Ed Schultz talked to USPS letter carrier and Rep. Joe Walsh constituent Melissa Rakestraw about her encounter with Walsh at a recent meeting he had where he basically melted down and started screaming at Rakestraw and some of the others who were unfortunate enough to be attending that event.
Susie's prior post on this here at C&L focused on the fact that Walsh was defending the banks and Wall Street. If anyone's got the stomach for it, there's also an almost hour long video of that same meeting posted on line, and Wall Street and the banks were not the only subject that came up during that meeting.
Walsh also confronted Rakestraw about the Post Office and whether private industry can do a better job of delivering our mail, with Rakestraw rightfully pointing out to him that if left to their own means, private industry will not serve rural areas and make sure that everyone can afford to have mail delivery at a price that doesn't do things like force seniors to pay so much for their drugs being delivered that they just can't afford it anymore.
As Ed Schultz rightfully pointed out, the Republican Party "thinks public jobs are disposable and not worth anything." Rakestraw called out Walsh for getting as aggressive and obnoxious as he did with his own constituents, but said she didn't feel threatened by how he acted during that public meltdown that so many of us have watched. Rakestraw said she was a lot more concerned about his "anti-worker ideology and his total disregard for facts."
She was a whole lot kinder to Walsh than I would have been had I received the same treatment and after him going on the air and just chalking his behavior up to too much coffee and an empty stomach.
I just have to wonder how this union member who obviously understands how important her job is with making sure we have affordable mail service to everyone in the country and who gave the arguments she did here against the nonsense Walsh was spouting can call herself a Republican when her party has fallen so far off the cliff they obviously don't believe in a lot of the same basic values she does and ones that would mean she keeps her job. Had I been in Schultz position, that's one of the questions I would have asked her during this interview.**
What's sad and really just a shame is the fact that we don't have as many Democrats as there should be out there speaking so clearly and plainly on the issues Rakestraw addressed here when it comes to whether the private sector would ever give rural communities affordable mail delivery and why privatizing that business and leaving it to the private sector is really just a horrible idea.
Regardless of her party affiliation and whether she ought to rethink it or not, it was nice to hear someone who is just your average working person like Rakestraw call Walsh out for his nonsense and it's too bad Ed Schultz got caught on a hard break with her at the end of the show and that his producers didn't allot more time for the interview. She was just in the middle of making some really great points when he had to cut her off since the show was over and out of time.
** [Editor's Note: Melissa Rakestraw identifies herself as a progressive Independent, not a Republican. We apologize for the error.]
