Videos: Fox News goes after union for holding winter meetings in Florida
posted at 1:10 pm on March 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Fox News really had a field day this morning with the AFL-CIO’s meeting in Miami. For some reason, they kept coming back to this, with the Fox & Friends crew and Megyn Kelly blasting the union management for choosing a warm-weather destination in the middle of winter:
HEMMER: “Are you a member of a union? If so, leaders of the union giant AFL-CIO might be fighting to save the jobs of the middle class members in that union. Those members need to know where they’re doing it. Union executives holding their winter conference at a high-class resort in South Beach that’s Miami, Florida heading to the luxurious Fontainebleau Hotel. That hotel recently underwent a one billion makeover. We sent Brian Wilson – tough duty – for the low down with reports from Miami Beach so stay tuned for that.”
KELLY: “Boondoggle.”
HEMMER: “That’s where they did the Victoria’s Secret show a couple months ago.
KELLY: “That’s a boondoggle for everyone involved, the AFL-CIO and Brian Wilson.”
HEMMER: “Cha-ching.”
KELLY: “We’re in the dungeon.”
I’m fully on board with the criticism about Card Check, but why attack them for holding the conference in Miami? Who in their right mind would hold a conference in Detroit in the winter … or for that matter, any other time of the year? Unless the Fontainebleu is a non-union shop, which doesn’t appear to be the case, all the union did was make the same kind of business decision that happens every day on venues and travel. Unlike bailout recipients, the unions aren’t getting billions in taxpayer dollars direct from the Treasury, so they’re spending their own money.
Also, a billion-dollar hotel is not a “boondoggle”. A “boondoggle” is an expensive and essentially worthless public-works project. The hotel’s owners spent the money to upgrade their asset, which put a lot of people to work without government intervention. Perhaps Kelly means “junket”, but even that has no meaning outside of the public sector.
Unions give us plenty to criticize without getting silly. Let’s stick to the actual arguments.
Update: I can’t quite believe I have to explain this to a group of self-proclaimed capitalists, but most companies and organizations don’t have sufficient space for regional and national meetings. Why? Leasing the space is far too costly to leave it unused for most of the year. That’s why hotels have a separate industry in hosting conferences and conventions; the workings of the rational market created the niche. Almost every large-scale company or organization has regularly scheduled national and regional meetings, which require them to rent space to accommodate them.
Now, is the Fontainebleu a ridiculously priced option? We don’t know, because Fox didn’t bother to find out. Instead, they talk about a billion-dollar upgrade in a complete non-sequitur to the question at hand. If Detroit was significantly cheaper, did that outweigh the potential losses from bad weather that could have interfered with the conference? My guess is that the Fontainebleu offered pretty good rates, as the market has assuredly dried up in the past few months. If so, then there is no story at all here.
You know, a news organization could have asked around about rates and found out that information. Too bad this one didn’t.
Blowback
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Cuz the mayor said they are running out of people to murder?
Why is the AFL-CIO depriving people of their job?
lorien1973 on March 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
From what you posted of their comments, it looks a lot more like they’re blasting them for holding it at a high-priced resort hotel while they have members losing jobs/out of work/companies going bankrupt.
Kelligan on March 4, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Ed, are we seriously going to criticize every random segment on 24 hour cable news?
If so, more Megyn.
lorien1973 on March 4, 2009 at 1:14 PM
As is the case with alot of the stuff coming from these types…the hasty and unfounded way they go about criticizing opponents (obama=marxist, impeach him already, union meetings, breakup of america, worst president in history) serves only to de-legitimize justified opposition.
its juvenile behavior, basically.
ernesto on March 4, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Isn’t the hospitality industrty pretty much non Union in Florida?
that would mean better rates than chicago.
seven on March 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Your request has been noted! ;-)
I got a couple of e-mails on this, and it does seem like an odd thread for Fox to be pushing — which they obviously are.
Ed Morrissey on March 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM
Sooo… Are you saying Fox and Friends should’ve been giving them high fives for spending money to support frivolous travel and conventions in a time of economic crisis as a show of bucking the Democrat trend?
Would that have better displayed the Democrats hypocrisy?
Or are you saying they shouldn’t be trying to demonstrate the Democrats hypocrisy at all because it make Republicans look “evil and stupid” while Democrats look all noble and caring when they do it?
Skywise on March 4, 2009 at 1:18 PM
If corporate CEOs can be attacked for their jets and compensation, why shouldn’t the unions be attacked for their junkets to Florida?
promachus on March 4, 2009 at 1:19 PM
If most people attending are in Michigan then yes, the conference should be in Detroit. The point of organizing a conference in a nice place is to ensure that people will come.
If I need to meet two people who will definitely come, we might as well meet at a local IHOP. If you want to attract participants then yes, organizing the meeting at a nice location is a sound business decision.
So I’d say if everyone involved had to be there, then they should have organized the event in Detroit or Baltimore or whatever. Plus remember that unionization is largely coerced through all sorts of legislation that governs it. If you want to say: let them do what they want with their money, fine, but get the government out of “labor protection”.
radiofreevillage on March 4, 2009 at 1:20 PM
+1
Ed, you are WAY off base here. The average voter and union member in MI (and everywhere else, of course) needs to be slapped in the face as many times as possible with the hypocritical behavior of their union leadership.
With card check legislation on the horizon, the effort to get union members to break away from the union bosses’ instructions is extremely important, and stories like this are very effective. Workers at non-union shops need to be forced to reflect upon whether they want to lose some of their salaries to fund luxury retreats for union bosses…..
GREAT WORK MS. KELLY, MORE LIKE THIS PLEASE
funky chicken on March 4, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Exactly. Where is our national nanny in chief Obama on this?
Or is he too busy fellating John Sweeney?
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Oh come on Ed, you cant really believe that can you? Why do you think these companies need the bailout money in the first place?? They may not be getting direct funds, but by giving the auto makers money we are keeping them employed while they go meet in Miami. These unions are strangling the auto companies and they are HUGE recipients of our bailout money. In a fair capitalist market, many of their workers should be unemployed.
nswider on March 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
I think EVERY organization that receives free or subsidized accommodations should be held to task for having their ‘meetings’ in resort-like places & in expensive hotels when the Days Inn would be just fine.
Puhleeze.
Maybe spending a winter conference in Detroit would help these morons get their heads out of their a$$e$.
Badger40 on March 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Correct, they are not getting it directly from the Treasury. They are getting in indirectly, through the automakers’ bailout money continuing to support the massive economic weight of the unions. So in that sense, they are not spending their own money. And, by the way, they are spending the union members’ money, not their own, if by “their own” you refer to the union leaders.
The criticism is deserved.
iurockhead on March 4, 2009 at 1:24 PM
And yeah-why isn’t Obama getting in on this criticism?
The bourgeoise (sp?) class must be cleansed of their selfishness!
Oh that’s right-Obama is too busy eating arugula & wagayu.
Badger40 on March 4, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I agree it was over the top by Fox, but seriously, can’t the AFL-CIO do this by video conference far more cheaply? If I was in leadership there, I certainly would have asked the question. This is not that far removed from AIG parties.
Vashta.Nerada on March 4, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Oh! Let’s bash Detroit! The city may be a cesspool but it doesn’t deserve the “why would anyone go there” crap. Why would anybody want to live in MN when it is cold and the officals are too damned stupid to hold an election that yeilds a winner four months after the votes were cast!
Here’s a few reasons why the AFL-CIO should have opted for Detroit over Miami….
1. Michigan’s economy could have used the bump better than a place which already gets a huge influx of tourist dollars.
2. Michigan’s Democrat Party and organized labor are the same thing.
3. Unions are getting bail out money from the filthy liar’s administration. Why hold them to a different standard than those financial firms who were holding conferences in Phoenix?
4. Finally, the AFL-CIO looks frivilous by holding its conference in a resort destination at the same time the filthy liar is essentially talking the market into the 4,000 range.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 1:25 PM
glad to see someone else gets it, I was shaking my head when I read that crazy comment from Ed.
nswider on March 4, 2009 at 1:27 PM
The renovation is not the boondoggle. The fact that Union leaders are going to a hotel that was worth well over a billion dollars is the boondoggle.
And you can never have to much of Megyn Kelly on this site.
GardenGnome on March 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Yes, but a web cam view of a Miami whorehouse is just not the same.
Other than that, how long does it really take to skim 80% off the top, to decide what Democrats to bribe how much and to decide which domestic industry to destroy this year?
10 minutes.
Meeting adorned. Slither back to your dung holes, union bosses.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Libs are always pushing to “Stay local” and keep money in the local areas. These Unions should be picking cities that need the money and need the out of state support. Detroit is the Liberal experiment, and the Lib Unions should support them.
portlandon on March 4, 2009 at 1:30 PM
How about the union spending dues money at the MARRIOTT vs. the Fountainbleu?
Oh, that’s right, they’ll have plenty of more dues after card check is passed
originalpechanga on March 4, 2009 at 1:30 PM
As odd as CNN making a fuss out of Michelle Obama’s fitness?
They are businesses in the business of making money. They do that by putting out product their customers want.
You remember capitalism right?
Jim708 on March 4, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Heck Detroit could really use a convention anytime. They definitely need the money.
I think this segment was just a snarky comeback to those who railed against business junkets to Las Vegas.
rbj on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Ed, all that blog money has set you up so far above the average plumber Joe that you no longer get it. It’s a shame really.
- The Cat
P.S. /s
MirCat on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
If Fox really wanted to get cute with these union reps, they should have tailed a group of them leaving the Fountainebleu to make it to the stripper bars (Club Madonna, anyone?). I’m not so sure the rank-and-file shivering at home up north would go for that.
BuckeyeSam on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
I could really say the same for most any kind of meeting: i.e. school board meetings, town hall meeting, staff meetings, etc.
Badger40 on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Well he IS in Minnesota now. :D
Skywise on March 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
1. Isn’t the Fontainebleu resort capitalism, too? Why call it a “boondoggle” to hold a conference there? That was Fox’s criticism. They’re attacking capitalism a lot more directly than I am.
2. I remember free speech, too, where I get to criticize lame media spin.
Ed Morrissey on March 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
I think Ed has been Obamatized!
Just because the Unions don’t “directly” receive bailout money doesn’t mean they aren’t getting any of it.
They still get bailout money from employee paychecks.
willt73 on March 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Ed,
Man you blew it on this one!
The automaker unions have received BILLIONS of dollars from the taxpayers. They continue to pay bloated salaries and benefits along with a gold-plated pension plan thanks to the taxpayers. Since they are now taxpayer funded, we need veto power on these boondoggle conferences.
old crow on March 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Because they certainly do when demonizing management, Wall Street and “the rich” (meaning anyone that has something they want).
spmat on March 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Since the unions have helped destroy Detroit, any of these unions should be made to have their conferences here. It’d be like rubbing a dog’s nose in its feces to keep it from ruining the carpet.
JOHNNYB on March 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
OT: But speaking of Megyn Kelly, how about replacing Steele with Kelly?
Do you think she’d have let Hughley get away with that Nazi crack? I suspect that she’d have force fed him his cut off private parts.
BuckeyeSam on March 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Note to Fox and all you class warfare HYPOCITS; Miami is still part of the USA, conventions are big business and a vital source of revenue for local economies. The ALF-CIO is a business and can do as it pleases, it is up to the members to decide on the legitimacy of its leaderships actions. I’m still waiting for Megyn Kelly’s follow-up with Senator Specter regarding his vote on Porkulis.
dmann on March 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Reason 5: a group supporting Obama could claim that it was promoting international trade relations with Canada when all the union reps hopped in their cars and headed to the stripper bars in Windsor.
BuckeyeSam on March 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM
True, but they do present an opportunity for narcisstic bores to drone on before a captive audience.
The best thing about blackberries is you can actually do something productive during meetings.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:40 PM
My husband’s company canceled their quarterly meeting and instead held an international conference call. They are trying to manage costs so they can keep people employed.
The unions have not one penny of their own. All of the money they have comes from the corporations that employ their workers (via dues). Having a big convention right now only points out how much extra those companies are paying union workers that isn’t’ going to the workers, and isn’t going to keep the company in business.
As one brilliant commenter said, the unions need to learn that a union without a company is like a unicorn without a magic horn.
MayBee on March 4, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Unfortunately, the Detroit City Council, presided over by Monica Conyers, just voted down a proposal to renovate the Copp Center because whitey was trying to take over the city by offering to pay for it.
a capella on March 4, 2009 at 1:40 PM
As long as the Gambino capo in charge signs off on it, that is.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Wouldn’t it have been better to hold the meeting in a factory warehouse somewhere, complete with folding chairs and tables, a few coffee urns and some donuts?
The union could use the difference in expenditures between that venue and their fancy digs in Florida to provide more unemployment benefits for their members.
Bishop on March 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM
er um uh…”well that’s different”…
it is like the fact that there are very few envirowhacko glee club meetings in nontourist spots….
because who doesn’t like a good escort, dry martini, and scenery when discussing how to defraud citizens from control of their own energy destiny??
sven10077 on March 4, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Right, ernesto, it’s completely fair to complain about any other business body going to Vegas or some other vacation spot and condemn their behavior, but you simple-minded commoners do not presume to think you may question a bunch of union fatcats sunning their fat asses on the union dues dime. Or are they down there on their cut from the stimulus and or auto bailout. Did they go there in private jets? It matters and I want to know.
Hypocrites!
hawkdriver on March 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Yeah, it would be like watching C-Span with a better class of whores.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Sauce for the goose, Ed.
Where is Brad Sherman or John Kerry decrying this waste of hard-working union member dollars at a luxury resort? And, by the way, the Fontainebleu is THE most luxurious resort on Miami Beach. It has four pools and a luxury shopping mall with stores like Hermes.
This REEKS of hypocrisy. I’m really glad Fox is exposing it.
rockmom on March 4, 2009 at 1:45 PM
AFL-CIO National Meeting in South Beach
College Spring Break in South Beach
Coincidence?
PappaMac on March 4, 2009 at 1:45 PM
It’s been the unions who routinely attack management for holding meetings in resort areas.
If it’s sauce for the goose, then it’s sauce for the gander.
MarkTheGreat on March 4, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Just pointing out the liberal’s most abundant commodity; HYPOCRISY.
jukin on March 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM
So long as they GO to Canada. NAFTA is a dirty word with these people and importing Canadian whores would just be hypocritical.
Speaking of which, that brings up another reason why they should have gone to Detroit. Senator Stabenow’s husband, a big union guy himself, is well acquainted with prostitutes. He could have led the “hospitality committee.”
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM
The AFL-CIO is a business? LOL. What do they produce? What do they sell? How do they make their money?
Oh, right. They make “their” money by confiscating it from the wages of their involuntary members.
Sorry, but they are stealing money from blue collar people and using that money to pay for luxury “meetings.” I’m stunned that you don’t seem able to understand why that behavior is wrong.
I think you’ve swallowed the Limbaugh defense of corporate AIG type “retreats” and gone all reductio ad absurdum here.
funky chicken on March 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Hey, we need the money, leave these guys alone — Come to Florida, everyone, we are dying for lack of visitors.
Yes that’s what is really worthless. Make work projects always have the same sad ending in the unemployment line.
tarpon on March 4, 2009 at 1:48 PM
No joke – I went to a corporate sales meeting at the Eden Roc a few years ago. The “extracurriculars” were the biggest incentive for people to go. All the women were sitting around every night with nothing to do because the men were all at the strip clubs.
rockmom on March 4, 2009 at 1:48 PM
My point exactly, only with what my comment lacked; coherence. You have my vote for shop steward.
What am I missing here? Haven’t we been going on and freaking on about the rich guys at the top are getting all the perks and haven’t the posters here said make them do VTCs from their plush freaking offices? Why do liberal politicians like Nan “Luxury Jet” Peloski and union bosses get any different consideration from the other guys who you want to be more responsible and get capped at 500,000 a year?
hawkdriver on March 4, 2009 at 1:49 PM
I was against that takeover because there is no evidence that any city needs to be building/rennovating huge convention center spaces in the current economic climate. Secondly, because it was public dollars (as opposed to a bond referendum) that was going to be used for the rennovation.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 1:49 PM
The leach has realized that its host is dying. Claiming that the leach does not benefit, while its host is hastily put on lifesupport with an emergency transfusion… is not quite truthful.
dominigan on March 4, 2009 at 1:49 PM
It seems to me that Fox is going after the hypocrisy of the unions holding their meetings in posh resort hotels while also getting bailouts of their own, even if filtered thru Gm and the like. A lotta taxpayer money still apears to be headed for union coffers. Not to mention Obama’s stated support for the thuggery that is the Employee Free Choice Act, which will strengthen unions even more and be a business killer.
As Precedent MaObama said last month:
So Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson (Venetian/Sands) answered that statement at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit yesterday:
Seems like a reasonable story to me. Union members should be pissed as well that this is where there dues are going.
ornery_independent on March 4, 2009 at 1:50 PM
S’okay guys .. when summer comes to Michigan, the UAW will be hosting everybody at their private $30-mil golf course
/.
CaveatEmpty on March 4, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Aaayyy..trust me, capiche! I’m not a union guy, but I’m getting tired of the incessant criticism being directed at any activity that is deemed opulent by the new lifestyle police. Where was Fox and Fools when Michelle Obamas peeps were out shopping designer threads in NYC? We are being played for fools, Class warfare will cost us all!
dmann on March 4, 2009 at 1:53 PM
We’d be better off if the employees of the whorehouse were in Congress, but the whorehouse of course would be worse off.
The Nancy Pelosi suite would lose so much, the Barney Frank experience would not be able to keep up.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Agree, but it’s hard not to kick a union goon when he’s down.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 1:54 PM
What’s the problem? They’re just taking the Detroit government’s order for white people to “get out” to heart….
Master Shake on March 4, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Their business is representing workers, I’m not passing judgement, just the facts. Your just passing gas and it is pretty funky indeed.
dmann on March 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Auto Unions either directly or indirectly benefit from the auto bailout. And even if that weren’t the case, why not take some of their poor workers who can’t afford a vacation.
God, the hypocrisy of the left, knows, no, bounds!!!
hawkdriver on March 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Because no one receiving taxpayer dollars should continue these decadent lives of waste and extravagance!!! Isn’t that what we’re told?
ddrintn on March 4, 2009 at 1:57 PM
The unions are a lot like our own government. They only money they have is the money they take.
Knowing that, the unions along with our government should not be hanging out in any lavish place while regular folks are wondering if they will have a job in the next couple of months.
Again, it goes to leadership. If you expect people to tighten their belts, do with the less and manage money better then you should be doing the same yourself.
What does that mean to the unions? The same thing. They talk about how corporations waste money and then they turn around and do the same thing.
They should be called out over and over again.
willt73 on March 4, 2009 at 1:57 PM
ive never been one to give a rats a$$ who flies to congress or whatever on what. anyone who knows how big organizations work knows that this is par for the course…from governments to unions to corporations to chambers of commerce to think tanks to interest groups…its just how it works…making a big stink, whether its corporate or union, is silly
ernesto on March 4, 2009 at 1:58 PM
^ In other words, hoist with their own petard.
ddrintn on March 4, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Unions successfully negotiate higher benefits and wages for Union bosses.
The actual workers can go suck eggs.
It’s the union way and it’s the Democrat Party way.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 2:00 PM
And frankly I don’t either. It’s just the irony of these guys doing this after the auto execs had to turn back the order of a jet that was on the books for almost three years because of the “appearance”.
Hypocrites.
hawkdriver on March 4, 2009 at 2:00 PM
First, they are making a big deal of this to highlight the hypocrisy when non-Union White Collar groups do this. It’s pretty obvious concept algebra.
Second:
Ed, do you really think the Unions aren’t benefiting by the BILLIONS of dollar going to Union run corporations like GM? Seriously?
This is, again, pretty obvious concept algebra.
Montana on March 4, 2009 at 2:01 PM
They could hold the conference at some other time of the year, at the Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center in Onaway, Michigan. I understand the venue gives a discount to unions.
unclesmrgol on March 4, 2009 at 2:02 PM
I wanna see Megyn go after Precedent Hussein for using Air Force O! One to go to a basketball game!
ornery_independent on March 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
And you know what? I bet some of the people at the conference PLAYED GOLF!!!!!! Oh, the horror.
I am all for holding the Unions accountable. It is not that they should be hung for having a convention in Florida, it’s that corporations should not be criticized for having their own outings. Seminars, conventions, etc. are part of doing business. That is how to woo customers and clients or employees to a company. The liberals need to get off the backs of the corporations for engaging in this type of activity.
Mallard T. Drake on March 4, 2009 at 2:04 PM
Ahh, a mathematical assumption is built on knowns, yours is built on nothing.
dmann on March 4, 2009 at 2:05 PM
My guess is they want to hold the Union’s to the same standard the dem party is holding private buisiness execs too. After all why is it Okay to blast private business on how they spend the money they earn and it’s not okay to blast union’s on how they spend money they confiscate from their members.
lwssdd on March 4, 2009 at 2:06 PM
No the logic is sound….the AFL-EIO E I EI O is getting federal cash via TRAP they just aren’t having it put directly in their hands….
3x=s 30 pieces of silver in this case or rather x=s 10
sven10077 on March 4, 2009 at 2:07 PM
FYI, the AFL-CIO website just crashed my browser. I’d stay away from that POS, if anyone had thoughts of going there.
ornery_independent on March 4, 2009 at 2:08 PM
The unions have considerable real estate holdings: union halls, office buildings, resorts. If those facilities are inadequate for meetings, one might ask why they were purchased. A union friend of mine is always furious about the local’s rental of meeting and reception space when it has its own facility.
The reason for the Florida junket is self-explanatory. Leaving aside the question of whether or not this perk is rational, it is still reasonable to question the selection of Miami and the Fontainebleau. Florida has numerous alternatives that are less pricey.
obladioblada on March 4, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Maybe their buttbuddy – Barack – should stop criticizing other groups and companies from having conferences in Las Vegas. It is their choice where they want to go, but if they are going to try to shame others out of the same choice then they deserve every bit of scorn for that same choice. What goes around needs to start coming around a lot more for these damn hipocrits.
Sporty1946 on March 4, 2009 at 2:10 PM
Yep. Obama said “Don’t go to Vegas,” Fox says “Why are the Unions in South Beach?” It’s not in-depth reporting or anything, but it is an angle that may keep the story out there. Also, Card Check is keeping union shenanigans in the news cycle.
cs89 on March 4, 2009 at 2:12 PM
The other unspoken issue here is that with Card Check and Obamavision of America, being a DUE-PAYING Union member will soon be required, not optional.
So you will be required to pay dues to support these get-aways.
Yes, I am fine with people renting these places if you they want, and if they do so on their own dollar.
But for Ed to state that Unions aren’t getting tax-payer dollars is too much of a stretch for me. The Unions are in bed with the Federal Govt and the Democrat party. The Unions are perhaps the only winners of this whole bail-out debacle.
You do realize the head of the UAW was with the three Detroit car company CEO’s when they went hat-in-hand for hand-outs right?
Montana on March 4, 2009 at 2:13 PM
One major consideration for a choice of venue, is the ability of that cities facilities to handle crowds of that scale. One can imagine the hotels and resorts of Miami having an easier time of that than, say, Detroit, especially now.
Look on the bright side. The best-equipped city in the USA for handling conventions is… Las Vegas. Yeah, baby, Vegas!!! Can you imagine them meeting there at at time like this?
No, baby, no.
manwithblackhat on March 4, 2009 at 2:20 PM
And this wouldn’t be an issue if the filthy liar and his party attacked the Big Three for taking private jets to DC, if the filthy liar put Las Vegas off limits as a convention destination, etc.
It’s the hypocrisy here of some of the filthy liar’s biggest supporters and the beneficiaries of the filthy liar’s agenda holding a conference in a place that most of us couldn’t afford to stay at the same time they rant about how much their membership is being hurt in this economy. It’s as disassociative as the way the Russian Czars didn’t understand the world around them.
Good for Fox to go out after these bastards. It will help when the UAW claims they can’t afford to make real concessions or the NEA claims that their teachers need more of those billion dollars they were rewarded with in the filthy liar’s “stimulus” package.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Here we’ve been complaining that the spendulus money isn’t going to be spread around quickly enough, so here are the hard-working union guys trying to support the local economy (prostitutes are expensive, you know) with the government funds extorted from their members’ paychecks, and we have the audacity (love that word) to criticize their largesse? /sarc
College Prof on March 4, 2009 at 2:26 PM
B.S. Detroit offers more than a Motel Six and IHOP. Besides the Superbowl, they hold the Detroit Auto Show every year with crowds far larger than whatever scum shows up for a union convention. They even have an international airport that could accomodate all those union thug’s private planes. Plus, unlike Miami, Detroit isn’t filled with snowbirds this time of year.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 2:27 PM
yes they are. Where do you think the money going to GM goes? The only reason they are bailing out the auto industry is the unions.
As for the ‘controversy’. . . I personally think it’s mostly a spoof on how they treat other companies for going on retreats like this.
Put it this way, if it wasn’t for the auto bailout from the Treasury, the Union would not have had a membership to even have this trip.
ThackerAgency on March 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Ed. Why should we defend them? We’re too busy fending off the attacks from the left to take time out to defend union bosses.
Vince on March 4, 2009 at 2:31 PM
The way I see this thread is as follows, Obama makes an issue out of banks sending employees to Vegas, the result is…. less work for the employees of those hotels, restaurants, gas stations what have you. Now, Here is Obama in Miami with union slime partaking in the same activity’s the banks were. Are not the unions beneficiaries of the same slimy psuedo TARF bills and stimulus bill? I see a connect and a salient issue.
MNDavenotPC on March 4, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Plus it is meaningless. The unions were among the big winners of the filthy liar’s victory. They will never be taken to task for the blatant extravagance of this convention. It’s one thing to attack a CEO (whose company produces a product or service) but a far different thing to expect a meeting of the main mafia families to meet at the St. Louis Ramada Inn.
highhopes on March 4, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Shouldn’t the unions be using union staffed conference centers? By spending all that money, dues paid by members I might point out, in Florida they are robbing their members of work.
Another classic case of “Do as I say but not as I do”? Or just “Better than you” when it comes to play and party time?
Guardian on March 4, 2009 at 2:52 PM
I hope that’s sarcasm, ed. These thugs strongarm the employees of the executives that get dragged through he coals on a daily basis. How do you figure it’s their “own money”? Was it Al Capone’s money?
peacenprosperity on March 4, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Unbelievable. What losses, ed? Losses in productivity? What do you think unions do, ed? they count their money, that’s what they do.
Go watch katie couric and cbs.
peacenprosperity on March 4, 2009 at 3:04 PM
The Unions need to be busted if the free markets are to survive, but I don’t see that happening. The Obaminstration is holding and protecting the keys to the union shackles right now, and the attached ball & chain is about to get a lot heavier, not less.
Here’s another example of a huge union, the NEA, DIRECTLY FINANCED BY TAXPAYERS having a nice upcoming vacation on our dime:
http://www.nea.org/grants/1357.htm
And more NEA:
There’s even many more meetings we’re paying for at the NEA, but I think the point is made.
ornery_independent on March 4, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Ed, as I pointed out oh so subtly above, they own their own venue. You can’t get much cheaper than that. (Note that the UAW is an AFL-CIO affiliate).
unclesmrgol on March 4, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Yeah Ed, the weather in Detroit is so bad it is almost unbearable. People are dying here by the thousands, I think it is only 40 degrees today, the horror! You are clearly and idiot. Michelle should kick you and Allah to the curb.
echosyst on March 4, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Okay, you got me. Maybe it was the weather.
manwithblackhat on March 4, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Not entirely correct, Ed.
Big bailouts (“loans”) from Uncle Sam to everyone but Ford. They keep employees that they don’t need and can’t afford. Said employees pay union dues from their pay, which they wouldn’t be getting if not for Uncle Sam.
BacaDog on March 4, 2009 at 3:35 PM
That is helpful…*eye roll*
For my part, I have no problem with their choice of venue. Wish I could have been there. I do have a problem with two things:
1. Hypocrisy of the press and the Obama administration: FOX was pointing that in a tongue-in-cheek segment. You missed that. Ok. The point you are making (that the Union is paying, let them do as they see fit) is valid. But again, I think you missed the main point.
2. Ed Morrissey doesn’t think Unions are getting Tax Payer Money: Really? Why again did the head of the UAW show up with the auto-manufacturers during the trick-or-treat visit to Washington last year? The check may not be made out in the name of the UAW, but it isn’t rocket science to see who benefits.
Ed, did you wake up on AP’s side of the bed this morning?
Maybe re-do the first cup of coffee. =)
Montana on March 4, 2009 at 3:41 PM
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