The Rude Pundit: A Few Brief Observations on the Wisconsin Recall Failure

[meegbear]

1. It was a failure. By nearly any measure (other than the mostly symbolic state senate victory), the recall election of Scott Walker was an abject failure. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise, who tries to sell a narrative of "one step at a time" or "we unified people in the effort," is trying to convince you that it's okay to nail the whore with the mouth sores. It is a lie to say anything other than "It was a failure."

2. Accepting our failures does not mean that we cannot learn from them. For, yes, yes, the lessons are clear and they ought to be mighty kicks in the head to the Democratic Party.

3. For one, shitloads of money will win. We knew this, but we still clung to the perverse notion that unified people can overcome shitloads of money. The fact that Walker and Republican interests outspent Tom Barrett nearly 10 to 1, with 70% of the pro-Walker funding coming from people like Karl Rove and the Koch brothers is just another clear example that the Citizens United decision was merely a pretext for rich conservatives to flood the zone with cash. It can work on our side - remember, Barack Obama kicked John McCain's ass with fundraising. But the world is different now, and wealthy Democrats will have to construct a machine that's stronger than the bulldozer of the right.

4. Democrats can't unify worth shit. No, it's not that the President needed to campaign in Wisconsin, but howzabout Biden? Howzabout someone with some authority behind them that's not David Axel-fucking-rod? Howzabout spending a little time educating the many people in Wisconsin who didn't sign the recall petition as to why the recall was a good thing, since exit polls showed that most badger-humpers didn't want it in the first place? Jesus, howzabout a small demonstration that the union vote shouldn't be taken for granted?

5. We have to nut up and go after them with a savagery that would make a tiger shark shit itself. How bad does it have to be? You might have read about or seen Barrett condemning Walker for a particularly harsh ad. Did you check out the actual ad about crime in Milwaukee?

A blurred photo of a dead two year-old? That's some terrible shit. And it didn't appall people enough to turn against Walker. No, it worked. So we have to be at least that brutal. And don't be a pussy and say that we shouldn't stoop to their tactics. You use the tactics that succeed or you lose.

6. But, really, at the end of the day, it all comes down to shitloads of money.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[Larkspur]

1. Walker had millions early on and started advertising at the beginning of this year, so he was able..

to frame the recall, the unions and eventually the Democrats the way he wanted with no challenge, except from Ed Schultz & co.

Money, yes is needed, but also when it is needed.

[nenagh]

4. MSM seems to say that the Recall was not considered "fair" by a percentage of voters...

So I wonder was that a specific topic of the negative ads.... or perhaps on Right Wing radio...

I can't understand that viewpoint myself...

[Larkspur]

2. And 1 more thing, the next time some anti-Dem left winger says we need to take to the streets...

we can tell them that we did in WI but it didn't work.

There are a lot of factors involved in the WI recall race and they will be debated for a long time. Campaigns are complex and unpredictable events, even when our side is fired up.

[truebrit71]

9. I'm sorry but what is an "anti-Dem left-winger"?

???

[shcrane71]

3. It's really time for new leadership in Democratic circles.

This means at the state and county level as well as the national level. This was absolutely pathetic, and a squandering of a grassroots GIFT to retake a state. It's really as if Dems at the national level didn't want Wisconsin back.

Things that make you go hmmmm...

[Gregorian]

5. I think it's much simpler than that.

No amount of money can con intelligent voters. What we are seeing is 50 years of dumbing down of the population. Thanks to a number of things, we have grown apathetic and stupid. And by "we", I mean enough of the people that the money does indeed work.

I always knew that people who ate at McDonald's were stupid. I am sure many here will be offended by that. But the truth is, if one is smart and aware, they take care of their body, and their community. We've made huge progress in areas that were obviously poisonous. Like nicotine and hard liquor. But not when it comes to propaganda and sustaining a good educational system. We're zombies with seatbelts and airbags now. Everyone's safe and stupid. Not everyone, but enough that the Walkers can win.

Now we're in a corner with a gun to our face. First we have to disarm them. Then we have the slow generational job of learning. And there's a real chance that that may never happen. I'm thinking Idiocracy.

When I see the French rural areas, I still see culture and quality. I've lived in enough rural areas in America to know that there are metropolitan areas, and then cultural emptiness. We just don't know any better.

[Bake]

6. The thing is, there are damn few "intelligent voters."

There are TONS of dumbasses. Including Democrats who are easily fooled.

The Rude One nailed it.

Bake

[Dustlawyer]

7. The Unions need to inform the dumbass members who voted for Walker (35% of them)

why voting Republicon is such a stupid idea.

[truebrit71]

11. Any Union member that voted FOR Walker needs their fucking head examined...

..that makes as much sense as a chicken voting FOR Col. Sanders...

[cadaverdog]

12. The dirty little secret about unions is

many in their membership find belonging to a union beneath them. They see themselves as somehow above the union rank and file and only belong because it is a requirement of employment. They are waiting for their day to join the upper class, where they know they truly belong, but for now they will suffer the indignity of union membership, but will not actively participate in membership.

Want to know how many of your union "brothers" are really serious about the union? Call a meeting of the general membership and see who shows up. Call a strike and see who walks a picket line, and watch how they act on the line. Are they truly active picketers, or just going through the motions, hoping that management won't see them carrying that damn sign?

Anyway, you get my drift. "Union" has become a bad word in today's America, and as has been mentioned, it all has to do with education. Check the numbers: the middle class decline of the last forty years is in direct correlation to the decline of unions in America. Coincidental? I think not. [link:http://geniusofinsanityworld.blogspot.com/2011/10/middle-class-decline-is-directly.html|

But of course, I'm preaching to the choir. I am, aren't I?

[Iwillnevergiveup]

8. Agree with folks

who say education is key. Here's a quote from another one of Rude's columns which can be found at his same blogspot - just scroll down a bit.

"This compare/contrast essay was prompted by an editorial in today's Washington Post by Matt Miller. In a thoughtful, ambitious piece, Miller avoids blanket condemnation of teachers' unions and instead focuses on a part of the puzzle that doesn't get as much attention: the actual way in which America gets teachers. Miller offers the shocking heresy that "The top performing school systems in the world have strong teachers unions at the heart of their education establishment." The difference is that "[t]he chief educational strategy of top-performing nations such as Finland, Singapore and South Korea is to recruit talent from the top third of the academic cohort into the teaching profession and to train them in selective, prestigious institutions to succeed on the job."

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. Yup. We are the Citizen$ United (bought) $tate$ of America.

It is the shitloads of money. Period.

[chervilant]

13. Might we end partisan bickering?

Might it help if we could work together, Democrat and Republican alike, to salvage our democracy?

Independent, non-partisan polling data--gathered over the course of 20 years--proves that, on issue after issue, a majority of Americans agree with Progressives--and have for decades. We Progressives focus our energy on healing our nation, and protecting *ALL* citizens from *ALL* threats, both foreign and domestic. Might we focus our energies on the progressives among us--regardless of party affiliation?

*ANYONE* among us who comes from a space of hatred and resentment is like Sisyphus pushing his proverbial boulder up the mountainside every day. Like Sisyphus, haters think they are making progress, only to find that their massive hatred rolls them back down into the depths of darkness and despair. Consider the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Are not these pitiable haters insane?

Are not the corporate megalomaniacs--who've usurped our media, our politics and our global economy--haters? Are not the corporate megalomaniacs--who've usurped our media, our politics and our global economy--insane?

Last, but not least: do our political parties du jour represent us? Are they responding to the needs of our citizenry, or are they promoting the agenda of a select few? Might we stop the partisan bickering and advocate for recovering our political process from the vile and insane hate- and fear-mongering corporatists?