Dick Gephardt in Crashing the Party, by Ralph Nader

On Free Trade: No MFN for China; keep annual review

Gephardt, as the leader of the Democrats, was against giving up the annual congressional review of whether to grant China most-favored-nation treatment, for reasons of human rights, worker abuses, and trade violations. Some Democrats thought that Gephardt took this position but didn't twist arms because he really didn't mind losing, which would get the corporate interests and the White House off his back. I was unable to judge the accuracy of this widespread belief in anti-corporate globalization circles that went back to the struggles over NAFTA and GATT. Certainly, Gephardt did not restrain his energetic deputy David Bonior, and it is not Gephardt's personality to be a Sam Rayburn or a Lyndon Johnson. When I asked Gephardt why Clinton continued to fight his own party in the House on these unfair-trade matters and side with the global corporations against labor and environmental groups, he replied without hesitations, "Because he is selfish." Source: Crashing the Party, by Ralph Nader, p.112 Oct 14, 2002

The above quotations are from Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President Taking on Corporate Governance in an Age of Surrender, by Ralph Nader. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Dick Gephardt. Click here for Dick Gephardt on all issues.
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