It’s tough
to watch a once great man tumbling into decline. There was a time when human Foghorn Leghorn and occasional Topo Gigio impersonator James Wigderson was a genuine force in Wisconsin
conservative politics. A time when the unrelentingly raw, merciless stench of
his haphazardly hyperbolic and buffoonishly bellicose rhetoric could not be
ignored, much like your aging, alcoholic uncle’s periodontitis scented
halitosis wafting across the picnic table at a close quarter family reunion on
a hot Sunday afternoon. But no more.
A quick
perusal of the Not Quite Right Wisconsin website, where Wigderson serves as
editor, reveals a recent body of work woefully bereft of substance, wit or
originality.There are small minded ramblings
about Mandela Barnes and bongs, Milwaukee street cars and bikes, that Scot
Ross, essentially, is an asshole, and so on and so forth.
The majority
of Wigderson’s output, though, appears
to be little more than a parroting of the latest press release from the misnomerly
named “ Wisconsin Institute for Law and
Liberty” , the
Bradley Foundation funded old white guy club where “ ride to the sound of the
guns “ seems to be the corporate motto. Law, Liberty, Guns. Sounds kind of like
a Warren Zevon song!
Wigderson’s
articles so dutifully repeat WILL’s views on everything from health care
policy, to DPI powers, to school choice that, against one’s will, an image
slowly comes to mind of Wiggy perched precariously on WILL CEO Rick Esenberg’s
lap, his jaw flapping in time to an unseen and unheard metronome while
Esenberg’s lips seem to barely move.Try
to unsee that!
Once again, it is time to check in with the Bizarro Blogger on the Right. Jimmy Wigderson, the person the racist extremist Charlie Sykes willed White Wisconsin too, when he decided to leave his extremist hate filled ways behind and pretend that he had no hand in the rise of the white trash racism that has taken over our country.
There is a line, one that far-right politicians know they must not cross. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, once described undocumented Mexican immigrants as drug mules and likened them to dogs. He supported the end of birthright citizenship and has repeatedly lamented the declining white birth rate. He praised the books and amplified the tweets of neo-Nazis. All along the way, King got the endorsement of Iowa voters in his district, who returned him to Congress every two years since 2003. He received occasional criticism from Republicans insistent that King’s ideas were not their own, while some Democrats said his public comments revealed a bigoted streak, an affinity for white nationalists and an eagerness to make America a less equal place.
All of his previous actions withstanding, it took one simple question by King to pull the curtain back:
Why was this one moment in the political life of King too much, too far, too outrageous? King’s comment — “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” hetold The New York Times— was lacking in all plausible deniability and nuance, devoid of the high and low pitch tones calibrated for certain ears, experts say. It was an endorsement of white supremacy in the form of a rhetorical question. And it came at a time when King’s Republican Party is struggling with its political prospects.“King is not alone in his ideas, not his ideas on immigration, not his ideas about policy,” said Nell Irvin Painter, professor of history at Princeton University and author of “The History of White People.” “But, he is a fairly unusual character, today, in how obvious he is with his racism. The president operates on the side of euphemism, just this side of euphemism, whereas Steve King has used the actual language of white supremacy, the actual words with an endorsement.”
Now to the irony of the situation, apparently Wiggy had a "meeting" planning the "future" of White Wisconsin. In layman's terms. the Bradley folks told them they cant be paying them to write such BS and get their ass kicked in elections like just happened. Wingnut welfare only goes so far.
The question that came out from these meetings was this:
An easy question should be, what do we do about the racists in our midst?
As we have also pointed out, if you could sell the irony that Wisconsin Republicans put out on a daily basis we could actually afford to pay Foxconn what Walker promised them.
In the meantime, a quick answer to Wiggy's burning question is simple.
Get rid of the racist editor of Right Wisconsin and put it in the hands of someone who is logical, intelligent and open minded(good luck finding someone). Then you can have some credibility when talking about the Steve King's of the world.
Charlie Sykes, when he was playing the part of far right Republican and helping get his friends, Scott Walker and David Clarke elected, started a website(Using JSonline resources) called - Right Wisconsin.
Wiggy has run it with the same amount of racism, but has eliminated the search option and comments. He is being paid to tell you what to think, not have a discussion. Jimmy has never had much interest in a debate (or in minorities voting but that's another blog). At least he knows his weaknesses.
Wigderson recently, tried to spin a tale of getting his son off to his senior year of high school. Which apparently is quite a feat.
First off, he takes his obligatory right wing shot at public education and then spins a yarn of overcoming all odds to come out of his school educated.
Yes, it was possible for me to get a good education there, in part because I sought it out against the odds. I spent my lunch hour my senior year hanging out in the Social Studies study lounge and my other free time in the math department office. I rewrote my school schedule to eliminate gym class starting my sophomore year so I could take extra academic classes and managed to find a guidance counselor to sign the new schedule.
Somebody had to look out for my education.
The school has only gotten worse since my days there. The school “fails to meet expectations” according to the state of Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction and it’s not even close. Yet nothing will be done about Vincent and 999 kids will be trapped in a failing school this year. Some students will succeed but the odds are horribly against them. But at least it’s a union school, right?
Now that Wiggy has set it up, it is time for the full blown racist punchline.
So imagine my surprise when, thanks to the Facebook page for an upcoming high school reunion, I learned the school is getting a new $5.7 million stadium. The stadium will have artificial grass and a new track for WIAA events. The report I saw didn’t mention metal detectors, but it would be a good idea. The new stadium is part of an $11 million improvement in athletic facilities for Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), presumably so the little convicts can have the best facilities before being sent to the penitentiary.
The new stadium is part of an $11 million improvement in athletic facilities for Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), presumably so the little convicts can have the best facilities before being sent to the penitentiary.
Yes all athletes in the Milwaukee Public Schools are convicts...well at least all black athletes anyway.
Wiggy when posting this garbage, linked to this story about a black basketball player at Milwaukee Washington who committed armed robbery but was still allowed to play in the tournament.
I would explain to Wiggy that Basketball at Milwaukee Washington and Football/Track at Milwaukee Vincent are completely different. I would also explain that one case, with one athlete of thousands, is hardly representative of all student athletes regardless of color. However, I do not think he would get it, or even come close to getting it.
Ever since Charlie Sykes decided to take his career in a new direction as the "thoughtful conservative" instead of the screeching hate monger daily, he had to drop all of his ties to his the chapter of hate in his life and gave up his website "White Right Wisconsin".
In yet another act of wingnut welfare, he handed it off to his buddy James Wigderson. Wiggy, who did not actually have anything else to do, has been much more aggressive pushing his propaganda. He has come up with the idea of a daily "news" letter where he showcases his lack of humor and blend it with his lack of information, and mixes in occasional lies.
Let's look at a few examples:
* In one, Wiggy is explaining to his kid, how Orwells books are coming true thanks to the Democrats taking away our rights(making a strong argument against homeschooling).
Then let's us know that the NRA is in serious danger of losing their "Constitutional Rights".
Meanwhile, the "Two Minutes of Hate" described by Orwell has been in evidence in every anti-gun march in recent days, demanding that the NRA become silent. It's not just disagreement, it's a demand that the NRA loses its voice to defend rights that are in both the state and federal constitutions. This is the political college campus atmosphere now on a broader societal level. If the Left is successful with the NRA, nobody's right to free speech is safe.
* Here was some actual humor. One day Wiggy, trying to mock Hillary says this:
So I gave my wife, the Lovely Doreen from Waukesha, some shocking news today. I told her that she votes for the candidates that I support because she's married to me. Yes, that was quite a shock to my wife who wouldn't even include the word "obey" in our wedding vows. Heck, Doreen would have a hard time even guessing at my chosen candidate because I rarely tell her for whom I'm voting. We went two years once before she learned which candidate I finally chose in a local election. Because of my position as a political writer, it doesn't make sense to broadcast my preference, or even to have one, before Election Day, especially in primaries.
Yes who in the world could possibly guess who Wiggy votes for? I am guessing if his wife does not know, then I would wager that no one in the house can work the microwave or washer.
Two days later, Wiggy writes this:
Before we start today's newsletter, I want to thank the ladies of the Republican Women of Greater Milwaukee for listening to my speech on Saturday. It was a pleasure speaking in front of you, and always fun to run into Dr. John McAdams as well. I hope that I both entertained and informed. Towards the end of my little speech, I warned how Governor Scott Walker's agenda is in trouble.
As an independent thinking political "writer"(term used loosely), nothing says disguised vote like talking to a bunch of old white Republican women about how Scott Walker is in trouble.
* And right there, among all the kids yesterday, was the state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, a Democratic candidate for governor, encouraging the kids to miss school. Why not? It's not like Evers has done anything to improve school safety, including getting rid of teachers watching porn in their classrooms. Nor has Evers done anything about the failing schools these children are attending, except opposing anything that would hold the schools accountable. Unless the kids can be used as political props, it doesn't appear at all that Democrats care about them.
This is where the lies come in, Tony Evers absolutely had no chance or authority to dismiss a teacher who was caught watching porn on his lunch hour. Evers has also put out Wi education budgets every budget cycle that would help all of the schools that are not performing as well as we would like, but the Governor has ignored them and taken a machete to public school budgets.
Walker, though under the correct assumption that he is in trouble for re-election, plagiarized Evers budget this cycle, except added way too much to unaccountable private/voucher schools.
* Kelda Roys, put out her first ad in her Gubernatorial campaign where she talked of working bipartisanly to ban BpA.
Democratic candidate for governor Kelda Roys launched her first video capitalizing on the BPA scare. The problem is, even the European Food Safety Authority found no health risks from exposure to BPA. So much for Democrats being the party of science (again).
But in 2010 the agency altered its position. The FDA maintains that studies using standardized toxicity tests have shown BPA to be safe at the current low levels of human exposure. But based on other evidence -- largely from animal studies -- the FDA expressed "some concern" about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate glands in fetuses, infants, and young children.
You get the idea, save yourself the 45 seconds a day. There is nothing of substance to see here. Nothing beyond #fakenews anyway.
Next week, we get a chance again to tweak our Wisconsin Supreme Court. The choice is down to Hard Core right winger Mike Screnock and Rebecca Dallett. While Dallett has run an all over the board, low road campaign, she has to be the choice.
It is always nice when the Supreme Court Justice can share his mugshots.
But wait there is more, there is always more:
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), Scott Walkers boss, have spent north of $600,000 to elect Screnock. The Republican Party of Wisconsin, is in for about $150,000, The NRA has given him their strong endorsement and Right Wisconsin gives him unlimited free press because he is their largest advertiser.
Screnock has hired some of the worst of the worst right wing extremists to run his campaign:
His campaign is staffed by longtime Republican operatives including Sean Lansing and Luke Hilgemann, both formerly with the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and Nathan Conrad, formerly a spokesman for the state GOP.
To make matters worse, Screnock knows that he is running as a GOP Justice and has unlimited funds trying to get him elected. That means he has no interest in even attempting to do the work needed to win grass roots support!
Screnock has blown off candidate questions from the League of Women Voters. He avoided some joint appearances prior to the primary and backed out of a March 13 debate before the Dane County Bar Association, after originally agreeing to take part. The group’s treasurer, David Friedman, says that “to the best of the DCBA’s knowledge,” no other major candidate for state Supreme Court has ever failed to appear at its candidate forum.
Screnock has even engaged in artful dodging to avoid discussing his own actions in court.
While Mike was in Mock Trial his senior year, it seems that all he has learned to mock are the citizens and voters of Wisconsin.
It is time to upgrade our Supreme Court even if it is only slightly.
The Donald continues to tell us about building a wall, and the dangers of Muslims and the need for travel bans. School shootings continue with the next one seemingly being worse than the last.
Lost in the shuffle is the actual war that some people are fighting right here in our country. The right wing echo chamber, work very hard to cover it up and the mainstream media does not want to deal with the far right hate groups wrath by tying together the incidences, so we will.
The war within our country right now is the far right wing hate groups, led by the NRA and guided by the far right hate talk radio and Fox News. They are convincing their "soldiers" that the liberals are the enemy, they are going to loe their rights and freedoms, we are too worried about our PC culture and why in the world would women think they could do the same work as men. While everyone may have heard of an occasional incident, there is becoming a pattern.
* Speaking of Al Quada, the white supremacist movement(AKA Y'all Quada) has exploded in the US since 2008(coincidentally, the same year America elected an African American president).
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS and the watchdog groups that track the self-styled “patriot” groups call them anti-government extremists, militias, armed militants or even domestic terrorists. Some opponents of the largely white and rural groups have made fun by calling them “Y’all Qaeda” or “Vanilla ISIS.”
Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremism, said there were about 150 such groups in 2008 and about 1,000 now. Potok and other analysts, including law enforcement officials who track the groups, said their supporters number in the hundreds of thousands, counting people who signal their support in more passive ways, such as following the groups on social media. The Facebook page of the Oath Keepers, a group of former members of police forces and the military, for example, has more than 525,000 “likes.”
* There is an influx of white supremacists running for public office now that they have been empowered, with one of the highest profile being Arthur Jones, who recently won the Republican nomination for Congress. Jones, calls the holocaust, the "biggest blackest lie in history". While he ran unopposed, it did not stop over 20,000 Republicans from voting for him. Jones has also ran 5 times before, but this year, in 2018 the Donald era - he actually secured a spot on the ballot.
* Recently, a 24 year old white male, ended up blowing himself up, after targeting local people of color in Austin Texas with home made package bombs. The home schooled Conditt, referred to himself as a low information Republican:
My name is Mark Conditt. I enjoy cycling, parkour, tennis, reading, and listening to music. I am not that politically inclined. I view myself as a conservative, but I don’t think I have enough information to defend my stance as well as it should be defended.
As is typical, not having enough information does not stop one from having strong opinions:
On the blog, the suspect gave a window into his mind and political views. In it, he said that he opposes gay marriage, comparing it to bestiality. He railed against abortion. The entries date to 2012 and appear to be for a class. He also wrote about the government releasing an Al-Qaeda terrorist, opining, “I think that it is just plain dumb to release a terrorist, much less a senior one – no matter what he can provide.”
* This past weekend, there was a children organized "March for Our Lives" throughout the country where millions of people marched for reasonable gun control and to make sure our younger generation are registered to vote so the politicians will listen to them. In Madison the turnout was amazing!
Nothing like a loaded gun, the Gadsden flag and ear muffs to really advance your cause.
* Locally during the "Day of Action" where students all over the country(including my children), silently left class for 17 minutes in memory of the 17 people who were slaughtered in Florida, local right wing extremist blogger Jimmy Wigderson was besides himself that kids would actually do that:
Unfortunately, in so many other schools, kids are being transported to little protest spots to be props for Democrats seeking to make gun control an issue. In Madison, the high school kids are being transported from West, Lafollette and Memorial High Schools to East High School by bus so they then can go march on the Capitol.
But we know it's a spontaneous uprising of the kids, right? Because so many of them have the wherewithal and credit cards necessary to charter buses.
Governor Scott Walker, wisely, will be out of the Capitol today at a bill signing. And state Senate Republicans are meeting behind closed doors today to actually work on a real school safety plan, not the result of a hyped-up tantrum that'll be thrown outside the Capitol today.
In other words, the grownups are working. Some are working at manipulating kids for their own ends, while others are actually working today to solve the state's problems.
A Pewaukee High School student was arrested Wednesday morning in connection with a threat that prompted the school district to close its campus and cancel classes. The suspect was taken into custody by investigators with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department. The investigation has not revealed any evidence of any other actors or participants, according to a joint news release from the Sheriff's Department, the Pewaukee Police Department and the school district. But a screenshot from the app Sarahah.com that was shared on the Pewaukee Parents Facebook page said, "All you liberals are going to be easy targets. I wouldn't recommend showing up to school, unless you want to die. Pewaukee is going to be bigger than Columbine and Florida combined. Just you wait. Pewaukee isn't so safe. ;) - You're all going to die tomorrow and nothing will stop us."
We are seeing a pattern of home grown terrorism in the United States and there is a pattern of middle to lower class, privileged white Republicans who hate liberals and love guns.
The group that like to think of themselves as the "good guys with guns" are the profile of the exact people we need to be worried about. While the kids this past weekend were not intimidated by all of the people openly carrying guns and looking for confrontations at their rallies, the reality is they should have been.
At a Pro Trump #MAGA rally this weekend in "liberal" Los Angeles, the Trumpets decided that they had no use for minorities or anyone from the media (#fakenews) and this is a picture of how they treated a local photographer(apparently none of them in their fervor to be Super Patriots have ever read the flag code).
I do not believe that all Republicans are mass murderers, but most mass murderers all seem to fit the same profile. It is not hard to understand either, with a heavy dose of hard core Republican hatred blaring at them from all angles from hate radio (Rush, Vicki, Dan O Donnell, Belling, etc...) to lunatics like Christian Schneider getting unlimited column inches with no oversight, to the blogs filled with BS and lies like Right Wisconsin, Maciver and Mediatrackers, that are treated as legit news sources by our media, and most political talk shows loaded with hard core Republicans, all people who listen to the airwaves get a heavy dose daily of the same message - Liberals are the enemy of America and are working hard to destroy our country.
We have a choice this year, will we reward that behavior and keep going further and further down the rabbit hole, or will we stand up and say #Enough ?
Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who serves as deputy chairman of the RNC's finance committee, told NBC News: "Steve [Wynn] is a truly great man who has been the driving force behind the RNC finance committee."
While the faux outrage of the Wisconsin right wing echo chamber was all up in arms over Actress Chelsea Handler's tweet about Lindsay Graham, they have been predictably silent over the disgusting revelations about Steve Wynn, the finance chairman of Republican National Committee. Apparently, mediatrackers, is not tracking much of the media these days! Since the "watchdogs" are neutered whenever it comes to Scott Walker, it is up to us to get answers.
If Democrats had a Harvey Weinstein problem last fall, Republicans almost certainly have a Steve Wynn problem right now. On Friday, the Las Vegas casino mogul and Republican National Committee finance chair was accused of of decades of sexual misconduct with his employees after the Wall Street Journal interviewed 150 current and former employees. He’s also given millions of dollars to the GOP.
The Journal’s story said that Wynn, who turned 76 on Saturday, allegedly harassed or abused multiple women who worked for him over the years; the paper’s reporters uncovered a $7.5 million settlement Wynn paid to a manicurist he coerced into having intercourse with him in 2005.
The Wall Street JournalVerified account@WSJSteve Wynn, one of the most powerful men in Las Vegas, pressured employees to perform sex acts, according to people interviewed by the Journal. http://on.wsj.com/2nj8iF5
8:20 PM - 26 Jan 2018
Want to see where we are as a State:
As the DNC so correctly pointed out:
“The RNC and Ronna McDaniel have helped fund the campaign of an alleged child molester, blindly supported the GOP’s attacks on women’s health, supported a President who has been accused of sexual misconduct by over a dozen women,” Sabrina Singh, the DNC’s deputy communications director, said in a statement, “and now they remain silent amid sexual assault allegations involving Steve Wynn, one of their party’s most senior officials.”
Now we can expect complete silence from Scott Walker on the thousands he collected in Las Vegas (PS: notice the date is a Thursday afternoon, not sure that Scott Walker ever actually works in WI).
However we as his constituents can DEMAND more! Let's contact the Governor and tell him we expect him to give the dirty Wynn money to a charity that helps abused women.
Today on the RightWisconsin website, Matt Kittle, the blogger who I think is currently being paid by Mcgyver, wrote a story about the Supreme Court and how Tim Burns and Rebecca Dallett are going to be "activist judges".
The forum, moderated by University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science professor Ryan Owens, in large part proved to be a bare-knuckle political brawl between the two left-leaning candidates, Madison attorney Tim Burns and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet. The other candidate, Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock, the conservative in the race, mostly remained above the fray, periodically asserting that his opponents are effectively Activist Judge 1 and Activist Judge 2.
Nothing says I am "above the fray" like running to a far right wing blog. A quick look at Screnock's twitter and you see that he likes to finish his tweets with #wiright.
Apparently #wiright means independent and nonpartisan!
H/T Amanda Brink, for recognizing the fact that there is no "news" in Maciver!
Burns’ campaign handler refused to allow the candidate to speak to MacIver News Service following the forum, even as he was being interviewed by another media outlet.
1. I will resolve to continue to fight for public education. There is now, more then ever, a concerted effort to profit off of public education. With sham "non-profit" organizations like Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty(for some) and extremist propaganda blogs like Right Wisconsin , mediatrackers, Maciver, and the inexplicably employed Christian Schneider continue to not only have a forum but are also treated as legit news sources by our statewide media. We will continue to bring you the unadulterated facts and point out the spin and the lies.
2. We will also continue pointing out the hypocrisy, blandness, sucking up and ignoring of the facts of the Wisconsin media. While many of them are good people, and occasionally stumble upon a real story, they have also buckled under the pressure of our friends mentioned above, and have been scared to do much real reporting on the state takeover of the Republican party.
3. I also resolve to focus my energies on getting rid of the worst offenders and dead weight in Wisconsin politics. Special focus on the biggest offenders - Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Robin Vos, Dale Kooyenga, Leah Vukmir, Scott Krug, among many others.
4. While I also resolve to focus almost exclusively on Wisconsin politics and happenings, I also resolve to never call the imbecile in the White House the President. He will always be referred to as "the Donald".
5. I also resolve to stay out of the first Congressional Race. I like and dislike things about both candidates so I will let the people of the 1st CD decide who they want to represent them. I will however not stay away from writing about how bad Paul Ryan(R-Wall St.) is, even though it is low hanging fruit, there is so much bad to report on.
6. I resolve to continue to hold the Democratic party, Democratic candidates and others in public service accountable, who are supposed to be and have to be better than the members of the WISGOP.
7. I resolve to continue the political conversation with everyone of all stripes and opinions respectfully. I resolve to give all candidates the respect they deserve and let everyone who has the guts and gumption to put their name on the ballot. I also resolve to look at candidates financial reports the same way I look at standardized tests scores of schools - with disdain.
8. Finally, I resolve to continue using less of everything, shopping local when possible, drinking only WI craft beers, eating better, turning out lights, and doing everything I can to lower my carbon footprint!
She's got me dizzy, she sees me through to the endShe's got me in her hands and there's no use in pretending Christine sixteen, Christine sixteen She drives me crazy, I want to give her all I've gotAnd she's hot every day and night, there is no doubt about it Christine sixteen, Christine sixteen "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw youcoming out of the school that day, that day I knew, I knew, I've got to haveyou, I've got to have you." She's' been around, but she's young and cleanI've got to have her, can't live without her, whoo noChristine sixteen, Christine sixteen Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteenChristine, yeah, yeah So clean, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
While our political system has been crumbling for a while, soon there will be a special election for the US Senate in Alabama that involves a center right Democrat V. a far right wing Republican Judge Roy Moore.
Prior to this race, Judge Moore was known for actually being kicked off the Alabama State Supreme Court, not once, but twice. Seriously!
However, and only in America, the Land of the Free, some women found their voice and told us how the Christian Conservative fired judge had a penchant for young women.
Once you can get your head around the fact that the party of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ike, is working hard to elect someone who has preyed on young teen girls, then sit down because as we know there is always more.
A former face of the Republican Party and Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, the man whose backbone makes jellyfish look like they are rocks, who has never taken a serious stand in his whole life, finally did:
Mitt RomneyVerified account MoreRoy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.
In Wisconsin, our "friends" at RightWisconsin, have been way to busy obsessing over Gordon Hintz to care that Roy Moore preys on teens.
The Bradley funded hack columnist at the Gannett Newspaper collection of pamphlets, actually dedicated a whole column on why everyone should vote for Roy Moore.
When Mitt Romney is one of the few who has an actual moral compass and backbone in the GOP, it is time to officially retire the phrase - American exceptionalism.
If we do not put an end to this anti intellectualism and complete blindness to every crime done on "your team" the next phrase we can retire is - American Democracy.
State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is still angry with last month's rocky resolution to the state budget debate, calling three Republican senators who struck a deal with Gov. Scott Walker to support the budget "terrorists." "That's what they are," Vos said in a WISN-TV interview that aired Sunday morning. "You don't hold somebody hostage for your own personal needs." Vos also said the budget might not have passed had the last-minute deal, which called for Walker to use his line-item veto authority to strip out parts of the budget, been public before lawmakers voted on it. "Only three people made a backroom deal to be able to have something that could not be announced before the budget was enacted," Vos said. "Maybe the budget would've failed if we'd known some of those aspects were going to be vetoed, but we never had the chance to know." Vos was addressing Sens. Chris Kapenga, Steve Nass and Duey Stroebel, three hard-line conservative GOP senators who withheld support for the budget until hours before the state Senate passed it last month. The two-year state budget was passed more than 10 weeks after the deadline, the longest such delay in a decade.
It appeared to be premeditated slander. Vos repeated the charge of terrorism when challenged and had a ready (if outrageous) defense of it. These three senators, Chris Kapenga of Delafield, Duey Stroebel of Saukville and Steve Nass of Whitewater, are all former members of the state Assembly, all former colleagues of Vos. Far from being a “terrorist,” Nass served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard for 33 years. Kapenga and Stroebel are businessmen and leaders in their communities. All three deserve more respect from Vos than being called terrorists.
Brave men and women in uniform combat terrorists everyday. Terrorists use violence in an effort to destroy our American way-of-life. To imply fellow Republican legislators are terrorists is the type of hyperbolic rhetoric Wisconsinites are tired of hearing. Wisconsinites expect more of their leaders than to make these kind of personal attacks.
Steve nASS was also upset, and wanted to let everyone know he was in the National Guard:
The senators didn't take kindly to the comments. One of them — Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) — noted that he had served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. "It is beyond outrageous for anyone, especially a person serving as speaker of the Wisconsin state Assembly, to label as a ‘terrorist’ another person for simple public policy disagreements," Nass said in a statement. "Worse yet, when given the opportunity in the interview to retract or recalibrate such a reprehensible statement, Speaker Vos firmly reiterated it."
Then the kicker came out....sit down for this one. Scott Walker (well one of his spokesmen, he was too busy letting African American Athletes know how they should protest to be bothered with Vos) had to weigh in. I have not heard this kind of outrage from the WISGOP since the last time someone compared a bunch of teachers, police, firemen, public servants, men woman and children Wisconsinites to ISIS:
O wait.....nevermind there was no outrage (or apology) then. Hmmmmm curious! PS: After The Koch Bros Org - AFP demanded an apology, and Scott Fitzgerald put his "leadership" counter part over his knee and spanked him - Robin Vos finally apologized (NO, not for breaking up his marriage, or breaking up Michelle Litjens marriage, or helping shield predator Bill Kramer from punishment, or for illegally and unethically spending millions to gerrymander our state or the attacks on education in Wisconsin, or the attacks on free speech, or... you get the idea) for calling the far right loons in the state terrorists.
MADISON - The leader of the state Assembly apologized Monday for calling fellow Republican senators "terrorists" after they held up the state budget with veto demands.Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) issued the apology after a chorus of criticism from other GOP leaders, but his statement continued to refer to the conservative senators as "rogue holdouts."
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