At the Democrat Party presidential debates last Tuesday, Barack Obama revealed that he didn't know that our Canadian neighbors to the north had a prime minister instead of a president leading them. Yet the MSM has practically ignored this obvious gaffe, with few of them making much of the incident. This is a far cry from how Bush was so virulently attacked for having no foreign policy "gravitas" during the 2000 campaign. But for a Democrat in 2007 it's pass time. Nothing to see here, folks, keep moving.
In response to a trade question during the debate, Obama said he'd "immediately call the president of Mexico (and) the president of Canada" to discuss the issue. Of course, Canada has no "president," and this gaffe further shows Barack's unfamiliarity with foreign nations proving his unsuitability to lead our country during an era where foreign policy will be of prime importance.
But even as Bush repeatedly got nailed, Barack is given a pass.
Now, I found a short snippet on CNN's Political Ticker blog about the gaffe with one titled Obama slip on Canada.
For the second time in recent debates, the mention of world leaders has attracted attention to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
At Tuesday night’s AFL-CIO forum in Chicago, Obama was asked if he would scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement as president. The senator from Illinois said, “I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now.”
The only problem is Canada has a prime minister, not a president.
No, CNN, the "only problem" is not that Canada has a prime minister, but that Obama seems not to even know that our close neighbor has a prime minister, instead of a president.
Other than a few mentions elsewhere and this CNN note -- and a few scattered blog mentions -- about the only media outlets that mentioned this too much were Canadian ones. It isn't surprising that Canada covered it, of course, but it is surprising that the US media so ignored it.
Heck, even the extremist hate site the Democraticunderground took Obama to task for his stupid gaffe with many of the postings there!
Now, let us contrast that with what happened during the run up to the 2000 election when George W. Bush was ridiculed for not knowing the names of four leaders of countries in the world at the time that were considered trouble spots he might have to deal with as president. Andy Hiller, a political reporter for WHDH-TV, sprung this pop quiz on Bush in an interview in 1999. This story was covered extensively by the MSM. Bush was universally called a dolt and unqualified to run our foreign policy.
Yet, Obama goes from wanting to meet with our worst enemies, to bombing our allies, to not even knowing the office of the leader of one of our closest allies and he is given a pass by the MSM?
One word describes it: Hypocrites



















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Odumbass
August 9, 2007 - 06:19 ET by Six String SpiffThis is why Obama will never defeat HIllary. He is just too stupid. Libs think Bush is stupid because he has speech issues in public. Well, I'd rather have somebody who knows what they are doing (usually), and not be able to speak perfectly, than some phony moron who has not one CLUE about anything.
The American Revolution Continued
I also think there is a big
August 9, 2007 - 06:25 ET by Warner Todd HustonI also think there is a big difference between Bush not knowing some of the less popular leaders of countries we didn't have in the news here as often in 2000 and Obama not knowing anything about Canada!
Agreed, WTH. That's like
August 9, 2007 - 06:30 ET by motherbeltAgreed, WTH. That's like calling Gordon Brown the President of England. But you know the media will call it a 'slip of the tongue', not a gaffe. Conservatives are dumb, liberals have "slips" because their minds are so full of complicatid, high-fallutin' ideas.
...well, heir minds are
August 9, 2007 - 06:39 ET by Warner Todd Huston...well, heir minds are filled with sumpthin', anyway!
Librial minds
August 9, 2007 - 07:14 ET by FaulknerFan..well, heir minds are filled with sumpthin', anyway!
Yeah. And it smells....
Seems to me that Obama is
August 9, 2007 - 07:49 ET by Interested and concerned CDNSeems to me that Obama is proving to be the perfect front runner for Shrillary in the primaries. Looking more and more like an empty suit is it so far a stretch to consider it more than a coincidence her top competition is showing weaker by the day? And yet he is probably a lock for her running mate as he was one of the few that did not vote for going into Iraq, which is the DailyKommies biggest complaint with her.
really convenient when you think of it.
Obligatory daily 'Simpsons' reference
August 9, 2007 - 08:02 ET by Tom1969ca"Oh, don't be so hard on him, Marge. It's easy to miss Canada, all tucked away down there..."
-- Homer Simpson (B. Hussein Obama's intellectual equal)
C'mon, SOMEBODY has got to say it...
August 9, 2007 - 08:08 ET by richflanjWe're making too big a deal out of this.
You say "potatoe" I say "potato". ;-)
But if Dan Quayle had said
August 9, 2007 - 08:09 ET by Free StinkerBut if Dan Quayle had said it . . .
A country by any other name...
August 9, 2007 - 08:14 ET by Crash...Canada the generic brand (who knew?).
Seriously, we know that CNN has issued lifetime passes and get out of jail cards to their ilk. What should be news is CNN's claim that they report the news.
In Obama's defense ... at least he's both loud and ignorant.
It will be interesting to
August 9, 2007 - 08:18 ET by general companyIt will be interesting to see just how much the Clinton media will eat off of Obama. They may go to far and ruin his chance at VP. I was hoping Obama would be more of a force, but he is showing his inexperience almost daily now. Looks as if Clinton is going to get a free ride to the primaries.
Does this mean that if
August 9, 2007 - 08:23 ET by MightyMouthDoes this mean that if Obama becomes president, he is going to sit down with the Queen of Iran and ask why she and her country hate the U.S.?
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
}}---> No, MightyMouth
August 9, 2007 - 08:33 ET by Cool ArrowBut Obama will ask her if that Members Only jacket is a sweatshop knockoff.
This from the guy who wants
August 9, 2007 - 08:48 ET by Airforce_5_OThis from the guy who wants to invade Pakistan but no nukes on the table. What?
How many feet can this guy get into his mouth?
The only thing you should feel when shooting insurgents is the rifle recoil.
Audacious audacity!
August 9, 2007 - 09:11 ET by mibrilaneAudacious audacity!
It would not be a gaffe if
August 9, 2007 - 12:13 ET by Senior ChiefIt would not be a gaffe if he know the difference between the two. Sorry, I forgot, he went to law school, became a senator and a president-wanna-be...Next time, he need to be asked what form of government does Mexico and Canada has, and include England, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Brunie. Oh, include also the "most despised country" of Israel...just for kicks and giggles.
NAFTA - a review Clintoon
August 9, 2007 - 14:20 ET by jdhawkNAFTA - a review
Clintoon championed NAFTA in 1993. The dimocrat controlled Congress passed it (in other words, if the dimocrats don't like NAFTA, it is their own fault. Apparently, all of the candidates and the media, except Hussein Obama, have forgotten that).
Trade has increased dramatically amongst the three nations since NAFTA. In the period of 1993–2004, total trade between the United States and its NAFTA partners increased 129.3% (110.1% with Canada and 100.9% with Mexico).
NAFTA has been an unqualified success. Which leads one to beg the question. Why did Hussein Obama say that he would change it?
The reason is that he was simply pandering to the audience - the AFL-CIO.
The auto and auto parts trade is by far the most important sector within NAFTA- it represents 20% of total intra-NAFTA trade. Mexico has successfully integrated their auto industries into the existing market between the US and Canada, which had been integrated since the 1965 Auto Pact and enhanced by CUSFTA, NAFTA's predecessor.
We know only two well what the unions have done to our industries, in general, and specifically to our auto industry. Nevertheless, the unions' point of view is that NAFTA is if not wholly to blame, it is at least partially to blame for the state of the industry. This, of course, is baloney. If you don't think so. Look at the industries in our country that are largely union free - they are thriving.
Regarding Hussein's miss step - who cares? He is nothing more than a straw man to ensure Billary "the tempest in a B cup" Clintoon is the dimocrat candidate for president.
On unions and NAFTA
August 10, 2007 - 05:14 ET by UnsaneBrilliant post. Those who think that NAFTA is this evil boogeyman on which the nation's ills can be blamed just refuse to see the big picture. With or without NAFTA, manufacturing jobs were going to leave the country - largely because the labor unions have an annoying habit of pricing their employees out of the labor market.
And interestingly, manufacturing IS alive and well in this country, as other countries in Europe and Japan outsource to the United States. Look around the South and note how many Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and BMW facilities you see churning out vehicles. And how many of them are going union? Hardly ANY, if any at all.
Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest.
Nafta-- a peek
August 9, 2007 - 14:35 ET by misterbillJust one opinion--an extract from the Economic Policy Institute
"Americans were promised that NAFTA would generate large numbers of net new good jobs. Instead, over a million jobs that would otherwise have been created were lost, and wages were pressured downward for a large number of workers with less than a college education.
Mexican employment did increase, but much of it in low-wage “maquiladora” industries, which the promoters of NAFTA promised would disappear. The agricultural sector was devastated and the share of jobs with no security, no benefits, and no future expanded. The continued willingness every year of hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens to risk their lives crossing the border to the United States because they cannot make a living at home is in itself testimony to the failure of NAFTA to deliver on the promises of its promoters.
Canada likewise saw continental integration undercut working families. Except for those at the top, real incomes have virtually stagnated. Canadians were assured that NAFTA and the earlier Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement were necessary to save the social safety net of which they are justly proud. Yet a dozen years later, government transfers to individuals have dropped from 11.5% of GDP to 7.8% of the country’s GDP, and Canadian government’s overall (non-military) program spending fell from 42.9% of GDP in 1992 to 33.6% of GDP in 2001
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.
Author:
This nonsense is what
August 9, 2007 - 16:26 ET by jdhawkThis nonsense is what Clintoon was touting back in 1993. And it worked. He wanted and got Congress to go along despite the fervent objections of the AFL-CIO and their ilk at the time.
The reality is that all the things that have happened to the US were going to happen anyway. What NAFTA did was open up the other countries markets to trade without tariffs.
If you don't believe me, look at the huge tariffs that are added to our products in almost every developing nation that we don't have a similar trade pact with.
If you don't think the above will continue, you're kidding yourself. Virtually any and every low skilled labor intensive industry will go overseas where unskilled labor is dirt cheap.
And don't blame the companies in those industries. They have no choice if they want to survive. They either move their assembly plants overseas or be swallowed by the competition.
On HURT
August 10, 2007 - 05:24 ET by UnsaneSolution (in misterbill's mind): completely freeze the United States in 1957 forever.
I suppose we could also draft a constitutional amendment declaring it to be completely illegal to fire anyone for any reason whatsoever - making it a RIGHT to have the same job with the same company for 30-40 years.
Also, we could make it completely illegal for companies to innovate/invent any new product or process in any way, shape, fashion or form. Why? Because doing such things will HURT people, and we can NEVER EVER EVER HURT people, ever. We should have never dared permitted the propogation of Compact Discs in this country, because, not only were they invented by those Damn Foreigners in the Netherlands and Japan, they HURT people by reducing the demand for vinyl, turntables, needles, and the like. Nor should we have dared permitted the PC to be invented, because the people who made typewriters, cylinders, correction tape, ribbons, and other components, were all HURT.
HURT should be 100% banned. So what if innovation, invention, productivity, and efficiency is hampered? As long as absolutely no one is ever ever HURT, we'll all be SO HAPPY!
Jean-Baptiste Colbert lives. Never mind that his philosophies aren't serving his home country too well right now...
Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest.
I don't know if I've ever
August 9, 2007 - 14:56 ET by fitzfongI don't know if I've ever seen anyone get more mileage out of one speech (though I hear Cuomo did). Does anyone even remember what he said in the speech? All I remember is that it was filled with non-threatening platitudes and phony optimism about his party's "vision" for the future. Basically, he said nothing and looked good in a suit. Then he misread the tea leaves and decided that one speech made him presidential material. Now the Democrats are forced to carry the water for this intellectual lightweight because they can't afford to face the political fallout from swiftly cutting him off at the knees. But he's not making their job any easier by continually illustrating his naiveity. He's losing credibility on a daily basis and is in serious danger of permanently flaming out like Gary Hart. No loss.