A few thoughts post recall election. I am sure many of you are sick (so am I, frankly) of hearing about the goings on here so I will put my scribbles under the fold.
Circular firing squad. The Democrats should fire their state chairman and a bunch of other people.
The “protests” certainly had a lot of people engaged here in Madison back in 2011. As I noted with the coverage at the time, many of those seemed to be hardcore leftists and other fruits and nuts. The Democratic party completely co-opted them. This will cost the Dems votes this fall, mark my words.
When we had the recall primary, the choice and voice of the left, Kathleen Falk, was effectively kneecapped by the state Democrat party, and I have heard also by the national Dems with the help of team Obama/Rahm Emmanuel. I have heard this from more than one person I know that worked for Falk. I don’t have any proof other than what I have heard. But why?
Because Falk would have gotten creamed even worse than Barrett. Believe it or not.
So that leaves with the Dems with a poor choice, and one other poor choice to run against Walker. Which goes back to what a lot of people said a long time ago – if the Dems didn’t have a viable candidate, why on earth spend all of the money, time, and energy on the recall? I am sure that obit will be written by someone with more inside baseball information than myself. As an added bonus, however, the careers of Falk and Barrett are effectively done, on a statewide level. The Dem bench is empty. All they have is Russ Feingold. Maybe he will run against Walker in 2014. Who knows.
Exit polls. Completely wrong. Most of the exit polls had the Walker and Kleefisch elections neck and neck. Then the actual numbers came in and it was a wipeout. Why the discrepancy? I have a feeling that those who were the most engaged were the most happy to speak to the pollsters, i.e. the Dems and the left. I would also guess that most of the Walker supporters just shoved the nosy reporters aside, or told them it was none of their f*cking business who they voted for. In other words, the Walker folks likely were there just to get ‘er done and the left, as usual, take this stuff as religion. Just my hunch.
State Senate – there were four races. Three have been called R, with one (Racine) still not called. If the R’s win that one, the Dems will have failed in virtually every single thing they have set out to do since early 2011. Epic, non stop fail. If the D’s win that senate seat, they control the state senate. For now. There is no legislative business until 2013, and we have more elections this fall for senate seats. Either way, I have a feeling that Walker will call a special session to introduce legislation to change the recall election laws (THANK GOD). They need to do this in two consecutive sessions or something like that, so they would do it this year and next.
So that is that. The people of Wisconsin have spoken LOUDLY and CLEARLY. This own goal by the Dems and the left have given Walker huge momentum to fundamentally change the way this state is run for now and into the future.
“if the Dems didn’t have a viable candidate, why on earth spend all of the money, time, and energy on the recall?”
1) Because it worked in Ohio (strictly speaking, Ohio wasn’t a recall, it was a repeal, but the leftists spent a ton of money and effort, and it worked)
2) Because Scott Walker successfully cut off a leftist money fountain.
Public sector employees (such as, for example, public school teachers) are paid with public money. In other words, taxpayer funds. Unions and their Democrat buddies in the legislature set up cozy deals, where union participation is involuntary, and contribution of union dues is an automatic deduction from the public employees paycheck. Bonanza! You get taxpayer money going directly into the coffers of union leadership, and from there into the campaign funds of the Democrats, who are representing themselves in this matter, rather than the taxpayers who voted for them.
These deals aren’t just set up in Ohio and Wisconsin. The money that the left used came from union organizations all over the country. They’re all scared. If taxpayer funds dry up, if the voting public starts to turn a more critical eye on their public representatives, these union leaders (and all sorts of other cronies) would have to find honest work, or starve.
@Steve – that still doesn’t answer the question, and many others asked it when the recall petitions began circulating. There was never a candidate that appeared to stand a chance against Walker besides Feingold and he flatly stated repeatedly that he would never run. So why all the effort and time and energy into a losing cause?
My opinion is that the unions and the far left are just plain delusional. They are all in their own bubble, like the gaggle of people marching in Chicago against NATO (against NATO… are they friends with Gaddafi and someday Assad…). They really believe that either 1) their ideas are mainstream 2) that if they just push hard enough everyone will see the “wisdom” of their ideas.
Really Walker pulled the rug out from under them by eliminating mandatory dues. The average person just flees the union after that. Only die-hards continue to pay when it is optional. They felt this wasn’t necessarily their Stalingrad, when the battle could have been won, but more their “battle of the bulge”, when they threw their last reserves against their enemy with frankly no chance of winning, but it certainly was a giant mess.
The WSJ today talked about this and said Romney missed a big opportunity by not going to the state. But then Obama did too. Everyone was scared to death of your election there, and like you said the opinion polls were bs. Maybe the bad opinion polls should be scaring Obama, too.
The other point the WSJ makes is that the unions talk about “dialog” and “doing things the fair and open way” and when this was done in Ohio they STILL made an insane push to roll them all back, and in that state won (for now).
Fairness is a weak argument since you need to sell it to a private sector electorate for who life obviously is NOT fair. And the pencil pushers (aside from cops, who are protected, and firefighters, who are on the edge of getting pushed off the bus) elicit ZERO sympathy from the average guy.
They are going to start to see this everywhere as politicians choose between running the government and paying retirees. The unions aren’t going to like the choices that are made.
@Carl – the straight up polls were relatively accurate all along but still missed by several points. Walker never was under a 5% lead in the big polls (Rasmussen, Marquette Law, etc.) the whole damn time. It was a surprise that he won by such a large margin.
The EXIT polls last night were completely ridiculous.
Anybody else notice the similarity between Walker and Romney ? Walker was the Milwaukee County executive, not a politician (as far as I know). He has been low key all along, almost dull. He has done what he said he was going to do, omitted the details but everybody knew. Cutting spending works. I think we will now see Romney get more specific and more aggressive in saying what he will do if elected.
The exit polls are obsolete, like telephone surveys. Early voters and absentee ballots are ignored. Conservative voters are not going to talk to CNN. The Obama people are flying blind. The “Bradley Effect” was present in full force but as Roger Simon says, it’s not racial; it’s cultural. It’s nobody’s business how I vote.
Everybody should read Jay Cost’s book about the Democratic Party. My book review of it is here.
MK – on polling too – first off I just tell them I’m not interested in participating and 2nd since they call by land line phone, and since land line phone usage s shrinking they have a false base to query. Not that I mind. The only poll that matters is election day.
“The “protests” certainly had a lot of people engaged here in Madison back in 2011. As I noted with the coverage at the time, many of those seemed to be hardcore leftists and other fruits and nuts. The Democratic party completely co-opted them. This will cost the Dems votes this fall, mark my words.”
I saw this last night moments after Walker was declared the victor. Clearly a couple of fruits and nuts still hung around the capital for the recall. Obviously this is more of a religious exercise for this fellow rather than an election. You would’ve thought there was a death in the family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFg1VMXYZJg
@Jason – this is absolutely correct – many here take this stuff very seriously and were heavily invested in it with volunteer efforts.
The spin is that the election was bought now. Well, Walker did outspend Barrett by a wide margin, but he didn’t pick the fight. They did.
“Well, Walker did outspend Barrett by a wide margin, but he didn’t pick the fight.”
This theme ignores the fact that two large cities in California modified pensions with no heavy support, certainly not from the spineless California Republicans. I hope they keep thinking this was the problem until it is too late.
Would you say that psychologically the loser would like to blame anything else but his position?
@Bill – they will definitely blame everything else but their positions. And have been. Sort of reminds me of the Fonz, in a way.
This is hilarious. Note the comments from the left wingers.
http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/recall-the-recall-candidate/article_06e16084-b15d-11e1-9331-0019bb2963f4.html
Hey Guys,
Not to beat a dead horse, I know we’re all pretty fatigued of the issue. However, I stumbled upon an interesting quote — from a very surprising source — on the issue of collective bargaining for public employees.
“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters. “ -FDR
Read more at the American Presidency Project: Franklin D. Roosevelt: Letter on the Resolution of Federation of Federal Employees Against Strikes in Federal Service http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15445#ixzz1xMgoYTBo