CAN PRESS: Officials Only Got Briefing From Obama Campaign- KO, Randi, et al...BIASED 4 Obama

[LulaMay]

Canadian Press: Canadian officials only got briefing from Obama campaign - not Clinton

3/7/2008 6:21:47 PM

The Canada Press reports:

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.

"The answer is no, they did not," said Harper spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.

More from Bloomberg.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gNMJKvj5eQRQBNSeQj3bTyETSagQ

[chill_wind]

1. Toronto Star doesn't agree : The truth has been lost in the storm.

To quote some other objective fellow DUer's, it's basicially FUBAR'd with Canadian officials and press now backpeddling and printing disputing accounts all over the place.

Truth has been lost in the storm
Mar 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Thomas Walkom

(...)

"None of this has stopped the Brodie-NAFTA story from dominating the Commons. But in the process, much of what happened – or didn't happen – has been lost.


(...)

First, remember that the basis of this whole saga is a Democratic critique of NAFTA that few believed was sincere. Both Clinton and Obama talk tough. But their remedies are modest (both want unspecified labour and environmental standards) and achievable (Canada and Mexico are desperate to keep NAFTA alive).

Second, there was not one leak but three. Brodie did tell some reporters on Feb. 26 that Clinton had assured Ottawa she was kidding about NAFTA. But it seems he was either wrong or fibbing. Her campaign denied talking to Canadian officials and dared Ottawa to prove otherwise.

The second leak occurred the next day when CTV reported that Obama's camp had told Canada their candidate's NAFTA attacks weren't serious.

The third and most damaging leak happened the day before the March 4 Ohio primary, when The Associated Press got hold of a Canadian diplomatic memo citing a senior Obama staffer as saying that the Illinois senator's NAFTA critique was just political posturing.

Now it may be Harper planned the entire caper. But it's not clear why he would mastermind an operation fated to result in his own embarrassment (unlike off-the-record comments, written memos cannot be plausibly denied).

As for the hapless Brodie, it seems he was just using his don't-quote-me status to tell mistruths to the press – which is one of the things political aides are paid to do.

http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/326410

(bold-face mine)