CBC: Canadian Conservatives Hit Obama with Dirty Tricks

So many tantalizing threads to pull here. The undeniable power of a free press, conservative dirty tricks, canadian interference in a US election, democratic infighting and working class ohioans' racial and economic prejudices. Where to begin?

In terms of a functioning press, I can't help contrasting the performance of the Canadian press, and government, with the outing of a Valerie Plame by VP Cheney. Boom. No question that once the "trick" was played, the press was on it and they have now exposed it for what it is... a political hit. What a marvelous thing it was to listen to a piece of television reporting that clearly conveyed the facts and acknowledged the obvious conclusions. It will be interesting to see if the "memorandum" of just what Goolsbee said is ever released.

Puzzling though, what was the expected gain from performing this type of dirty work, in the shadows, as our VP would say?

Two possibilities come to mind. Either it was performed at someone's request on behalf of McCain as a favor, or, it was a bit of freelance work. In any case the Canadian Parliamant is debating the issue furiously and it will be very interesting to see the upshot of this. I believe I heard one gentleman on the floor calling for firings.

It is interesting to note here that assurances to the Canadians were made by both parties in this instance. Hillary Clinton's campaign did in fact contact the Canadian embassy to reassure diplomats that they should take campaign rhetoric with a "grain of salt." Hillary engaged in double-talk to the degree that she has promised to withdraw from Nafta within 60 days if she doesn't get her way, a bold promise, while reassuring Canadians to take it with a grain of salt.

The Canadian Press — Canada's domestic equivalent of the AP — is reporting that the original source of the leak was Ian Brodie, chief of staff to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. And as it turns out, Brodie's original conversation with reporters focused much more on Hillary as the candidate whose people were reassuring Canada that the anti-trade rhetoric was all just campaign talk.

"He said someone from Clinton's campaign is telling the Embassy to take it with a grain of salt," said one participant in the conversation. The source added, "someone called us and told us not to worry."

Contrast this to the CBCs description of Canadians "pleading" for clarification of Obama's position on Nafta, speaking with Goolsbee, and hearing back that, in fact, Obama was in favor of re-negotiating parts of Nafta to include stronger worker and environmental protections. My tinfoil hat is suggesting that Obama's campaign was entrapped into discussing Nafta ahead of the debate like a chess move setting up the hit to come.



If you pay close attention to the man shouting in the video above, he appears to be suggesting that this was a deliberate hit on Obama precisely because it was believed by conservative ideologues that he was sincere in re-negotiating labor and environmental requirements. Perhaps Ohio should question why it was Obama's desire to improve Nafta that drew neocon fire and not Hillary's lofty goal to withdraw within 60 days. I guess it depends on what your definition of a "grain" of salt is.