Report From La La Land
Apr
21
Written by:
4/21/2010 8:32 AM
“Health care nays spark 3rd party” leads off page 8 of the Times this past Monday. The article is from The Washington Post and is subtitled “Progressives target 3 Democratic congressmen who sided with Republicans” In it, North Carolina reporter Philip Rucker opens with “Frustrated liberals and labor organizers are taking aim at the Democratic party …” And as to the spoiler effect of a third party, there is this gem: “Organizers say they are so fed up with Democrats who did not support health-care overhaul that they simply do not care.” Well, I’ll be.
This report has a pomegranate of facets, two at least, make that three or more if you add Richard’s move against Murray. Here’s the one that juiced my pomegranate: Assuming that North Carolina liberals and labor are not stupid, why should they attack those three Democrats for voting against a patently lousy health bill? The answer to this facetious question is:
A) The tarheels only appear to be staunch supporters of the administration and actually want the Republicans to win this fall., or,
B) They have reason to think that Labor actually will benefit from this bill
Andy Stern is putting his full weight behind the 3rd party move, wants to “hold Democratic lawmakers accountable for their healthcare votes” says an SEIU spokeswoman. (Service Employees International Union). Punish the only Dems with brains? Nope, I go with reason (A), health care’s a red herring for the tarheels.
You may think that’s only because red is the color of pomegranate juice, and that to an extent I am taking up your blogtime with frivolity. However I am merely following the example set by Dana Cope, local SEIU executive, who defends the 3rd party move this way:
“Our whole agenda is to turn that apple cart around and say, ‘No more are we going to blindly support you because you’re a Democrat’ ”
Which kind of proves my point. If the head of the local union is unaware that turning the cart around will not set it upright and put the apples back, then heershe may not realize what the SEIU is really up to.