Hillary Clinton Is Stumped on Question of Keystone Pipeline

[Warren Stupidity]

NASHUA, N.H. — Hillary Rodham Clinton has an aggressive set of proposals to combat climate-change — and a pipeline problem.

The day after Mrs. Clinton put forth a detailed plan that would go further than the any president in using the government to protect the environment and produce solar and wind energy, she found herself once again stumped on the question of whether or not she would support the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would bring Canadian oil to Texas.

A voter at a Nashua town hall, Bruce Blodgett, a software engineer in Amherst, asked Mrs. Clinton to give a “yes or no” answer to whether she would support the pipeline, which liberals and environmentalists abhor. Mrs. Clinton demurred.

“This is President Obama’s decision and I’m not going to second-guess him,” she said. “If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question.”

The response left a silence in the un-air-conditioned gymnasium of the Amherst Street Elementary School, where 450 people wiped sweat and sipped bottles of lukewarm water to get a chance to ask Mrs. Clinton a question. At her last town hall event in New Hampshire, climate change protesters heckled Mrs. Clinton about her stance on the environment.

By the time the national news media had its chance to ask Mrs. Clinton about Keystone, the Democratic candidate seemed exasperated.

“I will not do it,” she said when a CNN reporter pressed her on the pipeline. “I am sorry if people want me to.”

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/07/28/hillary-clinton-is-stumped-on-question-of-keystone-pipeline/?_r=0

[tblue]

1. "I will not do it"? Support KP or answer the question?

Anybody know what she meant by that?

[Warren Stupidity]

8. answer the question.

She is holding firm to "no comment".

[roguevalley]

32. she isn't stumped. she can't be against it or her wall street money will dry up and frankly,

she always was a 1% anyway.

[Fred Sanders]

4. Insipid and meaningless comment on a leading Democrat and prohibitive favorite to retain the WH, not unlike the OP

Because using doubtful logic and carefully chosen clips of quotes, and amnesia, to bring down a former Secretary of State and Senator and First Lady may marginally assist your own fav candidate?

Many more twists of logic and fields of strawmen planted to follow, I am sure.

[Faux pas]

7. I've been watching her and

listening to her since 1992, plenty of time for me to form MY OWN OPINION, thank you very much. Opinions are like a**holes you know.

[Enthusiast]

63. +1 an entire shit load.

[artislife]

12. She is above reproach, I say!

Don't use her facts against her!!
Don't use her quotes!!
Don't use her votes!!

She is running on rarified air, she's an angel. You believe in angels, don't you. Vote for her! On faith!


If you don't, you must believe in:

[beam me up scottie]

21. What? You're not a faith based voter???

Don't ask questions, just trust her, you know she'll always do the Right thing.

[restorefreedom]

42. lol. nt

[RufusTFirefly]

3. She needs to confer closely with her advisors before sharing her deeply felt opinions n/t

[msongs]

5. I will not answer any questions on important issues until I am elected. please vote for me. nt

[RufusTFirefly]

6. So does that mean you don't believe in "faith-based voting," msongs?

As for me, I just know in my heart that President-elect Clinton will do the right thing for America.



"Hillary Clinton is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."

[lewebley3]

17. She wants to be informed: That is smart!

[NCTraveler]

9. She needs to go ahead and support it. Openly.

"Yes, I do support the pipeline. Even under the worst case scenario with respect to a disaster, it wouldn't equate to one days damage of emission from our military. You don't see that so you don't think about it. Until we wean ourselves off fossil fuels, why not park it in our own backyard as a daily reminder of our dependence."

That would lead to two or three days of non-stop stories, then it would be done for the most part. She is keeping the story alive.

[Raine1967]

10. That is an interesting perspective.

I was not pleased with her non answer — I had hopes that she might changed her mind on this.

You are right, she is keeping the story alive and I don't know if that is a good thing.

[RufusTFirefly]

13. You're absolutely right. As they say, the coverup is often worse than the crime n/t

[restorefreedom]

15. interesting.

I do think by trying to play both sides is hurting her credibility even among potential supporters. And chances are the people who are strongly against Keystone XL are very unlikely to be Hillary supporters anyway. So I think she has a lot more to gain then she does to lose by just coming clean.

[ibegurpard]

26. yup

Answer yea or nay and take your lumps. She's so paranoid about being trapped she won't take a firm stand on anything and it reinforces the vicious cycle that she is intrustworthy. I have no idea what her core values are...besides politics for politics' sake.

[jeff47]

52. She has an excellent track record of keeping stories alive.

For example, she interrupted the explosion over the Iran letter to remind everyone about her email server.

[Agschmid]

60. Yup.

I don't get why she doesn't do this...

[John Poet]

11. Those environmentalists

need to just sit down, shut up, and support Hillary!


(I've decided to help out the Hillary posters, on a part-time basis...)

[restorefreedom]

14. very kind of you

i think she needs some extra help these days

[SoapBox]

19. And...

March along Zombie style to the voting booth!

[George II]

16. Hmm, NYT. Haven't they learned?

[A Simple Game]

20. Maybe the horse's mouth will better suit you.

An OP by Cheese Sandwich http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017282158

Doesn't matter to me at all, I don't like a decisive President anyway, how about you?

[George II]

36. She answered the question quite appropriately, considering that generally....

....DEMOCRATS don't criticize sitting DEMOCRATIC Presidents.

She showed no signs of being indecisive. But, if you don't like the answer of course she's "indecisive" or whatever insult you can fling her way.

[A Simple Game]

40. ....DEMOCRATS don't criticize sitting DEMOCRATIC Presidents.

Gee, I guess that means you haven't read this story.

Hillary Clinton criticizes President Obama’s foreign policy in interview with the Atlantic
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-criticizes-president-obamas-foreign-policy-in-interview-with-the-atlantic/2014/08/11/46d30564-2170-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html

Try a Google search, there's a lot more about Hillary not criticizing a sitting Democratic President.

How about; ....DEMOCRATS don't criticize sitting DEMOCRATIC Presidents when it's convenient? There! That seems more truthful now doesn't it?

[beam me up scottie]

43. Wtf? Didn't you post an article from the Washington Examiner here today?

Someone hasn't learned a damn thing about journalism and it isn't the NYT.

[SoapBox]

18. Wishy-Washy.

That ain't gonna cut it.

The majority of Americans have had enough of singing and dancing from politicians.

[WillyT]

22. K & R !!!

[BooScout]

23. The NYTimes sucks

And so does their biased reporting against Hillary. Amy Chozick is a hack....she should have stayed at Conde Nast.

[Motown_Johnny]

35. Blame the media? Seriously?

Are you honestly trying to deny reality to the point where you claim this did not happen?

[Enthusiast]

64. +1!

[beam me up scottie]

46. The NYT isn't at fault here, she needs to stop dodging the question.

This isn't some evil NYT conspiracy to make your candidate look bad, she's doing that all on her own.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

48. I fixed everything, just for you.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hillary-clinton-cops-out-on-keystone-question-for-second-time-in-2-days/ar-AAdBE7l?ocid=ansnewshp11

There you go. Does her quote read differently on MSN?

[Red Oak]

24. Cut Hillary some slack

It is a hard choice to remain silent on such a key issue as the Keystone pipeline. It takes practice to be able to make such hard choices. Years of practice are required, like not stating an up or down position on TPP (follow Pelosi...).

I'll grant her this, after so many hard choices and so many years of practice, she has fully mastered politician speak.

[BlueEye]

25. Well, Hillary's climate change agenda would really be helped by Congressional action.

Which is unlikely to be had unless she can throw in some "freebies" for the GOP and quite a few Democrats actually. Keystone XL might be a useful bargaining chip to get a major clean energy initiative passed.

In the long-run, oil will inevitably phase out, but the benefits of a comprehensive clean energy initiative will be felt for much longer. That may mean compromising in the short-run to accept a carbon breakeven.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. This is expected of ANYONE who claims to be "moderate"....

In between a truth and a lie is NOT an "opinion".

Nor is it a "half truth".

[Vinca]

28. Heaven forbid we should know her position BEFORE casting our votes.

This is what makes people look elsewhere for a candidate.

[GitRDun]

54. +1

A very foolish tactic.

If she supports it she should say so and why.

[mckara]

29. Hillary is as Cynical as All the Republicans

The current paradigm is broken. Hillary and the Republicans are one and the same trying to extend the casino for the top 1% for another presidential cycle. Enough! Or you're part of the problem with our government being dysfunctional, too.

[left-of-center2012]

30. It depends .......

On what the meaning of "is" is.

[Dustlawyer]

31. I think we know the answer to the question anyway.

We have a right for her to let us know clearly where she stands, especially when she is now running (supposedly) on the environment. She is running to be POTUS, we need to know this crap. Her non-answer leads me to believe she would sign off on it, but she is caught in a damned if I do, damned if I don't situation.

This is why I will not vote for her in the Primaries. She sold out long ago and now represents Donors, not the 99%!!!

[Motown_Johnny]

33. No wonder she won't let Debbie schedule the debates.

She expects to not answer any questions at all throughout the campaign.

What a terrible candidate.

[restorefreedom]

44. precisely!

?token=tbcmvfWveSXBAimnwG%2FqZR1S6ss%3D

[saidsimplesimon]

34. It's an easy, logical rejection of a Koch funded Canadian

bankruptcy in the making. The Saudis, or Iranians will drive the Koch brothers and their fracking catastrophe into bankruptcy.

A woman can dream?

[mmonk]

37. It's just the largest carbon bomb of all time.

Such a hard question.

[Armstead]

38. WHAT the FUCK?!?! That's one of the worst responses EVER by a politican. I hope she was misquoted.

"If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question.”

[Motown_Johnny]

47. .

[azmom]

51. That was my exact reaction. WTF

We need to tweet that out.

[hedgehog]

39. And Nixon had a secret plan to end the VietNam War.............

[John Poet]

59. Yeah, the plan was to wait 4 years, then pull out.

Of course it was secret, no one knew what it was.

[restorefreedom]

41. when her campaign crashes and burns

which i expect imminently, this will be the black box moment.

[azmom]

45. From McKibben to Hillary

You were terrible on Keystone. Even before the State Department began its review of the project, you said you were “inclined” to approve it. That’s been your last public word on the project, but your team performed an intellectually corrupt review of the plans, your campaign bundlers landed rich lobbying contracts, and your former advisers took jobs with Transcanada.It was and is a huge mess — and I’m sure you hate the whole topic because at the start you couldn’t have known that it would become the iconic environmental issue of our era. Since pipelines until Keystone were routinely approved, it probably seemed like just a chance to please the Canadians. Had you known it would become a hornet’s nest, you would doubtless have proceeded more carefully — and in fairness it wasn’t until the process was underway that climate scientists raised their most forceful concerns. Still, ugh.

[AtomicKitten]

49. From two years ago

... because I KNEW we'd be hearing weasel words instead of a straight answer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023022353

[azmom]

50. I like the suggestion at the end of the

Thread. " this should be posted next week and weekly thereafter"

[Cheese Sandwich]

66. oh my

[Agony]

53. Dear Hillary, Please go away. You do not have leadership skills. The answer to KXL is simple, ...NO!

just NO! it's simple FFS.

of course if you listen to Lloyd Blankfein instead of James Hanson you might be confused...

[ibegurpard]

57. Or yes

If that's your position. So you lose some people but at least they'll respect you.

[Agony]

62. SoS Clinton set a trap for herself.

You are correct, there is an element of respect to this issue. However, she would still be wrong and exhibiting poor leadership.

[kenn3d]

55. This thread contains many valid objections

This thread contains many valid objections to the KXL pipeline, and lots of righteous angst in the forum about HRC's undeniable paralysis in taking any firm position on this (and many other important issues).

I agree with most of what's been posted above and personally find little worthy defense for her performance on the stump, either here or anywhere online. But what irks me most about this particular incident is her closing statement on the matter as she so quickly diverted to the next question:
"If it's undecided when I become president, I will answer your question," Clinton said during the New Hampshire town hall.


Sure it is unbelievable that she actually refuses to answer such critical questions until after she is elected. But somehow even more outrageous is her very presumption... I really think she needs to start thinking "if" rather than "when".

It's becoming ever more obvious that we may have a better choice, and she'd do well to stop presuming her inevitable inauguration.

[philosslayer]

56. Secretary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee in 2016

Get over it.

[Armstead]

58. Hell no...How about "Jeb Bush will be President. Get over it."

[awoke_in_2003]

61. The answer my friend

is blowing in the wind.

[Cheese Sandwich]

65. Typical "gotcha" question

Not good enough America. Come up with some easier questions.

[olddots]

67. when in doubt take the 5th.