Conversation Wth Charles Schumer’s office
Riiiing…Riiiiing
“Hello, Senator Schumer’s office.”
“Hi, it’s Brendan Skwire. I was wondering if you could explain Senator Schumer’s remarks that Blanche Lincoln is “fighting Wall Street with one hand, unions with the other.”"
The young man put me on hold for a few minutes, and then came back to explain “You have to take the comment in context of the Arkansas election. The unions supported Lincoln’s opponent, and she fought them off.”
“I AM taking it in that context. What you’re telling me is the Democratic party no longer supports labor.”
“Wha– no, I’m telling you the comments need to be taken in the context of Ark–”
“Well, let’s examine that context, shall we?” I said. “Blanche Lincoln has made a fetish of opposing unions. Who, by the way, support the most important platforms in the Democratic Party and the president’s supposed priorities. You guys say it should be easier to organize, but Blanche Lincoln flip-flopped on the Employee Free Choice Act, hurting unions. Then, she flip-flopped at the last minute on the public option in health care. She supported NAFTA and sent jobs overseas.
“That’s why,” I continued, “the unions supported Bill Halter. And what you’re telling me is that Charles Schumer thinks it’s good that Blanche Lincoln, who opposed everything that unions, and supposedly the Democratic Party, support.”
“Sir, you have to take it in the context of the Arkansas election.”
“I am,” I responded. “And the context is this: the Democrats think it’s good that a right-wing obstructionist who opposes all of the things the Party says it supports is a hero for winning over the union-endorsed candidate. That’s the context of the Arkansas election.
“Say,” I added. “Is Schumer still head of the DSCC?”
“yes, he is,” said the man on the phone.
“So he understands that unions are a huge constituency of the Party, right? That unions support Democrats because you’re supposedly “the party of working people”? I mean, we know the Republicans hate unions, but if the Democrats aren’t a friend of labor anymore, why should labor support the Democrats.”
And, like a trained seal that only knows one trick, the person on the phone poked at the little horn with his nose and said “Sir, you have to understand the comment in the con text of the Arkansas election.”
I hung up and called the DSCC, with a similar line of conversation. They admitted they had been getting swamped with angry phone calls about Schumer’s comments.
Working people in America have no friends in either party. both the Democratic Party and the White House are picking a fight with working people. Working people should fight back, mounting a general strike and refusing to support incumbent corporate Democrats.
we know how to say “fuck you” too.
