FrankRep
06-12-2008, 10:15 AM
Dick Cheney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=412617264635445048
CFR Dick Cheney says Democrats on 'destructive path' in trade
AP
Jun 12, 2008
Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday slammed Democrats in Congress and running for president for opposing free trade agreements and leading the country down a "very destructive path" to protectionism.
In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Cheney said Democratic lawmakers, by refusing to bring the Colombian free trade agreement to a vote, were dealing a "tremendous setback" to a close US ally and causing "severe damage to our nation's credibility in the region."
Led by Democrats, the House of Representatives in April delayed a vote on the trade pact in a snub to the White House that analysts said may have effectively mothballed the deal until after the November presidential and congressional elections.
Without mentioning presumptive Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama by name, Cheney complained that the "candidates for the presidency spoke the language of protectionism."
"Some politicians seem determined to unravel the bipartisan consensus on free trade -- a consensus epitomized by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)," said Cheney in direct reference to Obama's stated intention of renegotiating the 1994 pact between United States, Canada and Mexico if he is elected to the White House.
"In a time when even NAFTA is being called into doubt -- when candidates can draw cheers by denouncing trade deals with our next-door neighbors -- then we're at risk of going down a very destructive path," Cheney added.
In what appeared to be an underpinning of Republican Senator John McCain's pro-free trade stance in his election campaign, the vice president warned that protectionism "is the refuge of a tired, fearful nation -- and that is not the United States."
He said President George W. Bush told him that after foreign leaders ask him why Congress cannot pass a simple trade pact with Colombia, "the tone of amazement passes, then there's a tone of concern about the United States becoming protectionist."
The European Union, after a two-day review of US trade policy at the World Trade Organization, voiced concern Wednesday about what it called "worrying signs of a re-emergence of protectionism in a number of policy areas in the United States."
SOURCE:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080612131233.ilqjr0gg&show_article=1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=412617264635445048
CFR Dick Cheney says Democrats on 'destructive path' in trade
AP
Jun 12, 2008
Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday slammed Democrats in Congress and running for president for opposing free trade agreements and leading the country down a "very destructive path" to protectionism.
In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Cheney said Democratic lawmakers, by refusing to bring the Colombian free trade agreement to a vote, were dealing a "tremendous setback" to a close US ally and causing "severe damage to our nation's credibility in the region."
Led by Democrats, the House of Representatives in April delayed a vote on the trade pact in a snub to the White House that analysts said may have effectively mothballed the deal until after the November presidential and congressional elections.
Without mentioning presumptive Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama by name, Cheney complained that the "candidates for the presidency spoke the language of protectionism."
"Some politicians seem determined to unravel the bipartisan consensus on free trade -- a consensus epitomized by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)," said Cheney in direct reference to Obama's stated intention of renegotiating the 1994 pact between United States, Canada and Mexico if he is elected to the White House.
"In a time when even NAFTA is being called into doubt -- when candidates can draw cheers by denouncing trade deals with our next-door neighbors -- then we're at risk of going down a very destructive path," Cheney added.
In what appeared to be an underpinning of Republican Senator John McCain's pro-free trade stance in his election campaign, the vice president warned that protectionism "is the refuge of a tired, fearful nation -- and that is not the United States."
He said President George W. Bush told him that after foreign leaders ask him why Congress cannot pass a simple trade pact with Colombia, "the tone of amazement passes, then there's a tone of concern about the United States becoming protectionist."
The European Union, after a two-day review of US trade policy at the World Trade Organization, voiced concern Wednesday about what it called "worrying signs of a re-emergence of protectionism in a number of policy areas in the United States."
SOURCE:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080612131233.ilqjr0gg&show_article=1