Who You Going To Trust On The TPP?

Terry McAuliffe is a long time crooked operator from the corporatist wing of the Democratic Party. Don't ask how I put myself in this awkward position, but Dick Gephardt once tricked me into shaking hands with him. But, of course, of course, of course, he's the lesser evil than whatever horrid diarrhea Satan crapped out in the form of a Republican opponent-- much lesser evil. So now he's the governor of Virginia and he gets to name the senator who will replace corporatist Time Kaine if Clinton/Kaine beats greater evil Trump/Pence. Appointed senators are routinely defeated for reelection so what;s in vogue now is to appoint a placeholder who pledges to not run. That way-- in this case-- McAuliffe can run. Feh!

when McAuliffe let the cat out of the bag Tuesday that his wing of the party need not worry because his very, very close personal friend Hillary will be back on the TPP side as soon as she and TPP fanatic Tim win the election, he really stepped in it and flipped out the Clinton Team who are working so hard to reinvent her as a quasi-progressive on trade. This is all about the lame duck session when Obama, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell will make their big TPP push. Clinton hasn't agreed to oppose that. Why not? That's the real battle over fair trade now.

Annie Karni broke the McAuliffe part in this story Tuesday night at Politico. "I worry that if we don’t do TPP, at some point China’s going to break the rules-- but Hillary understands this,” he told her candidadly, all pumped up after his dumb, empty speech about how personally close he is to the Clintons at the convention. “Once the election’s over, and we sit down on trade, people understand a couple things we want to fix on it but going forward we got to build a global economy." When Karni pressed him on whether Hillary would turn around and support the trade deal she opposed during the heat of the primary fight against Bernie Sanders, McAuliffe said: "Yes. Listen, she was in support of it. There were specific things in it she wants fixed." Not what Team Deceit Clinton wants out there... yet.

Later, McAuliffe’s spokesman sought to clarify the governor’s remarks after this story published, saying he was simply expressing what he wants Clinton to do if she is elected president. “While Governor McAuliffe is a supporter of the TPP, he has no expectation Secretary Clinton would change her position on the legislation and she has never told him anything to that effect.”

A top Clinton campaign official said the Democratic nominee never told McAuliffe she would be open to changing her position on TPP-- and campaign chairman John Podesta confirmed to Politico she never said anything like that to her longtime ally. “Love Gov. McAuliffe, but he got this one flat wrong,” Podesta tweeted. “Hillary opposes TPP BEFORE and AFTER the election. Period. Full stop.”

But Trump’s campaign immediately seized on the comments. “This should surprise nobody!” tweeted Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The battle over TPP was one of the most notable to erupt on the floor of the convention Monday, as Sanders delegates protested the fact that language opposing the trade deal was excluded from the party platform.

Sanders delegates started a cheer, “No TPP!” as Rep. Elijah Cummings was speaking and hoisted a banner that read “Economic Justice, Climate Justice, Trade Justice.”

And McAuliffe’s comments played directly into the image of Clinton that infuriates Sanders' delegates-- especially after her selection of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, who vocally supports the Obama-backed trade deal. "I have no confidence she's against TPP," said Christine Pellegrino, a Sanders delegate from New York. "I haven't made up my mind about what options exist at the convention.”

McAuliffe said he feels confident Democrats will win back the Senate and even win back 30 seats in the House and be able to pass a tweaked version of the trade deal supported by President Obama. “If we get enough things done, enough opportunities to change TPP, I’m optimistic going forward,” he said. "We cannot let China write these rules for 11 other countries.”

Even as protesters headed for the exits of the Wells Fargo Center after the roll call made Clinton's nomination official, McAuliffe insisted the party was still on the road to unity.

"Sen. Sanders was a true champion," McAuliffe said. "He sent out texts, his speech last night said we have to come together. He's done everything we've asked him to do. This is a hard business, it just takes time. I think this convention made a lot of progress."

Just over a year ago, 158 House Democrats said no to Obama, Wall Street, Paul Ryan and the GOP on TPP. Only 28 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans, allowing fast track legislation to pass by 10 votes. These were the culprits:

• Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Don Beyer (New Dem-VA)
• Earl Blumenauer (OR))
• Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
• Gerry Connolly (New Dem-VA)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Susan Davis (New Dem-CA)
• John Delaney (New Dem-MD)
• Suzan DelBene (New Dem-WA)
• Sam Farr (CA)
• Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)
• Rubén Hinojosa (TX)
• Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)
• Derek Kilmer (New Dem-WA)
• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)
• Rick Larsen (New Dem-WA)
• Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY)
• Beto O'Rourke (New Dem-TX)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Jared Polis (New Dem-CO)
• Mike Quigley (New Dem-IL)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (New Dem-FL)

Over in the Senate, it wasn't just Kaine who joined with the GOP to pass the fast track legislation for TPP. Almost all of the worst of the garbage Democrats-- Manchin is good on this issue, so he gets a pass-- were right there with Kaine and McConnell, from Rachel Maddow's favorite fake Democrat, loudmouthed reactionary Claire McCaskill (MO) to the richest slimeball in the whole Senate, Mark Warner. These, along with McAuliffe and the institutional Republican Party-- as opposed to the Trumpist crazy operation-- are pushing for a lame duck vote on TPP. Yes, these assholes, all on one lovely dartboard: