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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (16665)	11/18/2003 6:33:39 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793640

I have been expecting this to happen. Right move from a Political and FA viewpoint. Wrong move from an economic one. November 18, 2003 White House Moves to Impose Quotas on Chinese Textiles By EDMUND L. ANDREWS New York Times WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — The Bush Administration moved today to block large volumes of Chinese textile exports to the United States, provoking fears of protectionism in international markets but cheers from American producers in the southern United States. Invoking special "safeguard" clauses in its trade agreements with China, the Commerce Department said it would begin discussions to impose new quotas that could sharply cut back China's burgeoning exports of knit fabrics and other products. Industry executives said that the three categories of textiles cover many millions of dollars in imports, but that they are probably more important as test cases in a broader assault against Chinese clothing and textiles of all sorts. Administration officials made it clear they wanted to send Chinese leaders a signal that they want broader cooperation on a wide range of complaints over Chinese trade practices. But the move also seemed an effort to soothe a growing push from both parties in Congress for tough new tariffs against all Chinese products. The decision today came as President Bush continued to wrestle with an equally explosive decision over whether to keep protecting American steel producers with their own set of "safeguard" tariffs. The World Trade Organization has ruled that the American tariffs violate international trade laws, and the European Union is threatening to impose $2.2 billion in retaliatory tariffs as early as next month. Today, American steel producers let it be known they would be willing to abandon the special tariffs about six months earlier than they would have been required to do, but European officials dismissed the idea out of hand. In steel as well as in textiles, President Bush has been willing to compromise on his oft-stated goal of promoting global free trade and he has been under great pressure to stem the huge loss of manufacturing jobs — many occurring in politically important states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina — over the past two years. "This decision demonstrates the Bush administration's commitment to our trade rules and America's workers," Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans said in a statement accompanying today's decision. "I believe this will advance our future dealings with China, for no market operates fairly without open dialogue." The Bush administration has been pressuring China on several fronts for several months now, but it has also fought all proposals in Congress to impose tariffs in response to what many lawmakers contend is China's policy of intentionally undervaluing its currency, the yuan. Critics have complained that China has kept its currency artificially low in relation to the dollar, thereby making its exports cheap in the United States. Even as the Commerce Department threatened to start blocking Chinese textile imports, it was also holding the first of several workshops in Newark and New York aimed at encouraging American companies to invest in China. Today's decision had been actively sought by a number of the biggest American textile companies, including Milliken & Company. Under provisions of the treaty that opened trade between China and the United States, the United States is allowed to restrict the growth of certain "sensitive" categories of imports to 7.5 percent a year. nytimes.com

To: MSI who wrote (16665)	11/18/2003 6:57:32 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793640

An organization to find, tend, and grow cute little lefties into big, bad, lefties. Hey, it worked for Newt! PAC hunts for liberal candidates By Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 11/18/2003 WASHINGTON -- If you can't beat 'em, copy 'em. With hopes of liberals winning back Congress someday, a new liberal political action committee has been studying the war plans of legendary conservative field marshal Newt Gingrich. PROPAC, as the group is called, aims to pour $2.6 million over the next year into recruiting and training left-leaning candidates at the grass-roots level -- the first step in a long-range project to fill the pipeline with a fresh supply of future winners. According to executive director Gloria Totten, the name and idea are conscious echoes of Gingrich's GOPAC, the vehicle by which the Georgia Republican rose from congressional backbencher to speaker of the US House in 14 carefully plotted years leading up to 1994. "We didn't take their entire playbook," Totten said last week. "But we did look at a myriad of things they did." Totten, a former abortion rights activist, acknowledged that most liberals, including her, prefer to champion issues than to hatch campaign strategy. And rounding up candidates is often a last-minute chore performed one-handed, with the other hand daintily holding one's nose. Liberals have a distrust of politics and a fear that they might be pressured into unseemly compromises. Laying the groundwork for PROPAC, "I spent the first six months giving my `get over it' speech," Totten said. The effort will start this year in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, Arizona, and either Michigan or Florida -- "presidential battleground states," Totten said. The group will target five additional states in the 2006 cycle and five more in 2008. Ultimately, it aims to elect enough local and statewide candidates to have a leftward impact on the redistricting battles of 2011. boston.com

To: MSI who wrote (16665)	11/18/2003 7:48:52 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793640

What does it mean when you send more troops to protect Bush than to protect the rest of civilization against terrorists? That the anti-Bush cohorts are starting to resemble terrorists?

To: MSI who wrote (16665)	11/18/2003 9:45:01 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793640

Mass Court legalizes gay marriage. This just changed the 2004 political landscape. Watch the Democrat presidential candidates twist themselves into pretzels when asked if they will support a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. polipundit.com