UM, MAYBE I WAS A BIT HASTY

Cops and firefighters make more than the people Joe Bageant wrote about but many of them are conservative and do vote Republican.   According to POLITICO, the recent union-busting tactics at the state level by GOP politicians is turning them away from the GOP.

Cops, firefighters turn on GOP in labor fight
By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 4/1/11 4:35 AM EDT Updated: 4/1/11 11:33 AM EDT
POLITICO

Calling these folks "union thugs" will hurt the GOP in 2012 and maybe before then.