A New York Times blog looks further at the massive spending by corporate interests, much of it from secret sources, against Bill Halter. It says the stealth group, Americans for Job Security, has now committed $1.4 million to tearing down Halter for supposedly sending jobs overseas (there’s no record he did).
Taking the ad at face value, it’s odd that a group counting “free trade” as one of its top priorities would excoriate a candidate for, well, thinking globally. (The ad’s tagline: “Don’t send jobs overseas.”) Mr. DeMaura insists the group isn’t stepping on its own message. “Outsourcing and free trade are totally different issues that are sometimes confused,” he said. “Outsourcing is hiring workers in a different country to lower overhead costs or for whatever business reason. And free trade is really opening markets to American entrepreneurs to sell their goods and services.”
Perhaps, though, the Indian entrepreneurs view free trade as opening American markets to them. Besides, what “businesses, business leaders and entrepreneurs” would begrudge a company the chance to lower its operating costs? If, that is, the ad is to be taken at face value.