I was just thinking about it. My limited knowledge of WI and MN suggested that these were democratic strongholds and I erroneously thought a recount would bring the Dems back. It seems that the American public can be swayed with gimmicks, including money!
Anthony On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 7:30 PM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > [somehow, the normally talkative pen-l has ignored the defeat in > Wisconsin. Any comments on the following?] > > A Brutal Night in Wisconsin > > By Matthew Rothschild, June 6, 2012 [from the PROGRESSIVE] > > Tuesday night was a brutal, brutal night for progressives in Wisconsin. > > I was stuck in a local TV studio watching the dismal returns roll in, > and it felt like someone was kicking me in the teeth over and over > again. > > After a historic uprising in February and March of 2011, after months > and months of organizing for this recall, when all is said and done, > Scott Walker remains governor of Wisconsin. > > He even won by a bigger margin this time than last. In 2010, he beat > Tom Barrett 52-47 percent, with a 125,000-vote surplus. This time, he > beat Barrett 53-46, with a 173,000-vote surplus. Walker got 202,000 > more votes than last time; Barrett got 154,000 more than last time, > but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly. > > Here are some of the reasons why Walker won. > > 1. Money > > Money can’t buy you love, but it sure can buy you power. Walker raised > seven-to-ten times as much money as Barrett did. The governor > collected six-figure checks from a rogue’s gallery of the far right: > Bob Perry of Swift Boat infamy gave $500,000. Sheldon Adelson gave > $250,000, Richard Devos gave $250,000, Foster Friess gave $100,000. > > A wrinkle in Wisconsin campaign finance laws, which allows for > unlimited contributions to a candidate between the time recall papers > are filed and the day that the election formally gets scheduled, gave > Walker four and a half months to sit on the lap of every rightwing > roofer in Missouri (two of whom gave him $250,000 checks), every > conservative Wall Street financier, every reactionary Texas oilman > that he could find. > > On top of that, the Koch Brothers poured in millions through their > front groups, and the RNC funneled money in, as did other Republican > organizations. > > Few commentators have noticed that Walker essentially won the election > from mid-November to the end of March, when he had absolute air > supremacy. In early November, he had a negative approval rating of 58 > percent. By June, his positive approval rating was 51 or 52 percent. > He flipped these numbers around by running ads on the airwaves all > winter long, from Thanksgiving through the Super Bowl and right up to > the Democratic primaries. Even on the night of those primaries, he was > on the air bashing Tom Barrett. > > And in the last month, Walker’s ads were everywhere, all over the TV > and even on progressive radio stations. > > 2. The DNC and White House went AWOL. > > The rightwing moneymen and the Republican Party understood the > importance of the election. The Koch Brothers saw it as an opportunity > to score a decisive blow against organized labor. “What Scott Walker > is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important,” > David Koch said in February. “If the unions win the recall, there will > be no stopping union power.” And Reince Preibus, head of the RNC, > said, “Anything Scott Walker needs from the RNC, Scott Walker’s going > to get from the RNC.” > > By contrast, the DNC was stingy, and Barack Obama couldn’t find > Wisconsin with GPS and a flashlight. Hell, he was in Minneapolis on > Friday and didn’t even bother to drive across the Mississippi to set > foot in Wisconsin. He never showed up. Neither did Joe Biden. All > Obama did was send a tweet on election morning. How pathetic! > > Tom Barrett was hung out to dry. The only high-profile person from out > of state who campaigned hard for him was [Rage Against the Machine's] > Tom Morello. > > 3. Recall was unpopular > > In the exit polls, 60 percent of Wisconsin voters said recall should > be used only for “misconduct” in office, and not for other reasons. > The statute doesn’t specify under what circumstances an elected > official can be recalled. Back in 1910, Fighting Bob La Follette said > recall should be used when an elected official is guilty of > “misrepresentation and betrayal,” which Walker certainly was. He never > told the citizenry in 2010 that he was going to “drop a bomb” on > organized labor or “divide and conquer.” He never told the citizenry > that he was going to gouge public education by $1.6 billion, or make > it more difficult to vote, or wage a war on women, or despoil the > environment. But that’s what he did. > > Yet many voters were uncomfortable with kicking him out for this. I > spoke with voters in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, last Friday and some of > them disagreed with Walker on a few of these policies but didn’t > believe he should be recalled because of them. This sentiment turned > out to be a common one. > > 4. Walker was a strong candidate > > As much as I can’t stand the man, Walker proved to be a formidable > candidate. He stayed on message. He was a pesky debater. He was > unflappable. He cultivated a down-to-earth image with his jacket off > and his shirtsleeves rolled up and his aw-shucks demeanor. And he said > two plus two equals five with a straight face and basset eyes. Even as > he had the worst jobs record of any governor in the country, he talked > about how great he was creating jobs, and when the numbers weren’t in > his favor, he wheeled out different numbers. Brazen, yes, but it > worked. > > Tom Barrett, for his part, ran a much more caffeinated campaign than > last time, and he acquitted himself well in the debates. In defeat, he > was gracious, as he is in every circumstance. He can hold his head up > high. > > But this was never about Tom Barrett, as my colleague Ruth Conniff > noted yesterday. > > It was always about standing up for labor rights, public education, > women’s rights, the social safety net, and the environment. It was > about standing up for the idea of a decent community. It was about > defending the progressive tradition of Wisconsin. > > My heart goes out to all the new activists over the last 16 months who > shouted their lungs out, who paraded around the capitol square in > Madison in the freezing cold last February and March and did so with > joy, with creativity, with ingenuity, with inventiveness, with > playfulness. > > My heart goes out to all those who sat in at the capitol in a historic > two-week occupation, and who handled themselves with dignity. > > My heart goes out to the 30,000 petition circulators who gathered a > million signatures in the dead of winter in every county of Wisconsin. > > My heart goes out to the Solidarity Singers, who, every single working > day for the past sixteen months, have been in the capitol at noon > defiantly and amusingly and creatively giving voice to all of us who > have a vision of a more humane state. > > Do not give up. Progress is not linear. It doesn’t come in a day, or a > month, or a year, or in a single campaign. But it comes. > > We’ve survived huge setbacks before. Young Bob La Follette, who took > over for his father in the U.S. Senate and had a distinguished > two-decade career there, lost in a primary in 1946 to a fellow named > Joe McCarthy. That, too, was a brutal night for Wisconsin. > > But we survived McCarthyism. And we will survive Walkerism. > > If this election proves anything, though, it proves the need for > campaign finance reform. We must get money out of politics or we will > have no hope for real democracy in Wisconsin or in America. > > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies and Research Director Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshavens 24B, 3.78 DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Ph: +45 3815 2572 *GLOBALIZATION AND ECONOMIC NATIONALISM IN ASIA **http://tinyurl.com/borq932 **A NEW INDIA?* <http://www.anthempress.com/index.php/a-new-india-1.html>* http://www.anthempress.com/pdf/9780857285041.pdf* http://uk.cbs.dk/arc http://www.thisismodernindia.com/this_is_modern_india_about_us.html xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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