Sweatshop Schaffer thrown under the bus by Bush; Wadhams still flailing

Earlier this week President Bush signed a bill that will go a long way to ending the abusive practices on the Marianas Islands that GOP Senate candidate Bob Schaffer recently endorsed as a "model" for U.S. immigration reform. Today's Denver Post reports,

Democrats Monday used President Bush's recent signing of a bill that supporters say will eliminate sweatshops on the Northern Mariana Islands to settle a few political scores, including one in Colorado.

Democrats have been trying since the mid-1990s to revoke the protectorate's exemptions from U.S. labor and immigration laws but had long been outflanked by powerful Republicans in the House and the islands' now-jailed lobbyist, Jack Abramoff.

It's not often that I say this but kudos to the President for signing this bill. It's a good example of the fact that when Democrats are in control and assert themselves they can see that good policy is enacted. It's frustrating to see them fall down on many other issues but when they do good it should be noted.

How does Schaffer spin his comments endorsing the Marianas sweatshop model now that President Bush has moved to stop the abuses. Bob claims he didn't witness any abuses and yet the President just signed a bill that will eliminate the very conditions that Bob says were not occurring. How do you explain that one away? The answer, if you're Sweatshop Schaffer's campaign manager, is to try and deflect attention to the other side.

Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams is facing an uphill battle. In past elections Wadhams modus operandi when dealing with the media has been to intimidate and bully reporters in the hopes of skewing coverage. He may be losing his touch as the local Colorado media seems to not be so easily intimidated. Today Wadhams makes a completely false statement that Mark Udall has not been interested in the abuses on the Marianas Islands. Reporter Michael Riley did some fact checking and discovered that,

Udall had co-sponsored Miller's initial reform bill in 1999 as well as two successive bills

That's journalism folks and so long as our media continue to fact check Dick Wadhams it will be a long election cycle for Rove 2.0 and Sweatshop Schaffer. Wadhams entire game is based on bluster and if the media isn't going to roll over for him he knows that his candidate is in trouble. Schaffer is out of excuses on the Marianas issue and Wadhams can't spin his way out of it.