Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to supporters during a backyard cookout, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, in Marion, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Posted on 08/18/2007 8:02:49 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidates argued Saturday night that organized labor is an essential part of the nation's economy whose troubles mirror the deterioration of the middle class way of life.
"The only way to reinvigorate the middle class is to reinvigorate the labor movement," Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware told several hundred union members at a labor forum in eastern Iowa.
For all the candidates, it was one stop in a busy several days leading to a Sunday morning debate in Des Moines. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leads the Democratic field in national polls and has pulled into a three-way tie in Iowa, where the first votes of the 2008 campaign will be tallied.
One of her chief rivals, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, energized the crowd with his rebuke of Democratic candidates who accept donations from lobbyists. While he has done so at other forums, this time Edwards did not single out Clinton for raising tens of thousands of dollars from lobbyists.
"We are not the party of Washington insiders. We are the party of the people, and so from this day forward we say no — no forever to the money from Washington lobbyists," said Edwards, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2004. "Their money is not good anymore."
He singled out money tied to drug companies and health insurance companies. "I don't represent those people," he said. "I want to represent you."
Clinton addressed the crowd first. "It was unions that organized workers, that gave them better wages and working conditions and benefits like health care and pensions," she said. "And what is happening now is that the American middle class is under assault."
The crowd thinned out after Edwards' speech, leaving scores of empty seats for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who spoke third. The rest of the field spoke to mostly empty rows.
Obama said a Democratic president, backed by organized labor, can change Washington and protect the middle class.
"We need a president ... who is not afraid to mention unions," he said.
Biden said Republican are trying to destroy the so-called house of labor — "the house the built the middle class."
Labor organizations are critical to any Democratic candidate, particularly in Iowa where grass-roots organizing is key.
"I never once had to look over my shoulder and wonder whether organized labor and unions stood with me," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., in a fiery speech. "I'm a union guy!"
Obama plans to attend fewer such multi-candidate events in the future, his campaign manager wrote on Obama's 2008 Web site.
"We simply cannot continue to hopscotch from forum to forum and run a campaign true to the bottom up movement for change that propelled Barack into this race," David Plouffe wrote. He added, "I think this approach will be better for the voters and the campaign."
He said Obama was committed to five remaining debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, two Iowa debates in December and one in Florida on Sept. 9.
Many of Obama's rivals also have complained about the overwhelming number of multi-candidate gatherings and could follow suit
Earlier in the day, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd and Biden attended an event at a minor league baseball field where they ate boiled sweet corn and made their pitches to more than 1,000 people.
In central Iowa, Obama toured a city-owned utility plant to promote his energy policies. He said the country faces an "an urgent moral challenge" to reduce reliance on oil and needs a president willing to defy special interests in Washington that dictate energy policy.
Obama, casting himself an agent of change in a crowded field of White House hopefuls, suggested that he is voters' best bet to shake up the status quo.
"We've got to have a president in the White House who sets bold targets and sets broad goals and isn't intimidated by the barriers and the roadblocks and isn't driven by those who already have an investment in the status quo — somebody who can overcome the lobby-driven, divisive politics that characterizes this issue," Obama told about 300 people at Waverly Light and Power, the city utility.
___
Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen contributed to this report from Clinton, Iowa.
Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to supporters during a backyard cookout, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, in Marion, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during the AFL-CIO's Workers for a Better Iowa Hawkeye Labor Council Meeting, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
No conflict of interest here...
probably from eating all that pork..
Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at the AFL-CIO's Workers for a Better Iowa Hawkeye Labor Council Meeting, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
That black power symbol with the Islamic crescent it a pretty cool union logo.
Edwards and the Clintons despise the underclass: far, far beneath them; easily and shamelessly lied to and manipulated.
Tag. You’re it!
Democratic presidential hopeful former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards speaks during the AFL-CIO's Workers for a Better Iowa Hawkeye Labor Council Meeting, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
There is such a contrast from when her hair is “done” and when it isn’t. She really needs her stylist to help her look more refreshed. She needs all the help she can get, when it comes to her appearance. That may sound catty, but when I look at Laura Bush, I see an attractive woman who is taking care of herself.
....and the crowd started chanting, "U!S!S!A...U!S!S!A!...U!S!S!A!...
I agree, Hillary has a few years on the First Lady, I think,, Hillary’s birthday is 10/26/1947 which means she will be 61 when she runs for President.
All she has are Obama and Purty Boy to paddle to get there.. only a Gore could derail a Clinton at this point, imo, not a pretty sight but ya never know.
Everything I ever wanted to know about “labor” unions I learned from Jimmy Hoffa, George Meaney, and my dad.
In 1952, was an Italian immigrant making coolie wages in a union sweatshop. That year, Dwight Eisenhower was running against Harry Truman for President of the United States.
The union my dad worked for sent the shop steward around to collect for Truman’s campaign.
My dad was a Democrat, but this time he wanted to vote for Eisenhower, so he told the union steward that he wasn’t going to contribute to a campaign he wasn’t going to vote for.
The shop steward was so unhappy with my dad’s response, that he pulled my dad’s union card, effectively firing him.
My dad went without work for months, but he became a solid Republican and started a business with the help of a Jewish guy. I don’t think he ever voted Democrat after that.
I remember when I was about 14, in 1960 or 1961, and Gov. John Volpe (R) of Massachusetts came on the radio to tell us that he had to introduce a “temporary” 3% sales tax to balance the Commonwealth’s budget.
My dad said, “There’s no such thing as a temporary tax.”
He was right.
The “temporary” Massachusetts sales tax is at 5% today, almost 50 years later.
http://www.thepeoplescube.com
If you think I'm wrong, go find a meat packer and ask how their wages are going.
I’m still amazed at how Clinton forced NAFTA down Labor’s throat and they hated him. Then, in ‘96, they backed him for reelection.
There are a lot of political whores in this world.
....and what is the largest, most powerful union in the country? Why, it is the government employee’s union. God help us all!
http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?fuse=content&contentID=1239
“....Your assessment that Congress created the Transportation Security Administration without union rights “so the agency would have the flexibility to deal quickly with changing terror threats” is misguided. In fact, collective bargaining rights have never impeded national security....”
Saying it, does not make it true.
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