From the DCCC comes this little beauty:

While making today’s announcement that he will once again run for Congress in New York’s 24^th district, [Candidate for New York's 24th Congressional Disctrict Richard] Hanna also launched a new campaign website where he shamelessly touts his ties to the CATO [sic] Institute, a right wing extremist group that has long been a vocal advocate for extremist, unfair trade policies that would allow companies to ship American jobs overseas [emphasis mine].

The fact that Hanna is touting his leadership role in a group that prides its commitment to unfair trade policies that send American jobs overseas is downright shameful,” said Shripal Shah, Northeast Regional Press Secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

To clarify, the press release quotes Hanna’s campaign website, which makes clear that Hanna is “a sustaining member of the CATO Institute, having traveled to Russia as part of an international study group. ” That means he gives Cato between $500 and $999 per year  and went on a Cato-organized trip to Russia.

 The DCCC’s release goes on:

The CATO Institute is a right wing extremist group that has long advocated for unfair trade policies regardless of their impact on American jobs.  [emphasis theirs] CATO has been one of the leading advocates for unfair trade deals and believes that increases in unemployment should not prevent enacting new trade deals. The CATO Policy Handbook specifically says Congress should “avoid using trade deficits and concerns about employment levels as excuses for imposing trade restrictions” as it calls for the US to move away from “reciprocity’’ and “level playing fields.” [CATO Policy Handbook, 6^th ed, Chapter 64.

 Should I thank them for linking to our handbook?

On a personal note, I am due to renew my visa in March. Can anyone advise me on whether this characterization of Cato’s Center for Trade Policy Studies will jeapordize its renewal?

HT: Jonathan Blanks

Update: for a broader look at the inanity of the DCCC’s characterization of Cato as a “right-wing extremist” group, see this excellent blog post by Cato Media Fellow Radley Balko.

Does This Mean I’m On a Watch-List? is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Not to brag, but my homeland has a pretty good record when it comes to trade liberalization.  Even the center-left Labor party is supportive of multilateral trade negotiations, although they have historically been less enamored of bilateral and regional preferential deals. (A completely respectable view, by the way). Indeed, the most substantial unilateral trade liberalization efforts in Australia’s history occured under Labor governments.

Simon Crean, the current (Labor) Minister for Trade recently confirmed that commitment in the face of trade union opposition. In a statement that could have come directly from Cato’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, he said:

People seem to think that jobs can be protected by reverting to protectionism. The exact opposite is the case. If the country and the world reverts to protectionism, it costs jobs and lowers living standards.

Minister Crean then went on to make mildly mercantalist noises about how many Australian jobs are “trade related” — and you can be sure he is not referring to imports — but, really, I shouldn’t nit-pick. If more governments, including those of the center-left, were as supportive of free trade and as skeptical of protectionism, the global economy would be better off.

HT: our friends over at the Club for Growth.

Some Center-Left Governments Are Prepared to Promote Trade is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog