IBD launches flawed attack on Andy Stern, SEIU

Written by Eric Schroeck

Published

An Investor's Business Daily editorial advanced the false claim that Andy Stern, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), “is the most frequent visitor to the White House.” Moreover, IBD attacked Stern for saying, "[W]orkers of the world unite (is) not just a slogan anymore; it's a way we are going to have to do our work," and claimed, “In SEIU's worldview, there is no room for dissent. Karl Marx, call your office”; however, IBD ignored that Stern has also said it's “good news” that “communism's dead.”

IBD falsely claimed Stern “is the most frequent visitor to the White House”

IBD: Stern “is the most frequent visitor to the White House.” In a January 13 editorial, IBD claimed, “SEIU head Andy Stern, who we have noted is the most frequent visitor to the White House, has led his union's furious fight for government-run health care.” In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, in a December 7, 2009, post, PolitiFact.com rated the claim that Stern “is the most frequent visitor to the White House” as “false.” From Politifact.com:

We found the source of Beck's claim. When the White House released its first batch of visitor logs on Oct. 30, 2009, as part of a pledge to bring more transparency to the White House, Stern's name did indeed appear 22 times, more than anyone else listed, including Clinton, who was listed three times.

But that's not the whole story.

Stern led the pack for the first data release, which covered visits from Jan. 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009. But he was surpassed by several other individuals in the second release, which updates the data through Aug. 31, 2009 (and which was made public more than a week before Beck aired his comment).

Among those who visited more frequently than Stern, according to the combination of the two logs, were Lewis (Lee) Sachs, counselor to Treasury Secetary Timothy Geithner, with 92 visits; associate attorney general Tom Perrelli, with 49; Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski with 47; Spencer Overton, principal deputy assistant attorney general, with 38; and Health and Human Services office of health reform director Jeanne Lambrew, with 27. (Stern visited twice more during the period covered by the second batch of data, giving him a total of 24 visits.) [Politifact, 12/7/09]

Stern appears four times in the visitor logs the White House subsequently released on December 30 for the period from September 16 through September 30.

IBD misleadingly quotes Stern's “workers of the world unite” comment to attack SEIU

IBD cites Stern's “workers of the world unite” comment and claims, “In SEIU's worldview, there is no room for dissent. Karl Marx, call your office.” From the January 13 IBD editorial:

Stern has also said: “What we're working toward is building a global organization. Because workers of the world unite (is) not just a slogan anymore; it's a way we are going to have to do our work.”

In SEIU's worldview, there is no room for dissent. Karl Marx, call your office.

Stern: "[T]he good news is communism's dead." During the May 14, 2006, edition of CBS's 60 Minutes, reporter Lesley Stahl said to Stern: “You like to say, 'Workers of the world unite,' which sounds, it is Karl Marx. But that's your, that's your kind of slogan now.” Stern replied: “Well, the good news is communism's dead, but the truth is, the phrase means a lot because all of a sudden workers in London and workers in the United States are working for the same employer and the same owners.”

Numerous conservatives have approvingly cited communists' and socialists' tactics, rhetoric. As Media Matters has documented, numerous conservatives, including Newt Gingrich and John McCain, have approvingly cited the quotes and tactics of communist and socialist dictators, and stated that they had used those tactics in their political work, or have otherwise highlighted their philosophies.

IBD editorial echoes Beck's repeated attacks on Stern

Beck has misleadingly cited Stern's “workers of the world unite” comment to attack him. Fox News host Glenn Beck suggested during the November 3, 2009, edition of his radio program that Stern is a communist, socialist, and Marxist because Stern said that “workers of the world unite, it's not just a slogan anymore. It's the way we're going to have to do our work.” On the November 16, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck cited Stern's remark and then said that “workers of the world, unite” is “a really dicey kind of phrase there” because “it's the old communist slogan.” Beck again misleadingly cited Stern's comments during the January 12 edition of his Fox News show.

Beck falsely suggested that Stern is the “number-one visitor to the White House.” As Media Matters noted, on January 7, Beck falsely suggested on his radio show that Stern is the “number-one visitor to the White House.”