Hillary At Ohio GM Plant: McCain, Bush, Cheney Turn Backs On Blue Collar Workers

WARREN, Ohio (TDB) -- Hillary's knock on the Republicans: "They think America doesn't need to make anything anymore." She campaigned at the giant GM auto complex in Trumbull County today and ripped the Bush Administration over the loss of 3 million U.S. factory jobs. Ohio's share of the toll: Nearly 200,000. She said the GOP's likely nominee John McCain favors trade policies that will continue shipping American manufacturing jobs overseas to cheap labor nations.

"Let's be honest about something. When President Bush and Vice President Cheney say the economy is booming even though 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost; when they promise to cut the Manufacturing Extension Partnership; when they cut assistance to small manufacturers; when Sen. McCain tells you business as usual on trade is just fine and tells neighboring Michigan workers that we can't bring new manufacturing jobs back to the United States -- they are sending you a clear message: They do not believe America needs a strong manufacturing base.

"They think America doesn't need to make anything anymore. They think those of us who remember how our manufacturers helped defend our freedoms in the great wars are just quaint and nostalgic. They think it would be just fine if every plane, every piece of machinery, every computer, every car were made somewhere else.

"Well let me be clear: I believe manufacturing matters. I believe we should be restoring the Manufacturing Extension Partnership -- not cutting it. I believe a strong America needs a strong manufacturing base -- and I intend to fight for one as president. Some may call this the 'rust belt' but that's not what I see. I see some of the hardest workers in the world. I see great universities and strong communites. I see a 21st century manufacturing belt. An innovation belt. An opportunity belt."

The complete text of her prepared remarks at the NE Ohio manufacturing complex is available here. Trade policy, globalization, NAFTA reform and the disappearance of Ohio's factories promise to to be recurring themes of both Obama and Clinton from now to March 4. Later today she's speaking about the foreclosure crisis. In Ohio, it's the economy, stupid.

Former Clinton Aide Rob Weiner: Dan Rather Was Right About Bush Guard Absences

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Former Clinton White House public affairs official Rob Weiner is pointing to Defense Department documents that show President George Bush was absent for at least seven months from his National Guard unit, and had a poor service record. The records are available in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff Reading Room and still can be accessed on the Internet. They were released by the White House in 2004.

Weiner, who worked on Capitol Hill as an aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., now runs a public affairs firm in Washington. He says:

"The evidence shows that Bush missed at least seven consecutive months of the Guard, only sporadically attended other times, and missed key obligations, despite expectations of his superiors. In the 2004 election, Bush's staff offered a cover story that he wanted to change from flight status but never said why he did not cancel or delay his obligated physical to avoid the unchallenged record of absence and demotion.

"As Bush concludes his presidency, it's important that the supposed Bush 'legacy' be accurate. Part of what Bush has done in the White House and in his presidential campaigns is blow off his Guard absences as though they did not occur. They did."

Weiner said he is speaking up for Dan Rather, the ex-CBS anchor who is now suing the network's corporate parent for $70 million. Rather claims he was forced out by political pressure. He ran a politically charged story about Bush's Guard service that was based on faked documents from a Texas source. Weiner said the DoD records show Rather was right.

"It's a legitimate journalistic quandary whether you get a story right if you use the wrong source -- unless there is proof from other separate irrefutable sources, as is the case. Bush's own absences are an issue that the DoD record proves stands on its own . . ."

You can read his full statement on the pr newswire here.

Meanwhile, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg, editor at large of National Review Online, says Rather is a pompous gasbag who allowed CBS News to run "with fake documents" and described him as resembling a "grassy knoll theorist climbing back to the top of the laughingstock tree." Goldberg's column about Rather was in the Columbus Dispatch.

It seems clear that Rather -- who is seriously damaged goods as a newsman --has managed to begin the process of resurrecting the open questions about Bush's whereabouts when he was supposed to be flying fighter jets for the Texas Air National Guard. He's using the courts to resume a fight that's really aimed at Bush when the president's popularity is low. And the president -- who is the commander of a wartime military and has asked for sacrifice from his troops -- appears to have a service record containing holes.