THE PRUDENT PARTY

Hopefully you've seen the video of Joe Samuel the Unlicensed Plumber War Correspondent Anti-Union Shill admitting in the midst of his speaking tour in opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act that he doesn't know jack shit about the Employee Free Choice Act. No? Maybe it's time to watch it. Oh, those gotcha questions! The man who thinks the American public doesn't deserve him was Shanghaied by some (licensed, real, not-on-welfare) plumbers who appear to have read the legislation in question, thus giving them an extraordinary advantage over the paid plant from an organization called "Americans for Prosperity."

This is why I'm convinced that the political right is comprised almost entirely of morons. Let me explain.

It's not a sign of stupidity that Mr. Pretzelbacher knows little about the EFCA or current U.S. labor codes. I don't know much about them either. I'd almost certainly fail an impromptu quiz on this subject. No, the latent stupidity of the right is evidenced by the apparent fact that no one, as the corporate PACs and right-wing think tank operatives were preparing this series of public appearances by their hand-picked spokesperson, asked a question like, "Hey, did someone make sure that he's read the fucking thing before we send him out there?" It apparently occurred to no one that he might be asked a question or two about labor laws and therefore it might help if he prepared and practiced a few responses. How long would this have taken? An hour or two with a PR guy?

He was not asked about the minutiae of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930. The question put to Mr. Studebaker was: "Are you aware that the existing law has card check in it?" This is not an unreasonable question. A logical person might even expect it. Did anyone say "Samuel, how would you handle this question, one which you are almost assured of receiving?" Apparently not. It's possible, of course, that he was coached through answers but didn't retain any of them. That would lead one to ask, quite logically, if a person who could not retain a few pages' worth of information was the best choice as a spokesman.

Any way you slice this situation, it boils down to the fact that the people behind the scheme are seriously lacking in forethought and brainpower. The party of social Darwinism, ever advocating culling the weak from the herd, is in need of one of its own lectures. Perhaps it's time to point inward all that sermonizing about personal responsibility, prudence, and being smart enough to avoid making mistakes. In other words, the ideological right just needs to pretend it's a poor, black homeowner behind on her mortgage and then act naturally.