(Uh, is Shrum a paid operative these days, or just trying out for a job?)

ORIGINAL STORY: Along with Newsday and Chicago Sun-Times news stories, the transcript of the new Clinton radio ad running in Ohio, and the expressed rage of union leaders (all below), here's the latest report from CTV.ca news, which broke the story last week on the "wink, wink" meeting between Obama senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee and Canadian diplomats to signal that while Obama would talk tough on NAFTA, the Canadians shouldn't worry because it's just "campaign rhetoric" -- with the Obama campaign's emphatic denials (including Obama's own flat-out false denial) obliterated by the "smoking gun" Canadian memorandum. Thanks to Hill Vet for the link:

Here's more on the tell-tale press conference in which Obama pathetically dodged and weaved reporters' questions, then walked out on them.  The story comes from intrepid Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet today: "Obama talks a lot, but answers little | Senator hounded by Rezko questions":

SAN ANTONIO -- As Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) closed a combative press conference on Monday, where he was thrown seriously off message being asked about influence peddler Tony Rezko and why his campaign at first denied his economic adviser Austan Goolsbee met the Canadian consul in Chicago and talked about NAFTA, some reporters -- me included -- wanted him to take more questions.

"Guys," said Obama, who is campaigning on a platform that there should be more government transparency. "I mean come on. I just answered like eight questions," he said as he waved and left to a chorus of shouted questions.

I could see why Obama wanted to wrap it up. On the day before crucial votes in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont that could make him the Democratic presidential nominee, Obama, for the first time in his campaign, was facing two potential landmines. ... (Also read Sweet's account of efforts to nail Obama down on his long relationship with Tony Rezko, now on trial in Chicago's federal court for bilking taxpayers and pension funds out of millions.)

Newsdayuses the "integrity" word -- which is fair given Obama's constant refrain that he'll change "politics as usual".  Newsday also notes, that in his on-camera denial last week, "Obama appeared at best uninformed when asked why he had appeared to deny a report last week that such a meeting had taken place." 

On the eve of contests he hopes will force Hillary Rodham Clinton from the presidential race, Barack Obama faced a barrage of attacks Monday about his integrity, foremost among them whether he engaged in double-speak about his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Much of the criticism was initiated by Clinton. But it assumed a life of its own as Obama struggled to explain why a Canadian government memo quoted one of his aides as saying Obama's opposition to NAFTA was for political show.

He also fended off accusations he has withheld information about his relationship with real estate developer Antoin Rezko, who went on trial in Chicago Monday charged with federal corruption. [...]

Obama has made honesty and transparency a cornerstone of his campaign to change "politics as usual" in Washington. ...  (Read all of Newsday's "Obama faces tough questions on NAFTA, integrity.")

Newsday, like the rest of the national media, is reporting the Obama press conference in San Antonio, which has clearly set off the media like no other incident involving Obama -- particularly since every reporter knows that Obama has not been forthcoming, in any way, on his long association with Tony Rezko, whom famed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has put on trial:

Obama prompted angry cries from reporters when he insisted he had shared all "pertinent" information on his links with Rezko and complained that media requests "can go on forever." Among other dealings, Obama in 2006 bought a strip of land from Rezko to expand his yard.

Reporters retorted that he has repeatedly failed to answer such questions as how many fundraisers Rezko held for him and who attended.

A quick search of Google News shows that there are 3,162 stories on NAFTA-gate.

The Facthub notes that "Top Obama Campaign Surrogate Still Flatly Denying NAFTA Meeting Took Place." That would be Sen. Dick Durbin.  It's pathetic to see these "public servants" on television flat out lying to protect their candidate.

Here is the Clinton campaign's new radio ad that is running in Ohio -- which, ironically, the Obama campaign provided to Time magazine's Mark Halperin (why?):

This is an election news update with a major news story reported by the AP.  While Senator Obama has crisscrossed Ohio giving speeches attacking NAFTA, his top economic advisor was telling the Canadians that was all just political maneuvering.  A newly released document from the Canadian government shows that Obama's senior economic advisor met with the Canadian Consul General and made clear that Obama's attack on NAFTA were just, quote, "political maneuvering," not policy.  Political maneuvering, not policy.  In fact, the document shows that Obama's advisor also assured the Canadians that these attacks against NAFTA would not continue.  Obama would not want to be, quote, "fundamentally changing the agreement." As Senator Obama was telling one story to Ohio, his campaign was telling a very different story to Canada.  How will Ohioans decide whether they can believe Senator Obama's words?  We'll find that out on election day.  Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President.

Rage -- from the frontlines of the struggle to keep U.S. manufacturing jobs -- is warranted. Here is the Feb. 2 article from McClatchy/Chicago Tribune to which Machinist Union president Buffenbarger referred in his blistering attack on Obama recently, "Obama's fundraising, rhetoric collide: Union says senator did little to save jobs."

Maytag workers whose jobs were shipped to Mexico serve as consistent characters in Barack Obama's stump speech. He employs their stories in railing against corporations that use trade pacts to replace well-paid union workers with low-cost foreign ones.

It is a ready applause line for the Illinois presidential hopeful, one that he has been reciting almost verbatim since he was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004, when appliance giant Maytag was in the process of shutting a refrigerator plant here, putting 1,600 people out of work.

But the union that represented most of those Galesburg workers isn't impressed with Obama's advocacy and has endorsed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Its leaders say they wish he had done more about their members' plight.

What rankles some is what Obama did not do even as he expressed solidarity four years ago with workers mounting a desperate fight to save their jobs.

Obama had a special connection to Maytag: Lester Crown, one of the company's directors and biggest investors whose family, records show, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaigns since 2003. But Crown says Obama never raised the fate of the Galesburg plant with him, and the billionaire industrialist insists any jawboning would have been futile. [BUT OBAMA COULD HAVE TRIED, DAMMIT.]

Aide: Didn't know of tie

Obama's chief political strategist, David Axelrod, said late Thursday that the senator did not know Crown sat on Maytag's board until the Tribune noted it last September in a story about the closing of the Maytag headquarters in Newton, Iowa. ... READ ALL of "Obama's fundraising, rhetoric collide: Union says senator did little to save jobs.."

And here's Mr. Buffenbarger's press release on February 28:

Obama Telegraphs Pro-NAFTA Position
Thu Feb 28, 11:17 AM ET
To: POLITICAL EDITORS

Contact: Rick Sloan, IAMAW, +1-301-967-4520 (office), +1-202-297-2941 (cell)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is urging all union members to take a second look at Sen. Barack Obamas (D-IL) position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), following news reports he assured Canadas ambassador to the U.S. that his opposition to NAFTA was just campaign rhetoric.

According to a report on CTV Television Network, a senior member of Sen. Barack Obamas (D-IL) campaign staff contacted Canadas ambassador to the U.S. earlier this month and warned him that the senator would be taking strong positions against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but that it was only campaign rhetoric and should not be taken seriously.

I am appalled but not surprised by this report, said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. Working families cannot trust a candidate who telegraphs his real position to a foreign government and then dissembles in a nationally televised debate.

The full CTV report is now posted on YouTube, and provides additional details, including a statement that an Obama campaign spokesperson confirmed that contact with the U.S. ambassador had been made during the past month.

NAFTA is an incendiary issue in Ohio, where tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been destroyed since NAFTA was signed into law. Voters in Ohio and Texas have been deluged with Obama campaign ads suggesting he would revisit the trade pact to negotiate new environment and labor standards.

Then IAM is among the nation's largest trade unions, representing nearly 720,000 active and retired members in manufacturing, aerospace, shipbuilding, transportation and defense-related industries. For more information, visit www.goiam.org.

SOURCE International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

SEE ALSO, my March 3rd story below, updated with a timeline of the Obama campaign's denials: "Obama Nailed on Nafta-gate."

These issues matter to millions of American workers and their families.  The "wink, wink" to Canadian officials is pouring salt in a deep open wound.