Issac Bailey | Anger over challenge phony

South Carolina's leaders sure are cute when they get angry.

Our U.S. representative for the First Congressional District, our high-profile U.S. senators and our governor have all been in a tizzy since the National Labor Relations Board challenged the move by Boeing to build airplanes in the Lowcountry.

The board alleges Boeing's decision to move into South Carolina is an illegal retaliation against unions in Boeing's home state of Washington.

It's another one of those fights against unions that anti-union forces in South Carolina won long ago.

But to hear our leaders scream last week - you should have seen some of the email blasts sent out to the media - you'd think Armageddon had begun prematurely (if you believe the group putting up billboards who said the end of the world is scheduled to begin the middle of next month). It prompted a prominent syndicated columnist to say it was like a modern civil war, timed perfectly for the 150th anniversary of the real one.

The Associated Press's account summed up the outrage from Gov. Nikki Haley, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint and Rep. Tim Scott through their word choices of "frivolous," "shameful" and "ludicrous."

DeMint spoke of union thugs inside the government. Haley said "we absolutely will not allow them to bully our businesses or mess with our employees."

They said it was an attack on "right-to-work" states - a term that guarantees no one here a job and in some cases even a fair hearing to keep the one you have. Right-to-work really means right-to-keep-unions-neutered and little else, which is precisely why Boeing chose South Carolina, and which is precisely how South Carolina leaders pitched the state to the company as it was considering a move.

Boeing has a right to move wherever it wants, so the labor relations move is little more than political posturing. That won't change.

What I find most fascinating is just what gets our leaders' dander up. Could it be our high unemployment rate? Or our high rate of uninsured? Or our low wages? Or poor schools that have yet to be fully funded?

Nah. There are more important things to outrage them, like trying to score political points by contributing to a spitting match between a union-friendly federal government and a "private" company that relies heavily on federal government contracts to turn a profit.

Wake me when they get serious.

But phony anger does look good on them. No?