Tweet
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Speaking to union members in Anchorage, Alaska today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Sarah Palin would “go down in history like [Joe] McCarthy,” and predicted that “Palinism will become an ugly word.” Trumka also told the Alaska union members, who surrounded Palin for a bill signing two years ago, that Palin abandoned the state and the union members to cohort with the Tea Party.
“She used to have a job, your governor,” he will say. “You knew her. … Or thought you did. … I know I thought I did. She seemed like a decent person, an outdoorswoman. Her husband’s a steelworker. She seemed to take some OK stands for working families.
“And then things got weird,” he added. “After she tied herself to John McCain and they lost, she blew off Alaska. I guess she figured she’d trade up … shoot for a national stage. Alaska was too far from the Fox TV spotlight.”
“Instead, she’s hanging out on cable TV, almost a parody of herself, coming out with conspiracy theories about Obama and his ‘death panels.’ … Talking about ‘the real America.’ Talking about building schools in ‘our neighboring country of Afghanistan.’ Writing speech notes to herself on her hands.”
Palin took to Twitter to respond. Rather than try to translate them into English, I’ll paste them and you can get the gist. First:
Know our hardworking union friends (esp from my days as an IBEW sister, Todd IBEW & USW brother) aren’t sheep, they’ll ask: Trumka’s motive?
And:
Think Trumka’s frustrations r w/Obama, not me (high unemplymnt, deals w/Obama&his subsequent broken promises)so understandable Rich’s ticked
So there’s that. AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale responded with the quote of the day:
“Basically, she’s having a temper tantrum, putting her hands over her ears and yelling ‘la la la la la, I can’t hear you,’ ” Vale said. “Because if she had actually read the speech the motivation and message are crystal clear. She left working families in Alaska behind when she tried to trade up to Fox News and the Tea Party. We understand that she wants to keep up her faux populism and image as caring about ordinary people, but her actions, policies and candidates she supports speak way louder than her tweets.”
Palin(‘s ghostwriter) took the time to pen a longer response on Facebook posted tonight, in which Palin asks union members to consider “a different home for you: the commonsense conservative movement … you won’t regret it.”
To my hardworking, patriotic brothers and sisters in the labor movement: you don’t have to put up with the scare tactics and the big government agenda of the union bosses. There is a different home for you: the commonsense conservative movement. It cares about the same things you and I care about: a government that doesn’t spend beyond its means, an economy focused on creating good jobs with good wages, and a leadership that is proud of America’s achievements and doesn’t go around apologizing to everyone for who we are.
This November, you have a choice. You can go with the flow and merely pull the lever the way they tell you to. Or you can join millions of others, and take a stand for freedom and independence and dignity, while still being part of a greater working community.
Join us. I promise you, you won’t regret it, and Americans who want good jobs for our families will be better off for it!
Oh, and she said “you lie” to Trumka, too.
Trumka purposely misquoted something I said in a speech I gave in Texas a few months ago. Let me clarify things for him: I never called union members “thugs.” You lie. I called some union leaders “thugs.” And I refuse to apologize for that because they have acted like thugs – at least in this day and age.
The AFL-CIO’s Eddie Vale told me the final word on the matter, reiterating that Palin, shockingly, didn’t read what Trumka actually said and is basically talking out of her ass:
Yet again its blidingly obvious she didn’t read the speech. Yes she was at our convention last year to announce a good project. That’s our entire point. She quit her job so she could leave alaskan workers behind and cuddle up to the teaparty.
Now can you PLEASE go away, Sarah? (I know I’m not helping the situation, but come on.)
9 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Work in Progress
Sarah Palin and her ghostwriter are like Grima Wormtongue: When they accuse someone of lying, they’re doing it themselves.
Seriously, do they think generously peppering their tweets and Facebook screeds with the word “patriot” makes the problem go away? It’s like some sort of “folksy” medicine.
RahmBama will probably appoint her to MSHA now.
Trumka made a tactical error by getting in a pissing match with skunk.
Interesting though because this is the first time I ever heard that Sarah is a former IBEW member. She isn’t an electrician, so I wonder what her union job was?
The IBEW is both a trade and industrial union. You don’t see it often and I don’t think they raid but I know at one point they were willing to organize workers into non-trade bargaining units. You’d have to ask someone there what their policy is now but I believe it was Idaho where I met some guys who were IBEW and general maintenance.
I disagree tho- he’s winning this one. The union members who are already conservative will get annoyed that she’s saying the government shouldn’t support unions by bailing out the auto industry and passing the stimulus. She’s on the wrong side with those people. Many who I’ve known are pro-government-investment.
Maybe, but I think some smart Republicans out there are beginning to realize that if they are going to rely solely on middle-aged white voters to win elections, then they are better off trying to lure union members who conform to this demographic to their side, rather than just bash all unions as corrupt leftists.
I think her specific appeal to IBEW and USW members was quite purposeful in this regard. She is inviting conservative white union members to join the Republicans, but continues to bash SEIU to signify her distance from black union members.
The ones they have they already have. Remember there’s a good % of union members who have to be organized EVERY ELECTION. No contacts around(and Micheal can provide the specific numbers) 56% vote for the union candidates. 5+ contacts 78%. alot of those probably already are republicans.
Making snarky remarks about union thugs WILL NOT get union members to her side. If you hate SEIU you hate SEIU but you wouldn’t vote for a republican because of it. Most union members don’t really know why people hate SEIU. We’re not talking about 12mil members reading labor notes here.
A lot of that is true.
Forgive me if I seem overly cycnical, but it seems that there is a strong element of racism here. The SEIU is the Republican whipping boy because they perceive it to be a black/immigrant union. Palin seeks to appeal to the so-called “Reagan Democrats” — working-class whites who feel economically threatened by minorities. The aim is to divide union voters on racial/ethnic lines.
It’s a very ugly electoral tactic — and it works way too often.