Thomas Frank: Happy Labor Day. Drop Dead.

September 3, 2008

This is the season for hypocrisy spotting. Pundits have pounced on the moral contradiction presented by the pregnant but unwed daughter of the right's latest family-values champion. They have figured out that riding the Amtrak home to Delaware doesn't automatically make Joe Biden a regular guy.

But as they ponder these personal failings of the mighty, it's easy to overlook the great, yawning hypocrisies that make up the very substance of political life. Take, for instance, the venomous backlash against the Employee Free Choice Act, a bit of union-backed legislation that might allow labor to start reversing decades of decline. Almost wherever there is a close race for a Senate seat, you can see TV commercials assailing the initiative in the most strident terms.