It is a weird juxtaposition to see the dictator of Libya and the governor of Wisconsin, both dealing with a popular revolt that seemingly erupted out of nowhere, basically threatening to off their own people until and unless everyone settles down. The Libyan fellow at least has the excuse that he doesn’t have an easy way to hand over power or much hope that the Swiss will let him keep his buried acorns. The Wisconsin governor has plenty of options other than going all the way, yet for whatever reason he seems disinclined to take them.
If I could get this stupid crystal ball to work I predict it would say that this hostage gambit will turn the tide against Walker. Although the governor of a largish state can pick on classes and categories all he wants (the largest cable news network and at least one of the two largest papers will lionize him for it!), he really does not want to punish individual innocent people for the sake of some general point. Even your average FOX watcher (especially your average FOX viewer) will pick up the gratuitous nastiness of it. Even if some will inevitably cheer, I doubt that Walker really wants to be a hero to Michelle Malkin and a villain to everyone else.
NobodySpecial
Fucking villains, why do they work?
cat48
We just have to get him interviewed on Msnbc again. He began his own burial this morning by refusing to negotiate with Labor……too good for that you know!
Also2, more speeches for the Libyan dictator! The two of them can let the crazy fly.
jl
Not sure what you mean by ‘tide turning against Walker’.
The polls I have seen show that only about 40 to 45 percent of WI residents support his dishonest ginned up bad faith approach to solving a budget crisis, that his own first actions in office worsened considerably, by trying to destroy unions.
Maybe you mean the tide of opinion among our corrupt innumerate ill read corporate pundit hacks, who keep assuring us that the vast majority of right thinking productive residents support Walker. But, that pundit tide will never turn.
LGRooney
That’s just a wee bit of a stretch to link the two, doncha think? One gained power through a military coup, has (had?) an absolute stranglehold on all levers of power, and has insisted on killing people protesting him. The other is a democratically elected twit trying to bust the unions in service to his paymasters.
Both affairs will result in the needless deaths of people but only one is openly calling for it. The other one may actually be dumb enough to believe the rhetoric he is being told to read.
A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)
Save the union, save the world.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
Walker’s gratuitous nastiness ain’t got nothin’ on that of Kasich, the plurality Gov. of Ohio. Not that I’m competitive, but he’s locked protesters out of the statehouse, just as the weather started getting colder today.
jl
Forgot my off topic comment.
Brad De Long has some good charts on the fake ‘federal spending crisis’, with links.
The recent significant run up in federal spending is due to military spending and war, and Medicaid, Medicare.
Discretionary spending is not going up significantly (a side point is that the graphs show how puny and irrelevant the Obama fiscal stimulus was).
Federal Spending in Two Graphs
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/02/federal-spending-in-two-graphs.html
danimal
Ain’t no way I’m clicking a link with the words “cheer” and “Malkin” prominently displayed.
Tim F.
@danimal: Smart man.
cat48
The NJ Fatcat explains what’s going on in WI in his speech today:
mr. whipple
I wouldn’t bet on it. In fact, I’d bet against it.
Elia
Totally agree with the OP. Walker’s doing a terrible job managing this situation. It’s as if he doesn’t get that he’s currently a national story. Or maybe all he watches/reads is right-wing, and the only polls he reads are Rasmussen’s…
Ash Can
I’m willing to consider the possibility that the Koch brothers are holding a gun to his head. Then again, it just may be because he’s an irredeemable shitheel.
joe from Lowell
What is Walker’s a suicide bomber?
If he sticks it out, and breaks the union, it will surely be the end of his political career.
So he goes onto his next career, no doubt a lucrative, Koch-funded one…and there’s no more collective bargaining.
Corner Stone
I think it’s about time for a little “Hitler in the Bunker” YouTube mashup.
Have Walker’s fireside speech displayed with Gaddafi’s speech as voiceover and put some Sconnie goodness in the subtitles.
JGabriel
Tim F.:
Really? I don’t.
Not that Walker wants a fan club of one, but I think Walker would be perfectly happy with a fan club of Tea Partiers and and rich businesspeople. If the rest of us see him as a villain, then — to quote the Speaker of the House — so be it. Even if Walker gets only one-term, or ousted after half-a-term, his business buddies will keep him well-compensated on the wingnut welfare circuit.
.
gbear
I don’t agree. He’s got a very specific audience that he wants to be the hero for, and it ain’t the common folks in WI. Also, every action he’s taken so far reveals that he’s a vindictive prick.
Pooh
We must cut jobs to save them!
singfoom
@joe from Lowell:
Sounds like a general strike brewing in Wisconsin:
http://www.biztimes.com/daily/2011/2/22/
I think Joe might be right. Walker might be a suicide bomber. Sure, even if he succeeds, he goes down in flames politically. The revolving door provides, as ever.
PeakVT
he really does not want to punish individual innocent people for the sake of some general point
No, no, Walker really does want to punish people, I am positive. He might stop, though, if the backlash appears to be threatening his power somehow.
ETA: And if I remember the comment correctly, he can’t be threatened with a recall for the first year.
Brachiator
Fox watchers love the nasty. For them, ungrateful and undeserving public sector employees are getting exactly what they deserve.
I’ll take that bet.
martha
@mr. whipple: I think it all depends on messaging. If the union folks can keep making it not just about them but broaden the message to the assault on the middle class, then I think he’ll fail. If they can continue to make the point that they’re giving their fair share but Walker’s not requiring everyone to sacrifice equally (e.g., the upper income private sector folks), they’re good, because HE’s NOT making everyone share.
His goal all along is to be able to claim, gleefully, that he eliminated 5,000 state worker jobs and broke the unions. Well, the truth is, the previous Governor, as much as I disliked him for a Dem, eliminated alot of those jobs already, much to Walker’s dismay.
He really is a sociopath. Or a really, really immature 4th grade boy.
Xboxershorts
Walker can’t help himself. he’s addicted to Kochaine
gbear
@cat48: Razor blade, meet wrist.
trollhattan
And now, soshulist doctors are defrauding the people in support of commie teachers. Steve Benen finds definitive proof NPR was only tardy in firing Juan Williams.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_02/028124.php
Everything’s now open warfare for Fox News(tm).
mds
He needs to be a hero to the Tea Party and his fellow sociopathic shitstains in the Wisconsin legislature. Nothing else matters until 2014. And if in the meantime he’s managed to strip Wisconsin of its public utilities for the Kochs’ benefit and / or turned Wisconsin into a “Right to Work” state, he’ll be golden. (Recall? Please. Recalls are only for Democratic politicians who actually try to balance their state’s budget.)
gbear
@martha: He’s the son of a preacher. He knows god is with him all the way.
LGRooney
Why couldn’t this shit have happened before I became a father? I led a protest of two on the steps of the Treasury against Reagan 24 years ago. I participated in protests all over Eastern Europe before the Soviet Union fell. The 90s were too quiet. I was overseas for most of W. And now, finally, the fun starts here but I have to feed my family, having been duly assimilated into the borg. Oh well, I’ll have fun explaining what’s happening to my kid watching the news with me in the evening.
Ash Can
@gbear: I for one wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see him try to bust the police and fire unions due to their siding with the other public employee unions.
LGRooney
@gbear: I’m the son of a preacher man, never shared that sentiment.
martha
@gbear: Exactly. Which is why he won’t be able to stop himself like most normal politicians.
trollhattan
I wonder what Wisconsin’s recall process might be? The protests could be fine signature-gathering opportunities.
Arnold’s available, BTW.
MGB
Well, I’m here in Chicago at Northwestern. Was just chatting with one of the union electrician guys here, and basically I just riled him up that he’s ready to run out the door and start picketing in Madison or Indianapolis. All I can view is my world here in the Midwest, but from what I’m seeing, the base is RILED up and ready to fight the attacks from the right wing. More people than you would think know what’s going on with this crap. I don’t think Walker, or Kaisch in OH are going to win this thing. I could be wrong, but the gut instinct is that taking away collective bargaining and union busting is just a slap in the face to too many people. My prediction-the upper midwest becomes almost totally blue in 2012.
EconWatcher
Serious issues are at stake in WI. But if you’re comparing Walker to Qaddafi, you need to take a deep breath, go for a walk, and get some perspective.
He was democratically elected. He’s not ordering people to be killed. He’s responsible for arrogance and bad policy, not state terror.
Come on. You say stuff like this, you forfeit the high ground to criticize Beck, Malkin, and that crew.
Dan
You have not been paying attention. To Walker or to Fox or to the typical Fox viewer.
Dan
Yeah, he didn’t do that. He compared their situations. Reading comprehension.
HyperIon
Classic Tim F.
Always include a jarring metaphor.
Sad Iron
Some will cheer? I’m a state worker in Wisconsin, and the news, newspapers, and message boards are filled with friendly reminders of what a piece of garbage I am.
For those asking about recall–Walker has to be in office a year before Governor Feingold can ascend to power.
HyperIon
@Dan:
Yeah, my take also.
Lolis
TPM has a Gallup poll up that shows 61% of Americans are against public worker union busting and Walker’s plan. Awesome news!
Mnemosyne
@EconWatcher:
I will agree with you until the day that Walker calls in the Wisconsin National Guard like he keeps claiming he will. If he does that, he tips himself onto the Qaddafi side.
dave
Well, I’m ready to start collecting signatures but we can’t start until November and they can’t be filed until January so I’ll just be watching and hoping next years former quarter term governor of Wisconsin continues alienating and offending people.
martha
@Sad Iron: Keep your chin up. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for you and your peers. As a non-union person who fully supports the protesters, this is one of the big reasons why: the demonization of one group of people in this state. It’s uncalled for and he’s doing it for the coldest of political reasons. And, again, he’s not truly asking for shared sacrifice from everyone. Therefore, he’s a failed leader in my book.
Cynicor
I just want to clear something up about Qaddafi. He’s NOT in Venezuela right now. He’s hiking the Appalachian Trail.
bemused
@cat48:
Hmm, Walker and Gaddifi, TDS or Colbert could do something interesting with those two.
JGabriel
@joe from Lowell:
Only if the unions form again. If they don’t, only union members will remember that he broke them, and they’ll age out of the voting population over time.
.
Merkin
@EconWatcher:
The only difference between Qaddafi and Walker is one wants to kill his own people, the other wants them to live and suffer.
It’s political hyperbole. Of course they’re not alike.
JGabriel
@EconWatcher:
A future of raises set to max out at CPI, meaning you can expect your salary to never keep up with inflation? A future of ever-lower pension benefits under constant assault? A future where the only organization authorized to represent you in labor conflicts is reduced to uselessness or gone?
That all sounds pretty terrifying and state-sponsored to me.
.
quaint irene
Jesus Christ. How, oh, how, did we in NJ get saddled with this moron?
Listen up, Gov. We’re ALL taxpayers. And this continued struggle to demonize public employees has to stop. Y
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Walker got his walking papers from the Kochs. He isn’t paying any attention to what anyone else says or cares about.
plaindave
since 1937:
I agree. He won’t back off even if every person in WI shows up in Madison. The Koch brothers have him covered no matter what. And if he breaks the union, he’s the nominee in 2012. The Koch brothers are playing for keeps.
Nellcote
So blocking pro union web sites at the WI capital is just a coincidence?
http://www.alan.com/2011/02/22/wisconsin-governor-accused-of-blocking-union-internet-access-mubarak-style/
Sad Iron
@Martha. Much appreciated–I mean that. It’s been a rollercoaster here–inspired by protests, demoralized at work.
JMG
Sadly, a working majority of Americans loves cruelty to the weak if they’re not its target. A spiteful, nasty, cowardly society is destined for a very bad end.
lol chikinburd
It’s to America’s credit, not Walker’s, that Walker is not a dictator. He gets zero props for the fact that America has had democratic institutions and traditions in place since about two centuries before he was born. His attempted movements within America’s democratic framework are fair game to call out with appropriate references, particularly if they continue straining at that framework’s boundaries in the bad directions they have in the last six weeks.