AFL-CIO blasts McCain for Canada speech (update with RNC comments)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/AFLCIO_blasts_McCain_for_Canada_speech.html

June 20, 2008
Categories: McCain
AFL-CIO blasts McCain for Canada speech

The union organized a conference call that included both Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and a worker from the Hershey's factory in Pennsylvania (a stop Obama made during the primary there) to remind of the third country involved in NAFTA.

“Instead of delivering a speech from Ottawa, Canada, Senator McCain should visit Ottawa, Ohio, where the Phillips plant closed,” Brown said. “We need trade policies that create new jobs at home, not ship them to Mexico."

Also chiming in was Calvin Smith, a union member and machine operator for Hershey -- a company that cut hundreds of jobs in a high-profile move earlier this year.

Said Smith: “Every day I wake up and worry I’ll be told my job is being shipped off to another country."

UPDATE: The RNC's Alex Conant hits back:

“Barack Obama has to check the primary calendar before he knows what his position is on trade. On the other hand, Obama’s consistent calls for higher taxes would only slow job creation in states like Ohio.”