[lbo-talk] "I don't know if (labor) would survive with a Democratic Prez"

[John Lacny]

Joseph Wanzala asks:

> John, he *did* make the statement, to be sure it was a 
> subtle point but he did say what I referred to above on 
> Democracy Now! today and he is also quoted in USA 
> Today (why would Hoffa have denouced what he said if 
> he didn't say it?

Why not actually read or listen to what he said? It's online 
(both articles and audio) at the Washington Post. In no way 
did he say that the labor movement would be "better off" if 
Kerry lost, which is what Joseph Wanzala (or whoever he 
quoted) claimed. That's not even a paraphrase -- it's a 
misrepresentation of what Stern said. Though it's par for the 
course for the media. 

There's a world of difference between saying that there's 
always a danger of labor leaders getting sucked into Kerry's 
machine once he's in power, and saying that a Kerry loss 
would leave labor "better off."

I know this makes four posts for me today, but I wanted to 
clarify this. I think it's important to actually read/listen to 
what Stern said, instead of just parsing the headlines. What 
he said was pretty interesting, and I'm sure he'll be criticized 
for the timing, but I don't find anything to disagree with in it.



- - - - -
John Lacny
http://www.johnlacny.com

People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!