Update at bottom: GOP may share some blame on TSA 'ineptness'
Republican senator Jim DeMint used the attempted attack on a airplane bound for Detroit as an excuse to voice opposition to unions.
Absent any other television guests interested in countering Senator DeMint's assertions, Fox News provided him a national forum for a broad attack on labor. He warned, "The administration is intent on unionizing and submitting our airport security to union bosses' collective bargaining."
The senator from South Carolina told Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace that unionization is a threat to airport security because collective bargaining prevents flexibility.
"We have to out-think the terrorists and when we formed the airport security system, we realized we could not use collective bargaining and unionization because of that need to be flexible," DeMint said.
He added unsupported criticisms of "soft talk about engagement" and Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. "These things are not going to appease the terrorists," he said.
GOP may share some blame on TSA 'ineptness'
The blame game continues.
"As Republicans seek to put the blame for the widespread perception of ineptness at the Transportation Security Administration on the Obama administration, Democrats are arguing that Republican legislators bear part of the blame, and that they're politically vulnerable on the subject," Politico's Ben Smith reported Monday.
Smith noted that "DeMint has a hold on the appointment of a TSA chief, over his concern that the new administration could allow security screeners to unionize" and that his fellow Republicans "cast votes against the key TSA funding measure, the 2010 appropriation bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures."
DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton quickly jumped upon Smith's column, and issued the following statement:
Democrats have only themselves to blame for not having a confirmed TSA administrator. President Obama waited 243 days in office before making a nomination and Harry Reid has been too busy trading earmarks for votes on health care to schedule debate on the nominee. This is an important debate because many Americans don't want someone running the TSA who stands ready to give union bosses the power to veto or delay future security measures at our airports.
Undoubtedly, the blame game will continue to be continued.
This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast Dec. 27, 2009.
