Governor Scott Walker: The Douchebag Who Brought Us Together
Talk about unintended consequences. Wisconsin’s teabagging governor had no idea what he was walking into. This was just supposed to be Step #513 in the Rightwing Master Plan to dismantle labor unions and shrink the middle class down to the size of a bathtub. It should have gone just as smoothly as the first 512 steps.
Wha’ Happened?
Kwai Chang Caine used to talk about a sapling that would bend and bend and bend, and finally snap back like a whip. After decades of helplessness, passivity, bending over and bending over again even further, again and again, the middle class has snapped back. Lash those motherfuckers!
As of this writing, there are about 70,000 protesters in Madison, WI. You’d think the Vietnam War was still raging. People are pissed, and they’re finally doing something about it. They’re mad as Hell and they’re not gonna take it any more.
Not all 70,000 of the protesters are pro-union, pro-middle class. As expected, the Koch Brothers have shipped in a few busloads of inbreds — complete with George Washington costumes and mis-spelled signs — to stage a “counter-demonstration.” But the teatards are vastly, hugely outnumbered by middle class workers who have finally gotten the message: Stand up and fight back — NOW!!! — or spend the rest of your life with your hands around your ankles.
Similar protests are taking place in Ohio, where the new rightwad governor is also trying to dismantle labor unions and eliminate the middle class.
The White House and the AFL-CIO are also getting involved. Karen Ackerman of the AFL-CIO said:
“I think it's a clear message. If you take on middle-class people and try to solve the budget crises on their backs, there's a price to pay. Many thousands of people will be energized to fight back.”
The AFL-CIO and the Teamsters are united for the first time since 2005. A former congressman from Michigan, David Bonior, said:
“There's nothing like the possibility of extinction to focus people's attention. They've got everything to lose here and they're either going to do something or they're not.”
As the Right’s favorite swashbuckling hero used to say: “If not now, when? If not us, who?”
Labels: AFL-CIO, David Bonior, Karen Ackerman, Koch Brothers, Madison WI protesters, Scott Walker
posted by Tom Harper @ 2:23 PM
21 Comments:
Just look at the forces that are the most rabid anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-bargaining rights, and the lines are clear. Fascists, Communists...and Republicans all need to suppress the people in order to hold power. This is nothing less than the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism.
On, Wisconsin! And onward, America!
Excellent rant. But that may be harsh. Just excellent I guess.
In my opinion, peaceful protest projects the perfect image of what America can be.
I saw where the Cheesehead Pharoah likened the protesters to drama queens when he said "It's more about theatrics than anything else."
Then I personally would like to see a re-enactment of The Towering Inferno and see them burn that fucking Wisconsin capitol building to the ground.
I find it interesting that the pundits on the Right are so concerned about income and benefit equality on the middle-class level but could care less when it comes to the rich. They're just playing us off against each other.
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln
The Republicans are clearly NOT the "Party Of Lincoln"
Let's hope this is just the beginning. I'm sure as hell ready.
Dave: Damn right "On Wisconsin!"
The lines have been drawn. Every union member versus a much smaller number of corporate crooks (and the inbreds who worship them). We'll see...
MRM: I'm glad everything has been peaceful so far. (Knock wood.)
Bee: That's the exact kind of theatrics the Wisconsin Pharaoh is asking for.
J: That's exactly what they're doing -- the time-honored strategy of Divide and Conquer.
Anonymous: Excellent quote from Lincoln. I think Republicans gave up calling themselves the "party of Lincoln" a long time ago. It hasn't passed the smell test for the past several decades.
jadedj: I sure hope it's just the beginning. If it fizzles out, we're all toast.
Keep in mind that the right have always been traditional enemies to labor, whether it's fairness to hiring to the minimum wage to unions. This just seems to echo it.
I have yet to see a proposal to make the rich pony up their fair share.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in conservatives who run for government jobs, then appoint their friends for more government jobs turn around and join the teabaggers in calling the government the problem?
If public employees are such parasites, get rid of them, contract out to Halliburton and you will never have any problems again.
Erik
Pastor Martin Niemoller said,
First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the aliens, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't an alien.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Egypt Walker!!!!
I apologize for not yet knowing how to put working links in my comments, but I think this fellow has the right idea (please cut and paste this into your browser and read the article):
http://www.truth-out.org/what-conservatives-really-want67907
What the GOP is doing in Wisconsin goes way beyond simple economics and union-busting. The GOP has bigger plans than that... this is just a start.
Spend the rest of our lives with our hands around our ankles, indeed!
Pharaoh Walker and Czar Kashitch I thought that their hordes of inbreds were bigger in number than they actually are. That's what happens to you when you start believing your own bullshit.
Erik: To the Right, the rich paying their share equals "class warfare." Wisconsin's budget crisis was caused by a huge tax cut that Walker pushed through as soon as he got elected. And now they "need" to balance the budget on the backs of people who work for a living.
Yes, those same public employees could be doing their same jobs for Halliburton at ten times their current salaries, and the rightwads would think it was just fine.
Vigilante: That poem is very apt right now. If people think, "oh, that's just labor unions, I don't have anything to worry about" -- another group will be next.
Snave: Chilling article. These protests in Wisconsin really are the line in the sand. I think it'll end up being Waterloo for one side or the other. I hope it's Waterloo for the oligarchs and not us.
JR: I hope this is "the hubris before the fall" for the Far Right.
Unions have turned into nothing more than a political party of thugs eating out of the public trough while the non union people get stuck with the bill while having to pay their own obligations that the unions get for free.
Good parroting skills. That's exactly what Rush O'Hannity told you to say, and you got it letter perfect.
Amen, Tom. If I was that stupid I'd post "anonymous" too."
correction-Public Unions
Aww, Isn't that cute? Another pathetic voice of fascism hiding in anonymity. Fascists may be thugs and bullies, but they really are cowards.
I passionately hope this is some kind of a turning point, but wouldn't bet big money on it.
I do hope a lot of Wisconsin people who voted for Walker have gotten a belly full of him in the less than two months he's been governor. I read one of the law enforcement unions there said if they had it to do over again, they wouldn't back him.
Hah! Anonymous is so confused, he's calling Republicans and Tea Party stooges Unions — no, make that Public Unions (sic).
This comment has been removed by the author.
It seems kind of sad that the best they could come up with to astro-turf the "counter-protest" Was a bunch of rednecks with miss-spelt signs.
I miss the days when they were obvious party operatives in Brooks Brothers suits.
Post a Comment
<< Home