Demagogue

A debate over whether the Democratic Party has turned its back on union members is raging within the blogosphere. It started when Chris Myers of MyDD made this post on Monday arguing that Dems have "sold unions down the river for middle-class liberalism."

But blogger Nathan Newman challenges Myers' conclusion with a post that includes these excerpts:

... There are actually fewer anti-labor politicians in the party than there were a few decades ago.

Democrats voted overwhelmingly in recent trade votes against "fast track" authority for both Clinton and Bush and have lined up strongly behind labor rights bills. They resisted union-busting in the 2002 Homeland Security bills to the point that Senators like Max Cleland were attacked as Osama-loving traitors for refusing to screw labor in those voters.

Sure, Democratic leaders could push labor issues harder but they face unyielding filibusters by the GOP. No issue is more partisan these days than a vote on core labor issues.

... The problem here is not with the Democratic leadership but with its non-labor base of voters, who don't understand the issues and thus don't campaign hard to educate their fellow voters. The ongoing union-busting in the airline industry has gone barely unmentioned by most liberal blogs ...