In a bizarre bit of election-year strategy, Democrat centrists like Joe Biden and Evan Bayh have taken to attending anti-Wal-Mart rallies around the country to show off their pro-labor credentials. “It’s not anti business,” Bayh told the New York Times, presumably with a straight face, “Wal-Mart has become emblematic of the anxiety around the country, and the middle class squeeze.”

Earth to Bayh?

Overall sales were up 12 percent in July (2.3 percent at stores open for a year or more) which seems a pretty good indication Wal-Mart’s customers are not at all anxious. And who are Wal-Mart’s customers? The middle class, of course.

So the notion that Wal-Mart is “emblematic” of the “middle class squeeze” seems borderline absurd. The real anxiety about Wal-Mart is mostly within labor organizations, which are infuriated by Wal-Mart’s resistance to unionization, especially since the proportion of the U.S. population in labor unions is continuing a long-term decline.

The only thing Dems seem likely to gain from a bash-Wal-Mart strategy would be to energize this shrinking voter base. But all this union agitation is generally in areas where the Democratic Party already has firm control. Even, pollster John Zogby is on the record saying that bashing Wal-Mart too much “means no net gain” because it won’t appeal to any new voters.

Wal-Mart remains a popular corporation even though activists have been attacking it for years. There have been televised documentaries, professional labor protests, and union-run web sites such as “Wal-Mart Watch” and “Wake-up Wal-Mart.” Not to mention the bad press from Chicago and Maryland.

But at best there’s been only marginal impact on Wal-Mart’s image. According to Pew poll in December 2005, 65 percent of Americas still have a “favorable” view of the corporation even after years of attack. That means Wal-Mart is still more popular than both Congressional Republicans and Congressional Democrats who recent polls peg at 31 percent and 34 percent respectively.

And there is good reason for the public’s approval. When the dinky little city I grew up in got its first Wal-Mart Super Center, you would’ve thought we’d struck oil. The buzz was enormous, and not because of the jobs that Wal-Mart brought with it, but because time and money we were going to save. No more driving to driving an hour to Monroe, Louisiana for a decent selection of small appliances, or cheap clothes, or sporting goods.

Wal-Mart is not just economically important in small towns across the country, but socially as well. Big City Wal-Mart haters might think it sad that young people would choose to spend their Friday and Saturday nights hanging out at Wal-Mart, but in small towns across American they do just that. In these towns proof of Wal-Mart’s cultural importance can be found in the habit of calling it the Wal-Mart, much like the post office or the high school.

Wal-Mart employees are fiercely loyal, a sure sign of good employee relations. Three quarters of its managers are home grown, having entered the company has hourly “associates.” Wal-Mart also offers jobs to people other employers often don’t want to take a chance on, such as the elderly and the mentally disabled. This leads to lots of jokes from snotty high school kids, but it is a truly beautiful thing.

Finally, there are the health benefits that critics obsess over. The beautiful irony is that all the clamoring about Wal-Mart not paying enough in health benefits comes at a time when public policy experts are agreeing that the employer-sponsored health care system has failed. It inflates costs and makes American businesses less competitive on the world market.

Think tanks as diverse as Cato and Brookings have called for an end to the employer-based health system. And yet, we’re supposed to disparage Wal-Mart for resisting this inefficient method of providing care.

Biden and Bayh are obviously reacting to a very real anger in some of their constituents, but they have to be careful not to mistake sound and fury for sound policy. Bashing Wal-Mart is anti-business and it’s also anti middle-class.

To commonsense people, like those who shop at Wal-Mart, this sounds like a recipe for disaster.