“I’m absolutely sure of that”.
Advertisement
After the round table, Copley told reporters that Clinton’s apology didn’t sway him and that he “would have liked to have heard more of what her plan is” for coal country.
Round-table discussions on the campaign trail often come off as highly orchestrated affairs, especially in the week before West Virginia’s May 10 primary.
Visiting Kentucky and West Virginia this week, Hillary Clinton, as well as Democrats, found themselves in an awkward situation.
“Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business”, she said during the town hall. But what about those displaced by the shift?
But she did not apologize for her support for policies that reduce carbon emissions and promote cleaner energy technologies. So her threat was neither out of context nor a misstatement.
Clinton has throughout her campaign criticized attempts made by coal companies to “shirk” the responsibility to pay healthcare benefits for retirees during bankruptcy proceedings, saying the country owes them gratitude for fueling decades of economic success. “Your coal industry is wiped out, and China is taking our coal”. “Well, if Trump wants the support of someone like that, he can have it”.
Copley also told Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who joined Clinton at the event, that he would be hurt politically by backing her. Manchin acknowledged it’s possible but said he was doing what’s right for West Virginians by supporting Clinton.
Concerns from the public consisted mainly about jobs and worries of the unemployed going without insurance.
She called for programs to encourage new technologies and industries to come to the region and employ those who once worked in the coal and steel industries.
Having recently lost his job, Bo Copley choked up on emotion as he questioned the candidate about her remark. The stops were part of Hillary Clinton’s Breaking Down Barriers tour. “This has been fertile territory for the Bernie Sanders campaign, so my guess is that she is attempting to fix her image among Sanders supporters”.
In the 2012 general election, Republican Mitt Romney beat Democrat Barack Obama in Ohio’s largest coal producing counties.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Cruz is slated to make a campaign stop in the southern in city of Evansville later Tuesday morning, then he will take the afternoon off before his primary night gathering in Indianapolis. “I want to hear the plans you have in store for us if you do get elected”.
These trends have pushed some frustrated voters toward Republican frontrunner Dondald Trump’s pro-coal, anti-trade message.
Not everyone who stood outside the rally was against the Clinton visit, though. “She thinks your vote counts as much as New Hampshire or Iowa”.
“It’s very clear with her words that she will be putting coal miners and coal businesses out of business”, he said. She quickly met some of Beckett’s staff and was then ushered downstairs.
Advertisement
Borges said: “Now she wants Ohioans to think she is a friend of coal country and that she just misspoke”. But due to a series of layoffs and mine closings, the county has seen its coal employment cut in half over the past four years.
