Joe Conason: Don't Believe the (Union-Busting) Hype

[highplainsdem]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/04/dont_believe_the_union-busting_hype_109107.html

March 4, 2011
Don't Believe the (Union-Busting) Hype
By Joe Conason

If you are a normal, trusting consumer of American journalism, you might well have gotten the impression by now that the current attempt to break public-sector unions -- with its epicenter in Wisconsin -- is overwhelmingly supported by the nation's voters.

You need not be a devotee of FOX News Channel or Rush Limbaugh to believe that Americans despise the unions that represent cops, teachers (especially teachers!) and firefighters. You might reasonably believe that simply because far more authoritative news sources have repeatedly suggested it.

You might think so, for example, because the New York Times Sunday magazine told you so in a cover story written by one of the newspaper of record's top political analysts last week, or because the Wall Street Journal editorial page said the same thing a few days ago.

But if you believe that the American people are now eager to follow Gov. Scott Walker's example, in Wisconsin or across the nation, it turns out that you (and those who have misinformed you) are unmistakably and profoundly wrong. For as one poll after another has indicated over the past two weeks, Americans soundly reject Walker's union-busting gambit.

-snip-

[fasttense]

1. You can't scare me, I'm sticking with the Union. n/t