It's understandable that different unions came out for different Democratic candidates. I have no complaint with that. What does bother me, however, is that some unions, like AFSCME, are continuing to spend money on Hillary's now-failed campaign. As Joe wrote the other day:
[A]t this point, putting egos aside (which is very difficult to do in politics), seems like every dollar spent on behalf of Hillary Clinton's failed campaign is not only a waste, it's money that can't be spent to defeat McCain.
It's money that can't be spent against McCain, it's money that can't be spent against every anti-union candidate in the fall. Greg Sargent reports that this is exactly what's happening. AFSCME is spending large sums of money to support Hillary in the remaining races, even though it's over, she lost.
AFSCME is going to put "real money" behind independent expenditures for ads on Hillary's behalf in remaining Democratic primary states, a union official just confirmed to me.
Why? To make Hillary feel better? We're supposed to be playing politics here, not therapy. And in AFSCME's case it's even weirder. AFSCME headquarters is spending money for Hillary in Oregon:
"We are going to be knocking on doors and making phone calls and doing direct mail and contacting our members in Kentucky and Oregon and Puerto Rico," the official said.
AFSCME plans to mail to its members and participate in other get-out-the-vote activities both for Obama and for Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate.
So you have AFSCME national spending money in Oregon for Hillary, and AFSCME Oregon spending money in Oregon for Obama. That's beyond idiotic, and an incredible waste of union members' money. If Hillary weren't still in this race wasting everyone's time and money, both AFSCME's could potentially save their money for the fall. This is yet another reason why Hillary's ongoing temper tantrum she calls a campaign comes with a serious cost.
When anyone says "oh, let the poor woman have her four weeks to come to terms with her grief," they're ignoring the very real fact that Hillary is forcing Obama and third parties like AFSCME and EMILY's List to waste money that they could be using against McCain, and other Republicans, in the fall. I have no problem with AFSCME picking sides (though this is the second time that AFSCME's leader, Gerald McEntee, has picked a loser - he was for Dean in 2004). I do have a problem with AFSCME jeopardizing races in the fall.
