I hope Obama is paying attention to how Republicans operate:
Walker: An interesting idea that was brought up to me by my chief of staff, we won’t do it until tomorrow, is putting out an appeal to the Democratic leader. I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I’ll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly. They can recess it… the reason for that, we’re verifying it this afternoon, legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session, they don’t physically have to be there. If they’re actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum because it’s turned out that way. So we’re double checking that. If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why. We’d only do it if they came back to the capitol with all 14 of them. My sense is, hell. I’ll talk. If they want to yell at me for an hour, I’m used to that. I can deal with that. But I’m not negotiating.
Say anything to get them back in the state, then screw them. That’s the plan.
jwb
Speaking of posts stomping on posts, stomping on posts… In any case, I don’t mind. Everyone is on fire this morning.
GregB
You can’t out ratfuck the party that wrote the book on ratfucking.
joe from Lowell
It’s going to be a lot of fun watching the people who applauded the ACORN and Planned Parenthood ruses express their horror that anyone would misrepresent themselves as David Koch.
Violet
Typical Republican playbook. Lie, lie, lie. Then screw those you lied to.
Martin
Apparently the Indiana Dep AG wants to use live ammo on the protestors in Indiana.
I think he just got confused and thought he was in Ohio.
I love these teabaggers. They’re seriously too stupid to keep the con going.
MattF
@Martin
Our own little domestic Qaddafi. Cute.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@GregB: especially when their first ratfuck was to bitch-slap the national media into ignoring their ratfucks.
fourlegsgood
This whole WI think is kind of like a horror movie when the villain takes off the mask and you find out he’s a brain sucking alien.
One hopes the country is paying attention.
Maude
OT Greyhound rescue
My friend has Ellie, a greyhound rescue and she is whining all night.
Ellie went from racetrack to a foster placement where she was allowed to sleep on a pillow in the bedroom.
Ellie has a crate which she goes into just fine and she has a hedgehog toy that she adores.
Ellie has been with my friend for 4 days.
Any tips would be appreciated and I will show them to my friend.
Jim in Chicago
Obama appears to be a slow learner on this front. What more he would need to know after former House Republican Leader Dick Armey said “Bipartisanship is another name for date rape” is beyond me….
Comrade Dread
@joe from Lowell: They will ignore that, and instead frame the question as:
“Will liberals who condemned Breitbart and O’Keefe condemn this person from the Daily Beast? Liberals are such hypocrites.”
MikeTheZ
@Martin: son of a…
Twice. That’s twice today something in politics has surprised me. We are truly in the toilet.
Zam
How is this man ever portrayed as reasonable? He is so blatantly biased, and quite a fucking dick. It just amazes me that the media can go from “Obama needs to negotiate more, to Scott Walker is a reasonable sensible conservative who is standing by his well thought out principles.”
homerhk
I think Obama knows full well with whom he is dealing. The problem is that the american public do not and don’t seem to care, although there are signs that it is waking up right now.
Jennifer
Shameless blogwhore alert, but I just posted on this, along with the youtubes of the phone call, at my joint. I don’t know how a governor could survive something like this. I mean, this goes beyond the typical stepping-on-your-own-dick Republicans do with regularity…way beyond.
Stillwater
@Comrade Dread: BSDI!
Caz
Are you seriously sticking up for politicians who refuse to show up for work?? Especially since the taxpayers pay their salaries. It’s appalling, regardless of what you think of the bill.
I didn’t hear you all complaining when the democrats forced through Obamacare. All the republicans showed up to work and voted against what they knew would pass.
These cowards should show up for work and vote against it. If it’s so unpopular, they will get a majority back next election like the republicans did in the House in November.
Culture of Truth
If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why.
Whew! I was getting worried there for a second.
BC
I was at the Colorado solidarity gathering yesterday and landed amid some Teamsters. I asked them if they were surprised to find themselves in a class war and they said yes, now there are no “sane” or “moderate” Republicans left. If Republicans lose the Teamsters,they lose the unions. BTW, there were about 20 tea party protesters who were, I guess, protesting the union solidarity meeting. The pro-unionistas numbered about 2000 to 2500.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@joe from Lowell:
Why? O’keefe pretended he was a pimp out with his ho and the person who called Walker pretended he was a pimp talking to his ho and the ho bought it.
A pimps a pimp, right? Walker knows his place and it shows.
He’s a Kochsucker.
Rorgg
Get over it. It’s a parliamentary tactic. One used by none other then Abraham Lincoln.
But I guess Abe was an appalling leech on the taxpayers, right?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703803904576152671349641088.html
Oh, right, and in the Continental Congress. But those were appalling leecing founding fathers?
Spare me.
hueyplong
Best not to cite Abe Lincoln to today’s right wingers. They’re Confederates.
meh
the Gov’s office confirmed the call took place…
SP
I’m actually quite surprised by this. Why do they care about the legal analysis of whether they can pass the law through this trick? The real manly way to do things is to say that a “quorum” is some girly liberal idea, we’ll pass things with whoever’s here. It would take years to overturn in court.
RickD
(a) when you say “forced through” you act as if you have some kind of philosophical problem with majority votes.
(b) which you then ignore when you act as if the Senate Republicans allowed majority rule. How many filibusters did the Republicans use in the past two years?
I’m curious – why is it OK for GOP Senators to abuse the cloture rule to act as if they want to continue to debate a bill, when they have no interest in further debate, but it’s not OK for Democratic legislators in Wisconsin to take advantage of the quorum rule? Rules are rules, right?
If the GOP wants to take advantage of winning an election, then we should all bow down to popular will, but if the Democrats want to do the same thing, you use language like “force through” or “ram through” as if majority rule were some kind of foreign concept to you.
Master of Karate and Friendship
Why would he start now?
jacy
@Caz:
Quorums, how do they work?
ppcli
This is *not* the republican playbook: Walker is an amateur putz, and I’m sure Rove et al. are cringing. The Koch’s will be putting stop payment orders on their cheques any moment now.
Do NOT say: come back, I’ll listen but not negotiate. We’ve figured out a legal way to count it as a quorum if one of you so much as sets foot in the legislature for one millisecond.
*This* is the Republican way. Say: “I see your point, we must negotiate, that is the bipartisan way. Come back. And we might as well do the negotiating in the Assembly hall. We’ve got better doughnuts there.” Then as soon as the hapless Democrats have been seated long enough for the legal trick you’ve planned to get approved by whatever pliable court you’ve identified to run it through, you announce you’re breaking off negotiations because “I’m shocked at the bad faith: the Democrat party is demanding free Cadillacs for school janitors and gold-plated toilet seats in every teacher’s bathroom in the state! And they’re eating Vermont cheese!”
Then, ram your bill through before the Democratic spokespeople have had time to sputter “But, but we didn’t propose any such thing! And this cheese is from Wisconsin – see, it says right here on the label “Product of Fromageville, Queso County, Wisconsin”.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again: this crowd will promise anything to get what they want, then it’s down the memory hole when they control the board. (Remember Starr making a deal with Clinton’s people that the tape would be erased after he testified by video hookup? I hope I don’t have to repeat the sad story of domestic partner benefits in Michigan that I repeat here almost every chance I get. And on and on…)
Thank heaven fate has been generous in the selection of our opponent this time. This clown makes Ernst Blofeld seem subtle.
bemused
@Caz:
You must have missed the part where this bill was “revealed” with only a few days’ notice to both the taxpayers and the Dem legislators. One Dem heard it on the radio. The Dems were told to vote at 5pm and the R’s starting voting before. Sounds suspiciously like cramming the thing through before anyone, including WI taxpayers, had a chance to see what it would do.
Call me weird but I don’t think that’s how honest, adult governing is supposed to work.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@homerhk:
apparently this needs to be repeated
Mnemosyne
@Caz:
Ah, Conservative Temporal Disorder strikes again:
Taking 9 months to pass healthcare legislation: forcing it through without anyone knowing the details
Taking 9 days to end collective bargaining in the state of Wisconsin: fully debated legislation that the Democrats are just being whiny about
Apparently days are now longer than months in the conservative mind — who knew?
joe from Lowell
@Caz:
Actually, every single one of the Republicans filibustered the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but they didn’t have the numbers to hold it, so it passed 60-40 on December 24, 2009.
60-40. I guess that’s “forcing” something through. Out of curiosity, what isn’t “forcing” something through? 2:1? 3:1?
I mean, for Democrats to pass something, of course. Obviously, Republicans get to pass anything they want by majority vote with Dick Cheney as tiebreaker.
Culture of Truth
@SP:
I am too. Where’s Alberto Gonzalez when you need him?
Rhoda
@Caz: The constitution of their state allows for this; the minority has the right to stop the legislative agenda if they feel it harms their constituents. These legislators have exercised the write that’s in their state constitutions; just as the Republican minority stood together on the federal level and used every legislative tactic they could to stop President Obama’s legislative agenda.
They are doing their jobs by leaving the state and denying Republicans a quorum to pass legislation to bust unions.
Tyro
Caz, don’t be such a pearl-clutching whiner. But I’ll get out the smelling salts if you need them.
patrick II
“The Beast” website (authors of the 50 worst) called someone they purport to be governor walker and Identified themselves as one of the Koch brothers.
http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045
The site seems very busy now, so you might not be able to connect. However, if this call is not a prank on its readers, and if there is any justice in the world, Walker is through.
That link is now giving a “Page not found” response.
Huffington refers to it here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/scott-walker-buffalo-beast-phone-prank_n_827058.html
ppcli
@ppcli: Oops – sorry, I take it back. I missed that this was Walker speaking to the pseudo-Koch, I thought it was a remark in a public forum. Clearly Walker is every bit in the tradition of such legendary weasels as Donald Segretti and Tom Delay. I regret the error.
Hats off to the Daily Beast for catching him with his fingers in the cookie jar.
Southern Beale
Yup! That’s the part of the call I excerpted on my blog, too.
To which a conservative commenter sarcastically responded:
You know, if it were the other way around, the conservative reps skedaddling to stick it to a Democratic president, the Teanuts would be fucking CHEERING. It’s always OK if you are a Republican.
Hungry Joe
The nine days of collective bargaining debate in Wisconsin are like the seven days of Creation in the Bible — as long as you need them to be. So those nine “days” at the statehouse in Madison could have been eons. We just don’t know.
meh
@patrick II:
lolwut? where have you been? have you not seen the 4 threads devoted to this goodness? His office confirmed the call BTW.
patrick II
@meh:
I have been reading other blogs. Sorry, I got too excited.
Elvan Poots
@Maude:
Greyhounds are very high energy dogs, and the whining is anxiety likely triggered by the new environment and fueled by this high energy level. The foster home likely also had more greyhounds around, where the new home may not, so for a dog that has spent it’s life in and around the sounds and smells of many other dogs it’s quite a change to get used to.
Best bet would be to burn off that energy before bed so they are too tuckered out to bother whining. Easier said than done with greyhounds, esp one that used to run after electric bunnies for a living, but there it is.
FormerSwingVoter
PROTIP: If your entire plan is to blatantly lie to people, don’t brag in public about how blatant your lies are.
This could have worked. But now it won’t. Because he’s clearly a moron.
Maine Independent
@ 17. Caz
The Rethugs show up for work, but do nothing but obstruct. They have come out and said ONE honest thing; that they will do everything they can to destroy Obama’s presidency.
So are you defending them? You should be more concerned that Walker is a bought and paid for whore for Koch Industries. You should be more concerned about the fact that politicians are bought. The 14 who have left are most likely NOT bought.
Joseph Nobles
Speaking of Obama, he just told the Justice Department that he now considers DOMA unconstitutional and to stop defending it in court.
RosiesDad
Sadly, I look at this and I think to myself, “Elections have consequences.” The people of Wisconsin put this asshole in the governor’s mansion and now they will have to live with the consequences. When he comes up for re-election, they can vote to send him packing. Or they can decide that they love what he’s doing and give him another term. (I have no idea if his position is term limited.)
This country is fucked. Until The (stupid) People wake up and realize that they have been fooled into fucking themselves. And then maybe there will be collective action against plutocracy. But until then, they are just going to have to suffer the pain their electoral choices hath wrought.
mikefromArlington
@Joseph Nobles:
Speaking of Obama, he just told the Justice Department that he now considers DOMA unconstitutional and to stop defending it in court.”
That’s great news. That along with the news they will no longer defend Rumsfeld.
I detect a disturbance in the Force.
Davis X. Machina
@Maine Independent: It’s his team. Ten thousand people turn out regularly to cheer for the Pirates, and they suck too.
Smells like team spirt.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@RosiesDad: True, but a big part of why the people are stupid is because they trust a morally and intellectually bankrupt political media, that the rightwing has been working on bankrupting for forty years. The WI mess gives several examples of this:
1) practically no major media outlets are reporting that WI unions have agreed to several concessions
2) Walker is playing the “i was elected to do this” card, so far very few national media are reporting that this is complete horseshit.
3) Walker is about to speak to the press. I predict that he will not be asked about his comment to the faux Koch that he “thought about” sending in “troublemakers” to make the protesters look bad, because it was just some silly prank, it didn’t come from an acknowledged, credentialed source in the media hierarchy
Ash Can
@meh:
…and it’s now plastered all over the front pages of the Wisconsin newspapers. This has made my day.
bemused
@Ash Can:
Oh, Mika will be looking very severe.
It may be worth it to get up early tomorrow morning and see how the Morning Joe crew deal with this.
Ash Can
@bemused: Seriously, I think this is a pretty fair-sized explosion. There’s going to be an ungodly amount of pearl-clutching, wailing, and fainting over the tactics, but the confirmation of the Koch brothers’ involvement — outright direction, even — is now out there, and that’s one genie that can’t be squished back into the bottle.
RosiesDad
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You know better. I know better. Most of the people here know better. Why? Because we take responsibility for being informed.
Ignorance is not a valid legal defense.
Or as Richard Pryor said the judge told him, “You’ll know better next time, won’t you?”
Maude
@Ash Can:
Oh, I hope so. I want to hear them cry.
Punchy
@Maude: Ooooh Oooooh me! Pick me!
We have 2 adopted GHs. Our first one did that too. It was not good to have the foster allow such pillow time, but alas, that’s done. Our’s whined b/c we were told to make her sleep in her crate at nite. This….was a bad idea. When we let her sleep in the bedroom (but not on the bed), all was solved. They become very attached quickly, and really want to be as close to their owners as they can. The whining will eventually end and he/she will LOVE their dog!
Tonybrown74
@mikefromArlington:
As a gay man, the Administration refusing to defend DOMA excites me …
But the fact that they will no longer defend Rumsfeld? That truly tickles me pink!
PaulW
I mentioned in the earlier thread about the Beast’s audio recording how I questioned the ethics of their tricking Walker into taking a phone call like this. But Walker apparently has verified he took the call, meaning this conversation was real… and I take back my earlier qualms because the Beast did reveal actual evidence that Walker is acting in bad faith with Democrats and with his entire state.
That he was intentionally planning on tricking the absent Democrats into returning to the state under the ruse of negotiations, only to force a quorum and back-stab them first chance he got shows 1) no respect for the negotiating tactic at all and 2) no respect for people, period.
It’s looking as though his track record as county executive for Milwaukee proved how narrow-minded and vicious Walker can be. My God, PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM TO BE GOVERNOR?!
…why I am shocked? I have 2.5 million IDIOTS here in Florida who voted for a MEDICARE FRAUD. I have no right to be outraged… AND YET I STILL AM.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
What I find most interesting is that one of the busiest men in America (and I mean that, with all that’s going on he is undoubtedly extremely busy right now) has 20 free minutes to shoot the shit with a Koch brother. Gotta love our political system.
bemused
@Ash Can:
It is hard to think this won’t get a lot of play and hurt R’s badly, but I’ve thought that many times before and been wrong.
@Maude:
Me too, me too! It’s long overdue.
Caz
I’ve never claimed it was ok for the GOP to use similar tactics. But using legitimate procedural tactics while AT YOUR JOB is a lot different than fleeing the state and not showing up for work at all!
I think both parties are cowards at times, but this is the first time I remember hearing about elected officials basically mass boycotting their job because they don’t want to vote on something because they know it will pass.
I’m neither republican nor democrat, so I would criticize the republicans if they did this too.
But the double standard here has no end. Conservatives are evil assholes and liberals are enlightened compassionate saints. Both parties are ruining the country with their big government spending and expansion initiatives, but at least the GOP is starting to show some hope of trimming things back a little.
I thought GW was a horrible president, and I think Obama is even worse.
So the whole “well they did it too” argument is weak as hell. You should not be supporting elected officials who refuse to show up to work, whether they be republican or democrat. My point has nothing to do with their party affiliation.
I guess you’d all have no problem if all U.S. Senate Republicans fled to Canada and didn’t show up to work, and the dems couldn’t pass any bills for lack of a quorum, right? Yeah, right, lol.
This collection of bloggers and commenters simply supports the progressives and opposes the conservatives, regardless of substance or merit. It’s really pathetic.
PaulW
@RosiesDad:
Wisconsin has a recall provision, but it only works after one year of being in office. So as soon as January 2012 rolls around and Walker’s still in office, you will see the fastest recall effort in history.
Maude
@Punchy:
Thank you, my friend has very serious allergies and Ellie can’t be in the bedroom. The rescue groups told her to crate Ellie. I re posted in Open THread.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Also it occurs to me, regarding David Koch, when the faux one is suggesting Al Capone tactics why doesn’t Walker reply, “wait a minute, the real David Koch loves puppies and kittens, is that really you?”
PaulW
@Caz:
Dear caz:
It’s hard to stay and play a game that’s been rigged by a guy who’s openly admitting he’s going to back-stab you first chance he gets.
If the choice is to sit there and get hit over the head with a 2×4 or flee the state, I’ll take fleeing the state.
The longer the Dems hold out, the more the delay will force Walker to, you know, ACTUALLY PLAY FAIR.
Ash Can
@Caz: No, what’s really pathetic is that you’re too dishonest to admit that you’re actually not non-partisan and that you really don’t give a damn about actual facts. We’re not stupid, and we’re not buying your bullshit, so go peddle it elsewhere.
Omnes Omnibus
@Caz: The job of a representative in a legislator is to act on the behalf of the interests of his or her constituents. It is not to be in a particular room at a particular particular time. The fourteen Democratic Senators determined that the best way to act on the behalf of the people of Wisconsin is to delay the vote. I have to say that I agree with them and I applaud their actions.
bemused
“I am neither Republican…..”
Me thinks you doth protest too much.
chopper
i just really wish that the caller had gotten walker to admit that the ‘public utility firesale’ part of the bill was quid pro quo for koch’s support. that would have been fucking glorious. wisconsinites would be demanding blood.
trollhattan
Sorta on topic, Chait catches Lesley Stahl preforming an act of actual journalism.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/84015/why-are-republicans-going-shut-down-the-government
Ryan
Anyone who didn’t see this coming is probably a DLC strategist.
Ryan
@trollhattan:
Translation: Luntz found out that ‘compromise’ polls badly, so I can’t say it.
Alex S.
@trollhattan:
I think we’ve heard of this line before. They will only work with Obama in so far as it advances their agenda and if they don’t have to make any concessions. Common ground is what they agree upon even without negotiating.
RosiesDad
@PaulW: From where we’re sitting now, you would think so but I heard a poll on TV last night that only 52% of Wisconsin citizens disapprove of his actions. So if things continue to go badly, yes, you might see a recall effort next year. OTOH, if he gets past this self-created crisis, and the economy improves, this will be all but forgotten. A year can be a long time in a political career.
Jay in Oregon
You know, I thought that the Democratic legislators who left the state to avoid a quorum had the right idea but that such a tactic would be hard to defend.
After reading this, I no longer feel that way. Shit, they can stay at my house.
anticontrarian
It’s dirty, but I don’t think it’s beyond the pale. That’s just how you play the game.
It is good to see this kind of tactic get a little sunshine, though.
Tyro
the Democrats were basically taking a gamble that they could stall the legislation, shine light on what was going on, and buy time for statewide opposition to well up. And that’s what has happened. The people of Wisconsin are the ones in control here: if they were that outraged at the dems’ moves, then they would have taken to the streets to demand they return and started a recall drive against them. In fact it seems that the people are taking the dems’ side here: and what they did took actual effort, whereas republicans are by their nature very lazy and not very hardworking, so they simply opt to “declare” a filibuster with out actually doing anything. The American people tend to respect hard work and effort, so obviously they are taking the side of the dems here over the lazy, good for nothing republicans.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
This 187,235th example will surely be the persuasive clincher for President Obama.
.
.
Nerull
@Rorgg: None other than John Boehner lead a walkout in 2008.
Tulpa
@joe from Lowell:
First, the situations aren’t comparable as the filibuster is a legitimate aspect of Senate rules, unlike fleeing the jurisdiction to prevent a quorum. I don’t recall Mitch McConnell giving interviews from an undisclosed location in the Bahamas back then, do you?
Second, the health care bill that was passed 60-40 never became law. The bill that Obama signed into law was passed under extremely questionable application of the reconciliation rules with a smaller majority. But of course you knew this already.
noc
The only recall effort against the Dems so far is from some morons from Utah, American Recall Coalition, same bunch going after the Tuscon sheriff. The idiots have my state senator, Mark Miller on the list. Only problem…he was just re-elected and they have to wait the same year we do to bounce The Dropout.
But, it’s fun watching elephants shoot themselves in the ass……