Democrats in trouble blame Sen. DeMint

Mark Hemingway:

...

... Our national security apparatus may be in disarray, but thank goodness the Democratic spin machine is in tip-top shape.

Democrats are trying to pin blame for the TSA breakdown on Sen. DeMint, R-S.C., who has placed a hold Erroll Southers, the Obama administration's nominee to head up the TSA. However, the Obama administration didn't even nominate Southers until September. It's pretty hard get indignant over DeMint for holding up Southers' nomination for three months -- if the post is so crucial, why did the Obama administration wait nine months to fill it? There are scores of other key administration positions that remain unfilled solely due to the Senate's obsessive health care focus, including a number of key Homeland Security and law enforcement positions.

Additionally, DeMint can't really be blamed for Southers being held-up as long as he has. Senate Democrats have devoted nearly every available bit of time for their health care legislation over the last several months. Surely the Senate Democratic leadership bears some blame for the fact that Southers' nomination hasn't been debated in the Senate.
Finally, DeMint's stated reason for putting a hold on Southers' nomination is a very valid national security concern. Southers' refuses to state whether he will allow the unionization of TSA employees. Currently, there's a statement on the TSA website opposing collective bargaining from the Bush administration. TSA effectiveness depends on rapid response to emerging threats. After a British bomb plot was broken up in 2006, TSA overhauled its policies in 12 hours to deal with new concerns about liquid explosives. It's hard to imagine that kind of flexibility under union rules.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was fairly blunt about the risks of unionizing TSA employees: "I'm not going to negotiate our national security or subject our national security to arbitration. Marines don't collectively bargain over whether they're, you know, going to end up being deployed in Anbar province or Baghdad."

...
Turning decisions about national security over to union thugs would be a serious mistake. They have demonstrated that they put their members interest ahead of the country's interest. Screwing around with union work rules while trying to stop terrorist attacks is not in the national interest.

Democrats are so in the pocket of the unions that they are not willing to commit to not unionizing the TSA. We saw them delay the authorization of DHS in 2002 and it cost them several seats in the election that year. It looks like they learned little from the experience.

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