Walz proudly boasts he's in "the pocket" of unions in Labor Day remarks
From CNN's Aaron Pellish in Milwaukee
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Pool
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz proudly boasted his ties to organized labor at a union event in Milwaukee on Monday, celebrating Labor Day by declaring himself in “the pocket” of unions.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee detailed his union membership as a former public school teacher, his record of backing unions in Congress and as Minnesota’s governor, and Vice President
Kamala Harris’ support of unions.
Walz challenged Republicans to attack his support for unions while defending collective bargaining rights and fair working conditions.
“Republicans came up to me in one of my campaigns and they said, ‘Tim is in the pocket of organized labor.’ I said, that’s a damn lie. I am the pocket. … And I told them, if you want to attack me for standing up for collective bargaining, for fair wages, for safe working conditions, for health care and retirement, you roll the damn dice. I’ll take my chances on that,” he said.
The Minnesota governor emphasized the importance of union support to rebuilding the coalition of Midwestern battleground states that represent Harris’ clearest path to victory in November.
“We know exactly who built this country. It was labor that built this country,” Walz said. “We also know it was unions that built the ‘blue wall’ too, people, just to be very clear.”
Some pro-Palestinian protesters were escorted out of the event after they stood on benches in silent protest. Several of Harris’ speeches have been interrupted by demonstrators,
reflecting the angst within her party over the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
This is weird. Tim Walz explicitly drew a distinction between his position and being in the pocket of organized labor and CNN, not Fox News, is here with a headline that the is proudly in the pocket of organized labor. He actually called that "a damn lie". I am sitting here not quite parsing what he means exactly. It sounds cool, but I'm.. just not sure what it means. Maybe CNN couldn't figure it out either.