Ohio Democrats State Logo

Ohio Democratic

County Chairs Association

Ohio Democrats Party ODP Logo

Main Navigation

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • County Chairs
    • County Chairs of the Year – 2020
    • ODCCA Officers
      • Message from President Janet Carson
    • ODCCA Executive Committee, Regional Liaisons & Committees
    • ODCCA Constitution and Bylaws
    • How Ohio’s 88 counties got their names
    • WHY We Are Democrats!
    • Ohio Democratic Party (ODP)
      • History: Ohio Democratic Party
    • Democratic National Committee (DNC)
      • DNC Chair Jaime Harrison
      • DNC Officers
      • The 2020 Democratic Platform
  • Team
    • President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris
      • Nominees and Appointees
      • The American Rescue Act of 2021
      • Speeches by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
    • Senator Sherrod Brown
    • U.S. House of Representatives
      • Congresswoman Joyce Beatty
      • Congresswoman Marcia Fudge
      • Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
      • Congressman Tim Ryan
    • Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Donnelly
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner
    • State Senate Minority Leadership – 134th General Assembly
    • State House Minority Leadership – 134th General Assembly
    • Former President Barack Obama
  • Candidates
    • Interested in being a candidate?
      • Main Street Initiative – 2021
      • Candidate Information: Guides, Forms, Links
    • Are You Ready To VOTE?
  • Issues
  • News
  • Events
    • ODCCA
      • ODCCA Meetings & ODP Co-Hosted Events
      • ODCCA & ODP County Chairs Weekly Conference Calls
    • Local County Parties
    • ODP
      • County Chairs Conference Calls
    • DNC
      • 2020 Democratic National Convention – 8.17-20.2020
    • Are you ready to vote in 2021?
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only

Rob Portman’s Triple-Aerial-Flip-Flop

February 6, 2016

COLUMBUS, OH — Today the Ted Strickland for Senate Campaign is releasing a humorous take on Senator Portman’s recent announcement about his position on trade policy: The Portman Triple-Aerial-Flip-Flop.


For Immediate Release: February 5, 2016

New Video: The Portman Triple-Aerial-Flip-Flop.

Of course, there’s nothing funny about Senator Portman’s record of supporting unfair trade policies that have shipped thousands of Ohio jobs to places like China. Newspapers have called Portman a “dedicated outsourcer,” a free-trade disciple,” and the Columbus Dispatch even wrote that Portman “has never met a free-trade agreement he didn’t like.”

New Video: The Portman Triple-Aerial-Flip-Flop

Transcript:

Announcer: Up next it’s Rob Portman, attempting a triple-aerial flip flop.

Announcer: Rob’s been practicing it his whole career: supporting one bad trade deal after another, sending hundreds of thousands of jobs to China. Now, in an election year, he says he is against a trade deal he voted for last year. Here he goes.

Announcer: Wow! What a flip-flop!

Announcer: Rob Portman: the best Senator China’s ever had.

BACKGROUND:

Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial: Portman Is “Is A Free-Trade Disciple.” “Those who watch such things have suspected for a while now that Rep. Rob Portman, the Southwestern Ohio Republican so personally and politically close to President George W. Bush, would not much longer remain among the House rank and file. Thus, Bush’s announcement yesterday that Portman was his nominee to be the next U.S. trade representative came as no great surprise. […] He is a free-trade disciple who, before he went to Congress a dozen years ago, practiced international trade law.” [Cleveland Plain Dealer, Editorial, 3/18/05]

Tapped To Be Bush’s Trade Representative, Portman Was Criticized For Being A “Dedicated Outsourcer.” “In a surprise move, President Bush on Thursday tapped one of his closest congressional allies, Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to be the next U.S. trade representative, giving the administration an insider’s influence in steering trade pacts through Congress. … Just the same, Alan Tonelson, a research fellow with the U.S. Business and Industry Council, which represents companies affected by free trade and opposes current free-trade policies, called Portman’s nomination a ‘slap in the face to the U.S. domestic manufacturing base.’ ‘Rep. Portman has been a dedicated outsourcer throughout his career in Congress,’ Tonelson said in a statement.” [CQ Today, 3/17/05]

Columbus Dispatch: Portman “Has Never Met A Free-Trade Agreement He Didn’t Like.” “Portman and Fisher are just as sharply split on international trade, a top issue in a state that ranks seventh nationally in exports. Portman, a former congressman and U.S. trade representative, has never met a free-trade agreement he didn’t like. Fisher, who as lieutenant governor supervises Ohio’s 14 international offices, wants to either repeal or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.” [Columbus Dispatch, 7/11/10]

Strickland Voted Against Eight Free Trade Deals In Congress. Portman Voted For Eight Free Trade Deals. During his time in Congress, Strickland voted against eight trade deals. Portman, during his time in Congress, voted for eight trade deals. [H.R. 3078, Vote 163, 10/12/11; H.R. 3079, Vote 162, 10/12/11; H.R. 3080, Vote 161, 10/12/11; H.R. 5684, Vote 392, 7/20/06; H.R. 4340, Vote 616,12/7/05; H.R. 3045, Vote 443, 7/28/05; H.R. 4842, Vote 413, 7/22/04; H.R. 4759, Vote 375, 7/14/04; H.R. 2738, Vote 436, 7/24/03; H.R. 2739, Vote 432, 7/24/03; H.R. 3450, Vote 575, 11/17/93]

Portman Voted To Grant China Most-Favored-Nation Trade Status. [CQ,5/24/00; H.R. 4444, Vote 228, 5/24/00]

Ohio Lost 106,400 Jobs To China After Passage Of Permanent Most Favored Nation Status. “Since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001, the massive growth of trade between China and the United States has had a dramatic and negative effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy. Specifically, a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector. […] The 3.2 million U.S. jobs lost or displaced by the goods trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2013 were distributed among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the biggest net losses occurring in California (564,200 jobs), Texas (304,700), New York (179,200), Illinois (132,500), Pennsylvania (122,600), North Carolina (119,600), Florida (115,700), Ohio (106,400), Massachusetts (97,200), and Georgia (93,700). […] China’s admission to the WTO was endorsed by the United States in domestic legislation that offered China permanent normal trade relations status.” [Economic Policy Institute, 12/11/14]

2015: Portman Voted To Fast-Track TPP Without Reading It. “Though he hasn’t read the TPP proposal, Portman voted June 24 with the majority in a 60-38 vote to approve fast-track authority. Fast track is a key step in the trade process. It allows the president to give such deals to Congress for only yes-or-no votes without the power for the legislative body to amend them.” [Youngstown Vindicator, 8/3/15; H.R. 2146, Vote 219, 6/24/15]

Which Rob Portman will show up at GOP Lincoln Day Dinner?

2.06.16 – This evening, Rob Portman will speak at the Lucas County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner just two days after a transparent, election-year attempt to cover up his decades-long support for unfair trade policies. He probably won’t want to remind NW Ohioans that he voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress just last year, that he called the auto rescue that saved thousands of jobs a “lousy deal, or about his decades long record of supporting unfair trade policies that have hurt NW Ohio’s economy.

Portman is already facing heat from conservative groups and outlets like Breitbart, which called his recent statement on trade a “campaign-trail equivocation,” and the CATO Institute, which blasted Portman’s statement as completely at odds with his voting record.

The question on everyone’s mind is, which Rob Portman will show up tonight? Let’s find out. Here are 5 pressing questions that Portman has not yet answered:

  1. Between being labeled a “dedicated outsourcer” and a “free-trade disciple,” voting to speed the TPP through Congress last year, and today —  when did you change your mind about the trade deal and why specifically?

  1. How can you explain your vote to grant fast track authority to speed the TPP through Congress?

  1. How can Congress possibly make changes to make the TPP more palpable since the fast track authority you voted for does not allow for any changes to the deal?

  1. Why didn’t you not speak out against the TPP sooner if you’re so concerned about the consequences?

  1. What do you say to press reports that this sudden “change of heart” is a sign of election-year panic?

The truth is, Rob Portman can’t answer these questions because, as the Columbus Dispatch wrote “he has never met a free-trade agreement he didn’t like.” His record is clear: Portman has a long and well documented record of prioritizing the interests of the Washington power brokers and the wealthy special interests he serves, even if it means Ohio’s working people pay the price for the unfair trade policies he has supported.

Blog Sidebar

Search the Site

Categories

  • Events
    • DNC
    • Local County Parties
    • ODCCA
    • ODP
  • Issues
    • Federal
    • State
  • News
  • Photo Galleries
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • The American Jobs Plan
  • The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
  • Special health care enrollment period through ACA
  • Redistricting Ohio – 2021
  • Keep informed about gerrymandering during 2021

Archives

  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013

Trending

absentee ballots Budget Campaign Finance Charter school College Affordability congressional redistricting DNC early voting Economy education Elections Equal Pay Events Fact Check FBI Fraud Governor Governor 2018 heroin Higher Education jobs local government funding Medicaid Expansion Mental Health military ODCCA ODP Ohio AFL-CIO Right To Work SB5 School funding State Auditor State Treasurer taxes unemployment Unions Veterans Voter Protection Voter Registration Voters Rights voter suppression voting rights women's caucus Women's Issues workers

Contribute to ODCCA

Donate Now

Your contributions
DO make a difference!

When you contribute,
you make a difference in Ohio!
Thank You!

Donate Now

Recent News

  • The American Jobs Plan
  • The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
  • Special health care enrollment period through ACA
  • Redistricting Ohio – 2021
  • Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee elects chair
  • Georgia turns BLUE!
  • Want to help flip Georgia BLUE? Here are a few ideas!
  •  
  • View all news

Current Issues

  • Keep informed about gerrymandering during 2021
  • What issues may be on the ballot? Who determines what issue is on ballot?
  • United States Census 2020
  •  
  • View all issues

Pages

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Team
  • Candidates
  • Issues
  • News
  • Events
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only
Donate Now

© 2014 Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, All Rights Reserved

Paid for and authorized by the Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, Amy F. Grubbe/Treasurer, 2810 Hull Road #6, Huron 44839.

Not authorized by any Federal, state or county candidate or campaign committee.