Category: Wisconsin

Like a Broken Clock Twice a Day …

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. . . occasionally Joe Klein is right:

Revolutions everywhere–in the middle east, in the middle west. But there is a difference: in the middle east, the protesters are marching for democracy; in the middle west, they’re protesting against it. I mean, Isn’t it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting “Freedom, Democracy, Union” while trying to prevent a vote? Isn’t it ironic that the Democratic Senators have fled the democratic process? Isn’t it interesting that some of those who –rightly — protest the assorted Republican efforts to stymie majority rule in the U.S. Senate are celebrating the Democratic efforts to stymie the same in the Wisconsin Senate?

It is that last question, you see, which is the aiming-point of Klein’s column, as he wishes us to conceive the GOP’s filibusters in the U.S. Senate as analogous to the shenanigans of Democrats in Wisconsin.

Of course, the constitutional separation of powers and the ancient super-majority cloture rule in the Senate are such as to make the Senate (usually) an impediment to any sudden shift of policy. Looking back over the first two years of Obama’s presidency, we see that it was the overwhelming Democratic majority in the Senate which enabled his fatal overreach.

If only Obama and Nancy Pelosi had heeded the signal when Scott Brown was elected as the “41st vote” to block passage of ObamaCare — after Democrats had already lost off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey — perhaps the 2010 mid-terms might not have been so disastrous for them.

“If” — the most important two-letter word in the English language.

Contrary to what Klein or any other pundit may have thought, the anti-Obama, anti-Democrat tide is still running high. This tide is still quite strong enough to overwhelm the government-employees unions in Wisconsin and by 2012 may yet be strong enough to wash Obama himself out of office.

That this is not entirely a Republican tide is what so confuses the liberal punditry. The GOP’s Bush-era “brand damage” is still deep enough that voters hesitate to describe themselves to pollsters as Republican, because that label carries negative connotations for so many. Yet when they see the policies pursued by the Obama administration — a wild and reckless binge of deficit spending — these voters do not hesitate to say that the country is on the “wrong track” rather than in the “right direction.”

By happy coincidence, guess which GOP presidential candidate will join Andrew Breitbart and Jim Hoft at a Tea Party rally Saturday in Madison? And just like Herman Cain, Scott Walker represents the taxpaying majority against the tax-consuming minority who seem to be calling the shots for the Democratic Party.

Klein sees the irony of Democrats Against Democracy — a movement that predictably arises whenever Republicans are in the majority — without wondering whether he himself has helped bring about this ironic circumstance. Weren’t Joe Klein and his journalistic colleagues singing in unison from the Hope and Change hymnal all through the 2008 election and on into the Obama administration? If the Democrats and union thugs in Madison think they represent the forces of Truth and Justice marching on The Right Side of History . . .

Well, when did Joe Klein ever contradict that belief?

Organized labor is leading liberalism on a lemming stampede toward a cliff, and it’s probably too late for Klein or anyone else to stop them.

‘Civility’

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Ann Althouse: “After all those efforts to paint Tea Partiers as using violent images and rhetoric, these pictures from Madison have got to hurt.” It’s also going to hurt that Democrats are issuing “demands” like … uh, hostage-takers. But as Ace of Spades says, there are times when liberals find a “Climate of Hate” useful.

Here’s an Associated Press video report:

Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard points out the irony of the union-orchestrated protests:

According to the state of Wisconsin, the average teacher salary in Wisconsin is $49,093 annually. (With benefits, the average total compensation is $77,857.) With 190 school days per year, Wisconsin public education employees make about $258 per day. So in an effort to avoid contributing to their own pensions and funding 6 percent more of their own health care premiums, teachers have taken unpaid leave to protest and have given up nearly $500 – so far. . . . . What’s more, Wisconsin teachers pay as much as $1100 each year in compulsory union dues. If the legislation passes, they will no longer be required to pay those dues – returning that money to their own pockets.

Maybe the teachers need a refresher course in math. And if Democrats and their union-goon allies think they’re going to win the P.R. battle in Wisconsin, perhaps they ought to heed Neil at Eternity Matters:

Unemployment is stuck at 10% — which means non-union unemployment is much higher — and they think this will improve their reputations?
Poorly performing teachers close at least 15 school districts to go fight for their entitlements? Yeah, that’ll garner a lot of sympathy.
Obama’s campaign arm is in the middle of this? Shocking.

The unemployed, the under-employed and regular folks trying to pay their bills aren’t likely to have a lot of love for people who (a) have jobs, (b) work at taxapayer expense, (c) get paid more money than the average taxpayer, and (d) go on strike because they don’t want to pay a dime toward their own generous benefits.

UPDATE: MSNBC’s obnoxious Ed Schultz broadcast live from the mob scene in Madison last night. Michelle Malkin has compiled important economic facts about the Wisconsin strike. As I explain over at The American Spectator:

It is obvious that if voters and taxpayers pay attention to the facts, Walker wins and the srikers lose . . .
Gov. Walker is being compared to Calvin Coolidge, and that’s an enormous compliment. President Obama and Democrats have placed themselves squarely on the wrong side of the issue.

“On, Wisconsin!”

Cheesehead Revolution?

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They elected Ron Johnson to the Senate, elected Scott Walker governor, and elected Reince Priebus as RNC chairman. Now the Wisconsin Republicans have chased Democrats out of the state senate:

Law enforcement officers are searching for Democratic senators boycotting a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair plan Thursday in an attempt to bring the lawmakers back to the Capitol to allow Republicans to act on the bill.
Stymied by the missing Democrats, Republicans adjourned the Senate Thursday shortly before 5 p.m. and said they would come back Friday morning to try to take up a bill that would cut public employee benefits and most union bargaining rights.
One Democratic senator said that he believed most of the members of his caucus have gone to another state to prevent enough lawmakers from being present in the Senate to take a final vote on the controversial measure. A Democratic source familiar with the senators’ whereabouts said they were at the Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center in Rockford, Ill., but might be leaving soon.
Walker Thursday afternoon called for Democrats to call off their “stunt” and “show up and do the job they’re paid to do.”
“It’s either a matter of making reductions and making modest requests of our government employees or making massive layoffs at a time when we don’t need anyone else laid off,” Walker said.

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Jim Hoft reports at Gateway Pundit:

The Rockford Tea Party just chased the Wisconsin democrats out of the Best Western. They just boarded their bus and are leaving the Best Western!

UPDATE II: I’m sure Wisconsin voters will be glad to learn that Team Obama has helped organize the union goons in their state:

The Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America arm — the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign — is playing an active role in organizing protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights. . . .
OfA Wisconsin’s field efforts include filling buses and building turnout for the rallies this week in Madison, organizing 15 rapid response phone banks urging supporters to call their state legislators, and working on planning and producing rallies, a Democratic Party official in Washington said.

UPDATE III: Important background from Reason‘s Tim Cavanaugh:

The teachers union in a state whose public schools get solid C-minus grades in state-by-state rankings have decided to take a break from failing to teach children and bring busloads of Ms. Krabappels up to Madison as well. At least 15 school districts around the state reportedly cancelled classes today as teachers declined to show up.
Wisconsin’s budget standoff is drawing national attention, and like so many states where demands for increasing public largesse and special privileges for government employees are getting louder, the Badger State is out of money. Before taking office, Walker, a Republican, was told by his Democratic predecessor Jim Doyle that without spending cuts beyond what Walker has proposed, the deficit could go from $2.2 billion to $3.3 billion.

UPDATE IV: Jimmie Bise Jr.:

This is The Week that Should
End Public Sector Unions

Obama Jinxes Steelers in Super Bowl

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Ever since the president put the curse on Philly, every NFL team has prayed that Obama wouldn’t endorse them.

Obama: ‘I’ve got some love for the Steelers’

Sorry, Pittsburgh fans: Packers by 4.

But at least Dan Collins can enjoy the sexy cheerleader at AOSHQ.

UPDATE: Everybody else has already blogged this, so what the heck?


Priebus Elected RNC Chair on 7th Ballot

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UPDATE XV: On the seventh ballot, Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus got 97 votes and was thereby elected the new chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Tough fight. Congratulations to the winner.

Hopefully he won’t seek vengeance against his opponents. They say those Cheeseheads can be heinously vindictive.

Just ask Troglopundit.

UPDATE XVI: The final account at The Hill.

Linked by Fire Andrea Mitchell — thanks!

* PREVIOUSLY *

UPDATE XIV: Tea Party favorite Ann Wagner of Missouri quits, does not endorse any other candidate. I now expect Reince Priebus to clinch on the seventh ballot.

UPDATE XIII: Sixth-round results – Reince Priebus 80, Saul Anuzis 37, Mario Cino 34, Ann Wagner 17. That means Priebus is just five votes from clinching. Cino is fading, and if Wagner or Anuzis want to stop Priebus, they must unite their votes now — and then try to peel some votes off Cino.

UPDATE XII: Sixth-round balloting is now under way. With incumbent Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele now out, there are four candidates left. Should Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus gets more than 70 votes on the sixth ballot, either Saul Anuzis of Michigan or Ann Wagner of Missouri will have to drop out and throw her or her support to another candidate, if they want to stop Priebus. The important question is, “Do they want to stop Priebus?”

UPDATE XI: With Steele now having dropped out and Priebus at 67 votes after the fifth ballot — with 85 votes needed to clinch — it is now reported that Saul Anuzis is meeting with Ann Wagner.

UPDATE X: Fifth ballot results – Reince Priebus 67, Maria Cino 40, Saul Anuzis 32, Ann Wagner 28, plus one vote for an ineligible write-in.

UPDATE IX: He Who Never Linketh:

Cino . . . happens to be Boehner’s pick and an establishment favorite. She’s also a Bush pal, so she should have no trouble getting big donors on the phone if she wins.

He Who Never Linketh got burned by citing a Tweet from Dave Weigel that had Steele denying he would drop out, right before Steele did, in fact, drop out. The fifth ballot voting is over. We’ll have the tally in a moment.

UPDATE VIII: Steele endorses Cino — rhymes with RINO. The battle will get ugly now.

UPDATE VII: STEELE DROPPING OUT! Fifth ballot voting is about to begin.

UPDATE VI: Fourth ballot — Priebus 58, Steele 28, Wagner 28, Cino 29, Anuzis 24, and an ineligible write-in vote. The Steele drop-out rumor is still just a rumor. Lot of backroom meetings reported. But he’s losing support on each successive ballot, and unless he throws his support one way or the other, his support could become irrelevant, if Priebus keeps gaining steadily.

UPDATE V: I just heard via Ali Akbar that incumbent chairman Michael Steele dropped out after the fourth ballot. Results of that vote in a minute.

UPDATE IV: Nobody has dropped out yet. Fourth ballot is now under way.

UPDATE III: The latest rumor is that Steele is meeting with Wagner, the Missouri state party chairman who has strong support from some leading Tea Party activists. If Steele drops out and can swing all of his support to Wagner, that would put Wagner ahead of Priebus and within 20 votes of clinching it.

UPDATE II: Steele has reportedly called his supporters into a closed meeting, which may indicate that the chairman is ready to drop out and throw his support to one of his challengers.

UPDATE: Third ballot — Priebus 54, Steele 33, Wagner 32, Cino 28, Anuzis 21. So Wagner and Priebus gained, while Steele, Cino and Anuzis are losing support. My source reports a rumor that Anuzis will drop out before the fourth ballot, but no word yet on who (if anyone) might get his support.

ORIGINAL POST 3:03 p.m. ET
Second ballot count: Reince Priebus 52, Michael Steele 37, Maria Cino 30, Ann Wagner 27, Saul Anuzis 22. More RNC news at Memeorandum. The third ballot was getting underway when I got this news.

Only 85 votes are needed to win the chairmanship. Unless there is a powerful “Anybody But Priebus” sentiment among RNC delegates, it looks like the Wisconsin GOP chairman will lock it up soon.

Wisconsin Dem Bumper Sticker Shows ‘Bloody Crash’ into GOP Governor’s Head

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The Associated Press:

Robin Vos, a Racine Republican, is taking offense at a Democratic bumper sticker he claims shows a train slamming into Gov.-elect Scott Walker’s head in a bloody crash. He thinks Democrats should stop offering it.
The bumper sticker is available on the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s website. The sticker is emblazoned with the words “High Speed Fail.”

The Underground Conservative has the background:

It’s not enough that the Democrats in Wisconsin were kicked to the curb in November.
It’s clear that they still don’t have a clue as to what hit them and why. . . .
One of Scott Walker’s main issues in winning the governor’s race was his intent to cancel the half-fast, car-speed train projected to run between Milwaukee and Madison. The federal government was to provide the initial $810 million to construct the choo-choo, but the operating cost would have to be picked up by state taxpayers, already facing a $200 million budget deficit, thanks to a lousy economy and fiscal mismanagement by outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle and the recently defeated legislative Democrats.
Walker correctly realized that the state couldn’t afford this “gift” from the Obama Regime and announced plans to kill the train, whose average speed would have been about 55 mph, lower than the speed of the average car going between Milwaukee and Madison, plus the car actually takes you where you want to go. He also recognized there was neither the need nor the demand for the choo-choo, which, like all rail mass transit projects, low-balls cost and overestimates ridership.
Naturally, the choo-choo zealots went apoplectic. . . .

Read the whole thing.

MELTDOWN: Wisconsin GOP Chair’s RNC Bid Destroyed by Stimulus Scandal

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Wisconsin Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus was, until tonight, a contender to replace Michael Steele as chairman for the Republican National Committee. But Priebus’s evident involvement in soliciting federal stimulus funds for his law firm’s clients emerged Tuesday as a scandal that will likely destroy whatever chance he had, as Dan Riehl explains at Big Government:

Reince Priebus is currently being touted as a front-runner to replace current RNC Chair Michael Steele. But Priebus’ leading role among a select group of high-powered Wisconsin attorneys targeting clients to assist them in maximizing stimulus dollars, at the same time the anti-stimulus RNC employed him as interim general counsel, raises some troubling questions, not just for Preibus, but for the Republican Party as a whole.

Go read the whole thing, including Dan’s links indicating that Priebus attempted to flush the evidence down the Internet memory hole. In fact, when contacted by Tim Mak of Frum Forum, Priebus denied working on the “Stimulus Legislation Team” at his Milwaukee firm, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP — but Mak produces abundant evidence contradicting that denial.

In a year when the Tea Party movement has made opposition to the Obama administration’s stimulus spending a key issue for Republicans, Priebus would obviously be hurt by this revelation. But the apparent effort to to hide the contradictory online evidence raises even more serious issues.

Exactly how this story was made public the same day both by a conservative like Dan Riehl and by the “centrist” GOP site Frum Forum . . . well, I don’t know the answer to that question. At a minimum, we can conclude that some Republicans aren’t members of the Reince Priebus Fan Club.

UPDATE: “I Did Not Have Sex With That Stimulus Package.”

Man, that’s cold. Maybe you see why I always say I’d never want Dan Reihl mad at me. Maybe you don’t want Dan as your friend, but you sure don’t want him to be your enemy. He’s from Jersey, you know.

UPDATE II: Now a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE III: “Is it just me, or does ‘Reince Priebus’ sound like a character in the Star Wars prequels?“