Choosing the wrong word, Mark Twain once observed, can mean the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Union leader Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, appeared on Ed Schultz's podcast this past Friday and made a decidedly unfortunate use of the word "unfortunately."
Cohen was talking with Schultz about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which both men oppose, and its prospects for passage in Congress (audio) --
SCHULTZ: This is when it's starting to get politically hot and this is the story we're going to do tonight on The Ed Show. So, where's this unfold? Do they have enough votes in the House? I would say no. Your thoughts.
COHEN: They don't have enough votes in the House. I mean, it's a question of the kind of lobbying that goes on from the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and the White House itself. And that lobbying already resembles what we saw if we watch the movie Lincoln and unfortunately in that case Lincoln was trying to adopt an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited slavery. In this case, we're talking about passing a trade deal that we only learned about because of WikiLeaks and that Congress is ready to grease before they've even read it, including this chapter of 56 pages.
If all I'm told about the Trans-Pacific Partnership is that its proponents are comparable to Lincoln and other supporters of the 13th Amendment, no further persuasion is necessary. Cohen, head of the self-proclaimed "union for the information age," may want to rework his pitch on this one.
