A commenter sends by this picture from the Harrisburg rally yesterday:
I read on FDL that there were 70-100k people at Madison, until the cops came and… JOINED THE RALLY! That’s a pretty good turnout, so well done, Wisconsin.
BTW- having spent some time in Madison last year, it is uniquely constructed to be perfect for rallies, with massive spaces all around the building and multiple avenues of approach, with vendors and all sorts of ways to eat and feed a crowd. Such a great city. And I maintain that Union Cab was one of the best cab companies I have ever used.
gbear
Nice diversion post, Mr. Cole.
And yes, Madison is a great city.
Lesley
Off topic.
Cole, Rachael Rossman’s 2012 Calendar Project: Portraits of Man and Beast may be your opportunity to pose with your petz. Have we ever seen Cole WITH Tunch?
cathyx
Power to the people. I love that the police joined them.
Lesley
Salon is the only media outlet I can find covering this.
Wisconsin police join up with anti-Walker protesters
Yutsano
@Lesley: Sorry can’t run it, doesn’t fit teh narrative you see. And we all know teh narrative is inviolable.
gbear
This is from a few days ago, but it’s one of my favorite stories of the protests in Madison:
Disability rights activists stage protest inside state GOP headquarters
kdaug
@Lesley:
No one sees the Cole – with the rare exception of his “beautiful” feet. (Note: Not my value judgment).
@gbear:
Diversion from what, precisely? (Been out most of the day, doing horrible real-world things).
Joseph Nobles
Live stream of the WI protest here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/afl-cio-2010-rally
Mr Furious
I interviewed for a job out there a few years ago, and I came away very impressed with Madison. Beautiful city. A lot like Ann Arbor (where we were then, and again now), but bigger and better and on the water.
Still love to end up there one day. Long after the Walkerazation is past…
Moses2317
The turnout to these rallies has been very inspiring – 100,000+ in Madison, 3,000 in Denver, 2,000 in Lansing, 2,500 in Olympia, etc.
It is sad, but not surprising, that the conservative media is ignoring these rallies, even while they will give wall-to-wall coverage anytime 6 teabaggers gather on a street corner.
The solution, of course, is for all of us to get the word out beyond just our progressive bubble. So, write letters to your newspaper editors, call your state legislators and Governors, talk to your colleagues and neighbors, etc. It is up to us to create and distribute our own progressive message.
Winning Progressive
gbear
@Lesley: The video at that link is astounding. ‘Mr. Walker, this is not your house!’ Wow.
@kdaug: I’m not telling…
A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)
@Lesley:
Many of us here in the commentariat have long suspected that Cole is just a Tunch sockpuppet. Nobody could actually be that much of a blowhard.
Corner Stone
I’ve been wanting to schedule a Summer vacation in WI the last couple Summers. Somewhere on a lake.
I think spending consumable dollars in a good place makes sense, where possible.
Corner Stone
@kdaug:
Hmmm, it seems maybe you know more zan you zink, yah?
piratedan
well the revolution comes in all shapes and sizes…..
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_c2787d7e-fbcb-501f-af4b-c85d4da7ac62.html
I will say that there is enough sentiment down here for someone to actually start doing something. While politics plays a heavy hand in the movement, its long been perceived by folks outside of Maricopa County that once the money goes in (to the state lege), it rarely comes out (to anywhere outside of Maricopa).
Thoughtcrime
@A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum):
He’s bought and paid for by Tunch Industries, Inc.
Mark S.
Not sure if anyone’s mentioned this, but Roger Ailes may be indicted soon.
Thoughtcrime
Letter from a DFH in Wisconsin:
http://www.squattable.com/news/022711/letter-wisconsin-republicans-conservative-prison-guard
fleeting expletive
My daughter and her DFH friends are just now leaving the capitol, not because they want to but because they have to drive back to Oklahoma. Would love to have gone with them but my bones are too old to sleep on marble floors.
Mark S.
Shorter Kathryn Lopez:
Ed Marshall
My uncle’s were up there yesterday, and always use Union Cab (they are organized as a workers collective with no management). He left his phone in the cab, and within ten minutes the cab driver had called the bar and described my uncle to the bartender and got him on the phone. He drove back and walked the phone into the bar for him. Best cab company ever!
BGinCHI
@Mark S.: That’s been getting a little press, but not much.
It would be so sweet if that pig got what’s coming to him.
(with apologies to actual pigs, who are lovely animals and at least allow us to enjoy bacon)
kdaug
@Corner Stone: Uh-uh. Not (NOT) taking responsibility.
The owner of the meme owns it forever.
And some things cannot be unseen.
BGinCHI
@Thoughtcrime: Thanks for posting that.
Everyone should read that and pass it on to conservative family members and friends.
Thoughtcrime
So can we start passing out the glasses now? Just tell people it’s like 3D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8drfZwnXQ&feature=related
Thoughtcrime
@BGinCHI:
I’ve been slowly “indoctrinating” a conservative at my soon-to-be-ex-workplace in the investment industry.
It takes time. But he has a sense of fairness, so at least some is taking hold.
Maude
@efgoldman:
If Ailes is indicted, would you join me in a happy dance?
Yutsano
@efgoldman: One can always chair dance. Chair dancing as spontaneous ritual form is more than acceptable here.
BGinCHI
@Thoughtcrime: It’s easier with co-workers and friends than with family.
Though to be honest, I don’t really have any (or hardly any) conservative friends, as I just can’t spend precious time around assholes. And, you know, there just aren’t as many nice people who happen to conservatives as there used to be.
And when family are on the right (as my wife’s are), there is just no talking to them. They open their mouths and Fox comes out.
Nellcote
Tunch scandal rumours!
The Dangerman
@Mark S.:
Will the Right please run on overturning Greenwald (no contraception) in 2012? I’m reasonably sure more than half of the 27% would bolt and they might poll in single digits.
opie jeanne, formerly known as Jeanne Ringland
@Mark S.: Sez the 40 year old virgin. Geez, advice from someone who isn’t married, isn’t getting any and is likely to continue in that vein.
The Dangerman
@efgoldman:
This may be the case of a double Freudian Slip, i.e. I’m not sure Greenwald would be the case for no contraception.
Also, just to confirm, the Blog-Approved Chair Dancing includes lap ones, right?
Yutsano
@The Dangerman:
Heh. Like there’s any possible way I could stop you. You’re almost a foot taller than me.
James E Powell
@Thoughtcrime:
The comment thread on that correction officer’s letter post is filled with people wondering how any working person could vote for Republicans. I’ve been asking that question for most of my life. But also too nearly every one says the Democrats are no better. Now why would they think that?
Apart from “Obama betrayed us” feelings, do any of these people honestly believe that a Democratic governor would bring on a crisis in order to get rid of public sector collective bargaining rights?
jwb
@Moses2317: I think posting pictures of the rallies to Facebook is actually fairly productive, especially if you were in attendance, are posting your own images, and can say something positive about your experience. It’s the sort of thing that conservative friends and relatives will notice and can’t dismiss in their usual way.
It does seem like the new strategy of our overlords is to try to manage the protests by ignoring them and hoping they go away.
Sly
Convincing wingnuts to no longer be wingnuts does not depend on them having a sense of fairness. It depends on whether or not they have a sense of justice. You must help them properly identify the parties responsible for stealing their shit, and they’ll generally do the rest on their own.
I have quite a few former wingnut family members, friends, and acquaintances who are now liberals for life because they lost half their net worth over the past five years and heard their political leaders tell them it was their own fault while simultaneously protecting the same people who stole their money.
Ironically, the old joke use to be that a conservative is a liberal who got mugged. I guess it depends on who’s doing the mugging.
4jkb4ia
@A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum):
What are you talking about? John’s a menschHmmm
Yutsano
@jwb:
Pretty much. When you can’t use your jackbooted thugs on the dirty hippies because the jackbooted thugs are marching WITH the dirty hippies, you’ve pretty much lost.
gbear
The clearing of the WI Capitol building is scheduled to start in about 40 minutes. Negotiations are underway.
losingtehplot
http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/breaking_showbiz_news_paternity_suit_for_tunch/
Tunch still refusing to answer questions – rumored to have boarded plane to the Bahamas, with litter box as carry-on …
Mark S.
@losingtehplot:
Scandal in the Cole household!
jl
Krugman plugs a good report on the facts of the overblown public pension crisis. I noted it a few days ago, but it’s is an excuse to plug it again.
The Truth About Pensions
(krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/the-truth-about-pensions)
There is short run public pension crisis (and WI has a rather mild, not severe, version of it, despite the biased blowharding on TV), but most of it was caused by the financial panic.
But I guess public pensions, like main street local business, regional community banks and people put of work through out the economy (as would be expected after an across the board fall in aggregate demand, rather than due to structural unemployment), are minor sectors of the economy that did not deserve a no strings bail out (unlike high finance).
Davis X. Machina
@Yutsano: You’ll see a local Basij or Freikorps soon enough.
In a 50-50 country with approximately one gun per person, it’s inevitable.
Cat Lady
It’s so clear what the difference is between the Madison protests and the ersatz Beckian Teatard Moran Astroturfed Fail Parade. Madison is truly grass roots. This is why Obama has been smart to let it gather its own steam without getting personally involved. There hasn’t been any inchoate demonization – the protesters are focusing like a laser on one provision of one bill that is in plain English and has one and only one purpose that has yet to be explained away as otherwise – to bust unions there and everywhere. There is no muddy message or Hitler=Stalin=the Joker=Obama nonsense to this demonstration. This is the real deal, and I’m going to admit that I’m not as cynical and defeatist as I was last week. This battle may not be won, but dammit, the war is being well fought, and I have reason to believe that since there actually way more of us than there are Koch suckers, I’m starting to like our chances.
jl
No URL because whenever I put on in, something eats the comment. Anyone else having that problem?
jl
@Cat Lady: Seems like Walker will win this round, unless the GOP state legislators start to lose their nerve.
Question is will there be staying power to turn out the vote in 2012?
I bet Walker regrets not including public safety workers in his scheme. So far, they cannot be bought off.
Cat Lady
@jl:
People are asking themselves which side are they on? And there seems to be more of an understanding that it’s not left or right, but up or down. More wealth inequality pie charts plz!
Nicole
Yay! Harrisburg represents!
I read Hburg’s local paper, The Patriot News’ coverage of the rally and was pleasantly surprised to see the inevitable “both sides” coverage of the Teabag protest did not portray them favorably. The quote they used was from one man who groused that the US is not a democracy; it’s a constitutional republic and that the rally on the steps of the Capitol looked to him like a democracy.
Yes, technically true, but not the sort of comment that the average American is going to nod along to, as most Americans have been led to believe that democracy is a good thing.
Yutsano
@Davis X. Machina: The funny part about that is there hasn’t been any sort of counterbalance to the pro-union protesters yet. If they’re going to show up they need to get their tails in gear or else it will be too late. Walker has to be feeling some pressure now that other guvs are walking away from him like he’s radioactive. As long as the 14 Dems stay away he’s stuck. We have to be reaching a give point here soon.
stuckinred
@Cat Lady: Haley managed to say that there was a bullseye sign there.
jl
I’ll be interested to see the WI public reaction to Walker’s phone call with his sugar daddy. From the internet clip of his press conference, it seems like the local press is pissed. Seems like more than one person yelled ‘you never take my calls’ in the room.
Davis X. Machina
@Yutsano: They’ll surface elsewhere, when the same thing happens in another state. I love the people of WI to pieces, but it’s a big country — 300 million people, 50-70 million of them frankly pyschotic — and there’s a lot of money washing around.
Someone’s rolling a seven sooner or later.
America isn’t going to keep making its point forever.
MikeJ
@jl: The local chief of police is pretty unhappy too. The bit about sending in agents provocateurs while cops are there to protect people is the part that frosted his muffin. Wait, frosted his muffin sounds more like a sex thing than an angry thing. Put in your own colourful metaphor there.
joe from Lowell
@jl:
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
These people – professional politicians who depend upon winning elections for their career – are playing chicken with the unions, when the public has swung strongly behind the unions. But all they have to do to win is not lose their nerve.
We’ll see.
Michael Bersin
More photos and interviews from yesterday’s rally in Jefferson City:
Voices of Organized Labor in Jefferson City on February 26, 2011
jwb
@Yutsano: They tried last weekend to marshal the forces and failed miserably. My wife’s Facebook feed has a lot of conservatives and even some Teabaggers on it, and they aren’t biting on the GOP media line. They see this as a rich versus everyone else issue and aren’t inclined to turn out to help what they see as the equivalent of the banksters rip on working folk. Walker and the Koch, Inc. chose their mark badly, because they’ve made the lines of the class warfare very visible.
I think that’s why overlords have turned to a strategy of ignoring and dismissing rather than confronting. Since Walker actually does have time on his side right now, it’s probably the best political play they can make other than having beaten a tactical retreat last week when they had an opportunity. On the other hand, I’m not sure how the Dems and the unions force the issue in Wisconsin without going after a recall of some of the Republican senators to put pressure on them to buck the governor. Otherwise, strategically Walker seems to gain the upper hand again once it becomes imperative to pass a budget for next year. I don’t see how the Democratic senators can avoid coming back for that.
Cat Lady
@efgoldman:
But haven’t we seen how this plot unfolds in the movie that was Egypt, and before then, unsuccessfully, Iran? Peaceful popular uprising corrupted by paid thugs to create chaos so that the corrupt tyrant can sow confusion and fear and then offer order to the ignorant proles. The Egyptian protesters cracked the code. We’ve taken all that information and processed it quickly, and we’re entering a new paradigm now. There is a troubling disturbance in the Force if you’re an oligarch or illegitimately ruling. The portal has been opened.
Michael Bersin
Yesterday’s outnumbered teabaggers posted this via Twitter about Saturday’s rally in Jefferson City:
Heh. Whatever else the teabaggers say, the MoveOn and union folks still outnumbered them.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
As some have noted, time is on Walker’s side. Is there any way to change that?
Davis X. Machina
@Cat Lady:
Our ignorant proles are armed to the teeth, and waiting to be told what to do. And I doubt you’d even need to pay the thugs.
And [url=http://www.metrolyrics.com/country-boy-lyrics-aaron-lewis.html]this is way catchier [/url]than the Horst Wessel Lied.
Cat Lady
@Michael Bersin:
They got nuthin’. It probably took several attempts and all ten of them together to spell that one tweet right. Protesting against teachers makes you up your game.
shortstop
More than once during this series of events I’ve been glad that Top Blogger John Cole got to see and explore The People’s Republic of Madison last year. It can be hard from people outside the Midwest to get how cool the place is.
Davis X. Machina
oops….
And this is way catchier than the Horst Wessel Lied.
Jean
@gbear: And one of my friends who marched with them is quoted in the Cap Times. Jerry Holzbauer, who has a Ph.D. and cerebral palsy. He’s also a teacher. He said, ” Bullshit,” among other things to the reporter.
kideni
In case anyone’s wondering about what’s happening in Madison, it seems protesters are still in the Capitol two and a half hours after the stated closing time, but it seems as though things are pretty loose still. It sounds as though the cops have said they don’t plan to forcibly remove anyone tonight, and press are allowed to stay. Cleaning is happening. There’s a live blog going at the Web site of the Isthmus, Madison’s alt-weekly. There’s an unconfirmed rumor that one of the Republican Senators has said he’ll vote against the bill (it’s the same guy who tried to put a sunset clause into the bill). Even if it’s true, I don’t know if anyone should trust him given Walker’s shenanigans. Also, there still need to be two more.
gelfling545
@Nicole: I think of yesterday’s rally here in Buffalo with the crowd chanting “This is what democracy looks like.”
TenguPhule
Make sure his time runs out.
Moses2317
@jwb: I agree completely, and did not mean to imply otherwise. Facebook and similar social networking sites can certainly be an effective tool for getting our progressive message out.
jl
@joe from Lowell: Not sure what you are trying to say.
From stories I have heard, the GOPers in the state legislature has been absolutely ruthless in ramming through Walker’s agenda. This includes garbage like lying to the Democratic legislators about when votes will occur, and cutting off votes before all the Democrats have a chance to vote.
I read a report that in the face of the protests, the assembly passed language the prevented any modification to the budget bill.
So… unless the Democrats can stay away for a long long time, it looks like the legislative GOP is rabid enough to push stuff through as soon as they have a quorum.
So, in terms of getting this particular budget bill passed, seems to me the only hope is supporting the Democratic WI legislators in staying away and preventing a quorum.
I guess people can help by sending them money, but political realities might play a role too, sooner or later.
So, what will it take for the GOP legislators to have second thoughts about their ruthless and rabid behavior? If some political consultant whizz bang is selling them on the idea that destroying public sector unions will destroy the Democratic party and they can run a one party state, then it may take awhile for reality to sink in.
I don’t see how facing that reality is defeatism (if that is what you implied). I think that if their behavior is any indication so far, the GOP is going to discredit themselves, given that there is a very good chance even more obnoxious follow up this particular budget.
So, I think that what happens through the 2012 elections is more important than the fate of this particular budget bill. That is all I meant.
James E Powell
We need a national reading of Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle.
joe from Lowell
@jl:
A threat to their individual political positions.
That’s fine for the GOP as a whole, but how many Republicans are going to be willing to take one for the team?
jl
@efgoldman:
@joe from Lowell:
I hope you are correct. Your arguments are one reason I hope to see some reaction in WI public opinion to the GOP legislative strong arm tactics, and Walker’s phone conversation with a money bags who is ‘one of us’ (meaning one of the money bags reactionaries that are trying to take the national wealth for themselves).
And that they public safety workers stand strong.
I expect the public safety people will stand strong, since it should be obvious to anyone who listened to even a small part of Walker’s phone talk, that the Teabagger state pols have a little list with a lot of names on it, and if they can make the current plans stand, they are coming for a whole lot of the ‘lesser people’.
joe from Lowell
@jl:
I used to be the nervous nellie in the these threads about Wisconsin, but the movement is only picking up momentum as time goes on.
Davis X. Machina
@efgoldman: Enraged and engaged minorities roll well-intentioned majorities the time, 2012 is a lifetime away, and all the rage is on the wrong side.
Evil wins this one.
jl
@Davis X. Machina:
Well, that is another way to think about it. Are the demonstrators against Walker’s power grab ‘well intentioned’ or alarmed and pissed off? I hope they are alarmed and pissed off, since that is what they should be. If not, what are they waiting for? For Walker and his ilk to point them to an unheated shot gun shack with no plumbing and telling them to move in, for the sake of shared sacrifice, or else?
I will take J f Lowell’s advice and buck up. At least he said I was a nervous nellie, and not a concern troll.
joe from Lowell
@Davis X. Machina:
Governors in Wisconsin can be recalled one year after they’re sworn in.
Not anymore it’s not.
ILikeIke
Folks: this is amazing – Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin et al. are soon going to be asking “Why Do The Wisconsin Police Hate America?” Needs its own post.
agrippa
I have the idea that this will have to move out of WI and into other states. I am guardedly optimistic/hopeful that it will. There are so many people who have paid no attention – willfully ignored politics, government for so long – that support for a ‘social contract’ has lost meaning for many.
This may hurt the GOP in 2012 as they do not, in fact, really have a majority. The GOP relies a great deal upon apathy.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Moses2317:
What kills me about this is how it exposes the M$M for the right-wing whores that they are. All throughout the health care debate it was 24/7 “angry” teabaggers on the nooz. It was as if they were trying to feed the frenzy so they could get their ‘stories’ of conflict and strife aimed at Obama and the Democrats. Everything was non-stop teabagging goodness for them then and now they are deliberately ignoring the protests or portraying them in a very poor light.
I am glad the President hasn’t injected himself into this other than his first statement on the matter. I have a feeling that the M$M is waiting for a chance to tie him into the protests in an attempt to sandbag them (and Obama) by making this all about him and then being able to claim that they are ‘reporting’ on the protests.
We needed the police and firefighters to stand with the other public workers and it’s good to see that they did. They know that right now it’s the other workers and next time it’ll be them and their benefits/rights.
Walker is trying to sell out Wisconsin to the highest bidder, decimate their unions and later be able to waltz off to a cushy ‘job’ as another Koch whore.
Leaving everyone else with the mess he leaves behind.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
@efgoldman: Thank you for the correction so I didn’t have to.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
@Nicole: Can you offer a link? I’m having trouble finding that and would like to read it.
singfoom
I was there for a couple hours on Saturday up in Madison with my Chicago teacher buddy and some friends who live up there… It was an enormous crowd. We kept circling around the Capitol building a couple times and then once or twice on the inner sidewalk.
Great to see so many people out in the street demanding their rights. All kinds of people from all walks of life. Everyone was peaceful and cool, though there were some that went a little too far.. the guy holding the Nazi flag with the anti walker sign was outside of the large group.
I saw maybe 8-10 tea partiers, all accompanied by marshals to make sure they weren’t bothered. The worst I saw was one guy marching with a pro walker sign 20 feet from anyone else get “You’re walking alone!!!” yelled at him by a lady before her friends shut her up.
It was good to go out there and support the unions in their fight to retain collective bargaining rights. I work in an industry where unions will never ever work, but I appreciate the work they’ve done on behalf of all workers.
Very few police were there, just at the corners and only a handful, with people telling them thanks for coming out.
All in all an awesome experience. I hope they can keep it up until the Senate/Walker gives in and removes the collective bargaining and no-bid contract language from the bill.
I hope it works, and if it doesn’t I think it’s started to wake up more people to the real class war going on.
El Cid
@Odie Hugh Manatee: 12 people on a streetcorner wearing tri-cornered hats and stapling teabags to their heads and yelling out the word “Constushun” merit headline news as a revolutionary force sweeping the nation, which is fed up with libruls and all the big gubmit spending.
Tens of thousands of workers and allies occupying state buildings, marching every day for over a week?
Well, aren’t those people interesting! Don’t they know we can’t afford their luxuries any more? After all, “we’re” all hurting, and just because I earn six figures at least in my national media position doesn’t mean I’m not one of the ordinary Americans outraged about spending!
joel hanes
The real action will be the recall campaigns.
If two or three of the WI Republican state senators vote for Walker’s bill and are successfully recalled within the year, it will profoundly change the political landscape. Politicians are quite adept at ignoring the voice of the public unless and until it threatens their careeers.
And if 2012 sees a successful recall of Walker himself, it will be a signal event, a shot heard in DC and in state capitols everywhere.
If any of you First Draft folk can tell us how an out-of-state-but-loves-Wisconsin liberal like me can contribute to the organization of the recall campaigns, I’d appreciate the information, and will disseminate.
I still thing that there’s a greater-than-even chance that Walker’s odioua bill will eventually pass the WI Senate and be signed into law. That would be an opportunity: a teachable moment in which millions of voters get to see what they’ve really been voting for. And such teachable moments can be leveraged into long-lasting political realignments.
Thanks to all of you who have stood and sung and carried signs, from one who wishes he could be there.
joel hanes
The real action will be the recall campaigns.
If two or three of the WI Republican state senators vote for Walker’s bill and are successfully recalled within the year, it will profoundly change the political landscape. Politicians are quite adept at ignoring the voice of the public unless and until it threatens their careeers.
And if 2012 sees a successful recall of Walker himself, it will be a signal event, a shot heard in DC and in state capitols everywhere.
If any of you Wisconsi folk can tell us how an out-of-state-but-loves-Wisconsin liberal like me can contribute to the organization of the recall campaigns, I’d appreciate the information, and will disseminate.
I still thing that there’s a greater-than-even chance that Walker’s odioua bill will eventually pass the WI Senate and be signed into law. That would be an opportunity: a teachable moment in which millions of voters get to see what they’ve really been voting for. And such teachable moments can be leveraged into long-lasting political realignments.
Thanks to all of you who have stood and sung and carried signs, from one who wishes he could be there.