Hillary on Hill v. Bill, more
Posted: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 5:07 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. -- When pressed by reporters Wednesday about the fact that she is against the Colombia Free Trade deal while her husband is for it, the New York senator said husbands and wives often disagreed on things.
Clinton also discussed former Chief Strategist Mark Penn, why she wanted President Bush to consider skipping the opening ceremony of the Olympics and repeated calls she had made earlier to President Bush to address her questions about an endgame in Iraq and allowing Congress to debate any long-term security agreement during a roughly 13-minute press conference.
On the Colombia trade deal and disagreeing with her husband: "I have been a consistent and strong opponent of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. I voted against CAFTA. I voted against fast-track authority for the president. I have been calling for changes in our trade policies. I have a long record of having a different attitude toward trade than my husband does. I don't think any married couple, who I know, agrees on everything, and we disagree on this."
More: "This is a great debate. You know, there are two sides to this issue. It's not 100 to nothing. I believe that the weight of the evidence, clearly in my view, supports my decision not to support the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. But, you know, very credible people, who care deeply about the country, and who have a commitment to work for working people in this country, have a different view."
She said she had not asked the former president not to speak publicly about his own views.
When asked about whether her connection to Mark Penn could hurt her with working class voters, she said she didn't believe it would.
"I don't see why it should, you know, my position is clear,” she said. “I'm on the record. I have been for quite some time. I've already taken votes that are very indicative of that record. I have a long history of supporting working people and families and a lot of great support from unions here in Pennsylvania and across the country and, you know, there wasn't any connection between my campaign and what he did in his independent business capacity. And if you contrast that, with what Mr. [Austan] Goolsbee who went to the Canadian government on behalf of the Obama campaign did, I think, it's quite stark. So I believe that we took appropriate action."
Clinton said Penn's firm continued to provide polling and advice, but he was no longer the chief strategist, and she did not answer a question about whether it would be good to sever ties with him.
On the Olympics: She said she was not of the view that the Olympic torch should not be run in America.
"I think you've got to separate out the Olympic movement, to an international sporting event that is hosted every two years,” she said, adding, “And that's why what I've called for is a government to government response. I believe that the President should not attend the opening ceremonies, because that is giving a seal of approval by our United States government. Unless until the Chinese government take actions to deal more forthrightly with their human rights' challenges, to begin to lift the oppression on the Tibetans and restore a cultural and religious freedom, work with the rest of the international community to try to resolve the genocide in Darfur. And on these matters, the Chinese government has to change. And that is what I believe the President should be looking for and using the pressure of his not attending the opening ceremonies as a means to exert some leverage on the Chinese government."
On the close race in Pennsylvania and Obama outspending her: "I've always believed this was going to be a close race,” she said. “Clearly Sen. Obama is investing an enormous amount of time and money in Pennsylvania, so he is running full speed toward April 22nd. He's outspending me maybe, two- or three-to-one in the state."
Clinton declined to answer a question about whether her daughter made a better surrogate than her husband, saying she felt she had two great surrogates and only hoped to amass the economic record that her husband had.
