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Originally posted by Spanky
The Dems thought they could use all sorts of political double talk to just hide the fact the reason why they voted against CAFTA was just to stick it to Bush.
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While there will surely some Democrats who were happy to stick it to Bush, there were also a lot of Democrats who thought it was bad policy.
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From the Washington Post
But a core group of as many as 50 pro-trade Democrats are voting against CAFTA; those lawmakers say the agreement is a step backward on labor standards after years of steady gains under previous trade accords.
They complain that the administration failed to consult them during negotiations, taking their votes for granted. And they say past trade agreements were accompanied by increased support for worker-retraining programs, education efforts and aid to dislocated workers -- support that the president has not provided.
"Free and open trade is an important component to widening the winner's circle for all Americans, but it's not a Johnny One Note part of the puzzle," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), a co-chairman of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, who voted for the most contentious trade bills of the past half-dozen years.
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You know Ellen Tauscher and her district. She's not interested in sticking it to Bush for the sake of sticking it to Bush, and that kind of thing is not helping her get re-elected.
As I've posted before, it's not a coincidence that CAFTA was written with labor standards that Democrats didn't support. The GOP leadership doesn't want Democrats voting for its bills. They don't want business giving money to Democrats. All the better to draft a bill designed to get Democrats to go the other way.
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But now the business lobby isn't backing the Dems at all even thought the Dems have a strong chance of taking over
(which is a huge shift).
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I can understand why someone in your position would be saying that, but it's not what I hear.
