57. I support Bernie but will vote for the Dem nominee....This could end

Up being a "She was for it before she was against it" meme in the general election...ala John Kerry. This is not good. It frustrates me that she will be attacked for inconsistency which in turn makes her leadership skills seem questionable.

[Sparky 1]

58. Bernie had it right all along.

[Phlem]

59. !

[Indepatriot]

61. More Profiles In Courage from Mrs. "ME TOO!"...no, really, I've ALWAYS been against this........

[davidpdx]

62. I only wish Clinton would have come out against it before the vote to allow fast track

She didn't have a vote, but certainly could have influenced some in Congress to vote against it. If fast track had been killed then there would be no vote on TPP. I can tell you for sure TPP is a sure bet now that its been negotiated. Congress is going to sell us down the river. It won't matter who is president we WILL BE LOCKED INTO IT.

[coyote]

63. Well, I'll come out and say it...

I don't believe her and therein lies the problem.

[CountAllVotes]

68. +1

Agree. Nothing else to add sadly.