Has the once-powerful labor movement been reduced to fighting tiny skirmishes over “useless public sector workers”? Conservative columnist Ann Coulter thinks so, and spares no one — not even kindergarten teachers.
On Wednesday morning’s “Fox & Friends,” Coulter said that who Teamsters Union president James Hoffa represents is more interesting than his (now famous) ill-advised Labor Day remarks.
“What I really think needs to be talked about is that no one is mentioning this is Jimmy Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters. They used to be truck drivers and pipefitters. Now he’s representing public school teachers? Kindergarten teachers? Cafeteria workers? Fighting for every last bit of their government pension? What a pathetic downfall!” (RELATED: Coulter: Palin has become ‘the Obama of the tea party’)
Coulter went on: “And how about a little of this tough talk back when the Teamsters supported drilling [for oil] in ANWR? You know: ‘Real jobs for real men’ — as opposed to kindergarten teachers. And how about fighting for nuclear power plants being installed? … He’s not even representing men who have actual jobs. He’s representing a bunch of useless public sector workers.”
Co-host Gretchen Carlson gave Coulter a chance to walk her comments back, saying “I don’t want to say that teachers are useless.”
“No?” Coulter shot back. “I will. They are government workers. Let’s turn it over to private [schools], to vouchers, to charter schools. No, they fight for every last dime. They get summers off. They’re off at two [o’clock] and they make more money than most of those pipefitters who no longer have jobs.”