John Nichol's account of the prospect of a Walker Recall

[Broca]

A pretty good read:

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_02549746-3262-50e1-8833-17ff333c92ef.html

[sybylla]

1. John Nichols is at his best when he's optimistic

His "bright side" articles always cheer me up.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[murielm99]

3. This is defeatist republican bs and it will not fly here.

[Sadena Meti]

4. It's a rational evaluation of the situation.

[Kashka-Kat]

18. You haven't been paying attention then. Walker is the gift that keeps on giving

Every week a new outrage. No one's going to "forget." If only! That's the problem you see, it doesn't end.

[undeterred]

5. Thats absurd.

People aren't going to forget something as awful as having their rights taken away, and having their economic futures dismantled. What Walker did and what he continues to due isn't trivial, as your post seems to suggest. People are deeply outraged, and the enthusiasm for the recall petitions shows just how outraged they are. By the time Walker's recall occurs there will be a Democratic majority in the Senate and a Democratic Governor in waiting who the people of Wisconsin love.

Walker has offended thousands of people who voted for him based on what he said during the campaign and not on all the bullshit he pulled out of his pocket in the first few weeks afterwards, bullshit that they weren't expecting. Plus everything that he did promise was a lie.

Evil may be tolerable to you, but it is not tolerable to the rest of us.

[54anickel]

6. Yep. My BIL and a cousin, both extremely active Republicans have pledged to sign for recall. There

was also a guy at the Budget Hearings in Fort Atkinson this week - staunch republican, comes from a long line of repubs with family active in the Heritage Foundation. He thanked Sen Miller for leaving the state to allow the time for people to read the bill. He is working with the pledge to recall Walker campaign, said he could not stand by what Walker's done and the tactics he's using.

[Sadena Meti]

7. I'm just laying it out for you...

He attacked and offended his enemies, those who hadn't voted for him (hence the exemption of the Fire and Police). All that did was make them hate him more. Do you think a single person who showed up for those massive protests actually voted for Walker?

Unions vote Democrat. Ask an average-non-union-Joe on the street what he thinks about unions and he'll say they get paid too much (when the reality is HE is getting paid too little).

We don't live in a pro-union state, country, or world anymore. Unions don't get sympathy from the masses (oh the irony, when they were part of the great movement to free the masses).

May Day may be right around the corner but by now the collective bargaining losses are out of the public's mind.

Now the cuts to school budgets might make an impact, because people on both side of the isle feel the effects of that. If their kid's class size gets larger because teachers are being let go, then maybe you might motivate someone to change their vote.

But like I said, it will take a LOT of campaigning (and money) to unseat Walker. Winning the recall is no certainty. If I had to put a number on it, I'd give you no more than 2 chances in 5.

[undeterred]

8. Evidently you didn't attend the protests or talk to anybody there.

Yes, there were quite a few union people who voted for Walker and were totally shocked when he came out with his anti-union attacks on collective bargaining within a few weeks after taking office. I was at the rallies every weekend, and I talked to plenty of people there who had voters remorse over having voted for Walker because they did not know how extreme he was. If you had been attending the protests and talking to people or even reading the newspapers you would know this. A lot of people changed their minds because Walker did things after getting into office that he never talked about during his campaign.

So, you really have your head in the sand on this one... maybe you better start following the story before you start making predictions.

[Sadena Meti]

9. I didn't attend the protests because I was being held against my will...

But I did follow the news (TV, Newspapers, Radio) like mad. I read every article in the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and never once did they quote a protester saying they voted for Walker. The only Walker voters they interviewed were the counter-protesters.

[PeaceNikki]

10. I met Walker voters at protests in Madison AND at recall efforts elsewhere.

3 were actually heading up recall efforts for reps they voted for. One said that he was 'sorry that he did and is trying hard to make up for it'.

ALL of them? Hell no. Not Waukesha County Republicans. But moderate independents and public sector families, for damn sure.

[Kashka-Kat]

19. Give me a break - you didnt read it in WSJ or JS so it must not be true??

FYI- most news media has a vested interest in playing up and inflaming conflict - thats what sells newspapers and gets lots of hits to their website.

I too met quite a few independents/ moderates up at the Square with same story - gov went too far, is too extreme & radical.

[murielm99]

12. There were republicans at the capitol who had signs

stating that they were sorry they had voted for Walker. I talked to prison guards and cops who are Republican no more.

I think the people of Wisconsin have been too deeply betrayed to let this go. Many of them will be taking home smaller checks because of his budget bill. That is not something people forget, when they see it every week or two in their checking accounts. Wisconsin is a proud state. They are proud of their schools, their universities, their hospitals and their progressive history. They will not allow this uneducated dolt and upstart to jeopardize their legacy and their future. Sometimes people do forget. But I don't believe it will happen this time.

[murielm99]

11. In your dreams.

[midnight]

13. Most of the electorate is just now finding out that this

high school drop out has sold them off to the koch heads.

[murielm99]

14. College drop out.

Although he is ignorant enough to be a high school dropout!

[Broca]

15. The required number

of signatures may be a grind to get but I would say there is over a 50% chance of a recall election. Whether it is then successful or not depends on who the Democrats run as a candidate. In either case it looks like history in the making and will come at a time when many Republican Candidates will be starting to gear up for their 2012 election campaigns. It will be interesting if it all plays out like this to see how closely they buddy up to Walker at that time.

[undeterred]

16. A lot depends what kind of momentum we have

from the recall elections of the state Senators going into the fall. If we manage to take over 5 or 6 seats in the Senate and install Democrats I would say that makes the likelihood of successfully recalling Walker very good. Those campaigns will serve to reinforce the reasons why Walker needs to be taken out of office.

[AleksS]

17. Another thing to consider is

Another thing to consider is how many people who didn't vote in 2010 WILL vote now. I seem to remmeber someone saying that it wasn't the people that voted for Walker that won him the election, but the people who stayed at home that otherwise would have voted against him. I think he's woken up quite a few of those people.

Time will tell, of course. I'd be more optimistic if Kloppenburg had been able to beat David "destroy-the-bitch" Prosser. You can bet Walker will have more $$$ behind him than ever (no individual donor caps in a recall election--what the f***????) so it'll take a world of work to make up that difference.

[Kashka-Kat]

20. And another thing! Dems should not mistake the success of the protests as being necessarily

support for mainstream Dem party business as usual which all too often does not act in our interests(eg numerous free trade agreements, Bush tax cuts, etc). I was shocked to learn that "labor" contributions comprise only 12% of Dem Party budget - sadly the corporate tentacles extend everywhere.


To ride the wave and win, we need good, strong populist pro-labor Dem candidates. Some of our homegrown Wis dems are thankfully "getting it" - theres a video on Youtube of Jenifer Schilling speech ( running against Kapanke in La Crosse area.) Yowza! I wished I lived in La Crosse so I could vote for her!