Hillary Clinton won't answer Keystone XL pipeline question

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CNN

Nashua, New Hampshire (CNN)Hillary Clinton declined to say whether she supported the Keystone XL pipeline expansion Tuesday, telling a New Hampshire voter that if the matter is still undecided by the time she becomes president, she will give him an answer then.

"I am not going to second guess [President Barack Obama] because I was in a position to set this in motion," Clinton said, referencing the fact that she started the investigation into the Keystone XL pipeline as secretary of state. "I want to wait and see what he and Secretary Kerry decide."

She added, "If it is undecided when I become president, I will answer your question."

The question came from Bruce Blodgett, a software developer from Amherst, New Hampshire who told CNN he identifies as a Republican and supports building the Keystone XL pipeline, the 1,179-mile-long project that would move oil from Canada to refineries in the United States.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/politics/hillary-clinton-keystone-xl-pipeline/

---

Good for her. No need to pander on this issue, especially since it may be resolved before she become President.

[Ed Suspicious]

1. Way to put yourself out there, Clinton. We'll get your answer on the issue after we elect you?

"She added, "If it is undecided when I become president, I will answer your question." "

[yurbud]

27. like Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War?

[cosmicone]

2. Hillary haters will still find a way to hate in 3...2...1 n/t

[Chakab]

9. Do you seriously think that "I'll tell you my opinion on that after I'm President"

is an acceptable answer to a question about something that the majority of the base of your party opposes?

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. It depends on how much a candidate wants to pander to the base

[blackspade]

38. How is it pandering to take a position on something?

She is for or against it. Simple.
Is she pandering to take a position on Planned Parenthood?
Why doesn't she just wait to see how things are if she becomes President?

[Chakab]

47. Explaining your policy positions during an election is "pandering"?

[arcane1]

17. Only when republicans do it n/t

[cosmicone]

41. She is a former cabinet member to PBO

When PBO and Secretary Kerry are handling it, her opinions only complicate matters. If she comes out for the XL, she is contradicting PBO, her boss, in public. If she supports it, she would give ammunition to KXL proponents to gather all the Hillary haters to her side.

A wise marine doesn't die on every hill.

[Chakab]

46. I hate to break this to you, but most people who fervently support the Keystone XL pipeline are

not going to vote for her anyway.

[beam me up scottie]

57. Hillary is not a Marine.

Refusing to fight at all is the exact opposite of fighting for a hill.

[tazkcmo]

66. She is not a veteran.

She only voted for war. Never has or will fight one.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

68. It's an acceptable answer in "Hillary World." Ask Bernie a question, he gives you an answer - no pollsters, no political consultants, no triangulation, just a straight answer.

Go Bernie Go!

[fbc]

10. Because the desire to see a candidate with the courage to give an opinion is "hating"?

Hillary Clinton has an opinion on this subject.

She won't put her name to that opinion because votes are more important to her than principles.

[cosmicone]

42. See post No. 41 n/t

[Flatpicker]

79. I don't

Think it's hate to expect a candidate to state their position on an issue that's current.

[quizzle]

3. yes good for her - the sanders people are gonna be mad cause they want something to thump her with

i prefer sanders to hillary but keeping the white house is imperative

[Ed Suspicious]

15. Nope. Bad analysis. We want her to oppose. We don't need more material for campaigns, we need

better leadership on the issue.

[Maedhros]

32. A candidate that won't speak directly and honestly to an issue of extreme importance

to a large segment of the base is a bad candidate.

[quizzle]

53. especially a segment looking for gotcha moments

[Maedhros]

58. Like BLM? [n/t]

[quizzle]

63. link?

[Maedhros]

65. You seem to be of the opinion that Hillary is being unfairly criticized

because she refuses to speak clearly and directly regarding her position on the Keystone XL pipeline issue. Your rationale for this appears to be that Hillary's opponents will opportunistically seize upon her answer and then bludgeon her with it. By your reasoning, Hillary's dodging of this important issue is sound, politically, and you approve of her actions.

In contrast, Bernie Sanders was severely criticized for not speaking clearly and directly* regarding his position on police brutality targeting black Americans. He was accused by his detractors of dodging the issue in favor of his economic platform. This was judged to be unsound, politically, and his opponents opportunistically seized upon the incident to bludgeon Sanders with it.

What I'm observing is rank hypocrisy, par for the course these days. You are defending Hillary for the same behavior for which Bernie was savagely attacked.

Needless to say, I find your argument to be unconvincing.

*even though it was demonstrated that he did.

[quizzle]

67. im not arguing or debating and if bernie refused to answer any questions about kxl

my response would be the same -
and in order for there to be hypocrisy. I would have to defend hillary and not bernie over the same issue but MY defending hillary's answer regarding the kxl = apples, OTHERS, not me, savagely attacking bernie over police brutality against our black americans = oranges.

just so there's clarification i dont expect either bernie or hillary to answer questions about the kxl so there is no hypocrisy

i prefer bernie over hillary but i prefer the white house over bernie

[Maedhros]

69. Hillary is being dishonest with us.

Will never get my vote.

[quizzle]

73. so youll vote for scott walker? you realize the next president could pick 3 supremes?

this is really not the time to refuse to vote for who(m)ever wins the primary. btw refusing to answer a question is not being dishonest

[Autumn]

4. That's why I won't vote for her.

[tularetom]

5. Remember Nixons secret plan to end the Vietnam war?

He told us he would reveal it when we elected him president.

So she will tell us how she feels about Keystone when she becomes president?

I'm afraid we are never going to know.

[arcane1]

8. McCain had a plan to get Bin Laden, but we had to elect him to hear about it.

Didn't Trump also do the same thing recently?

[RufusTFirefly]

16. Hah! Great minds.

That's exactly who I thought of.
Let's see: paranoid, secretive, uncomfortable with the press, operating a rogue network.



Yes, yes, yes, and yes! I'm really close on this!

[fbc]

6. What a coward

[RufusTFirefly]

7. Shhhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet. She has a secret Keystone plan

[Maedhros]

34. The secret Keystone plan is...

...invest heavily in Keystone via a convoluted series of proxies so it can't be traced back to Hillary, then make a killing when she approves it as President.

[RufusTFirefly]

37. If you aren't careful, you may forfeit your reservation for the Lincoln Bedroom! n/t

[cosmicone]

43. Your post is downright offensive and accusing HRC of corruption

Clintons have been investigated by one body or another for 23 years and they haven't found anything criminal.

Your post is insulting to all of us who have known the Clintons all these years to be honest, hard-working and albeit ambitious people.

[L0oniX]

76. LMFAO

[riversedge]

49. Who told you that? Rush? Hannity? O'Liellly??

Your post is shameful

[Maedhros]

50. No one "told me."

I'm basing my conjecture on Hillary's predilection for propping-up despicable business ventures like the prison industry, and upon her hand-in-glove relationship with Wall Street, and upon her well-demonstrated ruthlessness when it comes to human suffering.

[George II]

60. And that is PRECISELY what it is...."conjecture", totally lacking in facts.

[George II]

59. Are you accusing her of being corrupt?

[portlander23]

81. I will accuse her of corruption

I’m genuinely surprised by this comment. In all fairness, the intimation in the original comment that Mrs. Clinton would directly profit from the pipeline is unsupportable and in poor taste. That said, it’s hard to view her response as anything other than being corrupted by large corporate interests that have a stake in the pipeline.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is being funded by powerful interests that want a pipeline built:

Banks Behind Hillary Clinton's Canadian Speeches Really Want The Keystone Pipeline

Meet the Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Raising Money for Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton's Newest Consultant Was A Major Keystone Lobbyist

You could argue that this is not quid-pro-quo corruption, and you’d be right in as much as there’s no explicit purchasing of an outcome, but to assume this is not corruption is ludicrous. Either she’s being influenced by this money, or she just happens to already agree with large corporate interests who are funding her. If it's the former, it's plain and simple corruption. If it's the latter, we have a right to know if that's her position.

This wouldn’t be the first case of Mrs. Clinton siding with powerful interests over constituents:

Clinton and the Bankruptcy Law

I think you can make a reasonable case that this is the sort of political climate in which Mrs. Clinton is being forced to operate and this level of “background” corruption is a part of modern American politics. I wouldn’t argue that point, and certainly Mrs. Clinton is not the only politician in any party who has to contend with a bad system. It may be the case that any politician running for the presidency has to acquiesce to large money interests to garner enough financial support for a successful run, though I personally hope this is not the case.

But let’s not feign shock at the notion that Mrs. Clinton’s position is tainted and that her response is anything but weasel-worded. Global warming may be the defining crisis that this generation must face, and voters deserve to know where she stands.

[jtuck004]

11. Just sign it. We'll fill it in for you. That's called leadership. n/t

[PoliticAverse]

13. Saying what you actually believe is "pandering"? n/t

[bluestateguy]

14. People forget

Obama vetoed building KXL based on a process issue, not upon ideological or even environmental grounds. If you read his veto statement or read his other spoken words on this issue, you can see that he leaves open the possibility for approving it in some way in the future.

[RufusTFirefly]

20. Obama didn't veto building KXL at all

What he vetoed was Congress's attempt to shift the final decision away from the Executive Branch and over to the Legislative Branch. It was a balance of powers question.

[still_one]

18. This really isn't LBN. That has been her position for some time, undecided

[SoapBox]

19. Shame on you!

That she will NOT answer...straight answer, up or down, yes or no.

But she ropes herself off to an answer.

And people defend her on this? Really?

It's the fucking, nasty, dirty oil TAR sands pipeline!

Really? You SUPPOERT and DEFEND THIS?

Shame...shame...shame.

[Fuddnik]

40. Bill Clinton pulled the same shit with NAFTA.

Couldn't decide if he supported it until after he was elected.

A page out of the same playbook.

[geek tragedy]

21. "If it is undecided when I become president, I will answer your question."

If you buy me a hamburger today, I will gladly provide you an answer next Tuesday.

That's a pretty awesome cop-out.

[arcane1]

22. I can only interpret that as an approval of KXL.

It would be less politically volatile to say she was against it, than for it.

[geek tragedy]

24. She can neither confirm a denial, nor deny a confirmation, but she recognizes

that some of her friends are for it, others are against it, and she promises that she will stand by her friends.

[peacebird]

33. Perfect response!

[Amishman]

39. nah, its about her corporate connections.

This way she can milk both sides of the debate for millions over the next year while she 'makes up her mind' based on the size of the checks. Making up her mind now is less profitable.

[GeorgeGist]

25. Pretty arrogant presumption ...

that's she will become president.

[geek tragedy]

26. that part is standard for people running. They get introduced as "the next President of the

United State" etc.

I think it's funny that her answer is that she'll answer questions after the election. Ummmm, huh?

[restorefreedom]

61. i noticed that too. nt

[GeorgeGist]

23. Measuring drapes?

"If it is undecided when I become president, I will answer your question."

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

70. Pretty arrogant if you ask me. Bernie demonstrates, once again, how to answer a simple question.

Go Bernie Go!

[randr]

28. This is a very straight forward question and deserves a straight answer

I like to think that as a Democrat I have candidates willing to answer the difficult questions with honesty.
We all deserve and answer to this question.

[MADem]

29. "I want to wait and see what he and Secretary Kerry decide."

Is another way of saying "I won't be a disloyal fucker and screw over my former boss, and the guy who relieved me in my job, over a situation that will be resolved--no matter what I might think--before I hit the Oval Office."

And anyone who discounts "pragmatism" in politics should ask themselves why the guy who dissed Lockheed Martin with every name in the book back in 2011 suddenly found it in his heart to kiss their well-fed asses when he cut a deal with them to put their shitty, lousy worst-plane-in-years F-35 in Burlington, VT. The criticism sure stopped once that went down!!!

AND got a kicker of a greenwashing renewable energy Sandia Labs branch (you remember them--the guys who invented the atomic bomb?) from the very same Lockheed Martin, as well...

But hey. Nothing to see here, move along!

It's only baaad if some people do that "pragmatism" thing!!!

[LoveMyCali]

75. Thank you

I was wondering if I was the only one that got that it very well be a mute decision by the time she would get to the White House. Why discuss things that will already be over with?

[Fred Sanders]

30. Isn't not pandering to the base, any base or party, a good thing? Well and fully explained, Madame Clinton.

[Android3.14]

31. I agree. She shouldn't answer any question on any matter that might be resolved before the election

Or was that sarcasm?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

71. Where's the leadership in that?!

[Android3.14]

77. Exactly

I really should use the sarcasm tag.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

80. I got your "double" sarcasm (I think) Android and, actually, was agreeing with you. hahaha

In any case, Hillary needs to take lessons from Bernie in leadership; he's a true "champion" of the people.

[blackspade]

35. That was a dodge.

She has no opinion or position on it? Really?
Having an actual position on something is not pandering.

[RoccoR5955]

36. Not having a stance on this issue is as bad as a negative stance. n/t

[yallerdawg]

44. She answered.

A great many appear to not understand the answer.

The cabinet-level reviews and analyses which she initiated years ago are still in process.

Guess what. Canadian tar sand oil is being transported across America everyday. It is being purchased, refined, and consumed.

"Yes" or "no" is a stupid simplistic answer prior to the facts.

No Keystone XL Pipeline may be worse than having one. Did you all think of that? Hillary did!

[Thinkingabout]

54. It doesn'tmake sense to fight Keystone pipeline unless those opposing is happier with the

transportation of the crude oil by rail or trucking unless there is a personal interest in rail or trucking.

[bucolic_frolic]

45. It Will Be

A New Year's Eve approval, 2016, when the public is not looking because
they're occupied with the holidays.

[sadoldgirl]

48. And the Donald will tell us

how he will get rid of ISIS after he has
been elected.

[restorefreedom]

51. no dodging

she is a presidential candidate and has a right to have opinions that differ from the opinions of her former boss. And as a candidate she's obligated to tell us what those opinions are on key issues, especially one like this that matter so much to the base. I'm not going with the "I'll tell you when I'm elected" bullshit.

[Vincardog]

52. OK Hillary tell us how much you stand to gain financially should it be built?

[NickB79]

55. Because discussing something that could destroy the global ecosystem is "pandering", right?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/opinion/game-over-for-the-climate.html?_r=0

If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.

Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk.

This was 3 years ago. James Hansen is probably THE most knowledgeable figure in the world of climatology today. We're STILL debating. Why?

The time for the debate is over. Kill Keystone. There is NO other position that should be acceptable to anyone with half a mind. We're talking about BILLIONS of human lives at risk over the next century.

[beam me up scottie]

56. Sorry. I'm not a faith based voter.

If she won't answer questions now why should I trust her to do the right thing if she's elected?

[restorefreedom]

62. +100 nt

[restorefreedom]

64. this was her bill buckner moment

when she doesn't get the nom, this will be what everyone will remember as the turning point.

[fbc]

72. But she can't answer this question that would reveal if she puts corporations or people first!!!!

how convenient

[hughee99]

74. It revealed she puts Hillary Clinton first. n/t

[L0oniX]

78. Do I really have to say it for her? Corporations are people too.

[Enthusiast]

82. We know the answer.