Ah, well then I’d agree. You don’t need wholesale blood-in-the-streets revolution, but perhaps you need at least the fear of it.
I was thinking more along the lines of FDR than Teddy Roosevelt though.
Alstein
1942
FDR had different problems, though ones that could happen again here. There aren’t many Americans who want to emulate China though.
Houngan
1943
You’re saying we need Japan to attack us?
H.
Nah, for proper Keynesian stimulus you’d really want a good-sized invasion from outer space.
Alstein
1945
Looks like the Dems only got 2 out of 6 in WI yesterday. Not what I expected, but it’s not a victory when you lose people.
That is too bad, but I assume since those districts elected those Republican Senators in the first place, they were Republican leaning districts so replacing all six was always a pipe dream.
The true test will be the next general election.
When dems were talking over and over about how they would retake the WI senate and didn’t, yes that could be considered a victory for the republicans.
Of the two Republican Senators who lost, one loss was directly attributable to the Senator’s troubles for having an affair with a 25-year old staffer; the other was in a district Obama won by 20+ points.
Depending on the point of view and expectations of any given person, you’re right.
I’m also a little surprised they didn’t grab another, but too much so as the fervor seems to have died down quite a bit on the national level. Still, as I understand it there were tons of dollars flowing into campaigns from both sides so there was likely at least some raised level of interest and participation than normal (no data on hand to back that up, however).
It was a big victory for the Republicans, especially considering they held onto perhaps the most prized seat - Roberta Darling’s north Milwaukee area seat. An estimated $9 million was spent on this race if you include all the outside interest group ads. That’s an obscene amount for a state senate race. On Saturday, my wife and I counted 6 commercials, 3 on each side, for this race during one commercial break on the local news.
The Dems’ strategy for this race (and reportedly it was the same for all the others) baffled me. The issue that got this whole thing started, that got everybody ginned up was the collective bargaining issue. But the Dems didn’t mention it even once during the entire campaign. Yes, they said Darling was a Walker puppet, that she was against workers, but that was a far as it got: allusions. Instead, they relied on a fear campaign: that Darling wants to end Medicare as we know it. Never mind that, as a state legislator, Darling has no say over Medicare policy whatsoever. I guess they were counting on the voters to be stupid. Whatever they were thinking, it didn’t impress the voters in Darling’s suburban Republican strongholds. Their heavy turnout more than cancelled out the Dems’ city strength.
So the Dems have a two-seat pickup going into next week’s Democratic recall election. It’s possible, though unlikely, that they could give back one of the seats they gained. That would simply be a disaster for the Dems.
In any case, despite the brave face the Democrats are naturally putting on it, yesterday’s results put a real damper on their plans to recall Walker next year. Of course, a lot can happen in a year, and the Dems are going to need something to rekindle the enthusiasm.
This bugged me too. Seems like you should have to campaign on what the dust up was about in a recall situation like that. It’s not like a general election, there was a key issue that got people all riled up – so isn’t that what they should be talking about?
I did like how the MPS teachers union was making a strong case FOR Walkers changes by refusing to reopen contracts (they signed in a hurry before Walker got into office, out of fear) and give concessions on the pension & health care contributions (Remember how all the unions said they’d do that – just don’t take the union away!) to prevent layoffs of hundreds of teachers and they flat out refused. But they’re willing to negotiate! No really! Just don’t stop the automatic payment of dues!
Yeah, yeah, without Walker’s cuts to municipalities aid they wouldn’t have to agree to any payment toward health care and pension. Evil scott walker, wanting to balance the budget without drastically cutting services opted for having government workers pay a fraction of what most of the working world pays for retirement & medical coverage. BURN HIM. Or whatever.
wahoo
1952
Stopping High Speed rail was smart, so breathe a sigh of real in Wisconsin.
California’s cost estimate have doubled in 3 years and expected to go higher. That’s an impressive cost and not sure it meets the benefits, which is leading to many politicians to call for a whole review of the project.
Except that he’s still doing rail upgrades, he just doesn’t get federal funding for it.
SMART.
Yeah, this is getting ridiculous. We’re laying off teachers left and right and are actually thinking about spending $10-$13 billion to build the first phase of this project, which will finally solve the congestion problem between Merced and Bakersfield.
I think this may be the Waterloo moment for the current California legislative process. Trying to shove a massive public works project through while we can’t even bring ourselves to extend tax hikes for a couple years kind of defines where we’ve been at in California for a long time, but the scale being talked about here will hopefully make people take a look at how things (don’t) work and maybe jump-start talk about a sorely-needed constitutional convention.
A Wisconsin postscript: The special prosecutor decided not to bring any charges in the state Supreme Court choking incident. This didn’t surprise me, as I thought that the whole affair, while really embarassing for any citizen of this state, didn’t seem like the kind of episode that would result in criminal prosecution.
Also today, the president of the AFL-CIO said the organization hasn’t decided whether it will spend any money on the recall Gov. Walker effort next year. I read this as pretty much a statement that they won’t. They spent $11 million on the state senate recall elections and didn’t get much to show for it. They will probably decide that their money will be better spent on the scheduled elections in 2012.
Interesting Dueling OP Ed pieces in today’s Washington Post
George Will trolls like a champion today.
Greg Sargent takes the bait.
Yeah, to be clear: Wisconsin has a little more than 5.5 million people in it. More than one million apparently signed the recall petition. In an age of voting where apathy is still par for the course, that is truly epic.
As an aside, anyone interested on riding a populist wave into the Governor’s office with a D attached to their name should apply now at the Wisconsin DNC.
I’ll celebrate when he’s staked in the coffin. Remember the GOP edged those judicial elections when Walker loathing seemed so intense.
