McCain in Mordor

(Disclosure: Global Trade Watch has no preference among the candidates.)

McCain is a life-long supporter of NAFTA-style trade deals, while Obama has a better but less consistent record on the fair trade side. Is McCain trying to force Obama into a corner? That's the only explanation of why McCain would fly to the union murder capital of the world (Colombia) to promote a trade deal that Americans hate. Here are some reactions from Bloomberg reporting (guess which one is at a Democratic-backed group):

"McCain does have the opportunity to take the optimistic, pro-trade mantra,'' said Ed Gresser, a trade official in the Clinton administration and now an analyst at the Progressive Policy Institute, a research group in Washington affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council that supports trade...

McCain's support of trade will help Obama, said Lori Wallach, president of Global Trade Watch, a group which opposes free-trade agreements.

"It's one thing to have that view, it's another thing to wave it around like a pair of red underwear,'' Wallach said, calling trade a "wedge issue'' that may push factory workers toward Obama.