Matt Lauer= Corporate Shill

I got an e-mail about the Today show this morning. I read it in disbelief. Matt Lauer actually lies on camera and then asks a Wal-Mart exec to clarify his already egregiously wrong talking point, really? No way, can't be real. Must be a fake video. Then I went over to the House Education and Labor Committee Blog, and nope, it's not a fake. From the blog:

Earlier this morning, Matt Lauer, co-host of the Today Show, interviewed Mike Duke, the new CEO of Wal-Mart, and they talked about the Employee Free Choice Act. Unfortunately, Mr. Lauer led his question with a mischaracterization of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Mischaracterization? Unless Matt Lauer is an idiot, it's being too kind to Lauer to use such tame wording, call it what it is, a lie. Or, Matt Lauer is an idiot. I have a hard time believing that anyone gets to where he is if he's an idiot. Of course, maybe he's just lazy. Here's the video (thanks to Media Matters for the embed code!:



Here's what the House Committee had to say about the piece on their blog:

Asking the CEO of Wal-Mart about the Employee Free Choice Act is like asking the fox about the hen house. To read Human Rights Watch's 2007 report on "Wal-Mart's Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association" please click here. (pdf)

BTW, one other thought, Lauer, using an average hourly means that you also include the top salaries. That's what Wal-Mart does. They make numbers lie for them. Just like the anti-UAW worker numbers you kept repeating in December about the average hourly wage of an autoworker. Didn't matter to you or the rest of the Traditional media that the number was wrong, but hey, whatever. I suppose, I just shouldn't expect anything else from the likes of Lauer.

PST, Lauer, this fact sheet on the Myths and Facts of Employee Free Choice.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act abolishes the "secret ballot" election.

FACT: The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the secret ballot eleciton process. That process, also known as a National Labor Relations Board election would still be available under the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill simply enables workers to also form a union through majority sign-up if a majority prefers that method to the NLRB election process. Under current law, workers may only use the majority sign-up process if their employer agrees. The Employee Free Choice Act allows workers, not corporate executives, to make that decision.

See, Matt, it really wasn't that hard to find the truth. And I didn't have to sit through an interview with a greedy slimy bastard to find it. Perhaps next time, you can learn from me, and google it first. I know, probably just a little too much work for you, but if I don't ask you to do it, I can't actually expect you to do it. Well, you've been asked, and now, I expect it.