COMMENTARY | Jimmy Hoffa’s threats about marching armies of labor union members “taking out” tea party members and Republicans got just a little more ominous when a mob of hundreds of longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview, Wash.
Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union stormed the port armed with baseball bats, smashing windows, dumping grain from railroad cars, and taking six security guards hostage, according to The Associated Press. Police in riot gear were forced to retake the port, driving the longshoremen back to their union hall. No arrests have been made so far as a result of the battle.
The assault took place after a protest action that attempted to block a train filled with grain headed for an EGT terminal which, according to the Daily News, resulted in numerous arrests.
Ironically, the dispute involved a labor spat with another union, not an attempt to follow any suggestion to “take out” tea party members. The ILWU is an AFL-CIO affiliated union. Nevertheless the display of mob violence, following closely as it does Hoffa’s inflammatory speech, is disturbing.
Even more ironically, Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO of which the ILWU is a part, is an invited guest of President Barack Obama for his speech before a joint session of Congress concerning his jobs program.
Union-inspired political violence is not unprecedented, even in recent history. Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) were accused of severely beating a conservative activist named Kenneth Gladney as he handed out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags outside a health care townhall meeting being conducted by Rep. Russ Carnahan. Gladney, who is African American, was subjected to racist taunts as he was beaten. The SEIU members were found not guilty in a controversial jury ruling, according to Big Government. The matter is now the subject of a civil suit filed by Gladney against the SEIU. Gladney himself has been quoted as suggesting Hoffa’s remarks were a ploy to try to goad tea party protesters into committing violent acts first.
The specter of violence hanging over the coming presidential election merely illustrates the stakes involved. If violence becomes a feature of the 2012 contest, it will not be the first time it has occurred. The events that occurred in 1968 come to mind. But it would be a case, unique in recent American history, in which adherents of one side of a political contest threatened and even carried out acts of violence against the adherents of another. The sad truth is President Obama is doing nothing to prevent this development. That speaks volumes of his suitability for reelection.
Sources: Longshoremen storm Wash. state port, damage RR, AP, Sept. 8, 2011
400 union workers protest EGT-bound train, clash with police, Eric Olson, Columbia Daily News, Sept 7, 2011
Not Guilty…SEIU Thugs Cleared in Brutal Gladney Beatdown, Jim Hoft, Big Government, July 12, 2011
Local tea party leaders say Hoffa’s comments intended to goad conservatives to violence, Jack Minor, Greeley Gazett, Sept. 7, 2011