So the Canadians basically apologize for this whole unfortunate flap and the PM discredits the implications in the memo (that hasn't been produced) and yet, this continues to be news. Remind me again, who signed NAFTA?

Durbin has no part in the core campaign operations, and every surrogate or supporter can't be expected to keep up on exactly what is going on.

Three O'Clock in the morning. The red phone rings in the White House.

Who do you want on hand to take the call? A candidate who has not whined once about the media coverage,

Or

A candidate who will piss in her pants suit out of fear that it is a call from the Dreaded Media.

If Hillary feels so threaten by a little media scrutiny, how the hell will she feel when Putin, Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and all those Arab Tyrants bring some real heat to bear on her!

Yeah, that business with Durbin doesn't help to clarify much, but the statement by the Canadian government is pretty unambiguous:

"The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General 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. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."

At a certain level, though, this is almost funny. What in God's name prompted some Canadian politicians to go all Kremlin, and what exactly frightens them about the possibility of an Obama presidency -- tariffs on Molson?

Canadian opposition in Parliament denounces Tory interference with American election! Demands firing of Prime Minister Harper's chief of staff and sources for fraudulent disinformation campaign!

I LOVE it. Stick that in your bong, Wolfson!

ahahahahahahaha

The Right Wing Tory Government of Canada is meddling in the Democratic Primary. They are trying to stop Obama, and make things much easier for John McCain by having only to face Hillary in November. She has no appeal amongst Independants and Moderate Republican voters, so McCain would beat her easily. The Canadian Conservatives are trying to rig the American Election to help the Republicans.

Clintons surrogates attacking Obama over this debunked bullshit.
Then they go into the rezko thing.

I hate hockey and maple syrup.

I will say it again:

NAFTA = CLINTONS!

Or

NAFTA - JOBS = CLINTONS!

Or

CLINTONS = NAFTA =====> LESS JOBS in Ohio

March 3, 2008
Limbaugh urges listeners to vote for Clinton
Posted: 04:51 PM ET
Limbaugh wants the Democratic race to continue.
Limbaugh wants the Democratic race to continue.

(CNN) – As Hillary Clinton battles to keep her presidential bid alive, she may be getting help from an unlikely source: conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh has been actively urging his Texas listeners to cross over and vote for Clinton in that state's open primary Tuesday, arguing it helps the Republicans if the Democratic race remains unsettled for weeks to come.

Really?

Because OH and TX are essentially tied and Obama has a 20+ point lead in Vermont.

The description below is the communication that was FIRST reported by CTV and that was denied by Obama and his campaign.
"Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources.
The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value."

According to ABC, this story was leaked on 2/27 to CTV by the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff. You'll notice it differs in just about all particulars from the in-person meeting that occurred between very different people in a very different city.

So, here's the question: If all the Canadians ever had (in fact, if all there ever WAS!) was that memo about the Chicago non-event ........ then HOW THE HECK did that original story come into being? I think it's apparent that someone made some serious mischief somewhere along the way. Who?

Yes, the Obama campaign seems to have stumbled pretty awkwardly (quite unusual for them), but think about it. The meeting that was first described DID NOT HAPPEN and, even if the campaign had known about Goolsbee's session in Chicago (which apparently it didn't), you wouldn't natually even connect the two.

In fact, if someone was making really "smart" (and totaly unethical) mischief, putting out a story Obama would naturally deny and then morphing it into one they had to acknowledge, so it would look like there was a cover-up, would be quite effective. -- I know that sounds paranoid, but, well, one has learned there is sometimes reason to be. Hmmmm...... I wonder what Karl Rove is up to these days?

Very early this morning, the website for the Columbus Post-Dispatch confirmed that Ohio voters have been able to vote early at county boards of elections.

"The primary election will draw many Ohio voters to the polls on Tuesday, although many others already have voted early at county boards of elections or via mail with absentee ballots."

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2008/03/03/RECAP.ART_ART_03-03-08_A10_2L9G8V4.html?sid=101

OTOH, another item in the same paper from yesterday hints there may be severe delays in counting the vote:

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/02/ARE_WE_READY.ART_ART_03-02-08_A1_JQ9GC7D.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

[sorry for not using html tags for style, left my cheat-sheet at home]

Bunch of American pussies.

C'mon and bomb us... there's lots of women and children for you to target.

LuxVeritas wrote: "Durbin has no part in the core campaign operations, and every surrogate or supporter can't be expected to keep up on exactly what is going on."

Kinda like when Hillary's surrogates were lambasted for remarks about Obama's drug use (i.e., Shaheen)?

Oh, no wait. That would be different. Because this is about Obama. Who can do no wrong.

I keep forgetting.

LOL.

Obama got caught on this one. So much for transparancy. Last week, the story was there was NO meeting, NO conversation.

Now we learn that wasn't quite right.

Now we learn that there was assurances made by Obama but Canada is embarrassed so trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

LOL...

Yeah, you can!

Fractal, you imperialist swine,

Put the comma after Canada, before eh.

(Say it out loud and you'll know what I'm saying)

It all got very convoluted.

The initial story reported a meeting with the Canadian ambassador in Washington, which never took place and the Obama camp denied.

Then more of the story started coming out and it switched to this meeting with some Canadian office in Chicago, which did happen and the Obama camp did not deny.

This Goolsbee guy wasn't sent there to discuss NAFTA, it came up during the meeting. He wasn't given any authority from the Obama camp to discuss such a thing with the Canadians, but he did it anyway. Now he's saying that this Canadian hack in Chicago fired off a memo to Ottawa that misrepresented what was said in the meeting, but there's no transcript to be able to tell who misunderstood.

This whole thing has taken what was probably a routine meeting between the Canadian representative in Chicago and the Obama campaign and given it the appearance of something sordid.

I'm reminded that I've seen several journalists in the past month all but salivate over the thought of a brokered convention and of having something exciting to report for the next 3 months. This has all the appearance of the media stepping in to help Hillary finish just a little better and stay in the race. She can't overcome the pledged delegate lead and more and more superdelegates are saying that they won't overturn the will of the people. All that leaves the democrats with is a female version of Mike Huckabee.

I wonder if Norah O'Donnell, or her employers at MSNBC, are feeling any kind of embarassment at her exposure as a brainless news-reader/non-threatening eye candy figure.

How friggin' hard is it to research stuff like this -- or to know that Canada has no Labour party?

Cripes.

Yes, that is Jack Layton, and the New Democratic Party (NDP) that he leads has always been anti-NAFTA, mostly from union pressure.

What is interesting to note is that in 1993, the Liberal government campaigned on "renegotiating NAFTA." For many reasons, the Conservatives literally melted in that election - down to 2 seats out of 308! Canada used to be a two-party nation, but since this time, the two majors have been joined by the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP.

As soon as the Liberals got into office, though, they reneged big time. Renegotiation was never heard from again as an issue. So the rhetoric of the last debate rings rather funny in the Canadian's political ear.

I think the Harper Conservatives will do anything they can to help Republican candidates in the forthcoming campaign in the absence of real neo-con candidates for office. They are true believers in Thatcherite de-regulation, low taxation, Western imperialism and harsh criminal code sanctions. They carry the legacy of the free protestant movement directly descending from Calvin's Geneva. Harsh and punitive, devil take the hindmost zealots. Regard them as exhibits in the social science museum of sociopathology, Harper especially. He is one strange punitive individualist. Would fit well in an Ayn Rand universe in the unlikely event that it ever existed. Ignore him and his flunkies. Laughing at him is he best strategy. And be aware that he is likely to lose his seat and possibly his liberty for callously conspiring to bribe a dying member of Parliament to obtain his crucial vote three years ago with Party-sponsored life insurance. Despicable is the only word that fits. Big Steve has earned it. He is suburban aspiration personified. The worship of upward social mobility is a disease and he has it.

Rovian polictics at its best. Congratulations Mrs. Clinton. Win at any cost and continue the Bush-Clinton era of dishonest, nepotistic, corporate fueled, attack and destroy politics. If you win, the nation will lose.

Elizabeth2, just in case you were going to check back here after posting last night, I wanted to say thank you very much for the link to the CBC website. There is a slightly different audio clip up there now (Tuesday afternoon 3/4/08) giving a very sharp analysis of the Conservative govt. meddling in American politics. The reporter quotes diplomatic sources in Canada as saying they deeply regret misinterpreting Goolsbee's comments, said the Obama campaign is extremely angry about this obvious meddling by the Tory govt., as a result Canadian foreign ministry sources are deeply worried now that this leak of a secret diplomatic cable has chilled all American campaigns against speaking to the Canadians. Reporter stressed that nobody in the Canadian press is ever able to gain access to such classified embassy cables, not even under their FOIA, implying this was a deliberate Tory leak to hurt Obama.