Did you know South Carolina union members aren’t huge fans of union-bashing Gov. Nikki Haley? Apparently that’s news to someone, because the national media is up in arms over video of the outgoing head of the state AFL-CIO hitting a Nikki Haley piñata at her retirement party.
Given how Gov. Haley has taken every possible opportunity to bash unions (despite the fact that less than 3% of South Carolina workers are members), we’re not exactly surprised that one of them would return the favor. We’re also not surprised by the feigned outrage by Haley and her defenders, with conservative columnist Michelle Malkin calling retiring SC AFL-CIO president Donna Dewitt (who looks no more threatening than my schoolteacher mother) “unfreakinghinged!”
Don’t get me wrong, Dewitt’s piñata party was a pretty dumb move from a PR perspective — and it was an even dumber move for someone to post it on YouTube. And just like Phil Bailey’s ill-advised “Sikh Jesus” joke, it allows Gov. Haley to play the victim card and pick up an easy political win for no reason.
However, the entirety of our response to this non-troversy (which has already been given the mind-numbingly clichéd title “Piñatagate”) can be summed up in one sentence: Give me a break.
When Haley uses unions as her own personal grandstanding punching bag, conservatives literally cheer. Britain has an entire holiday devoted to burning effigies of political enemies. But suddenly Republicans go all Puritan when somebody takes a swipe at a piñata?
Remember that when they cry “free speech” the next time someone makes an Obama gun target or puts crosshairs on a congresswoman who later gets shot.
