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Will Hillary's Wal-Mart Experience Trip Her Up?
Captain's Quarters ^ | Jan. 31, 2008 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 01/31/2008 5:57:23 AM PST by jdm

Of all the arguments against Hillary Clinton's nomination, her tenure on the board of Wal-Mart may be the most ironically damaging. Democrats survive on the money that labor unions generate, and they have a passionate hatred for the nation's largest retailer, which has successfully kept unions from organizing their workers. John Edwards and Barack Obama have repeatedly demonized Wal-Mart, even though most analysts agree that its low prices and job opportunities represent a net benefit to lower-income communities.

Hillary has attempted to parry criticism of her Wal-Mart connection by claiming that she did what she could to press for positive change while on the board. ABC News has reviewed hours of stockholder meeting videotapes and finds no evidence that she ever pushed Wal-Mart to be more union friendly:

In six years as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, between 1986 and 1992, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world's largest retailer waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers.

Clinton has been endorsed for president by more than a dozen unions, according to her campaign Web site, which omits any reference to her role at Wal-Mart in its detailed biography of her. ...

An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions.

The tapes, broadcast this morning on "Good Morning America," were provided to ABC News from the archives of Flagler Productions, a Lenexa, Kan., company hired by Wal-Mart to record its meetings and events.

Republicans will likely laugh at this line of attack. It's not one voters will see in a general election, should she win the nomination. The Right sees this obsessive focus on Wal-Mart as a strange passion indeed. People don't have to shop or work at Wal-Mart, and I don't do either, but they certainly have the right to argue against unionization if they desire, as long as they follow the law in doing so. They also can offer whatever wages they desire; they have to compete for labor in what has been for years a very tight market, and so they have to be able to beat other retailers to get the best workers.

Populists like Edwards and Obama see it differently, and so do the labor unions, which need the hundreds of millions in dues that a unionized Wal-Mart employee pool would produce. Hillary showed little impulse to help them in that effort when she had the opportunity. That might have come back to bite her in the primaries, but the unions appear to have agreed to forgive her for her failure. They continue to line up in support of Hillary.

Maybe this will signal an end to the Wal-Mart obsession of the Left. Like most obsessions, it has been irrational and damaging to the credibility of those who indulge in it. It reveals a lack of respect for free markets and even employee choice, neither of which surprise anyone considering its source. Both the Left and the Right have plenty of reasons to oppose Hillary, but this is the least of them.


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hillaryclinton; walmart

1 posted on 01/31/2008 5:57:26 AM PST by jdm
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To: jdm

Hill vs. Walmart is sooo last year. There’s much worse dirt on her than that.


2 posted on 01/31/2008 5:59:57 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: mtbopfuyn

The Unions will take it and like it. They don’t have a choice.


3 posted on 01/31/2008 6:00:37 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: jdm
Let the employees unionize, receive outrageous concessions, and watch the prices soar. They'll end up hurting the people who make the store successful. In the end, however, it will ultimately be blamed on Wal-Mart. After all...how dare they try to make a profit.
5 posted on 01/31/2008 6:05:42 AM PST by edpc (Republican Attack Machine Field Service Technician)
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To: jdm
Hillary has attempted to parry criticism of her Wal-Mart connection by claiming that she did what she could to press for positive change while on the board.

Isn't this the clintonian answer for FAILURE?

They're always "claiming they did what the could to press for positive change."

This should tell us all that we need to know about clintons:CLINTONS ARE FAILURES.

They belong to the sect of "I did my best, so I deserve a medal, too."

6 posted on 01/31/2008 6:05:44 AM PST by bannie (clintons CHEAT! AAAALLWAYS!)
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To: Baynative
Discount stores were generally not unionized, so Wal-Mart wasn't a big deal. The unions turned on them when they started to enter the unionized grocery business.
7 posted on 01/31/2008 6:09:28 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: jdm
Will Hillary's Wal-Mart Experience Trip Her Up?

No.

8 posted on 01/31/2008 6:15:57 AM PST by pnh102
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To: jdm
they have to compete for labor in what has been for years a very tight market,

Hmmm. tight market for labor.

That almost makes it sound like there has been low unemployment for years now.

Nah, couldn't be.

9 posted on 01/31/2008 6:25:18 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: jdm

Clinton Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions

Tapes Reviewed by ABC News Show Clinton As a Loyal Company Woman

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4218509&page=1


10 posted on 01/31/2008 6:38:01 AM PST by IrishMike (Liberalism is Jihad from within)
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To: edpc
Let the employees unionize, receive outrageous concessions, and watch the prices soar.

The fact that unions have to look towards Wal-Mart for new prospective members shows how sad of a state organized labor for the private sector is in the USA.

In the private sector, unions theoretically derive their power only from the fact that the cost of replacing skilled labor is theoretically prohibitive to most employers. For places like Wal-Mart, most, if not all, of the workers are unskilled labor, and thus very easy to replace.

Of course, I state this in theory only because in the private sector, most companies have been able to reduce the replacement costs of skilled workers to the point where there is no benefit to unionizing.

11 posted on 01/31/2008 6:46:26 AM PST by pnh102
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To: IrishMike

Great find!


12 posted on 01/31/2008 7:27:06 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (Truth : Liberals :: Kryptonite : Superman)
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To: mtbopfuyn
Hill vs. Walmart is sooo last year. There’s much worse dirt on her than that.

Cattle-Gate for example, or billy's "philanthropic connection with Frank Giustra, etc., etc.!!!

13 posted on 01/31/2008 7:27:10 AM PST by danamco
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To: edpc
Let the employees unionize, receive outrageous concessions, and watch the prices soar.

Recently a new W-M store was to open somewhere needed a few hundred employees!!!

Thousands (10,000?) lined up with their applications???

14 posted on 01/31/2008 7:31:12 AM PST by danamco
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To: mtbopfuyn

“There’s much worse dirt on her than that.”

I’m not so sure about that. Remember, these are Democrat voters we’re talking about.


15 posted on 01/31/2008 8:08:17 AM PST by Kahonek
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To: mtbopfuyn

“four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions.”

Thats because she did it in secret meetings...DUH!
All this is spelled out in secret documents that are at the Clinton Presidential Library and will be released in 2097.


16 posted on 01/31/2008 8:47:18 AM PST by Holicheese (1-21-09 Hillary starts to destroy America!)
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