I bet the unions caved because they know they have to bail out MA for the dems.

[dkf]

It's hard to get your members to GOTV much less vote themselves when they understand they were expected to foot health care benefits for everyone else not the wealthy who got all the tax breaks and are scooping up on wall street.

This was a deal made between panicked lawmakers and the unions. The unions haven't gotten anything for their hard work. They sure must get brownie points for this one.

[HughMoran]

1. I think the unions are not idiots

ya know what I mean?

[Peacetrain]

2. Now you are going to bash the unions?

[dkf]

7. Actually I think they are taking pity on the dems.

I hope it gets them enough leverage to influence more legislation.

[ProSense]

8. They're going to renegotiate all their contracts out of pity?

That's the dumbest thing I've read in a long time.

[Eric J in MN]

3. With Ben Nelson opposing the Millionaire's Tax and...

...Obama embracing the excise tax, small concessions on the excise tax was all the unions could get.

It wasn't about Massachusetts.

[Aramchek]

4. so this will be what you whine about when Coakley wins?

[dkf]

6. If she does I will be happy. But it shouldn't be this close.

I'm kind of glad this race is shaking things up. It shows Blue voters can't be taken for granted.

[depakid]

5. The unions caved because they got a big slice of pie

which- if this passes, will have the effect of further angering people at unions.

[Eric J in MN]

9. A delay in when the excise tax applies to union contracts...

...is a small concession from Obama.

[spoony]

10. Yeah, because it's all the unions' fault.

They wrote the bill and forced themselves into a corner, right? The only people angry at unions are going to BE angry at unions and are going to use whatever excuse du jour to justify it. Before the deal it was they're obstructionists, now it's that they're greedy (which, not coincidentally, was also a justification people used for hating them before the deal, so...). I only have one finger available for anyone who has a problem with unions trying to improve their members' lot in a crappy bill.

[dkf]

11. Unions got short sheeted by the dems. Not cool.