He said What?

It has been suggested that US Rep Mike Capuano told a rally in Boston yesterday that a little blood in the streets is a good thing, sort of like Professor Francis Fox Piven did a little while back:

“I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Ma.) told a crowd in Boston on Tuesday rallying in solidarity for Wisconsin union members.

The source is the NH Journal.♠  Haven't the Republicans gotten the Memo from the President about the "new civility"?  Uh, ah, I mean Democrats.  The good news is that he doesn't represent the Fifth District.  Representative Tsongas has a little more class.

On the other hand, in today's on-line edition of The Boston Globe the Representative does regret his remarks, which are not in keeping with his comments after the shooting of the Federal Judge and his colleague Rep Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson, last month.  To quote or not to quote, that is the question.  Move on or drag it out while giving due respect to the Congressman's later comments.

“I strongly believe in standing up for worker rights and my passion for preserving those rights may have gotten the best of me yesterday in an unscripted speech,” the Somerville Democrat said in a statement released this afternoon. “I wish I had used different language to express my passion and I regret my choice of words."

In today's Sun the article by Correspondent Johanna Kaiser made no mention of this little faux pas.  It did quote United Teachers of Lowell President Paul Georges

What's happening in Wisconsin is a blatant attempt to eliminate collective bargaining, and certainly concerns all people concerned with fairness.♥

For a few weeks the whole Sun article can be found here.

I was pleased to see that Ms Barbara Klain, the current head of the Greater Lowell Tea Party was quoted.  She represented the counterpoint at the rally down in Boston.

We support the governor in his budget. Everybody's got to do what they can to bring sanity back.

It is the opinion of this humble blogger that at the core of this fight is the question of if Civil Servants should be allowed to form unions with collective bargaining rights, as opposed to having their wages, benefits and working conditions set by their respective legislatures.

While not at the Federal level, but some have suggested that at the local level, where union members are often among the most active voters, those unions are electing to city councils and school committees the people who will then turn around and negotiate with them, thus setting up something less than the normal give and take of bargaining.

On the other hand, if others don't turn out to vote they should not be whingeing about the outcomes.  Democracy is a participatory activity.  If you don't vote, if you don't support candidates, if you don't check out the candidate websites and literature, you are definitely part of the problem.  A single vote can make a difference, as the current imbroglio in Worcester shows us.  But, it is not a single vote.  If you don't vote what are the odds you know someone, perhaps even a relative, who also doesn't vote?  Now it is two votes, and with a little talking up of the subject it could be three or four votes.  Go vote and then go to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee together before you go to work, or before you go home after work.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Confirmation from The Boston Herald, for what it is worth.
♥  I think this may be over the top rhetoric.  While the Wisconsin Governor may be trying to kill collective bargaining on the part of public sector employees, he doesn't seem to be trying to do so for private employees.  Such would be a very bad thing in Wisconsin.