The De-Evolution of the Republican Party

Campaigns should not be coordinating with dark money donors

By Jeff Simpson 

Cross Posted from JSonline:

Gov. Scott Walker was correct when he called the rash of news stories about the latest John Doe investigation a "media frenzy." The first John Doe resulted in six criminal prosecutions, and in the midst of the second John Doe, Appeals Court Judge Frank Easterbrook ordered the release of a small batch of documents related to the latest investigation.

The highlight of the document release was part of an email Walker had sent to Karl Rove, former top adviser to President George W. Bush. In the email, Walker tells Rove that his longtime campaign strategist, R.J. Johnson, would be coordinating between an unlimited number of right-wing groups to help make sure that they were going to be successful in the recall elections. There is not much question whether the Walker campaign coordinated with these different groups. However, there is doubt as to the legality of such coordination.

Do we as a society, in our constitutionally limited democratic republic, just wait until a current lifetime-appointed judge gives us his all-too-predictable ruling on the matter, or do we demand more out of our public servants?

There are two kinds of people who believe that money in politics is not a problem: the people receiving the money and the people who are not paying attention. The two major parties and their respective supporters spent as much as $60 million on the gubernatorial recall election in addition to spending almost $40 million in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Two men spent $100 million to battle for a job that pays $140,000 a year plus benefits. And we are supposed to trust these people with our state budget?

Do we continue to look the other way, while politicians spend massive amounts of money on ads (Walker is currently spending $245,000 on a TV ad campaign to run for over a week) while our children go hungry? In Wisconsin, the number of children on free and reduced-cost lunch has more than doubled in the last 10 years.

Our politicians understand the importance of keeping money out of politics, as they wrote it into our state statutes: "When the true source of support or extent of support is not fully disclosed, or when a candidate becomes overly dependent upon large private contributors, the democratic process is subjected to a potential corrupting influence."

Abraham Lincoln warned us that if we enthrone corporations, "an era of corruption in high places will follow." There is no higher place than our statehouse.

We also need to look at the silly claims that Johnson and Eric O'Keefe, head of Wisconsin Club For Growth, among others, have made. They assert that their First Amendment rights were violated due to the John Doe investigation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The First Amendment tells us that Congress shall make no law "abridging the freedom of speech." At no time have Johnson or O'Keefe lost their rights to free speech. They have the same rights that you and I do. What they have lost is the ability to collect unlimited amounts of anonymous money to use, with the collaboration of elected officials, to work together in coordination to get as many members of one party elected.

The question we have to ask is not whether Walker will face criminal charges. The question we need to ask as a society is: Do we want to outsource our elections and our politicians to a handful of multimillionaires? As Thomas Paine said, "a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."

No matter what the outcome of the second John Doe, it is wrong to have politicians collaborating with outside dark money groups. We need to start holding our elected representatives to a higher standard of ethics and personal responsibility.

Jeff Simpson of Cottage Grove is a small business owner, member of the Monona Grove School Board and Progressive blogger.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages!

 

By Jeff Simpson

Step Right Up!  Step Right Up! 

This Event will be playing one weekend only in Milwaukee, WI.  Presented by David and Charles Koch, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove!  3 days of craziness!  Get your tickets now, still plenty of good seats available!  Be a part of the craziest weekend in politics since 1861!  Possible appearance by General P.G.T. Beauregard(unconfirmed).  Visit www.confederacy.com  for complete details. 

Whatever you do, make sure you do NOT miss, the MAIN EVENT!    One day only on Saturday, the moment we have all been waiting for:

 

In Wisconsin, the party of Abraham Lincoln will be deciding this weekend whether it favors not only the right to secession but also the right to nullify federal laws.
Delegates at the state Republican convention are set to vote Saturday on a proposed resolution that directs lawmakers to push through legislation nullifying Obamacare, Common Core educational standards and "drone usage in the state of Wisconsin."
"Be it further resolved," the proposal concludes, "that we strongly insist our state representatives work to uphold Wisconsin's 10th Amendment rights, and our right to, under extreme circumstances, secede, passing legislation affirming this to the U.S. Federal Government."
Republican officials had confirmed that the so-called "state sovereignty" resolution made it onto the agenda for the convention, which is being held in Milwaukee beginning Friday. But the wording of the actual resolution had not been made public.
No Quarter was able to obtain a copy of the proposal, which offers a full-throated endorsement of the state's right to reject any federal law that it considers excessive.
Under the measure, lawmakers would be urged to push a bill "which would have the effect of nullifying specific federal laws and regulations which are outside the scope of the powers delegated by the People to the federal government in the Constitution."

Entertainment for children of all ages - PG - NE 
   

This is an event you will be able to tell your grandchildren about!   See you there! 

*PG-NE  = No need to worry there will be nothing educational coming from this program!   

What A Nice Sediment!

As is his wont, Scott Walker sent out his newsletter last Friday.

Included in that taxpayer-funded bit of campaign propaganda was the usual funny numbers on how supposedly wonderful the state budget is, even though the reality is a much different, sadder story.

Among the tripe, Walker included a little tribute to Abraham Lincoln:

Happy Birthday Abraham LincolnPresident Abraham Lincoln was a courageous leader whose vision for America continues to empower and inspire today.  His perseverance and commitment to duty and equality guided our nation through its darkest hour.  Our country continues to be a global example for freedom and equality because President Lincoln fought to preserve our nation and our founding principles—freedom and democracy for all.

Yes, I know. The hypocrisy is enough to make one nauseous.

Walker has done so much damage to equality and freedom in this state in the past three years that it will be decades to gain back what we lost, if we can ever get it back.  He's installed Jim Crow laws, trying to suppress minorities and the poor from voting.  He's attacked women's right, denying them freedom to make their own health care choices and cutting back the gains they had made in the past several decades.

But every time that Walker makes a little tribute to Lincoln, I can't help but think of the one he had written all by himself several years ago.  Oh, and it's pretty easy to see immediately that it was one he written by himself, without use of spellcheck or a proof reader.  From my previous post about this grammatical nightmare:

Walker the historian gives us a comment on Lincoln's most famous speech, and misspells a great man's name twice in the process:

"At (sic) his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln famously said, 'Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal' This was not just lip service, as evidenced from the words of contemporaries like Frederick Douglas (sic), former slave and early civil rights leader. Douglas (sic) said Lincoln was 'the first great man that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color.'"

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Walker's screed against the Democrats, disguised as a tribute to Lincoln, goes on to say, "This sediment (sic) that all men are is equal is evidenced in the Republican Party's current platform of equal taxes on all, and opportunity for all regardless of race, gender, or age ... Contrast that with the tenants (sic) of the (sic) Barack Obama and the Democrat (sic) party ... "

After reading that, don't you just feel so much more confident in his ability to lead the state and make decisions regarding our children's education?

Walker's Web of Deceit

By Jeff Simpson

“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar”
― Abraham Lincoln

H/T Jud Lounsbury 

Scott Walker, likes to say he loves public workers and has never said a bad word about them!





Scott Walker says a lot of things, unfortunately for the people of Wisconsin, most of them are not true.   This is not the exception.

In his upcoming book, he re-tells of a time that he cracked his staff up by reading the "Top Ten Ways to tell if you Might be a Member of a public sector union":

 

10.) You take a week off to protest in Wisconsin and your office runs better.

9.) On a snow day when they say “non-essential” people should stay home you know who they mean.

8.) You get paid twice as much as a private sector person doing the same job but make up the difference by doing half as much work.

7.) It takes longer to fire you than the average killer spends on death row.

6.) The worse you do your job, the more your boss avoids you.

5.) You think the French are working themselves to death.

4.) You know by having a copy of the Holy Koran on your desk your job is 100% safe.

3.) You spend more time at protest marches than at church.

2.) You have a Democratic congressman’s lips permanently attached to your butt.

1.) You pay more in union dues than you do for your healthcare insurance.

At some point, you would think that all of his lies would catch up to him and the good people of WI, would have had enough!

Right?

 “The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.”
― Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs

 

Bipartisanship Bollocks

 

By Jeff Simpson

Time for my rant of the day!

From Madison.com, Mary Burke's political Hero:   Lincoln!

Political role models

It’s no secret that Gov. Scott Walker’s political role model is former President Ronald Reagan, whom he met as a national delegate for Badger Boys State in the 1980s.
In 2011, Walker held up a photo of the Gipper when announcing to fellow Republicans his plan to “change the course of history” and curtail public sector collective bargaining. He later said Reagan’s firing of striking air-traffic controllers was “the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism, because from that point forward the Soviets and Communists knew that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a pushover.”
But what about Democratic challenger Mary Burke? The Madison School Board member and former state Commerce secretary and Trek Bicycle executive said this week her political role model is another former Republican president: Abraham Lincoln.
“He was president at an extremely difficult time,” Burke said. “He put holding our union together above all else and he did what was necessary to help keep that. I think a lot about that in Wisconsin. Not that we’re in the same situation, but I think it’s just an example of saying we are at our strongest when we work together, and that’s how we’ll move forward.”

One of my biggest pet peeves, is the false narrative that the media like to push that the crazy has been equal these last few years in Wisconsin.   The false equivalency narrative will go as far to give the republicans wins throughout the state as will the ridiculous gerrymandering of our districts.  This makes it seem as though both parties had major policy disagreements causing the split in Wisconsin.  Had the democrats just realized they lost and worked with republicans, the state would not be so divided! 

I believe to move this state Forward, we do need to work with Republicans.  I also believe that the republicans who serve in Madison are unable to be worked with.  With of course the exception of Dale Schultz, who exemplifies bipartisanship in Wisconsin.  Schultz, wanted to temper down ACT10 so they tricked him to being elsewhere when the vote was taken.  Schultz who when made a point of sitting down to talk with Democrats, had the quickest declared primary opponent in history.  The Republicans sent a very clear message, work with the democrats and you will no longer have a job.  

How many hundreds of amendments have been offered up by the Democrats and have not even been given the courtesy of a vote.  It has been so bad that when Democrats have offered up some amendments to clear up obvious holes in a bill, the republicans have voted it down on party lines, then rewrote the amendments with their names attached and passed them. 

When the people of Wisconsin pushed back against the original voucher school grab, the republicans got together and came up with a "compromise" bill.  In the room for this compromise was numerous lobbyists, and not a single Democrat. 

Let's not forget, how the Democrats get treated when they want to discuss a bill:

In the latest Wisconsin Budget process, which leaves Wisconsin borrowing more then any Governor in our history and huge structural deficit, the Democrats drafted over 200 amendments to try and bring the budget to the right, and away from the far far right extreme.  Before the session started, Robin Vos visited the Democratic caucus to let them know that any attempt to bring an Amendment to the floor would fail.  Vos let them know in very clear terms that their input was not needed or wanted in passing the budget for all of Wisconsin. 


The Partisan divide and crazy in this state belongs to one party!  The Wisconsin Republican party. 

To suggest any thing else does a great disservice to the people of Wisconsin and especially to the Democratic elected officials who have worked so hard in Madison, as part of the minority the past three years.

The elected Republican officials in Wisconsin own the divide in Wisconsin.   It was their strategy from the beginning.  Do not forget in a rare moment of Candor, Scott Walker told his boss this:

 So Mary Burke, I would ask you this:  Who in the republican party do you plan on sitting down and compromising with?  Robin Vos? Andre Jacque?  Steve Nass?  Scott Fitzgerald? Senator Howard Marklein?  Wild Bill Kramer?

Or better yet, which elected Democrats do you blame for us not being able to work with the republicans and Scott Walker?  

Lincoln, worked with people who disagreed with him but he also stood for something and did not compromise his values to do so.   He took on a big task and also stood strong with labor!  

 "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." Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

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

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin395631.html#8X8Xt5jCdGVg40H1.99

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

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin395631.html#8X8Xt5jCdGVg40H1.99

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

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin395631.html#8X8Xt5jCdGVg40H1.99

If you are going to work with modern day republicans in Wisconsin this Lincoln needs to be your role model!

BillO Didn't Write That!

BY Jeff Simpson

H/T Media Matters.

Fox news blowhard and loofa lover Bill O'Reilly recent book called Killing Lincoln has been a best seller, Which led to BillO also writing Killing Kennedy and has just announced he is will be writing the third in his series called Killing Jesus.

As the right wing website - Newsmax points out, it seems that BillO is following in the footsteps of an actual author -  Jim Bishop, a veteran newspaperman who once reported for the New York Daily News and later was a syndicated columnist.

The late Jim Bishop, a veteran newspaperman who once reported for the New York Daily News and later was a syndicated columnist, saw his book "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" become a runaway best-seller in 1955.
A series of similar-themed books followed, with Bishop penning "The Day Christ Died" in 1957 and then in 1968 "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" — a minute-by-minute account of JFK's 1963 shooting in Dallas.
Perhaps his most critically acclaimed book, "FDR'S Last Year," came out in 1984.
The parallels with O'Reilly are uncanny.
In 2011 O'Reilly penned a book about Lincoln, "Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever." The book, co-authored with Martin Dugard, became a New York Times best-seller with more than 5 million copies sold.
Last October, O'Reilly and Dugard followed up with "Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot," which debunks many of the conspiracy myths holding that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in the assassination of the president.
It too became an instant best-seller, and in fact remains No. 1 on Amazon.com in several categories.
Now O'Reilly has announced that, like Bishop, he will write a book about Jesus Christ. Titled "Killing Jesus," it will recount the life and times of Jesus and the Christian legacy he left behind.

 

No word yet on when Billo will be penning a series of novels that he has come up with about the adventures of an orphaned boy wizard who goes off to Wizard school.    

In a side note, it seems that the Ford's Theatre gift shop will NOT be selling BillO's book, due to "lack of documentation and factual errors".   

Who knew?  

Romney Edits Reality!

Here is the real quote from President Obama

If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be ‘cause I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

 Let me tell you something. There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.

Yet as Greg Sargent Points out, Romney is out with a HEAVILY edited video. After the reality of who Mitt is as a person started to hit home, the republicans only chance is to alter reality.  Here is their attempt and its failing!     

As for what President Obama said, not only is he correct, he is not the first person to say so! Benjamin Franklin understood it at the birth of our Constitutionally limited democratic republic:

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

 Abe Lincoln echoed Franklin:

  "Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of equal rights of men, as I have, in part, stated them ours began, by affirming those rights. They said, some men are too ignorant, and vicious, to share in government. Possibly so, said we; and, by your system, you would always keep them ignorant, and vicious. We proposed to give all a chance; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant, wiser; and all better, and happier together."³ 

Thom Hartmann ties it all up nicely here: