Gore and NAFTA

Conore you noticed all the genuine concern that other DU'ers have with Gore and his televised debate with Perot over NAFTA? :sarcasm:

What I want to know is: Where is their outrage on the support Gore didn't get with the Kyoto Protocol?

But, let's talk about NAFTA. Don't worry, we won't talk about issues, policies, its affect on the various economies, educational levels or the recent increase in outsourcing in Asia, that kind of talk doesn't get very far in most circles. It's always easier to say, "it's bad and Gore is responsible" than to talk things out or look at what was going on in the world at the time.

George the elder signed NAFTA. It was ratified by a bipartisan vote in Congress while Clinton was president. The issue was divisive for Dems back then as is evident from the vote in the Senate where 27 Democrats voted “for” NAFTA while 28 Democrats voted “no” (Dorgan did not vote).

For the fun of it, let's look at how our esteemed legislators voted on NAFTA:

Do you see anything interesting in "who" voted "how"?

The Senate Vote:
YEAs ---61 (27 Dems - 34 Repubs)

Baucus (D-MT)Bennett (R-UT)Biden (D-DE)Bingaman (D-NM)Bond (R-MO)Boren (D-OK)Bradley (D-NJ)Breaux (D-LA)Brown (R-CO)Bumpers (D-AR)Chafee (R-RI)Coats (R-IN)Cochran (R-MS)Coverdell (R-GA)Danforth (R-MO)Daschle (D-SD)DeConcini (D-AZ)Dodd (D-CT)Dole (R-KS)Domenici (R-NM)Durenberger (R-MN) Gorton (R-WA)Graham (D-FL)Gramm (R-TX)Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Harkin (D-IA)Hatch (R-UT)Hatfield (R-OR)Hutchison (R-TX)Jeffords (R-VT)Johnston (D-LA)Kassebaum (R-KS)Kennedy (D-MA)Kerrey (D-NE)Kerry (D-MA)Leahy (D-VT)Lieberman (D-CT)Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)Mack (R-FL)Mathews (D-TN) McCain (R-AZ)McConnell (R-KY)Mitchell (D-ME)Moseley-Braun (D-IL)Murkowski (R-AK)Murray (D-WA)Nickles (R-OK)Nunn (D-GA)Packwood (R-OR)Pell (D-RI)Pressler (R-SD)Pryor (D-AR)Robb (D-VA)Roth (R-DE)Simon (D-IL)Simpson (R-WY)Specter (R-PA)Wallop (R-WY)Warner (R-VA)

NAYs ---38 (28 Dems - 10 Repubs)
Akaka (D-HI)Boxer (D-CA)Bryan (D-NV)Burns (R-MT)Byrd (D-WV)Campbell (D-CO)Cohen (R-ME)Conrad (D-ND)Craig (R-ID)D'Amato (R-NY)Exon (D-NE)Faircloth (R-NC)Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA)Ford (D-KY)Glenn (D-OH)Heflin (D-AL)Helms (R-NC)Hollings (D-SC)Inouye (D-HI)Kempthorne (R-ID)Kohl (D-WI)Lautenberg (D-NJ)Levin (D-MI)Metzenbaum (D-OH)Mikulski (D-MD) Moynihan (D-NY)Reid (D-NV)Riegle (D-MI)Rockefeller (D-WV)Sarbanes (D-MD)Sasser (D-TN)Shelby (D-AL)Smith (R-NH)Stevens (R-AK)Thurmond (R-SC)Wellstone (D-MN)Wofford (D-PA)
Not Voting - 1
Dorgan (D-ND)


While I'm on the subject of "who else supported NAFTA but gets a free pass" think about this: When Clinton was president wasn’t Hillary was referred to as his co-president? Weren’t we told that we were getting the both of them? So, why does this issue only come up in the context of Gore? Who do you think had more influence over Bill? Hillary or Al?

But it isn’t just Hillary who gets a pass on NAFTA that Gore doesn't. Bill Bradley, Gore’s opponent for the Democratic nomination in 2000, voted for NAFTA. But, nobody ever mentions that. Nope. NAFTA is all Gore's fault. :eyes:

John Kerry, our party’s nominee in 2004 voted for NAFTA. In fact, all the 2004 Democratic candidates (Lieberman, Mosely-Braun, Kerry) and those who were rumored about thinking about running (Daschle, Harkin) who were in the Senate when the vote came up, all voted for NAFTA. Howard Dean said he was for NAFTA in the 90's. Let's hang 'em all. Don't you think we should all gang up on Howard?

There are currently two Democrats running for president, who were in the Senate at the time, and they voted for NAFTA. Yep, Biden and Dodd voted for NAFTA. But, let's not hold their feet to the fire.

So did the perpetual GOP candidate McCain, but for some reason, NAFTA is only brought up in conjunction with Gore’s name. Ask yourself: Why is that? Everyone acts like NAFTA is some sort of Achilles Heel for Gore. It isn’t. At least not in my view. Gore has said that he thinks it was the right idea and so far, to my knowledge, no one has challenged on it. They just continue with the "NAFTA and Gore are bad" refrain.

Let’s face it. No one wants to really talk about NAFTA. All some people seem to do is make a post with the words “Gore” and “NAFTA” in it along with some cryptic BS about NAFTA being all Gore’s fault. Well, what’s Gore’s sin? He debated Perot and won. Environmental and labor standards were added with the help of Democrats before it was finally ratified.

So, what’s going on? Does anybody have an idea?

In the meantime, if anyone posts about Gore and NAFTA, I’m going to continue to ask for specifics. What role did Gore play in NAFTA and NAFTA related legislation that he should have insisted be done differently? Do you think the Clinton administration should NOT have insisted on adding labor and environmental provisions to NAFTA? So far, whenever I’ve asked what Gore should have done differently I’ve never got an answer based on anything other than “I’ve heard” or the good old Fox standard, "Some people say...".

Anyway, I really don't want to play the "I can find fault with your favorite" but I just might start.

Thanks for providing.