Via Greg Sargent, Republican Eric Cantor's office sent out a video parody hitting back against government employee union AFSCME's ad campaign criticizing him, which draws heavily on union stereotypes. This is some of the text of the parody:
“On your way to work tomorrow, instead of sittin' around with your finger up your a**, look around,” the voice-over says. “There's a union out there called AFSCME and they're busting' their balls doing a lot of sh*t work you take for granted. For example, we pick up your f–kin' garbage.”
“We don't take sh*t from nobody,” the vid concludes. “You got that, a**hole? AFSCME — the f–king union that works for you.”
Here's the video, which is obviously NSFW:
It's obviously not the most effective insult. The jobs mentioned are important, they are hard, and it's a good thing that AFSCME represents the people who do them. Suggesting union people curse a lot--well, even if it was true, who cares? And it just makes Cantor look like he hates people who work for a living.
AFSCME is blasting Cantor publicly, but they definitely aren't taking the parody too personally. "People here think it's pretty funny," said one AFSCME official I spoke to.
In fact, there was already a Facebook group called "We're F--kin' AFSCME!" and there's apparently quite a few AFSCME members on it. The goon joke thing is apparently, not so original, and the parody itself is at least two years old.
UPDATE: Well this gets interesting. Cantor's rep defended the video, saying it was a joke, but in the past Cantor hasn't found obscenity so amusing. Cantor voted for the Broadcast Deceny Enforcement Act, which allows fines of up to $500,000 on broadcasters for airing any “obscene, indecent, or profane” content. That's f--kin' hilarious.
-- A. Serwer
