I stand with them.
The class war has taken an ugly turn. Breitbart and his band of fuckwits are descending on Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow with their Don’t Tread on Me Flags and their armored scooters. This, however, is heartening:
(H/T Payter!)
UPDATE: Allan has some helpful tips for those planning to attend the protest in Madison:
If you’re in Madison tomorrow, expect Breitbart and his minions to shove a video camera in your face and try to provoke you into saying things that make “progressives” look bad.
Don’t give them any footage they can use.
Instead, ask them any or all of these questions, over and over, until they go away.
1. Did James O’Keefe have dildos and handcuffs onboard the yacht because he planned to rape CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau?
2. Do you have any comment on Shirley Sherrod’s libel suit against Andrew Breitbart?
3. When will you release all the raw video and audio captured surreptitiously in ACORN offices to independent investigators?
Yutsano
Okay, the cheers drown out the bagpipes. That is serious win right there.
JenJen
First Amendment remedies are pretty awe-inspiring. This story is absolutely riveting, and one thing about it that has really taken me by surprise is that just about everybody I know at work or in social situations is talking about it.
I don’t give teabaggers much of a chance against union folk, but we’ll see. Not really sure what they’re after or aiming for, but I always picture agent provocateurs to be quite a bit younger than the Koch Krowd.
Angry Black Lady
i wish i was there. i really do.
Mark S.
Bring it on. Teabaggers screaming at firefighters, cops, and teachers will show how idiotic these cretins really are.
FLRealist
Great video. I hope the TPers are outmanned and outclassed tomorrow. People fighting for their livelihood have a lot more to lose than a bunch of digruntled taxpayers, which should give them the edge.
asiangrrlMN
It’s on. It’s motherfucking on. If I can make it to Madison, I will. Damn it. The upper-crust keep bleating about class warfare. Well, they started it, so we have to finish it.
Benz
Rachel Maddow: This isn’t just about Wisconsin, it’s an existential threat to the Democratic Party nationwide.
Mark S.
Well, I finally decided to venture over to the land of Althouse. The Boxed One has been spending her vacation taking pictures of the protests. The closest I could get to any analysis from her was this post, where I guess she’s skeptical that Walker engineered this crisis to destroy collective bargaining rights of public employees. It’s odd, because my cat was able to figure that one out, but then again he does read Ezra Klein.
Ann mentions about twenty times the fact that Walker’s proposal will cost her $10,000 a year, but I think she’s in favor of it(?). Oh fuck it, you guys aren’t paying me enough to be your Althouse correspondent.
JGabriel
Benz
@Mark S.: how is Althouse characterizing it? You sound as if she’s tilting but on the fence.
I do not want to give her site traffic so i won’t click.
Joseph Nobles
Governer Walker’s Twitter feed displays no awareness that these union protestors are taxpaying Wisconsin citizens at all. If he embraces Andrew Breitbart’s BS rally, it most definitely is on.
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: We’re paying you?
JWL
President Obama saw fit to award G.W. Bush a Congressional Medal of Freedom.
Lest We Forget..
Fuck them both.
Benz
I’m lurking on Free Republic, Glenn Beck, FOX, Big Government, Instapundit, etc. They’re all giving advice to the Tea Party side. Most common theme: Whatever we do, the liberals will make us look like violent thugs or racists.
Mark S.
@Benz:
She takes a lot of pictures of people holding “Scott Walker is Hitler” signs, so that’s the gist of it. She’s ambivalent, though. She hates liberals, but she also hates losing $10,000 a year. But she does assures us “I’m trying to be fair, and it’s possible that I’m in as good a position as anybody,” as if she lived in Hawaii and this didn’t affect her at all.
@asiangrrlMN:
You betcha. Pony up.
Benz
@Mark S.: She’s trying to be fair. heh.
Jeffrey Goldberg has an entire post purely dedicated to showing “Scott Walker/Hitler/Mubarak” signs, other than that, he has nothing intelligent to say on the matter of public sector unions.
But then again, some idiot had a sign that had a target on Walker’s head, which Sully noted.
CaliCat
The Egypt analogy is turning out to be quite accurate…
Egyptian protesters = Wisconsin protesters
Mubarak = Gov. Walker
Mubarak thugs brought in to agitate = Teabagger thugs brought in to agitate.
And just like Mubarak, the CONservatives are on the wrong side of history…again.
asiangrrlMN
@Benz: If the shoe fits….don’t want to look like a thug or a racist? DON’T FUCKING ACT LIKE ONE! I’m not yelling at you, I hope you know. This shit just frustrates the hell out of me.
@Mark S.: Hey! I didn’t sign a contract. You can’t make me.
Shadow's Mom
@Joseph Nobles: Yea, he was pretty clear about that in his speech this afternoon. All I could think when these guys started talking about the ‘taxpayer’ was, these are taxpayers?
Oh, geez, CNN talking head on Parker/Spitzer basically told the WI Dem senator on the phone, “You lost,why don’t you suck it up?” The Dem, Chris Larson (?),was great. “Democracy does not end on election day. We may be in the minority but our democracy is constructed so that the minority is heard.”
I’m in California so won’t make it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother traveled to Ohio from PA to support public workers there. He’s a postal worker and very active in his union; my grandpa was union and so was my dad. Just this afternoon, I tweeted the following:
#LABOR #WIUNION enjoy weekends, pd vacation, 40hr workweek? Thank unions for those benefits. Watching #GOP roll back 120 yrs labor reforms
Just because they won an election through distortion and misinformation doesn’t give them license to destroy our lives.
Moses2317
I’d like to recommend that we all take action to support public employees and their unions by contacting state legislators and Governors, and writing letters to the editor of our local newspapers. Victory in this fight is critical to the future of the middle class and the progressive cause in America.
http://www.winningprogressive.org/support-wisconsins-public-sector-employees
Also, let’s keep in mind that the attack is not just in Wisconsin. Here are seven other states where we need to push back against the right wing’s assault on public employees and their unions:
http://www.winningprogressive.org/it-is-not-just-wisconsin-we-need-to-fight-for-public-sector-employees-in-ohio-indiana-tennessee-and-elsewhere
lakefxdan
JWL, the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom was George H.W. Bush, not George W. Bush.
Angry Black Lady
Walker is bought and paid for by the Kochs and he is doing their bidding. I’ve been lurking on some of the prog blogs and it seems they have their trollers going through and dumping the same similar comments about how unfair it is that public sector workers have this or that and private sector workers don’t.
they are screaming about taxes, so the teabaggers will be screaming about taxes. what they aren’t telling people is that the union agreed to cuts, but does not agree to being stripped of their collective bargaining rights.
fucking idiots.
morzer
Just in case you wondered how psychotic these people are, this is Glenn Beck explaining how the Muslim Brotherhood, unions and Google are all part of a global conspiracy:
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/glenn-beck-wisconsin-unions-muslim-brotherhood-all-just-want-new-world-order-video.php?ref=fpblg
morzer
Much to my amazement, the Communists at Forbes came up with this:
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/18/koch-brothers-behind-wisconsin-effort-to-kill-public-unions/
Will
@morzer:
It would be interesting to print up a few thousand simple flyers pointing out some of these connections between the Koch bros. and their front groups and the teabaggers, and distribute them through their group. On the other side of the flier could be a short history of unions and the things they accomplished….things like weekends, vacations, and a safe work environment (etc. etc.).
A lot of the teabaggers seem to honestly (and still!) think they are some kind of grassroots uprising and seem genuinely ignorant of the money people behind them.
stuckinred
The Chicago Seven were convicted, among other things, of crossing state lines to incite a riot. If I lived in Wisconsin and saw these fuckers a riot just might break out.
losingtehplot
Robert Reich today: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/18-9
Last year, America’s top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains – at 15 percent – due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded.
If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society – thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers? Let’s make the question even simpler. Who is more valuable: One hedge fund manager or one teacher?
buckyblue
I was there to see the fire fighters in the rotunda. Going back today. Didn’t know Breitfart was going to be there. Walker is a tool, but luckily for us, not a terribly bright one. If nothing else he has galvanized a side in strong opposition to him. Can’t tell you how many people I have talked to that have said, “I voted for Walker but I didn’t vote for this”. I didn’t malign them for their idiocy, but take them as new Democrats in the fold. One makes ten bucks an hour with an unemployed husband. WTF??? I’m sure there are plenty of national Republicans shaking their heads wondering how Scooter fucked this one up. There will be tens of thousands good guys there, the teabaggers thought they could get a couple of hundred; mostly from out of state.
stuckinred
@buckyblue: Fuck em bucky!
morzer
Something that is important, because the right wing scum are claiming that public employees are over-paid, relative to the private sector:
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/6759/
pablo
As a public service!
If you are attending the rally today, feel free to print a few thousand of these and hand them out to the unwary!
Breitbart Warning flier
daryljfontaine
@losingtehplot: Good read; it’s a shame the comments section over there is full of paid shi(thee)lls [sic].
D
Wil
@buckyblue:
Not malign them personally, but you could just toss out there something like, “Well, that’s what Republicans are, anti-worker…and that’s why you should never vote for them, EVER.”
Or something similar to help them understand that Republicans are not—and never have been—their friends. There are so many, many, many people who vote Republican that somehow just don’t seem to understand what they are all about. It’s like we’ve got the most ignorant electorate in the world.
lllphd
ya gotta wonder if the koch brothers will be able to provide breitbart’s thugs enough camels for the occasion. lord knows they’ll bring their own guns.
Calouste
@losingtehplot:
Those numbers don’t add up. Even if you had 13 hedge fund managers making $5 billion per year, and even if you taxed them at 100%, you would still only give those 5 million teachers $13,000 a year. And are there even 5 million teachers in the US? Is one in every 60 people a teacher?
morzer
@lllphd:
I just want to see how they make out on five loaves, two fishes and the blood of real Americans. Jeebus would be so fucking proud.
Maude
@JWL:
That’s Poppy Bush, not Bush the dim.
debit
@Maude: Shhh, don’t bring facts and shit into it. You’ll ruin the ragegasm.
Pancake
Madison is great news for the Republicans according to virtually every poll out there, with support for the fucking mob at around 25% while support for the Governor approaches 75%! Way to gin up even more national support, angry and batshit crazy black lady.
Triassic Sands
@morzer:
4.8% is nothing. Walker won’t be satisfied until Wisconsin’s public employees are poor. Then, he’ll know he’s making real progress. Poor and intimidated — a recipe for people who don’t vote.
Unions helped create the middle class in this country and were critical in making it as large as it became. Republicans are engaged in a major assault to destroy unions. Now, what does that say about the future of the middle class in this country?
Carol
Nice try, astroturfer:
Poll: Majority don’t side with Walker; senators should come home
HRA
Last night G and I watched Rachel Maddow and we both learned how important WI has been to the American worker. G who is a moderate R usually stays laid back watching her. She really sparked his interest yesterday.
I am a D and a public employee in NYS. Do not believe it is only the R governors after their state employees. Cuomo (D) is using Christie (R) of NJ as his leader. We have been threatened by Cuomo with layoffs in NYS.
We pay for our own disability insurance. Our portion of the health insurance benefit has doubled in the last few years. The dental and eyecare benefit we had under the union is now under our health policies which does not pay for all procedures.
It could noy be said enough that we pay for our livelihood like everyone else in the private sector.
Onward WI! I am with you all the way.
Donut
Something for Althouse to keep in mind: the heart and center of University of Wisconsin is Bascom Hall, which sits atop Bascom Hill, which is a straight shot down State Street from the Capitol building, which also sits on a hill.
So in other words, the Capitol and Bascom Hall sit on basically an even plane with one another. The City and University planners did this deliberately so that if you stand in either location, you can see and understand the symbolism – that the University and its mission are intertwined and linked with the governing of the state, with the progress of its people.
There is a plaque outside of Bascom Hall’s front door that explains what I’m getting at a little better. Some of you might find this corny, but I don’t. The plaque reads:
South of I-10
@buckyblue: Give em hell!
Ash Can
You know, John Cole posted last night that he was in a hotel in an undisclosed location this weekend. And some months ago he spent some time in Madison and raved about how nice a town it was. Do you suppose…?
morzer
@Ash Can:
Hmmm.. but did he mention any hot Black Panther action? That’s the key question, surely.
SBJules
I wish I were in Madison too. Did the governor propose that his pension & the pensions of the legislators be cut along with the union pensions? I missed that news somehow.
Gravenstone
A friend of who’s been in the Capitol building the last couple of days passed this along via FB.
I haven’t seen corroboration elsewhere, but that would be all kinds of awesome, to watch Little Miss Iquitarod get shouted down by throngs of pissed off labor and their supporters.
morzer
@Gravenstone:
Lord Sarah? Has the truth of “her” transvestite past finally been revealed? Whatever will Todd do?
trisha
@pablo:
Thanks pablo, I’m a student there, and I’m running off a few hundred as I write!
Thanks from a great nation!
losingtehplot
@daryljfontaine: D – that’s why I’m very choosey about which blog’s comments I read ;-)
kideni
I’m in Madison, and I’ll be going to the Capitol in about an hour. It’s been so inspiring this week. What drives me crazy is how much the media focuses on just the increase in public worker pension and healthcare contributions — the unions are and have been willing to negotiate on that, but Walker won’t talk to them. Aside from the collective bargaining issue, this bill also guts education funding and healthcare and services for children, the disabled, and seniors. My friend’s son, a high school senior, stayed at the Capitol all night the other day so that he could testify to the Assembly at 6am, and he talked about how the bill would mean that his grandmother would lose funding that keeps her in assisted living, and his mother (my friend), who’s on disability because of MS, would lose funds that she desperately needs to stay strong and support the family. He’s an amazing kid, and I just hope that the state doesn’t let him down.
lllphd
@kideni:
wow, best of luck today, and best of luck for your friend and her family.
be safe.
Judas Escargot
@morzer:
Is there any legal way to hurt the Kochs? Given their choice of industry (petro/coal/chem/energy), there’s no practical way to boycott them, short of moving to a shack in Idaho or something. If they just owned Target or Best Buy (for example), it’d be easier.
That’s part of what infuriates me about them: They are above the law and above most ‘free market’ mechanisms. And shame certainly isn’t going to work on them, either.
Uloborus
@Judas Escargot:
Yes, there is. Vote Democrat. Make them pour tons and tons of money into a failed stalling tactic. They’ve devoted their lives to the wingnuttiest wingnuttery. Let them watch their life’s work amount to nothing as liberalism patiently grinds forward like it has through all of America’s history.
Church Lady
@JWL: It went to George Herbert Walker Bush, not his son, Shrub.
Church Lady
@buckyblue: Isn’t what Walker is proposing for the Unions exactly what he campaigned on? Yes, this is what they voted for, because he said exactly what he wanted to do during his campaign. And he was the winner. It seems your friends didn’t pay attention before they cast their votes.
Chet
@Benz: The implied corollary, I suppose, being: “So there’s no reason not to indulge your inner brownshirt on Sunday.”
Rozlyn
Just returned home from Madison–it was another beautiful day at the capitol with great turnout. Police and fire were there in force, which really fired up the crowds (the governor has exempted them from this union battle in an attempt to divide and conquer)!
The counter protest was weak tea, folks. Turnout was low and their rally, which was scheduled from 12-3, wrapped up at 1:20!!!!! No sign of Breitbart or Palin!
Cronin
I took a bus up there from Chicago for two days, was fortunate enough to be in the rotunda for this.
Wish I could still be there. Amazing amazing people.