Does anyone remember the “protests” last February from up here behind the cheddar curtain? I sure do.
Next Tuesday the recall primary goes off, with Kathy Falk, dedicated union lover running against Tom Barrett. Yes, that Tom Barrett, the guy who lost to Scott Walker in Nov. of 2010. Falk has been effectively kneecapped by her own party. She is a lefty liberal from Madison with strong union backing and the Donks realize there is no way for her to win against Walker.
I have heard from a few places that team Obama/Emmanuel have had something to do with the Democratic Party killing off Falk. I don’t have any proof besides what I have heard from friends and volunteers in the Falk campaign.
Barrett is a far more moderate choice than Falk. Early ads against Barrett were run by AFSCME and others.
Neither candidate is really mentioning collective bargaining for government unions anymore. It is a dead issue. This fact, combined with the Donks getting behind a much more centrist, corporate sponsored candidate tells me one thing. The recall and all of the b.s. associated with it is nothing more than a power grab. Plain and simple. The left and government unions have been played. Will they vote for Barrett if Falk loses? Probably. But that will be a bitter pill to swallow indeed.
The recall may be a real preview of the fall. If Walker wins big, the panic in the Obama camp will be something to behold.
Dan, the Democrat party and other Leftists have never been anything more than the latest instantiation of the the millennial old thuggery that began when Thag the caveman decided it was easier to steal than hunt.
For the entire span of human history, everywhere on Earth, politics has never been about anything more than scum who believe others live for their use, the few that believe they live for themselves (and those they value) and the majority of idiots too stupid to understand the conflict.
Neither candidate is really mentioning collective bargaining for government unions anymore. It is a dead issue.
If it is a dead issue that tells me that either people other than union members never supported it in the first place or people are already seeing positive results from abolishing it in WI government.
Either way what does the recall effort offer then?
Seems not much.
On a somewhat related note (with Scott Walker solving his states deficits within WI) O heard a little blurb somewhere – you know those little bits of news that you just know are far more important than the whisper you hear – but if Romney gets elected and the Congress is strengthened by Republicans one of the first orders of business – besides killing ObamaCare – is to legislate a means for states to declare bankruptcy – IL and CA are on the verge of insolvency and apparently there is no legal means for just declaring them “bankrupt” – Of dcourse as things are now they would expect the Fed govt to “bail” them out –
of course look for strong union opposition to this as they would be the biggest losers.
BTW Dan I kept reading of your reference to “Donks” – had no idea what they were and Google is telling me they are people form Milwaukee?
MK – someone on another blog made a post about History and the Likelihood of a Re-Aligning Election – and I told them about my seeing Reagan on either his last campaign stop at the Mission Valley Shopping Center – San Diego – or had to be 2nd to last – election eve.
I am cautiously optimistic that this upcoming election could be one of those –
When I saw Reagan the polls said he was close with Carter – and long story short on election eve one of his aides said to the crowd ‘I think we are going to win” – having, I suspect, seen some exit polls – and of course it turned out to be a Tsunami.
We can hope.
I want to reread Derbyshire tomorrow – sounds like a lot of meaty stuff.
@Bill – Donks to me is short for donkey, the symbol of the Democrat Party.
I heard snippets of the Democrat “debate” last night. Once again no mention of restoring the “rights” of public workers to collectively bargain.
“If it is a dead issue that tells me that either people other than union members never supported it in the first place or people are already seeing positive results from abolishing it in WI government.” The results are insanely positive, to say the least.
It is interesting that the Dems have decided that running on a position of union solidarity doesn’t buy them much of anything. Thus they are moving away from it in the general election. They know it is a loser from a campaign perspective.
I think that the Dems are clearly smart enough to say one thing during the election and do another. That was the dream of the 2000 crew that won the presidency as his actual positions were pretty much the opposite of what he ran on. Thus of course their plan is to implement all their union stuff but run on some other centrist platform.
Another reason these union positions are poison for them is that not every union member votes democratic, anyways. I know a lot of people including those from my immediate family that were in unions (try being a teacher or a paramedic or construction worker without joining) and they were 100% not leftists. Even within the union there are the haves and the have-nots and a lot of the have nots are pissed off, too. But if you run on pure union positions, especially when the average person doesn’t have a pension or a health care plan that costs 2% of their paycheck or whatever it is an alienating issue for the electorate.
It is getting clearer and clearer to people that the government unions have protections and benefits that the average tax payer doesn’t get. And thus it is harder and harder to explain to the average voter why they should vote for the union side. Every day their argument weakens a bit more.
Also note that they don’t even PRETEND to correlate being in a union with a higher quality of work product. Now it is all about “justice”. This argument is weaker than the quality / reliability argument (yes it sounds crazy but that was their initial argument) because why do they get this justice when the average voter doesn’t, while it is being paid for out of their pocket.
The last piece that is working against them is that the ponzi scheme of government growth is too heavy now. States and local governments have to raise taxes to pay for guys that are RETIRED and this is an even weaker “justice” argument to explain to the voter being taxed to death – we are CUTTING services to pay for guys who aren’t even here anymore.
Try selling that one…
Hopefully Walker kicks some butt!
Dan: If Walker ran against Barrett and beat him 18 months ago, why would that change? Particularly, if Barrett does not inspire the union goon constituency?
Robert – that is a good question. What will be different is the turnout. It is not a normal election – in early June. Many people will be on vacation. The Walker campaign is sending out pretty good literature already with absentee ballot request forms right on the piece. Pretty clever.
Every single person that hates Walker will turn out because they feel it is some sort of divine mission to get him out – it is up to the Walker people to turn out too.
School will be out in June which may reduce the student vote which would have gone to the Democrats, for the most part.
I have just watched the local evening news. The ads are already happening. Barrett had one ad, and of course no mention of collective bargaining for govt. unions or photos of any of the “protesters”. Walker had three or four ads, all scathing on Barrett.
Trumka is already preparing the unions for a loss and truing to put a positive spin on it.
They are taking what power they can get and cutting their losses. They would have preferred to win on a resounding pro-union campaign (and they will play it that way in any event if they win), but if that’s a loser, then they retreat to running a moderate. Half a loaf and all that.
It’s an advantage the Democrats have enjoyed over Republicans in elections for some time. When getting power is one of the key aims, absent any ideology, it’s easier to scuttle your “beliefs” at need.
AVI – very good comment.
Carl from Chicage said:
Also note that they don’t even PRETEND to correlate being in a union with a higher quality of work product. Now it is all about “justiceâ€.
I noticed that there has been no cry to “Look for the Union Label” on all the government school graduates…
I’d say that things were actually the opposite, and that union-member teachers are loathe to point to the quality of their product.
If only they were required to provide a guarantee.. or double your money back…
tom
>>> It is interesting that the Dems have decided that running on a position of union solidarity doesn’t buy them much of anything. Thus they are moving away from it in the general election.
The Bulworth Conundrum: What, are the union goons gonna vote Republican?
When you’re in the pocket of a single party, and make it clear that’s the case, you lose all power.
That’s why swing voters are really the ones that matter. When one party knows it can count on you, it doesn’t give a rodent’s patootie.