KORUS FTA passes first hurdle

A congressional committee in the US overwhelmingly approved (we're talking 31 to 5) the free trade agreement with South Korea, paving the way for full approval, perhaps sometime next week.

With the Republicans promising to later support job retraining for those who lose work due to the impact of the FTAs, this is one of the few issues where the White House, the Republicans, and Congressional Democrats are in general agreement.

...

Grizzly bears don't have tariffs on berries and salmon, so why should we?

Courtesy of Ben Muse's Korea-US FTA blog (which has produced a flurry of activity lately), here's news that Sarah Palin is pushing new Republican members of Congress to support the KORUS-FTA:

You will also have the opportunity to push job-creating free trade agreements with allies like Colombia and South Korea. You can stand with allies like Israel, not criticize them.

Wait... what the? We're not supposed to criticize Israel? What if they do something wrong? Like continuing to build settlements that further erode what little chance there is for a peaceful two-state solution? What do we do then?

Anyway, she may have a bit of a tough time with this, since Tea Party supporters seem to be anti-free trade, believing it to be a sign of the New World Order   another example of Obama trying to socialize America   I am extremely terrified of Chinese people somehow bad (according to polls).

Oh, and they should also kill Obamacare:

Obamacare is a job-killer, a regulatory nightmare, and an enormous unfunded mandate. The American people don’t want it and we can’t afford it. We ask, with all due respect, that you remember your job will be to work to replace this legislation with real reform that relies on free market principles and patient-centered policies. The first step is, of course, to defund Obamacare.

Replace the legislation, yeah. Replace it with that major health care legislation you pushed during the six years that Republicans controlled the White House, the US Senate, and the House of Representatives. That one.

Anyway, interesting that I can agree with the former Alaska governor on at least something (but that's more because I'm a moderate than any inclinations toward across-the-aisle compromise on her part).

Did you know?

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is actually "Black Donnellys" and "Mask" villain Peter Greene in drag. The "Repub Repug" bit he honed during his Vegas act in the mid-1990s has now eclipsed his regular acting career.