Groups: McCain Rolls Eyes at Murder

When President Bush’s proposed Colombian free trade agreement came up in last night’s debate, it was clear the candidates’ stances couldn’t be more different.

But it’s not policy that the AFL-CIO and progressive interest group Americans United for Change are upset about: it’s John McCain’s facial expression.

McCain raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes when Barack Obama repeated a staple attack on the agreement that has been U.S. labor unions’ main argument in lobbying against it–that Colombian labor leaders have been the victims of extra-judicial assassinations at the hands of the Colombian military, making the country unsafe for unionizers and unfit for a trade agreement.

“This history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions,” Obama said, explaining why he did not support the deal, which has stalled amid opposition by the Democratic congress.

McCain, a staunch supporter of the deal who traveled to Colombia this summer to meet with Colombian government and business leaders, rolled his eyes. The groups were not pleased.

“The systematic targeting and assassination of people who are fighting for the rights of workers is something that should shock the conscience of everyone–yet John McCain found the discussion of this horrible reality in Columbia an eye rolling moment,” Americans United for Change spokesman Jeremy Funk said in a press release this morning, circulating the above YouTube clip.

“Every American worker should rightly be shocked at John McCain