Frank Snyder – 2/14/08

This page was last updated on February 14, 2008.

Reasons to be leery of McCain; Frank Snyder, Pennsylvania State Director, AFL-CIO; Beaver County Times; February 14, 2008.

I believe the last we heard from Mr. Snyder was back in 2004 when he wrote a letter I described as “no more than a fairy tale intended to promote Democrat talking points and to scare American workers.” This letter is also little more than a list of liberal/progressive/socialist talking points. Read closely, and you find Mr. Snyder and the AFL-CIO advocate a nanny state in which everyone is dependent on politicians and bureaucrats like Mr. Snyder.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“U.S. Sen. John McCain is a media darling.”

[RWC] Mr. Snyder failed to note Mr. McCain is “a media darling” only of the liberal media. That will change soon, however, since Mr. McCain is virtually assured to be the Republican nominee. As soon as there is no doubt Mr. McCain is the Republican nominee, the liberal media will throw him under the bus quicker than you can blink your eyes.

“But don’t trust his carefully-crafted image. He’s worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he’s promising nothing more than a third Bush term.”

[RWC] Not exactly. Mr. McCain is more of a Rockefeller Republican than President Bush.

“McCain prides himself on being a “straight talker.” However, what he says is not usually beneficial to working families, and his record has certainly not supported any rhetoric suggesting he might be interested in the difficulties working families face every day.”

[RWC] Mr. Snyder, what is your definition of “working families?” I ask because to the best of my knowledge I haven’t met anyone who didn’t work for a living.

“He has fought against workers’ rights, making it harder to bargain for better wages. He is willing to fatten the pockets of the wealthy while leaving low-wage earners behind.”

[RWC] I suspect you’ll find Mr. Snyder’s concept of “workers’ rights” includes forcing employees to join a union and using a portion of their forced dues to fund election campaigns for candidates the employees may not even support. If Mr. Snyder were really interested in “workers’ rights,” he’d push to make PA a right-to-work state. There are more details at Labor Unions.

“McCain has shipped our jobs overseas and has voted to allow the outsourcing and privatization of our jobs but opposed job creation efforts here at home and will leave workers out on their own to try to fight the insurance companies for decent health care.”

[RWC] Hmm, I thought high taxes and too-high labor costs “shipped our jobs overseas.” That said, with unemployment at 4.9%, how many jobs really left?

Note that Mr. Snyder doesn’t like the idea of jobs in the private sector (privatization). Mr. Snyder referred to “outsourcing,” but I suspect he meant offshoring. Regarding healthcare, I pay for my own insurance and I didn’t need “to fight the insurance companies” to do so.

FYI, by “job creation efforts,” Mr. Snyder means jobs funded by taxpayers.

“The facts and his votes cannot be denied or overlooked. Working families need a president who understands their concerns and will fight to fix the skewed balance that favors the top 1 percent at the expense of the rest.”

[RWC] Would this be “the top 1 percent” that pays 39% of federal income taxes?

“We can’t afford four more years with a president who drives the economy into the ground. We can’t afford four more years with a president who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can’t afford four more years with a president who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a president who can’t get every American the health care they deserve; with a president we just can’t trust.”

[RWC] Hmm, Mr. Snyder appears to forget President Bush inherited a recession, and in part because of tax cuts, the economy has been growing for at least several years and unemployment is currently at a low 4.9%. Didn’t Mr. Snyder write above “[t]he facts … cannot be denied of overlooked?” Apparently Mr. Snyder can accomplish this feat.

“McCain will continue the harmful policies of the current administration, not bring a much-needed change of direction.”

[RWC] Note that Mr. Snyder didn’t list one single solution to any of the issues he raised. There’s a reason; most people don’t like socialism so folks like Mr. Snyder must conceal their plans.

Finally, as a “blue” state, PA is pretty liberal. Why aren’t we leading the country economically instead of lagging most of it?