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| McCain's Got Guts, Selling Free Trade in Youngstown |
| 2008-04-23 |
| Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot" John McCain may not have a completely spotless record in the eyes of economic conservatives, but boy, I hope they appreciate his guts. How many other politicians would try to pitch the benefits of free trade in Youngstown, Ohio? "Here, in Youngstown and across America, obviously the answer to our problems is not the siren song of protectionism," McCain said during a stop at Fabart, a rusting steel-fabricating plant that has only five remaining workers. "Protectionism and isolation has never worked in America's history." According to USA Today, a former AFL-CIO official told McCain that in that region, NAFTA is a "four letter word." McCain's response? "Jack, I am prone on occasion to make mistakes, but the last time I checked, NAFTA is five letters." I'm originally from Youngstown, and the local culture is definitely hostile to free trade. Back in 1985, I bought a Honda Civic, and I got more than a little guff from UAW-types (and my sister!) about my supposed lack of patriotism for not buying a domestic nameplate. My father was in politics, and I remember he rejected a whole press run of campaign literature because the printer had forgotten to put a printer's union "bug" (logo) at the bottom--had people started thinking he was using a non-union shop, he'd have lost the election. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #7 Compare wid REDDIT > MCCAIN WAS SUBJECTED TO OVER FIVE YEARS OF SOVIET "MIND/THOUGHT PERVERSION" TECHNIQUES AS A PRISONER OF WAR IN HANOI HILTON -IS HE STILL FIT TO BE PRESIDENT OR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF? Whew - Gawd, 'twas a long 'un Titlin to r 'member. Also from REDDIT > PAUL AND HUCKABEE GOT 27% OF PA VOTE - HOW COME THERE ARE NO NEWS STORIES ON GOP SPLIT? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-04-23 21:55 |
| #6 While we currently have trade deficits with both Canada and Mexico, I suspect it has more to do with them being oil exporters and us oil importers than anything to do with manufacturing. The big consumer manufacturing black hole is a country that isn't part of NAFTA. And I don't think throwing Colombia under Chavez's bus is gonna help save anyone's job up here; in fact I kinda suspect the exact opposite is true. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-04-23 19:21 |
| #5 Good for McCain. Apparently memories of the economic disaster brought to the world by Smoot-Hawley are too faint to prevent cynical opportunists like Hillary, Obama, Pelosi, et al from exploiting naive and dangerous anti-trade sentiments. Pathetic. |
| Posted by: Kirk 2008-04-23 17:39 |
| #4 They have no problem with free trade when they're at Walmart. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-04-23 16:26 |
| #3 Ideally, protectionism probably should be avoided. But we're not living in an ideal world. There's China. Never mind the expansionist ambitions of the communists who run that country. With their complete disregard for the environment and human rights they've made sure that we're not playing on a level field. I think a little protectionism might help to compensate for that. Then there's Mexico and NAFTA enabling American corporations to leave places like Youngstown to rust. And if importing goods from Mexico that used to be made in places like Youngstown isn't bad enough, McCain condones the import of workers from Mexico, legal or otherwise, just to make sure that US wages will be depressed and living conditions will deteriorate. Unrealistic union demands have certainly helped to convince a lot of manufacturers to flee the US. If McCain had real guts maybe he would say that. Then he might try to come up with solutions that would be better than just turning the US into a Third World country. Instead he makes a wise crack about NAFTA having five letters and ignores some very real problems. I don't credit McCain with any guts at all on this issue because he knows the donks aren't facing up to it either so he has nothing to lose. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2008-04-23 16:23 |
| #2 I'm surprised there are any voters still left in Youngstown. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-04-23 16:06 |
| #1 Barry Goldwater had guts when he went to Tennessee and told them the TVA was a bad deal. Since the TVA had pulled central Tennessee from the abyss of starvation it didn't sell to well. This must be a Arizonian trait to go to the Lion and tell him Gazelles are not for him. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-04-23 15:43 |