EIA: NEA, AFT Spin in Opposite Directions

The Hillary-Bernie rancor is growing and it is bound to affect - and infect - the teacher unions and their leaderships which jumped on the Hillary bandwagon early while claiming that was what the membership wanted. They are about to find out just how far they were off. I'm always interested in checking out the view from the right.

I reported on the EIA pre-Iowa election analysis in

AFT/NEA, Randi/Lily Big Losers in Iowa and Troubles Ahead

but I missed Antonucci's post-Iowa take. Bitterness grows between the camps and will be visiting a local union near you sooner than you think.

NEA, AFT Spin in Opposite Directions

Written By: Mike Antonucci - Feb• 02•16

The presidents of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, eh, emphasized different aspects of last night’s Iowa results.

First, NEA’s Lily Eskelsen García:
“Last night, the people of Iowa sent a message to the rest of the country: Hillary Clinton is the best choice for president of the United States.”

Then, AFT’s Randi Weingarten:
“I know the early four states love being the early four states, and every four years you hear more and more about them. But 60 percent of the delegates actually get decided in March.”

I’m also a bit mystified by the touting of this bit of exit poll news.

Lily Eskelsen García Verified account ‏@Lily_NEA

CONFIRMED: #Union households were 21% of total #Iowa turnout. Thanks to @NEAToday members, @HillaryClinton won by 9pts in union households.

 It’s an odd thing to brag about. The unions have not only dropped millions in support of the Clinton campaign, but assured everyone that their endorsements of Hillary reflected the democratic will of their membership.

They acknowledged there was some rank-and-file support for Sanders, but those union members had no SuperPAC money to draw on, no staff to airlift into Iowa, no pre-existing organizational structure, and no communications professionals disseminating their message to the press and the public.
And the unions beat them by 9 points.

Vermont NEA retweeted this sentiment:

National NEA and AFT wasted no time in hopping a plane to Nashua, so I’m reminded of my concerns about a civil war in Lebanon.