-By Warner Todd Huston
Of course, no one could expect less of organized labor but to attack Republicans, even John McCain. But the amount of money proposed to be spent to destroy McCain really makes one wonder if every last union member would approve of such vast expenditures of their dues money?
To answer that question, the AFL-CIO, for its part, intends to “talk to their members,” at least according to the Associated Press. In fact, if one weren’t paying too close attention, one would think that the union is asking permission about who to endorse — and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you…
The AFL-CIO, which has not endorsed anyone in the Democratic primary, announced Wednesday that it is sending more than 6,000 of its people to more than 22 states during the next two weekends to talk to more than 200,000 union voters about McCain.
As if their not endorsing anyone at this time is meaningful? Hardly. Besides, what does it matter if it is so obvious that they are attacking McCain? By process of elimination, if the unions don’t support McCain, who might they support? Answer: ANY Democrat! So, their specific endorsement is pretty meaningless.
The SEIU is also “focusing on McCain.”
Meanwhile, the nation’s largest union, the Service Employees International Union, is increasing its focus on the likely Republican presidential nominee. The union’s political action committee is already running commercials critical of McCain’s health care plan.
So, the unions are gearing up to attack McCain. The sort of massive union spending we always see against Republicans could be made a bit less overwhelming, though, if we could get laws passed all across the nation so that members can opt out for their dues to be spent on political efforts of which they do not agree. But, these sorts of laws, while making headway in places like Ohio and Washington state, have made headway, a landslide Democratic victory in November will put a major crimp in the success of future efforts and further step on the rights of individual union members.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston