After returning from the ridiculously hot day that hosted Big Labor’s big rally to end workplace democracy, I neglected to mention a funny moment. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Labor) was none too happy with our full-page ad in yesteday’s New York Times, USA Today, and Roll Call. It simply used a union boss’s own words describing their dismissive attitude toward the crucial right of employees to a secret ballot election when deciding whether to join a union. So what did the good Senator do? He tore up our ad on stage … after reading the whole thing aloud. Amanda Cooper from Townhall has the quote:

“Here is that advertisement! They say there is no reason to subject the workers to elections. [It asks,] ‘Who said it?’ And then it says union bosses are pressuring the Senate to change the rules on union organizing. Learn about their scheme to eliminate workers’ right to a secret ballot at Union Facts.com. This is what I say to that!”

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Oh, wait … Our response: “Ripping up the ad tells you how desperate labor leaders and their politicians are to only have one side of the story told.” The great Tear of 08 was also noted in the Hotline’s blog.

But there were bigger fish to fry, and we were glad Steven Greenhouse at the New York Times hit on some key points (including a mention of our ad blitz). One was a statement from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, who lifted the veil on Big Labor’s real timeline for EFCA, saying “This is really about 2009 … But it’s important that we show the country that we have majority support.”

Then there’s a New York Sun article carrying a perplexing quote from Sen. Hillary Clinton. See if you can make any sense of this statement from New York’s junior senator — who supports ending secret ballot elections by passing EFCA:

“I’m all for secret ballots. I’m all for elections,” she said. “But then you’re going to have to have a lot more enforcement and supervision over what happens during an organizing drive than the current administration has been willing to provide.”

So is she against EFCA now?