Besides implicitly criticizing President Bush for being too lax in pushing our country's completely broken -- and increasingly unpopular -- Cuba policy, John McCain attacked Barack Obama in Florida yesterday for his opposition to the Colombian free trade pact currently being held up in Congress:

McCain also used his visit as an opportunity to criticize Obama for opposing a free trade deal with Columbia that could benefit Florida’s agriculture and manufacturing industries. The pact, blocked by Congress, would eliminate high barriers facing American exports to Columbia. Most Colombian products already enter the U.S. duty-free.

In an interview with local reporters on his campaign bus, McCain said Obama ‘‘is a tool of organized labor ... He’s been against (trade agreements with) Colombia, South Korea and several others. That’s what labor unions want, no free trade agreements.’’

As we've noted before -- and as Rep. Phil Hare emphasized during the debate this spring -- Colombia is not a suitable trading partner for a nation that ostensibly believes in the just treatment of workers. Over the past 21 years, more than 2,534 Colombian unionists have been assassinated with virtually no repercussions. If opposition to state-sponsored violence makes Obama a tool, I'll support the tool every time.