And They Shall Be Known By The Company They Keep

I don't know if it is born from their arrogance, thinking they are invulnerable, or if it is from their desperation, realizing for the first time in months that they aren't invulnerable, but the major Republican contenders in next weeks elections are making some really poor choices about whom they associate with.

David Prosser, who I heard described as the "gift that keeps on giving to Kloppenberg," is either filled with unbelievable hubris or desperation or just doesn't understand what the people of Wisconsin are thinking.

After he proves himself to be a belligerent old cuss, who likes to use the classic wife-beater defense of "she made me do it," Prosser decides to double down on the dumb.  Now he is campaigning with his good friend and colleague, Mike "Loophole" Gableman, the lying, racist justice, who is still tied up in his ethics violations case.

An interesting factoid is that the Prosser/Gableman tour appears to be only hitting Republican strongholds.  I will leave it to the gentle reader to figure out if this means that their base is the only ones that will accept them or if it means that they are in so much trouble that they need to shore up their base voters.

In the Milwaukee area, Jeff Stone isn't doing himself any big favors with whom he chooses to partner up with either.

First we learned that Stone has benefited from the muckraking of Republican operative Tim Russell, who is himself in the midst of an ongoing John Doe investigation into whether he was illegally campaigning for Scott Walker.

As if that wasn't a big enough blunder, we also learn that Stone has also hired on LaMonte Harris, and ex-con who has the stigma of having worked for the likes of Michael McGee and Gary George. The kicker of that story is Mr. Harris told them that they should check out his background, being straight up about his checkered past, and Team Stone never did even the basics regarding that.  It does put Stone's judgment into deep question.

Even though these examples show that these candidates have some questionable tastes in associates, they are probably not even the most damning.  What will ultimately prove to be the load stone around their necks that drags them down is that both of these men, Prosser and Stone alike, have chosen to sidle up to Scott Walker, whose popularity is in free fall as he continues to arbitrarily deny people their rights.

I am starting to think that we should be holding the First (and Only) Scott Walker Appreciation Dinner as a way of saying thanks for bringing the people together as never before and for giving us the inspiration for all the recall efforts and all the protests, and most of all, for giving us the motivation to go out and take our state back from him and his special interest buddies..