President Barack Obama singled out several Republican presidential candidates—without actually mentioning any by name—as being anti-union in a Labor Day speech.
“I won’t say their names, but you can kinda attach the quote to their names,” Obama said at a Labor Day breakfast in Boston. “So one candidate, he is bragging about how he destroyed collective bargaining rights in his state and says that busting unions prepares him to fight ISIL.”
“I didn’t make that up. That’s what he said,” Obama said incredulously. “Really?”
The President was referring to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who was forced to downplay comments he made earlier this year that came off as a comparison between pro-union protesters and Islamic terrorists.
Obama also took thinly veiled shots at former Hewlitt-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for their previous statements about unions.
“You had one that blamed unions for the women’s pay gap,” Obama said in reference to Fiorina’s belief that unions’ seniority system perpetuates the gender pay gap. “Think about that. So, suddenly, if there were no unions, all women would be paid equal?”
“And then there was the guy who said—these guys are running for office, they’re running for the presidency—who said, ‘A union deserves a punch in the face,” he continued, now channeling Christie’s ire at teacher’s unions. “Really? Tell me how you really feel.”
Watch below via CNN: