The Silly Season Has Begun & The GOP Thinks You Are Dumb

By Jeff Simpson

Now that both the D and R conventions are over, the silly season of political campaigns has officially begun.  This year starts out a bit differently because there are two races (June 12) right off the bat. 

It also reminds me instantly of one of my biggest pet peeves.  When pundist/politicians/media etc... tell us that candidates "want to get their issues out"  or after an election when the winner says " the voters agreed with our issues".  An issues based campaign these days, is as rare as a true statement from The Donald. 

There is no better example than the special election between Ann Grove Lloyd (D) and Jon Plumer (R) in the 42nd District.

The Repubs are running what might be the worst written and acted TV Commercial ever (Guiness is reviewing it) where the whole idea, as far as anyone can tell, is that Plumer's opponent is a socialist who wished she lived in North Korea.

"She's really extreme, said she's a socialist and that she thinks that the United States are terrorist and that we're like North Korea," a woman pictured in the RACC ad says to a friend. 

The proof that Lloyd has a poster up of Kim Jung Un, is based on Ms. Lloyd supposedly liking a tweet by John Nichols(true story).   The problem with that is her tweets are protected, and as someone who is "friended" by her on Twitter, I can not find the tweet referenced in the ad. 

For those of you scoring at home, the ad that Republican Plumer kicked off his campaign with, is an ad to make us fear  his opponent that is based off of a tweet she supposedly 'liked' but there is no evidence that that actually happened. 

Yes anyone who votes for Plumer really agrees with him on the issues. 

But wait there is more.  A GOP dark money group has been running ads for Republican Kevin Nicholson, who wants to take on Tammy Baldwin.   

The theme they are running is that some of the most respected people in GOP history have switched from Democratic affiliation to Republican(Nicholson was a Democrat in college).  The ad mentions Ronald Reagan, and then the Governor of Missouri. 

Quick aside as to who the Governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens is.   Greitens switched from Democrat to Republican because

“All of those things made me a conservative, not by birth but by conviction.”

Speaking of conviction:

 ST. LOUIS, MO — St. Louis prosecutors on Friday charged Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens with a felony for using a charity donor list for his 2016 political campaign, adding to the woes of the first-term Republican governor who responded by calling it another effort to "smear" him.
The charge of tampering with computer data is in addition to an earlier charge alleging Greitens took and transmitted a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015. The new charge accuses Greitens of obtaining the donor list without permission from The Mission Continues, a St. Louis-based charity that Greitens founded. He previously paid a small fine to the state Ethics Commission for failing to report the list as a campaign contribution.

It is actually a good comparison for Nicholson, because Scott Walker's good friend Eric Greitens recently resigned.  Like Greitens, Nicholson is not an elected official and never will be.   

 But wait....there is more! 

Back to Jon Plumer.  The Republicans just sent a mailing to everyone in his district, with the tired old line(forgetting actual issues again) of Ann Groves Lloyd will take your guns. 

 

When you have tea and krumpets with The Un's on a regular basis, of course you do not believe in the Constitution.  Luckily Ms. Groves has a voter list, so she knows where to go to confiscate everyones guns. 

Anyway, if anyone actually reads this garbage mailing, they will be sure to vote on June 15. 

The election is June 12. 

The Republican Assembly Campaign Committee is run by Jenny Toftness.   You can forgive Ms. Toftness for this glaring and blatant mistake, it is not like she has held major jobs in the past or is an English major. 

D'oh:

Toftness used to be chief of staff for Speaker Robin Vos(checking to see if her husband made her leave the clutches of Robin Vos and his penchant for married women)  and graduated in 2002 from UW- Madison with an English major.    

The Republicans lack of any effort for facts, or even clarity shows how little they respect their voters.  They know that if they can just show you that the Democrats are the enemy you will run to the polls in fear and keep them in charge. 

Maybe it is time if you are an R voter to take a look in the mirror and demand respect and accountability from your elected officials! 

Edit note:  In Assembly District 42, both candidates are from Lodi, WI - population 3050.  Together, they have spent over $200,000 to try and win this seat that pays about $50,000/yr. 

In a small town in WI, that recently passed a five year operating referendum for $1.7 million/yr, this kind of money would make a huge difference in communities like theirs. 

We really need to get money out of politics! 

PSS:  In light of all of this, PLEASE vote for Ann Groves Lloyd on June 12! 

Sykes Stab At Shifting His Stripes Doesn't Work

By Jeff Simpson

“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

In a recent puff piece by Politico, Charlie Sykes has been given the chance to rewrite history in his career of dog whistling and flat out racism.  

Sykes’ many arguments with listeners over Donald Trump’s serial outrages have exposed in much of his audience a vein of thinking—racist, anti-constitutional, maybe even fascistic—that has shaken Sykes. It has left him questioning whether he and his colleagues in the conservative media played a role in paving the way for Trump’s surprising and unprecedented rise.

 Wonder whether Charlie and his colleagues have had anything to do with racism? Wonder no further, the answer is a resounding YES.   

The preeminent political pundit of our time Charley Pierce hits the nail on the head:

Just. Please. Shut. The. Hell. Up.Just asking that question marks Sykes as either a charlatan or a fool, and my money's on the former. Sykes knew damn well who his "allies" were when he was calling the First Lady "Mooch," or when he was calling a black man who'd died in police custody "a piece of garbage," and when he referred to "the pigs of mothers who are too lazy to put their children in a crib and roll over the top of them while sleeping on a futon on the floor."Sykes knew who his "allies" were when, as Milwaukee's Shepherd Express reported, he aired a blackface rap parody.It features a young, black woman calling herself Chapter Jackson, who acts out every racist stereotype of poor, black, single mothers that bigoted audiences find hilarious. Ms. Jackson is knee-deep in black babies in a house full of women slutted up like prostitutes while she writhes and raps that her life is a constant party paid for by taxpayers. She repeats the obscene refrain: "All you have to do is f— and nine months later you get in the big bucks."Yeah, he's known all along who his "allies" are. Once again, Trump is merely the modern Republican party without its interior monologue.

Charley P was not alone though, No More Mister Nice Blog joined the party.   NMMNB mined Sykes twitter feed where he came up with some gems like this one, where he points out that Sykes and Trump are simpatico.

Megyn Kelly: Why hasn’t Obama commented on the killing of Kate Steinle by an illegal? - Hot Air http://t.co/P3xjT2DoCr

— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) July 13, 2015

But wait there is more.  Who(besides the author of the Politico puff piece) could forget this piece from the New Republic in 2014.

Sykes is credited with, among other accomplishments, having blocked public funding for needle-exchange programs and having helped drive into bankruptcy an urban mall after harping on security issues there. In April 2013, he played a clip of “It’s Free (Swipe Yo EBT),” a viral video produced by a right-wing activist in which an African American woman raps about liquor stores where one can allegedly use a food-stamp card. Returning to the same theme later in the year, Sykes declared, “The number of Americans who receive means-tested government benefits— welfare—now outnumbers those who are year-round full-time workers.” No other midsize city has this kind of sustained and energized conservative forum for discussion of local politics. 

The New Republic warned us on a National scale what was coming thanks to the Sykes of the world and yet Sykes was able to dismiss this report in his New Republic piece while being "surprised" that his listeners have actually been listening to his hate speech.  

Here at CogDis, we have been documenting Chuck's racism for quite some time now, here, here, here, here and here amongst many others.  

But Wait!!! There is more....all of the scrutinizing of Sykes PR piece this line was overlooked.  

“The elected officials in Wisconsin are all pretty much anti-Trump,” Sykes says. Nevertheless, nearly all of them endorsed Trump once he became the presumptive nominee. Sykes thinks none of them have their heart in it.

Before we rate that line, lets let the Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald Train pass.....

What they came up with was less a slogan and more of a chant, based on the “Trump Train” concept. Fitzgerald vocalized it as a steam engine, with “Trump, Trump, Trump,” representing the driving wheels, followed by “Pence, Pence” as the steam whistle. Fitzgerald, who along with Governor Scott Walker and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, was among the GOP politicians warming up the crowd for Pence, even led them in it, call-and-response style  Audio here

We rate that statement Pants on Fire!


But Wait there is even more!!

“Talk radio made itself relevant by beating up on other Republicans, vilifying other Republicans,” he says. “It fed this faux outrage machine that raised expectations unrealistically”—for instance, asking why Congress didn’t repeal Obamacare, though Obama’s veto pen made it mathematically impossible. Later, he would tell Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy that talk radio’s attack on mainstream-media bias has backfired, because its listeners now dismiss legitimate media fact-checking as untrustworthy.

 It is funny listening to Charlie discuss "Faux Outrage", when on his website Right Wisconsin, he has a "loser of the day" section.

Hypocrite much?

Charlie Sykes has a new book coming out, so he is trying to rebrand himself as a voice of reason on the right so people will buy his book.

Charlie is hoping to avoid scenes like this, which is a picture of a speech he gave on his last book.

One last point on the Sykes re-branding effort.  He and others in the party are trying to label Trump as alt-right to allow them to wash their hands of the racist, sexist, misogynist, election debacle that is coming.  Do not believe him.   The alt-right is non existent, it is absolutely representative of the current state of the Republican party.  As the great John Nichols explains:

1.  Charles P. Pierce Retweeted

   John Nichols ‏@NicholsUprising  5h5 hours ago

   "Alt-right"? No. It's the old wrong of a Republican Party that for too long has invited vile extremists to camp under it's "big tent."

   72 retweets125 likes

   
   

   
   

   
   
2. John Nichols ‏@NicholsUprising  Aug 25

   "Alt-right?" Funny, Trump's backers look an awfully lot like the people who backed Romney, McCain and Bush.

   

   185 retweets242 likes

   
   

   
   

   
   
3.  LudwigVaughanMises and 2 others Retweeted

   John Nichols ‏@NicholsUprising  Aug 24

   Anyone who thinks there is an "alt-right" has not paid attention to politics for the past 6 years. The GOP went alt-right long before Trump.

Finally, because this is too rich not to share on a Friday, it is (as the old Daily Show used to share), your Moment of Zen(straight from Judith Miller):

@SykesCharlie, a true conservative, asks the right question about how we got @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/X1ueCMWIZA

— Judith Miller (@JMfreespeech) August 24, 2016

Paul Ryan's Dishonorable Discharge

By Jeff Simpson

I have advocated that Democrats cross over in the 1st Congressional District of WI and vote against Paul Ryan.  That means voting for his opponent, Paul Nehlen in the primary.   This is our best chance to eliminate the  scourge on our country that Paul Ryan has brought us.

As John Nichols recently pointed out, Mr. Ryan has been completely shamed.  His short tenure as speaker has absolutely exposed his many weaknesses and shown him to be a coward in every sense of the word.

As Charley Pierce from Esquire Magazine says of Paul Ryan - "Biggest. Fake. Ever."

Unfortunately the mainstream media keeps painting Pink Slip Paulie as a centrist, intelligent savior.  He has been dubbed the "GOP Ideas guy" too many time to count.

However, what they fail to ever tell you(how many times have the MSM done stories on Paul Ryan and had no counter balance?) is that he has actually done nothing in his time in Congress.

 Can Mr. Ryan himself compromise in the interest of getting legislation signed into law? Many in both parties have come to doubt it after 17 years in which the 46-year-old congressman from Wisconsin has held increasingly influential positions in the House, with Republicans holding a majority for all but four of those years.
This is, after all, someone whose self-described bold ideas have never gained liftoff; he has rarely taken the really bold step of writing them into legislation, with specifics. “He has actually proposed three — total, three — bills that have become law in his entire career dating back to 1999,” said David T. Canon, chairman of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. One named a post office in Wisconsin, a second changed taxes on arrows used by deer hunters, and the third, this year, established a $3 million presidential commission on “evidence-based policy making.”

A quick recap, of his 17 years, he has been in the majority 13 of them and has passed a whopping THREE bills.  In a huge bit of irony, the last bill that the ideas guy passed, was a $3 Million dollar STUDY on how to use evidence to actually make policy.  

Let that sink in for a minute!

It is absolutely time to evict Mr. Ryan from his lofty perch where he makes over $150,000/yr plus Cadillac benefits to name a Post Office every twenty years!  

Please join me in supporting and voting for Paul Nehlen on August 9th*!!

edit note:*  Once we eliminate the threat to the nation that Paul Ryan is, then we can go back to actually deciding on the issues between the Democrat and Mr. Nehlen.   There is NO law that says who you vote for in the primary you have to also vote for in the general!

Lets look forward to bringing Paul Ryan home so he can be buying his $350 bottles of wine in Janesville and stimulating his hometown economy that desperately needs it!!!

Here is Paul Ryan helping drive General Motors out of Janesville!

Mary, Mary, ------ Why Ya Pollin?

By Jeff Simpson

Madison School Board member Mary Burke is the first to be considering a run for Governor against Scott Walker.

The most interesting news so far about the looming 2014 governor's race was Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer's scoop that Wisconsin Democrats have been poll-testing a run by Madison's Mary Burke. Within a day of the Dems' telephone poll, Bauer reports, someone registered six Internet domain names with different combinations of the words "governor" and "Mary Burke."

My initial thoughts - 1.  I hope they are not using a polling firm from the last two years.  That did not work out too well.  2.  If they have enough money to poll Mary Burke for Governor they must be loaded and have no need of money from you or I. (Personal Note here - IF you want to know what people think, get out and talk to them, NOT JUST the party faithful.  There are hundreds of activists, willing to work tirelessly knocking on doors etc, that have really nothing to do with the internal Democratic party and had zero interest in attending the (insiders only) convention.   Instead of paying to poll, fill your tank up and go talk to them.While I do not agree with everything in this post, there is a reason she wrote it!)

In our great democracy, I think it is great when anyone runs for office, so I welcome her run, even if she is a very flawed candidate. As my colleagues at Forward Lookout point out here and here). I will not even get into the fact that the one quote you can find of her's is wanting to cut teacher pay(which gave righty extremist and former state worker Dave Blaska a thrill up his leg.)   (Edit note - when your quotes make Blaska giddy, your probably NOT going to turn out the progressive base.)

The problem with this Burke candidacy, is the infatuation of money.   The sudden love affair with Mary Burke and the fact that she could finance her own run, are not coincidental.   The problem with that is when has that been successful?   Ron Johnson self financed Pacur financed Ron Johnson's successful run for Senate  and his lack of intelligence and emotional curiosity, combined with his poor speaking skills,  embarrasses himself and our state on an almost daily basis.   Chris Abele, self financed his run for County Executive and that led to a complete dictatorial takeover of the County Government!  Herb Kohl self financed his runs, also and while a nice guy, he had a very average Senatorial career to go along with running a mediocre basketball team!

When Dick Morris embraces the idea, its usually a very bad idea! 

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10

 2014 is an incredibly important year, Scott Walker has been a miserable failure in his two plus years of running our state.  We have plummeted in jobs, wages, test scores and consumer confidence, businesses are closing at an alarming rate,  we have Rambo wanna-be's hired by payday loan operators roaming our pristine Northwoods and the only thing they have accomplished under his reign is to arrest people for chalking and trying to end safe abortions(edit note- His even failed in both of these instances.  Walker can not even get this right).  

Under Scott Walker, the only categories we lead the nation in are - Out of State fundraising trips by a seated Governor(on the taxpayer dime) and easiest Governor to buy!  Unfortunately for the citizens of Wisconsin, while he pads his right wing resume, the people suffer. 

As Paul Fanlund recently pointed out, the high road is WIDE open in 2014.  However, I would also point out so is the ethical road, the competent road, the education road, the honest road, the jobs road, the business road, the lets treat women like equals road, the lets give the LGBT community equal rights road, the environmental road, the moderate road, the small government road, the progressive road, the bipartisan road, the 21st century technology road, I do not let out of state billionaires dictate my policy road,  the worker's rights road, the follow Jesus's Teachings road, the economic development road, ...you get the drift.  All of these are paths to success, just waiting for someone to take them!

Scott Walker is immeasurably well funded and immensely beatable.  

So where do we go from here?

We need a few different candidates to start throwing their hats in the ring(and Mary Burke is more than welcome).  We also need the party to stay away!  (By "party" I refer to not only the state Democratic party but also party leadership (Barca/Larson and all of their lieutenants)).  The republican party tells their people who the candidates are (see Westlake, Dave) not the Dem party.  We win when we are different from them, not when we are like them.

For instance, how many party insiders would be scared to run Chris Taylor because she used to work for Planned Parenthood?  and how silly would that be?  

Let's let a few different candidates run and let the people decide.  There is plenty of time that if a few people jumped in now things would sort themselves out in due time.   Let the candidates get out and meet the people and take their message all over the state(see Baldwin, Tammy).  As John Nichols points out, SOMEONE needs to get out there and start meeting voters! 

So where do we go from here?

1.  Talk to your favorite candidate via email and/ or phone call and tell them to RUN for Governor.


2.  To help save the Democrats money, let's give the party our own poll for free - Contact Mike Tate (its not hard to find his email) at  - 

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin · MikeT@wisdems.org

110 King Street, Suite 203 · Madison, WI 53703

(608) 255-5172 (voice) • (608) 255-8919 (fax)

tell him A.  How you feel about Mary Burke running (yes, no or who?) and secondly leave the name of your preferred candidate!

3.  Leave a comment here on the same.

2014 is coming and we need to be prepared!