Strib endorses EFCA lies to cover for Coleman, Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen

The Minneapolis Star Tribune endorsed the Republicans lies surrounding the Employee Free Choice Act today on their op-ed page. The Strib will do what they can to frame the issues so that they benefit Republicans Norm Coleman, Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen. This means that they won't talk about Republican giving tax breaks to the richest Americans. They won't talk about healthcare. They won't talk about Iraq. The editors at the Strib know that if the 2008 election is about these issues, Coleman, Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen will lose.

Taxes. Health care. The war. Certainly, those are some of the more obvious contenders to be marquee issues in Minnesota's hard-fought Senate race. But what has surprisingly emerged to dominate the airwaves and the debate is a bill that was passed by the U.S. House but bogged down in the Senate more than a year ago: the Employee Free Choice Act.
(Strib)

Since they clearly understand what is bad for Republicans, they proceed to repeat the Republican lies about union balloting. They downplay the most important aspect of the EFCA, severe punishments for employers who intimidate and harass employees who are in the process of unionizing. They and the union-busters across America don't like strengthening labor's ability to organize.

Its innocuous name belies the furor raging over it in Minnesota and across the nation.
[emphasis mine]
(Strib)

The furor over this bill come from the union-busters who are able to spend millions upon millions in their union-busting efforts. The raging comes from the Republicans who cannot run on 8 years of the disastrous Bush Administration and have made their party platform secret ballots, "Drill Here, Drill Now" and personal attacks. The Strib is complicit by fanning these flames.

So they focus on the the Republican lies about the card check votes. Under EFCA, employees would get to choose how they want to run their election. They can choose secret ballot, card check or whatever they want. Only a small minority, 30%, need to demand a secret ballot for the union election to be by secret ballot. Regardless, pushing the Republican talking points is much more important:

But the EFCA has the potential to do more harm than good. Its provision allowing unions to bypass a secret ballot with something called a card check is a serious problem. Under the proposed law, unions could bypass a secret ballot if 50 percent of eligible employees signed an authorization form to form a union. It doesn't make sense: Would you pass a school levy or elect a mayor this way? The proposed card-check system also would invite peer-pressure from union sympathizers and, by making a supporter's name public, it has the potential to heighten the risk of employer retaliation.
(Strib)

On the principle that enough people repeating the lie must make it true, you all know that Coleman, Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen can now say that the Strib agrees with their lies. The Strib give their lies credibility and legitimacy. They can now use this op-ed in their attacks on Democrats.

Next up for the Strib, "Drill Here, Drill Now"?