"I cannot support that bill," Lincoln said, according to Arkansas Business. "Cannot support that bill in its current form. Cannot support and will not support moving it forward in its current form."Labor forces can ill-afford to lose any Democrats in this legislative battle, given the partisan lines of the EFCA vote in 2007. Already, Sen. Arlen Specter, the lone Senate Republican to vote for cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act back then, has indicated he will oppose cloture if the bill were to be brought up in this Congress.
Lincoln, long considered a crucial Democratic vote on EFCA, was the focus of intense political pressure. Union groups were courting her support while the business community had made her a primary target for defection. Indeed, Wal-Mart hired her former chief of staff for the precise purpose of lobbying on EFCA. Lincoln is up for re-election in 2010.
Count also endangered Republican Arlen Specter, Dianne Feinstein, and a wavering Mark Warner of Virginia as declaring themselves in favor of Big Bidness over the little guy. Expect more of the god-damned Senate Blue Dogs to slink out from under the porch and lie down in the lap of their corporate masters.
This is bullshit. This action defies the attempts of the middle class to resurrect itself in the face of the worst economic times in three generations.
And it makes me feel like sharpening my pitchfork.
