AFSCME President Gerald McEntee today challenged John McCain on “two “crazy statements” the Senator made this week. McCain blamed the collapse of the Minnesota I-35 bridge last year on congressional earmarks and suggested that the U.S. Congress was similar to the Mafia.

In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, President McEntee points out the need to invest in public services and infrastructure instead of spending our nation’s wealth on tax cuts for the rich or the war in Iraq.

Senator McCain is happy to blame the disastrous results of Republican inaction on earmarks, but that’s not where the responsibility belongs. He is responsible, as are the other politicians who failed to provide crucial funding for infrastructure upkeep and repairs. Earmarks aren’t to blame. It’s irresponsible Republican legislators like Senator McCain.

Read the full post.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, having spent much of the past three weeks in Pennsylvania, has a message for those who think the Democratic primary race has gone on too long: they’re wrong. In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, Pres. McEntee says this unprecedented campaign is giving voters nationwide the opportunity to make their voices heard.

The race is energizing the Democratic Party’s base as never before — bringing new activists into campaigns, increasing our fundraising and laying a solid and vibrant foundation for success in the fall against a Republican candidate who guarantees four more years of the Bush economic and foreign policy agenda.

Read the full post.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has come out in support of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid, but AFSCME President Gerald McEntee isn’t surprised. In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, Pres. McEntee points out that Reich has been criticizing Sen. Clinton’s positions for months — and that Reich’s record on labor rights leaves something to be desired.

Despite his reputation as a liberal and a friend of working men and women, Reich knows how to walk both sides of the street. I recall that he rarely, if ever, mentioned unions during his four years as Secretary of Labor. He has no problem backing proposals that cheer business more than labor, like ending the corporate income tax.

McEntee also takes issue with Reich’s positions on corporate responsibility and NAFTA. Read the full post.

Speaking at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sen. John McCain apologized for his vote in Congress opposing the national holiday celebrating Dr. King’s birthday. “I was wrong. I was wrong,” he said.

In his latest entry on The Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says McCain has more to be ashamed of than that vote — in 1987, McCain went on record in support of the effort by controversial Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham to rescind Martin Luther King day as a state holiday.

Unfortunately, these brushes with bigotry are part of a pattern. In 1990, Senator McCain voted against the Civil Rights Act. During the Clinton Administration, he voted to defund the national commission promoting Dr. King’s vision for America.

Those are just a few examples of what Pres. McEntee calls “McCain double-talk,” so be sure to read the full post.

While in the Middle East last week, Sen. John McCain incorrectly asserted that Iran is training al-Qaeda terrorists and sending them into Iraq. The statement, which McCain has repeated several times, revealed that the senator is apparently unaware that Iran is a Shiite country that views al-Qaeda, a prominently Sunni group, as an enemy.

McCain apologists in the media played down the remark, with FOX News managing editor Brit Hume reassuring viewers that it was just a misstatement, nothing more than “a senior moment.” AFSCME President Gerald McEntee disagrees, and in his latest entry on the Huffington Post says it is McCain’s ignorance – not his age – that is at issue.

It is disturbing that John McCain appears not to know that al Qaeda is a Sunni organization, and he doesn’t understand the key role sectarian divisions play in the violence unleashed since our invasion of Iraq. No wonder he supports keeping our troops there for 100 years.

Read the full post.

“If you turned on a TV in the days before the voting began in the Super Tuesday states,” writes AFSCME President Gerald McEntee on the Huffington Post, “you would have thought that Barack Obama was headed for a landslide.”

He continues:

While the media may focus on celebrities and endorsements, the voters on Super Tuesday and in earlier contests this year have focused on issues, substance and solutions. In the states most important for a Democratic victory, they have chosen Hillary Clinton as their candidate.

Read the full post.

In his most recent Huffington Post blog, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee examines the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination and how they address the issue of health care.

“On this the experts agree – Obama’s plan leaves 15 million people uninsured while Clinton’s plan leaves no patients behind.”

Read the full post.

In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee says John McCain is a reliable conservative no different than George W. Bush, yet many voters think he’s a moderate. The biggest danger we face is that Republicans will unite behind his candidacy.

Read the full post.

AFSCME President McEntee’s latest entry on the Huffington Post warns about Bush’s plans to submit a budget to Congress which will slash funding for hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, emergency medical services and home care providers:

“In all the reckless and misguided actions of this failed presidency, few will have consequences as serious as these massive budget cuts, which will reduce medical services for seriously ill Americans and increase medical costs for America’s working families.”

Read the full post.

In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, AFSCME President McEntee urges the Democratic National Committee to seat the delegates selected by the voters in Florida and Michigan:

I have a simple reason for wanting the delegates elected from Florida and Michigan to be seated in Denver: I want the Democratic candidate to carry those states in November. Florida and Michigan are two states whose Electoral College votes will be critically important in the fall. We should win them both.

Read the full post.