Daniels: Appease Democrats, Drop Union Bill. UPDATE: Daniels Says, Legislators Running Away Is A "Perfectly Legitimate Part Of The Process"

I guess he really doesn't want to run for the GOP nomination

Gov. Mitch Daniels signaled this afternoon that Republicans should to drop the right-to-work bill that has brought the Indiana House to a standstill for two days and imperiled other measures.

Daniels told reporters this afternoon that he expects House Democrats will return to work if the bill dies. It would be unfortunate if other bills are caught up in the turmoil, he said.

He will not send out state police to corral the Democrats, the Republican governor said.

I said earlier that I thought this would help him but if he's going to declare a truce when he has an advantage, he's off the list.

When I first saw his 'truce' idea my reaction was he's not fundamentally serious about how politics works. I'm standing by that.

Thanks to Slu for the heads up.

MORE: Remember when Obama said you don't deal with hostage takers unless they are going to hurt the hostages? Well, Indiana Democrats took the state's democracy hostage and Daniels just said, "Hey please come back an hurt the hostages (the state's taxpayers) some more".

Absolutely pathetic. He just told them they now have a veto over everything he wants to get done.

UPDATE: Can it get worse? Why yes, yes it can. From Daniels.

Just a couple of quick comments and that’s really all I’ll make. First of all, just to affirm, the activities of today are perfectly legitimate part of the process. Even the smallest minority – and that’s what we’ve heard from the last couple days - has every right to express the strength of its views and I salute those who do.

As the kids say, FAIL.

UPDATE 2: Daniels aides say he's not opposed to the bill, he just doesn't want to deal with it now.

DANIELS: My view on this is well known to the leadership on both sides, well-known to the public. I haven’t changed a single thing. I don’t attempt to dictate the agenda. I’m not in position to, really, of a separate and free-standing superior branch of government. And for that matter, Speaker [Bostwick] can’t always dictate to his members when they have a strong point of view. For reasons I’ve explained more than once, I think there was a better time and place to have this very important and legitimate issue raised.

Um, if not now, when? This is the moment. Democrats are literally on the run. Public attention is focused on this issue in a way it hasn't in years if not decades (if ever). And Mitch "Truce" Daniels wants to defer it?

Sorry, sometimes you have to seize the moment. It's called leadership.

posted by DrewM. at 04:07 PM

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