Obama finally nailed with hard questions

Stylerod · 03-04-2008, 01:13 PM

SAN ANTONIO It took many months and the mockery of "Saturday Night Live" to make it happen, but the lumbering beast that is the press corps finally roused itself from its slumber Monday and greeted Barack Obama with a menacing growl.

The day before primaries in Ohio and Texas that could effectively seal the Democratic presidential nomination for him, a smiling Obama strode out to a news conference at a veterans facility here. But the grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog.

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote.

Obama responded with the classic phrases of a politician in trouble. "That was the information that I had at the time. . . . Those charges are completely unrelated to me. . . . I have said that that was a mistake. . . . The fact pattern remains unchanged."

When those failed, Obama tried another approach. "We're running late," the candidate said, and then he disappeared behind a curtain.

Before he beat his hasty retreat, however, Obama found time to assign blame for the tough questions suddenly coming his way. "The Clinton campaign has been true to its word in employing a 'kitchen sink' strategy," he protested. "There are, what, three or four things a day?"

Spoken like a man who had just been hit on the head with a heavy piece of porcelain.

Ask Tough Questions? Yes, They Can!

This is funny as hell. Especially after watching the SNL skits about it.

SoFlaJDM · 03-04-2008, 01:22 PM

UPDATE 1-Canada defends Obama over NAFTA flap - Forbes.com

UPDATE 1-Canada defends Obama over NAFTA flap
03.03.08, 7:00 PM ET
(Adds comments from candidates, embassy statement) By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA(Reuters) - Canada defended Democratic front-runner Barack Obama Monday over accusations from rival Hillary Clinton that he is secretly at ease with a hemispheric trade accord which he publicly blames for losing U.S. jobs.
Clinton's criticism, on the eve of make-or-break presidential nomination contests for her in Ohio and Texas, stemmed from a report by Canadian television station CTV that an Obama economic adviser told Canadian officials the candidate was not seriously considering disrupting the trade accord.
But the Canadian Embassy in Washington released a statement essentially backing up the Obama camp's version of the meeting between adviser Austan Goolsbee and officials at the Canadian consulate in Chicago.
"There was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA," the embassy statement said. "We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."
The consulate's written report of the meeting had left the suggestion that Obama's words on NAFTA were designed for a political audience and should not be taken too seriously, prompting an angry denial from the Obama campaign.
Clinton, a New York senator, has made an issue of what she says is Obama's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed in 1994 but which is now under heavy election-year criticism from her and Obama.
On Monday, Clinton challenged Obama's credibility on the trade issue ahead of the nomination contest in Ohio, where concern over the NAFTA trade agreement has become a key issue.
"It raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches about NAFTA and having his chief economic adviser tell the Canadian government that it was just political rhetoric," she said at an early morning news conference in Ohio.
Both candidates fighting for the Democratic nomination to face the Republicans' choice in the November election have threatened to pull the United States out of NAFTA unless it is renegotiated.
They said the accord has hurt the manufacturing base in such states as economically hard-hit Ohio, which along with Texas votes on Tuesday.
CANADA PM DENIES INTERFERENCE
Some U.S. Democrats accused Canada's right-leaning Conservative government of trying to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.
That charge led Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take the unusual step of denying that Canada was trying to stir up trouble in the election process of its powerful southern neighbor.
"I certainly deny any allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election," he told the country's parliament.
"The American people will make the decision as to their next president and I am confident that whoever that person is ... (they) will continue the strong alliance, friendship and partnership that we enjoy with the United States."
Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and would be badly hurt if Washington pulled out of NAFTA.
The U.S. Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank, has blamed NAFTA for more than 1 million U.S. job losses, most of them in manufacturing, since 1994. However, others put the tally much lower than that.
Obama, an Illinois senator, acknowledged that a meeting did take place between Goolsbee and the Canadian consulate officials but added, "He said exactly what I've been saying on the campaign trail."
In San Antonio, Texas, Obama said, "This notion that Senator Clinton is peddling that somehow there's contradictions or winks and nods has been disputed by all parties involved." (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Ellen Wulfhorst; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction

it's red in case you missed it

SoFlaJDM · 03-04-2008, 01:47 PM

Did Obama Engage In Double Speak About NAFTA?

Rouger2 · 03-04-2008, 02:24 PM

The big bad ass press is after him. I bet he is just shaking in his boots. What a bunch of bull crap that was. You know she must be as sneaky as she looks for her supporters in the press to pull something like that.

RMNIXON · 03-04-2008, 06:38 PM

motivez · 03-04-2008, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by Rouger2

The big bad ass press is after him. I bet he is just shaking in his boots. What a bunch of bull crap that was. You know she must be as sneaky as she looks for her supporters in the press to pull something like that.

Any evidence it was Clinton supporters asking him these questions?

Rouger2 · 03-04-2008, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Any evidence it was Clinton supporters asking him these questions?

Just a guess, but I think its a good guess. It sounded very fishy to me, and it happened just before the vote in Texas and Ohio.

Stylerod · 03-04-2008, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Rouger2

Just a guess, but I think its a good guess. It sounded very fishy to me, and it happened just before the vote in Texas and Ohio.

wat?

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter.

motivez · 03-06-2008, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Rouger2

Just a guess, but I think its a good guess. It sounded very fishy to me, and it happened just before the vote in Texas and Ohio.

So, if Obama gets grilled by reporters.. it's "fishy" and must be "Clinton supporters" doing her bidding?

Rouger2 · 03-06-2008, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

So, if Obama gets grilled by reporters.. it's "fishy" and must be "Clinton supporters" doing her bidding?

It looked like an ambush to me the way they hit him with those inflamatory questions. On the Canada thing it seems you have to believe a newspaper, it was denied by the canadian officals, and who lied about the deal was it a Obama aide or was it Obama. What does he have to do with that trial he just knows the guy and he is a friend and gave him money no proof of wrong doing there, and Obama it seems has a good relationship with the Jewish community. Questions hogwash.