ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Canadian Parliament weighs in...

Posted: Monday, March 03, 2008 4:39 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
We noted the evolving Canada-NAFTA story in an earlier post and included the embassy's statement. Here's part of what aired on MSNBC (passed on by the Obama campaign) when both sides of the Canadian Parliament weighed in...

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

CLINTON DIRTY TRICKS --- WAIT 'TIL THE CONVENTION !
-----------------------------------------------------
Why is it that these international countries eventually have to apologize to Obama for interfering in this American election.  

First it was John Howard in Australia, who eventually was replaced, now it's Canada.  How embarrassing for these countries to be seen as interfering in another country's election.  I haven't heard those countries or other talking about Obama.  What is it with these leaders who can't shut up about our leaders?
That should take care of it.

Stop the falsehoods.

Let's move on.

obama is a liar! how much did he pay that guy to speak for him?

HILLARY 08, CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN
Senator Obama, the Media is now after you...Stay Focus....

We will all be praying a powerful prayer for you tonight....The Devil is never going to make it easy for you...And we all know this.... It has been all of our prayers and the need for change that has guided us this far...We can not and will not let it deter us now.
THANKS to MSNBC for being first to put this online and for doing the right thing! Now I would love to know who released the memo, who wrote it and the consequences of their actions!
Why is MSNBC showing only 1 side of the debate they had? THIS IS NOT JOURNALISM

the real debate had people saying that obama is a liar.
Obama should keep his mouth shut.  Canada is the largest supplier of OIL to the States.  NAFTA is the
OIL king pin in CANADA! The deal with CANADA can just as easily go to CHINA!  SIX BUCKS AT THE PUMP PEOPLE!  SAY THANK YOU TO OBAMA WHEN THAT HAPPENS SOON!  He wants the people in OHIO to believe he is against NAFTA, does he know what he is doing? IS HE FOR OR AGAINST?  Has he NOW done his homework and figured out how to FLIMFLAM and BAMBOZZEL the OHIO VOTERS?
So let's see...

The guy was an advisor, not a campaign official.
The "proof" was a -memo- written by the accusing party.
There are no transcripts of what Goolsbee discussed.
Goolsbee says the memo incorrect summarizes the conversation.
The Canadian Embassey is backing Obama's side of the story, publicly saying they have absolutely no reason to believe Obama is taking a different stance privately than he is publicly.

Looks like more smoke and mirrors from Clinton to me...
OH yes, now we're getting down to details, the source of the leak is Ian Brodie, none other than the Conservative Canadian Prime minister's chief of staff.

Republican International at work.
On nafta: Obama is evidently the same old politics as usual. Promising one thing at the debates to the US voters and whispering something else to Canada.

Change we can believe in?  I don't think so.

It appears Obama,has opened a can of Canadian worms to go fishing in the United States.
I think BO should drop out of the race as HRC is only losing to McCain by 3points as opposed to the 5points that BO is losing by.  From the latest Rasmussen poll.  Or you can dismiss this as a stupid comment.
Good enough for me.

Vote Obama and end this dragged out primary.
Shouldn't Hillary's experience tell her that getting another country involved in our elections is bad politics? That was a poor move by the Clinton campaign to get Canada involved. Bad judgement on her part once again.
Check those worms at the boarder, Senator Obama !
Hillary knows this game better than Obama.  It's the accusation that scores, not the explanation afterwards.  The politics of the past...Will we ever move beyond them?
The spin being put out by Team Obama on the entire Obama/Canada controversy is very Clinton-ian.
Women  guess what !They are finally looking at the possability that women may carry the day. It feels good to be taken seriously for a change.Lets show them they are right!!Latinos, African Americans ,Asians, native Americans ,Whites and all of us .Lets show them women know how to unite.We may have to do it quietly sometimes but thats ok too.We know how to do this. Now lets show the rest of the country.Women for Hillary!!!!!!!!!!!!!It feels good.
http://www.subchat.com/otchat/read.asp?Id=291861

Aides tell Canadian Gov't that Obama LIED to Americans regarding NAFTA

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2008/03/canada-has-documentation-that-obama.html

2008/03/03
Canada Has Documentation That Obama Lied About NAFTA

http://poligazette.com/2008/03/03/obama-campaign-changes-nafta-story/

Days after the NAFTA story first broke, the AP obtained a memo written by Canadian Consulate officials. The memo confirms the reports of CTV; Goolsbee told Canada not to worry.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/03/nafta-and-rezko-weigh-on-obama/?mod=googlenews_wsj

March 3, 2008, 1:28 pm
Nafta and Rezko Weigh On Obama

Susan Davis reports on the presidential race.

On the eve of the high stakes Texas and Ohio nominating contests, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is on the defensive for the first time since his 11-straight victory streak began weeks ago.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is hoping it can put an end to Obama’s electoral surge Tuesday — especially with the dispute continuing over what a campaign adviser did or did not say regarding renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and Antoin Rezko, a one-time Obama friend and political ally, heads to trial in Chicago today.

Anyone with a browser can trump what passes for journalism here...
Yeah, but these are only facts!  They don't change the spin!




Blind and Dumb - Hillary 08
it was there was no meeting- well maybe a meeting but had nothing to do with NAFTA. Well..........  we get it bad judgement weather Obamas or his aids same thing.When that phone rings and his aids say bomb them ,,,,,oops
Obama is done.

Watch and learn Mr. Obama.

Obama will never win a general election.

Clinton 08
Boy the lay down with dogs get up with fleas smear tactics are really blowing up left and right. Don't the people who continue to perpetrate these falsehoods know that slugs always leave a trail of slime in their wake? Which is why this cult following, rock star worshipping Kool-aid drinker couldn't be happier that my candidate of choice continues to keep his eye on what IS important...uniting this country and it's people. Go Sen. Obama! Yes We Can!!!
WOW! WOW! WOW!

Smoking gun eeh? NOT! She was tricked (again!)

It is now obvious that somebody somewhere was trying to help Hillary Clinton.

"No weapon fashioned against him shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against him in judgment, shall be condemned"
Doesn't matter to Hillary or their supporters.  False accusations are all fine and good as long as it gets her holiness the nomination.

Clinton is campaigning like a Republican, with her scorched Earch attacks, and her followers (who used to be Democrats) are loving her for it.
Why does the news help Clinton spread these lies?
Mr. Montenaro, is it possible that you could display some of the text (just the main arguments if possible) because this player isn't compatible with my work browser.  Thank you.
This story all stems from a "memo" that was leaked to the AP. Hmmmmmm, I wonder who might be behind this? Hasn't Bill Clinton been awfully quiet, lately. Has anyone tracked his phone calls to Canada? This has Dirty Tricks all over it.
Liar, Liar, Liar! Everytime Obama gets into trouble it's a 'Boneheaded Mistake". I think he is Boneheaded and we don't need that kind of person anywhere near any nuclear buttons. He would say' Whoops, that was a boneheaded mistake" Boom. We would be gone.

Hillary '08
G
O

H
I
L
L
A
R
Y
!
Well Clintonites, there you have it! Do you still want to pursue this argument and made a fool of?!
As a canadian i can tell you, this is Harpers way of trying to keep Obama out.  He knows deep down the Clintons are the architects of NAFTA and love it.

He does not want to see Obama win and tear it up.
This looks like this should resound in Obama's favor when all is said and done.  Let's hope the media covers it tonight as much as they covered the original story (non-story?).  Hopefully it will backfire bigtime on Clinton.
why is it silent here? is the truth bitter for Hillary supporters who are seeking so late in the game to get flushed down the drain? Are we not all democrats? Why all these bitterness?
How come no nerws agency is reporting about the Fraud case in California about the Clintons.
That they accused the media of bias doesn't not mean you should now let them go scot free.
He that lives in a glass house should not throw stones. Clinton has the case of this fundraiser Peter Paul:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kQDA9KKs0ZY

She is yet to release her tax forms-what is she hiding. This are things the media should be talking about as much as they talk about Barack Obama
The Obama campaign is playing nice and decent but if HRC wnats to play dirty i thinmk they should also throw some of this stuff at her.
We should interfere with their elections!  Oh wait, no one cares about their elections...
where there's smoke there's fire...something happened with this NAFTA business.
Obama=same old same old washington style double speak. It wouldn't bother me so much if he didn't act so damm innocent, when in reality it seems that he is a tad hypocritical. I guess that when in Ohio say no to Nafta, but when in Canada say yes to Nafta. Just like the pledge to accept public campagn financing. The funny thing is how the Obamaniacs blame their own cantidates' double speak on Hillary, like she made the Canadians do this...wake up folks, he is not that different...just a better pretender!
I've just returned to Canada my native land and the fact of the matter is that Obama did double-speak, that is tell Ohio voters how he was aginst NAFTA, but reassured Canada that he didn't mean it behind the scene. I guess he knows where most of US oil comes from nowadays, along with a whole bunch of other natural resources.I guess SNL wasn't over exagerating how bias MSNBC really is by only playing part of the discussion and comments made by an irrelevant member of parliament-the first guy on the clip.The truth is they are trying to play it down in the US media because of bias for Obama, but it's more significant than that reported and what Obama really implied to Canada is that he'll do nothing to NAFTA as reported by the source on several media outlets in Canada.
that says it.  Obama has been consistent on NAFTA.  Anybody who says or implies otherwise is attempting to deceive the electorate.  People of Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island,  do not be deceived by divisive political propoganda.  Do your part to put an end to this smear and spin that we've seen for way too long.  Vote for Barack Obama!
Can you please tell Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews to do their research?  The Canadian government said we did NOT talk officially to anyone from the Obama campaign.  They said it did NOT happen, at least not in the way the Clinton campaign is spinning.  Joe Scarborough is a Conservative who would like nothing more than her to win so McCain could defeat her (and he will).

But then your 'news' shows are actually all campaigning for their candidate, just like SNL.

Shame on you!  You have given her so much airtime for free - you have really bought in to her line "Poor, poor pitiful me!"

This is clear! Have you heard? Obama is clean on this matter. America has a chance to vote a man of integrity. VOTE OBAMA!!!!
My daughter lives in Canada and she said the Canadian Government is very unhappy about regarding the lie about Obama and them having a conversation, in fact they are trying to find the person in Canada who may have said this and are going to FIRE them.  Clinton and her campaign are not to be TRUSTED!  How can you vote for a person like her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nora O'Donnell, Chris Matthews go to your own WEB site and play the segment you show on there!  The Canadian government has disavowed what was in the memo.  You deserve the government you get, this year it is the press who is swiftboating the candidate - Barack Obama.  What happened Chris, the 'tingle' stop going up and down your pant leg? Or did your forget that?  Shame on you Chris Matthews and Nora O'Donnell, after all it was YOU Nora who showed the clip on TV!
So... Clinton presses Obama on another false accusation? This is good training for Obama for the disgusting crap he'll face against when he goes against McCain.
I hope those easy to convince HRC followers try and listened to this, since they are anti facts and since they can easily listen to any type of information than to read. If they where reading they would have been better informed. Obama, you are our next KING and president and you will rule the whole world with dignity and respect for all humans despite their origin.
I hope those easy to convince HRC followers try and listened to this, since they are anti facts and since they can easily listen to any type of information than to read. If they where reading they would have been better informed. Obama, you are our next KING and president and you will rule the whole world with dignity and respect for all humans despite their origin.
OK, would Chris Matthews please stop this negative propaganda against the Obama campaign and acknowledge the Canadian government has said it did not happen.

I have counted at LEAST 40 replays of the SNL sketch, that gives Clinton TONS of free air time.

What happened to fair and balanced reporting?

What is this MSNBC or FOX?  
THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT DENIGHED TODAY ANY MEETING TOOK PLACE, THIS IS PURE POLITICS.  I AM A CANADIAN AND BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE CHANCE FOR A CHANGE.  IT IS UNBELIEVABLE TO ME THAT YOUR GREAT COUNTY COULD ONLY FIND A BUSH  OR A CLINTON TO BE PRESIDENT.
The media thrives on conflict. This would be a non story from the start, had the AP confirmed the text with at least two sources from the Canadian government and Obama -- as good journalism practice mandates.  Perhaps it is time for change in the media as well, from conflict to cooperation.


SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=726012

First Read e-mail alerts


Sign up for First Read alerts
The first place for key political news and analysis

Syndicate This Site

Add First Read to your news reader:
live.com xml
myyahoo msn
bloglines newsgator
google