Tommy's Entitlements - Updated!

We covered this a month ago, but thanks to Zach @BB this needed to be updated! 

"Then he(Scott walker) says to the Unions, we are going to ask for help.  Isn't that tough.  AWWWWWWWWW.  We're gonna say we would like you to pay 5% of your retirement.  Are you kidding me? What's wrong with that?  Can you tell me, is that a crime? And then he had the audacity to say,  we are going to ask you to pay 5% for your healthcare.  Isn't that sad?   Can you tell me, is that a crime? Can you tell me why are we having a recall"  Tommy Thompson - 1/21/12

"A measely 5 % of retirement....and 5% of healthcare" Tommy Thompson regarding State Employees (of which he used to be one). Since Tommy will not release his tax returns,   Let's take a little deeper look!

 The average base pay salary for a Milwaukee police department employee was $48,177


The Milwaukee Fire Department's net salary and wage total for FY 2011, according to the city budget, was $69,465,872.

The avergae wage of a Madison Metropolitan High School teacher is $50,193. 

The salary of Wisconsin's  Governor is $137,092/year.(X14 = $1,919,288).  

While Tommy Thompson is throwing red meat to a crowd of crazies, criticizing public workers, who make $50,000/yr, let's see what money means to Tomney.

The 14 year Governor of WI, Tommy Thompson made in his public employee gubernatorial career alone (give or take a few dollars) $1,919,288. 

For those scoring at home,  Tommy made as Governor of WI.  OVER One Million nine hundred thousand taxpayer dollars.

What did Tomny say when he left office?  Thank you?

Nope he said this :









"Everybody knows I was broke when I left Government 5 years ago and I went and made some sheckels,  Not as many as you guys think I have made. but i ahh uuuh aaahhh uhhhhh......." Tommy G Thompson. 

SO asking most state employees to pay an extra 10% towards your their pension and healthcare and they get an "aww isnt that sad" from the person who wants to be US Senator, yet has made over $2,000,000 was "broke"?   And we want him having control over our budget??

Extra credit. 

"It's tough to go back, there is no question about that."  Tommy Thompson referring to joining the US Senate after being a lobbyist.  

FYI: salary for a US Senator -  $174.000.00 per year!    Its hard for Tommy to end his lobbyists days where he makes millions, and go back to working for a measly $174,000/yr. 


Extra Extra Credit:
The one thing we know for sure about Tommy?  He did not make his millions based on merit pay! 



There has been an update. Tommy Thompson massive greed and lack of ethics aside, now tries to pass the responsibility for his selling his soul to the lobbyist for money now says it was not his fault it was his wife's!






I know many of you think he must not be referring to Sue Ann, and you are probably right! Let's take a look at the facts.

Tommy Thompson said he was "broke when he left office". While Tommy was Governor(for 14 years) he made approximately $140,000 dollars a year, and left with a pension paying him approximately $90,000/ yr. Add to that the fact he lived rent free in the Governor's mansion, had cadillac health care, and most of his expenses covered.

Sue Ann Thompson is small town Wisconsin and has been a teacher and lifelong advocate for women's health issues. We are supposed to belive that the cancer survivor who says that having gratitude is good for your health, told Tommy that $140,000/yr with a $90,000 yr pension was not enough money for her. That he needed to get out and make "decent money" so she can go out and buy material things?

Either Tommy Thompson just threw his wife under the bus, or she is not the woman we all thought she was!

Jason Cracks up the Crowd!

Not sure how good of a lawyer for Michael Best & Friedrich, Jason Thompson is, but he sure knows how to crack up the crowd!  The problem, like his father, is that he is lazy so he keeps going back to the same joke!

While Tommy denies it is happening and Jason apologizes to his law firm, he has been running around knocking them dead with his speeches.    The problem is that the sane people of Wisconsin have seen it and they are not amused.  

The question is does Michael Best & Friedrich have to issue a statement distancing themselves from Jason Thompson daily, or will they cut their losses and work on restoring their reputation?

No one has had a bigger hit to their reputation these last two years than Michael Best & Friedrich!

H/T Huff Po and Amanda Terkel:


At a "United for Freedom" rally(10/6/12), this is Jason Thompson warming up the crowd!   









Jason Thompson truly is an American idiot!


One last question, in case your wondering why this is perpetually a killer line, check out the line up of speakers and ask no more:

Senator Alberta Darling WI-8

Assemblyman Jeremy Thiesfeldt

. State Treasurer Kurt Schuller

US Congressional Candidate Dan Sebring

Jake Jacobs,

Noted Writer and SpeakerKim Simac,

Northwoods Patriots FounderPastor David King,

WI Senate CandidatePam Stevens,

WI Senate Candidate Rick Gudex,

WI Senate Candidate Tracy Heron,

Former Mayville Mayor Paris Procopis

MIke Schraa,

WI Assembly Candidate Kristi LaCroix

Santo Ingrilli

Joe Medina

One last thing, You will see some of these people on your ballot this fall. 

Vote these people OUT!  

Jason Thompson Represents!

Capper wrote about Jason Thompson's racist remark at a republican fundraiser this weekend.  It was so disgusting that it made national media in a matter of hours!  

This morning, a press release "apology" was released from the Tommy Thompson campaign. 

In a statement, Thompson's campaign said the 38-year-old son apologized for saying something he should not have. Jason Thompson is an attorney and has represented his father's campaign at some events.

So Jason Thompson was not man enough or competent enough to get in front of a camera and actually apologize in person, he needed a PR person to write it and release it for him.   

While we know the racial overtones that were intended in this and the whole racism in the Mitt Romney for President campaign.  That is old news and with us everyday.  The questions we have to ask are:

1.  Since Jason Thompson is a lawyer employed by Michael, Best & Friedrich, are his views representative of the whole firm?   I have not seen a statement from them yet. 

2.  If Jason Thompson can not even et in front of the camera's and apologize in person or Tommy Thompson can not address this in person, is that a professional or a US Senate Candidate that you would want representing you?

Tommy Thompson is in Great Shape

Tommy likes to brag about how many pushups he can do, now we know he can run from the press and the tough questions that the Wisconsin people would like to know the answers to!

H/T blogginblue: 

By the way for Tommy who can not remember his remarks about ALEC, or for anyone who has not heard them, here they are! 

Just How Did Tommy Thompson "Build Wisconsin?"

I'll admit, I did not watch the debate between Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson last Friday.

But I did read up on it afterwards.

One of the things that caught my attention was the way Thompson was going overboard with his self-aggrandizement (emphasis mine):

“What she’s talking about is always trying to find a way to tax somebody else and divide up the classes in America,” Thompson said. “I’m a builder. I built Wisconsin.”

Really now.

But then I got to thinking.

If one abandons all common sense and gives him the argument that he built Wisconsin, one could say that he did build it - pretty damn crookedly.

I base that position on an article which appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on Wednesday, January 24, 2001. The article was written by Phil Brinkman and was titled "THOMPSON 'S CONDO STOCK RAISES ETHICS CONCERNS< THE GOVERNOR'S RELATIONSHIP WITH DELLS DEVELOPER CHUCK THOMPSON AND ROAD BUILDERS IS AGAIN QUESTIONED." (Unfortunately, there is no link.) The article reads, in part:

Gov. Tommy Thompson 's recent disclosure that he owns stock in a Wisconsin Dells condominium project is raising new questions about his relationship with road builders , while the state's top ethics official is wondering why his office didn't know about it.

The stock, which was disclosed in a report the governor filed with the federal Office of Government Ethics as part of his nomination for secretary of health and human services, is in a company owned by longtime friend and Dells developer Chuck Thompson .

Chuck Thompson , who is no relation to the governor, came under fire while serving as the state's transportation secretary for pushing to widen Highway 12. Critics said Chuck Thompson stood to gain personally from the project, which would bring increased tourist traffic to the Dells, where he has an interest in at least 20 properties.

"It reeks to high heaven, because the whole four-lane Highway 12 controversy was rammed through to help Dells developers," Brett Hulsey, a senior Midwest representative for the Sierra Club, said Tuesday. "We could never figure out why the governor was such an enthusiastic supporter of four lanes. This makes it a little clearer."

Roth Judd, director of the sate Ethics Board, said the governor apparently had not filed the required notice of his stock ownership with his office.

"He did not report it here," Judd said. "I do not know why it wasn't."

But a Thompson spokesman said the governor had filed the necessary documents and dismissed as "a giant leap" any suggestion that Thompson gained financially from his administration's aggressive highway-building program.

"A lot of people would benefit from a widened Highway 12," spokesman Kevin Keane said.

The disclosure was part of a detailed summary of Thompson 's financial holdings filed in advance of his confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which is expected today. The report showed Thompson held stock through a blind trust in a number of companies he might be expected to regulate, including Philip Morris Cos., Merck and Co. and Abbott Laboratories.

Thompson was advised to sell all the stock he owns in such companies, keeping only bank and real estate stocks, to avoid a potential conflict of interest in his new job, Keane said Monday.

But now, as we read further in the article, and taking into consideration with his ties to lobbyists and to ALEC, Thompson was just a prototype for Scott Walker:

According to the federal ethics report, Thompson earned $110,000 from RiverWood stock last year, slightly less than the $115,699 he earned as governor, although Keane said all of that was plowed back into the company.

The governor's critics were quick to question the arrangement between Tommy Thompson and Chuck Thompson , his former transportation secretary who shares the governor's enthusiasm for highway development.

"There have long been questions about the relationship between these unrelated Thompsons," said Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee, co-chairman of the Senate's budget committee. "It turns out those ties were closer and more lucrative than anyone suspected."

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the report raises new questions about the nearly $1 million in donations the governor has received from road builders over the last 10 years.

But Keane called such comments "petty politics."

"If he didn't get one cent from the road builders , he would still do the same thing," Keane said. "He believes in it."

In 1999, it was revealed that the governor's blind trust had invested in two gambling-related companies, including one that was paid millions of dollars through state contracts to print lottery tickets.

Thompson doesn't want to go to Washington DC to fix America. He wants to go to fix things for himself and his benefactors, like David Koch, just like he did ten year ago in Wisconsin. You just can't have enough lucre apparently.

Ironic Walker Email Is Ironic

Earlier in the week, I received an email from Scott Walker's campaign asking me to donate to Tommy Thompson's campaign. This in itself is not unusual as that both parties do that sort of thing.

Although it does bring to mind that Thompson's campaign funding is supposedly rather anemic at the moment. Apparently he doesn't want to spend his millions on the race like Eric Hovde was and the Kochs aren't willing to try to buy the election for him like they did for Walker.

But what struck me the most about the email was the ironic way it started:

Really, Walker?

Mr. Divide and Conquer is mewling about attacks now? Mr. "Dropped the bomb" feels things are a little too rough? Mr. Louisville Slugger is afraid of facing the heat?

If that email had any more irony to it, it would be lethal.

Who Better???

Occassionally, republicans speak the truth.  When they do, we need to listen.   This time, surprisingly, it was Tommy G Thompson!

H/T Think Progress:

"[W]ho better than me, who’s already finished one of the entitlement programs, to come up with programs to do away with Medicaid and Medicare? Let’s block-grant what the state has, and allow the states to determine what’s going to go into Medicaid. And Medicare, let’s wait until everyone that right now is under 55 reaches 55 by age [sic] 2020, and give them a choice whether they want to purchase health insurance with a subsidy from the federal government, or stay on Medicare." Tommy Thompson.

H/T Brinmat @ Kos for the better video:



When you have made millions of taxpayer dollars over the years, I guess he does not need medicare(but I am sure he will take every cent he can get).  

Instead of asking "Who better to get rid of Medicaid and Medicare", let us ask ourselves,

Q.  Who better to get rid of Tommy Thompson and preserve Medicaid & Medicare? 

A.  The people of Wisconsin and Tammy Baldwin! 

Tommy's Entitlements!

"Then he(Scott walker) says to the Unions, we are going to ask for help.  Isn't that tough.  AWWWWWWWWW.  We're gonna say we would like you to pay 5% of your retirement.  Are you kidding me? What's wrong with that?  Can you tell me, is that a crime? And then he had the audacity to say,  we are going to ask you to pay 5% for your healthcare.  Isn't that sad?   Can you tell me, is that a crime? Can you tell me why are we having a recall"  Tommy Thompson - 1/21/12

"A measely 5 % of retirement....and 5% of healthcare" Tommy Thompson regarding State Employees (of which he used to be one). Since Tommy will not release his tax returns,   Let's take a little deeper look!

 The average base pay salary for a Milwaukee police department employee was $48,177


The Milwaukee Fire Department's net salary and wage total for FY 2011, according to the city budget, was $69,465,872.

The avergae wage of a Madison Metropolitan High School teacher is $50,193. 

The salary of Wisconsin's  Governor is $137,092/year.(X14 = $1,919,288).  

While Tommy Thompson is throwing red meat to a crowd of crazies, criticizing public workers, who make $50,000/yr, let's see what money means to Tomney. 

The 14 year Governor of WI, Tommy Thompson made in his public employee gubernatorial career alone (give or take a few dollars) $1,919,288.  

For those scoring at home,  Tommy made as Governor of WI.  OVER One Million nine hundred thousand taxpayer dollars. 

What did Tomny say when he left office?  Thank you?

Nope he said this :









"Everybody knows I was broke when I left Government 5 years ago and I went and made some sheckels,  Not as many as you guys think I have made. but i ahh uuuh aaahhh uhhhhh......." Tommy G Thompson.  

SO asking most state employees to pay an extra 10% towards your their pension and healthcare and they get an "aww isnt that sad" from the person who wants to be US Senator, yet has made over $2,000,000 was "broke"?   And we want him having control over our budget??

Extra credit.  

"It's tough to go back, there is no question about that."  Tommy Thompson referring to joining the US Senate after being a lobbyist.   

FYI: salary for a US Senator -  $174.000.00 per year!    Its hard for Tommy to end his lobbyists days where he makes millions, and go back to working for a measly $174,000/yr.  


Extra Extra Credit:
The one thing we know for sure about Tommy?  He did not make his millions based on merit pay! 

Uh Oh! Someone's Got Tommy Troubles!

Two new polls came out on Monday that show Tommy Thompson* is in a world of hurt.

One poll, done for Tammy Baldwin's campaign, shows that Thompson has crashed hard after the small bounce he got from the Republican National Convention:

Baldwin was backed by 50 percent of respondents in the survey conducted Sept. 9-12, while Thompson was favored by 45 percent, according to a memo on the poll prepared by The Feldman Group.

The results were reversed from August polling done for the campaign. That survey found 50 percent backed Thompson, while 44 percent favored Baldwin. Independent polling in August after the Republican primary also had Thompson up by as many as 9 percentage points.

The new Baldwin polling memo said Thompson’s negatives have gone up since he got a post-primary bounce in August. His favorable ratings were 45 percent in each of the campaign’s previous two surveys. But it fell to 39 percent in the latest poll, while his unfavorable rating was up to 46 percent.

The other poll, done by Public Policy Polling, found similar results, with Thompson taking a nose dive:

In the U.S. Senate race, Baldwin was backed by 48 percent of respondents, while 45 percent supported Thompson.

The poll found 53 percent of respondents had a negative impression of Thompson, while 40 percent had a favorable view of him. It found Baldwin's favorable-unfavorable split was 44-45.

The survey also found 90 percent of respondents were committed to their choice in the Senate race.

It's not surprising that Thompson is taking a header like a drunken sot.

He's been getting hammered on his ties to lobbyists and other special interest groups, a fact that Baldwin's poll pointed out.

There is also the poorly handled incident where his campaign spokesman had sent out a tweet ripping on Baldwin's sexual orientation. To this day, Thompson still hasn't fired this bigot from his staff showing his complicit agreement with his spokesman's homophobia.

Thompson hasn't been helping himself much with his lack of a message. I saw one of his commercials earlier this evening. In it, Thompson claims he has a plan of balancing the budget and creating jobs.

Um, someone want to tell Thompson that those are not plans, but rather are objectives and goals? Like Mitt "Robme" Romney and Paul Lyin' Ryan, Thompson doesn't have a plan is willing to go to any extreme to hide that fact, hoping that the voters have drunk enough Kool Aid that they are willing to believe anything.

In Thompson's case, that extreme is running to Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, whose Super PAC is dropping a a million dollars on an ad buy in our state.

I'm sure that hitching his wagon to the sleeziest political operative in recent history will help him get out of the drag of being hitched to other sleezy political operatives.

It'll be interesting to see just how far down in the polls Thompson can sink in the next 49 days.

And to Ms. Baldwin, all I can say is: Keep sticking it to him, Tammy!

*I use to refer to Tommy Thompson as TOMMY!!! due to his extraordinary conceitedness. Now he is such a sad shell of his former self, he doesn't get anyone that excited anymore.

Tommy Thompson: No One's Senatorial Candidate But The Lobbyists'

The Democrats welcomed Tommy Thompson to the general election today in grand form, just as Thompson is kicking off his fall campaign - in Washington, D.C., surrounded by a slew of his lobbyist friends.

Check out their press release and you'll find that Thompson has all the same moral compunction as one might expect from Scott Walker:

Instead of campaigning with the Romney-Ryan ticket in DePere today, Washington DC insider Tommy Thompson will hold a campaign “kick off” at an elite lobbying shop in Washington tonight.

Thompson, who has cashed in making millions working for Washington DC lobbyists and now has a net worth of over $13 million dollars, will "kick off” his general election campaign at Washington’s most elite lobbying firm, Barbour, Griffith, Rogers, with over 33 Washington D.C. lobbyists that work for special interests, including - Koch Industries, drug companies, insurance companies, and many of the same special interests Thompson has cashed in with.

Thompson’s cozy relationship with special interest lobbyists has gotten him in trouble before.

In 2007, the Associated Press reported that, “A new report is resurrecting old questions about the handling of Wisconsin gambling projects by presidential candidate Tommy Thompson and his former aides,” namely lobbyist Bill McCoshen, a close confidant of Thompson.

According to the AP, McCoshen signed a “secret agreement” with investors in an Indian gaming casino in Kenosha. The deal, initially signed in 1997 and revised in 2000, called for McCoshen to cash in on his relationship with Thompson as a former campaign manager, Chief of Staff and Commerce Secretary and receive $46.5 million for winning Thompson’s approval of the project.

During Thompson’s failed run for President, David Redlawsk, associate professor of political science at the University of Iowa, told the AP the report could hurt Thompson with religious conservatives, many of whom strongly oppose gambling.

In addition, Thompson has a record of being fined for violating lobbying laws, accepting illegal campaign contributions and refusing to return the illegal donations.

Thompson fined for violating lobby law. In 1987 a circuit court fined Thompson and two top aides for violating the state's lobbyist law. Thompson and his aides accepted free meals and beverages from a lobbying organization. [Wisconsin State Journal, 7/17/87]

Thompson admitted, and then denied lobby law violations. While criticizing the current lobby law, Thompson admitted he was "quite sure" he violated the law as a legislator. Thompson declined to provide specifics of his lobby law violations, but described a typical example, saying, "If two or three or a half dozen of you are having a sandwich and you each have a bottle of beer and one person picks up the tab, that person might have been a lobbyist .... That's happened lots of times." Thompson's remarks sparked an investigation into whether Thompson had violated the lobby law within the previous three years, and Thompson later claimed the newspaper misrepresented his remarks. After reviewing two tapes of the interview, the newspaper's managing editor concluded the story quoted Thompson accurately. [Wisconsin State Journal, 12/12/88;12/14/88; 12/15/88]

Thompson accepted $44,000 in illegal campaign funds. In 1992, Thompson's campaign fund accepted $44,780 in illegal campaign contributions from organizations that hire paid lobbyists. Groups that hire lobbyists may only donate after June 1 of an election year, and Thompson was not up for reelection until 1994. After a newspaper showed the governor's spokesman evidence of the donations, the spokesman promised the governor would return the money. [Milwaukee Sentinel, 10/28/93]

Thompson refused to return illegal donations. Thompson declined to return campaign contributions from insurance company executives who made the donations at a Blue Cross-organized fundraiser attended by his state Insurance Commissioner. It is against the law for a Wisconsin insurance commissioner to directly or indirectly solicit campaign donations. [Wisconsin State Journal, 1/14/94]

Barbour and his lobbying firm have accepted millions of dollars from a diverse range of clients such as big tobacco, the health care industry, and energy companies.

The Government of Mexico Hired Barbour’s Firm to Work on NAFTA Implementation. According to documents filed in 2001 with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Haley Barbour’s firm was contracted by the Embassy of Mexico. The documents indicate that the “political activities that Barbour Griffith & Rogers Inc. (Registrant) will engage in on behalf of the Government of Mexico (Foreign Principal) include seeking continued implementation of the NAFTA trade agreement.” The release goes on to describe Haley Barbour’s critical role on the Barbour Griffith and Rogers team. The firm’s fee for their service was $35,000 a month – for at least three months. [DOJ Registration Statement, filed 10/02/01 ]

BGR Group Earned $3.21 Million In Lobbying Fees For Health Care Interest In 2011 Alone. According to data from Lobbying Disclosure Act records available through opensecrets.org, the firm BGR Group earned $3.21 million in lobbying fees in 2011 from the following industries (as categorized by Open Secrets): Health Services- $800,000; Hospitals/Nurs Homes- $1.06 million; Insurance- $150,000; Misc Health-$220,000; Pharm/Health Prod- $980,000. [Open Secrets Lobbying Profile: BGR Group, Summary for year 2011]

Thompson Is Sorry All Right!

Last Thursday, just hours before US Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention, Tommy Thompson's campaign spokesman, Brian Nemoir, sent out a tweet saying "Clearly, there’s no one better positioned to talk ‘heartland values’ than Tammy" and attaching a two-year-old video of Baldwin appearing and dancing at a gay pride event.

A full five days later, and only after getting deluged with demands that he apologize for this, Thompson finally addressed the issue:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that it was a mistake for one of his aides to send a disparaging email and Twitter messages about Democratic opponent Tammy Baldwin dancing at a gay pride event.

The email and tweets were sent in advance of Baldwin's speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.

"I thought it was a mistake, I'm sorry, and he's apologized, I believe," Thompson told reporters after a luncheon of the Milwaukee Rotary Club. "He shouldn't have done it."

The emails were sent by aide Brian Nemoir from his campaign account. It also included his title and the campaign's web address.

The article goes on to say that Nemoir was demoted as spokesman, but remained as part of the campaign.

But then, not wanting Scott Walker to be the only one I say this about, Thompson shows that there's more. There's always more:

Even though Nemoir sent the email from his campaign account , another Thompson aide, Darrin Schmitz, said that Nemoir "acted on his own" and called his actions "unauthorized."

"He was not representing the Thompson campaign in this matter," Schmitz said.

The significance of this section is Darrin Schmitz.

Who is Darrin Schmitz?

Well, with a hat tip to blue cheddar for pointing this out, Schmitz has a history of bigotry himself, as pointed out in this Wisconsin State Journal article, describing him as the "Wisconsin Karl Rove":

And there have been controversies. He steered Gableman's race to replace Louis Butler, the state's first black state Supreme Court Justice. It was a bitter campaign that angered many by airing a commercial critics said contained racial overtones. The ad showed Butler's face next to that of a black rapist and falsely suggested Butler helped free the man, allowing him to rape again.

It led 52 Wisconsin judges to band together to issue a statement, decrying it as "falsely misleading." Democrats in the state still seethe when asked about it.

"Those who remember Mike Gableman's campaign that included a roundly-criticized, race-baiting television ad will have to see about the tone the Thompson campaign may take in the final months," said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, a Madison-based liberal organization.

The controversy didn't bother only Democrats. Some Republican operatives contacted by the State Journal criticized Schmitz, specifically regarding the Gableman incident, but none of them would go on the record.

Of the controversy, Schmitz would only say that rape is a serious crime and the issue raised by the commercial was valid.

Nice, eh?*

In sum, Thompson's spokesman sends out a bigoted tweet about Baldwin's sexual orientation. It takes Thompson five full days to address the issue, and then he still doesn't offer a direct apology to Baldwin or to the LGBT community, nor does he even fire the perpetrator. To top it off, he has the guy behind the Gableman racist ad defending the campaign trying to claim that "There's no bigotry to see here!"

Thompson said he was "sorry." Damn right he is. He's one of the sorriest candidates I've seen, along with Scott Walker and Paul Ryan.

Ironically enough, I did find the perfect thing for Tommy's campaign.  He could have this running on the screens at all of his appearance as well as on his website:

*These are the things that make me miss Illusory Tenant the most. He'd have had a field day with this one if he was still around.

Tommy Thompson's 9/11 Hypocrisy

Sad Tommy is sad.

Today, as the entire nation is fully aware of, is the eleventh anniversary of the attack on New York City, where 3,000 people lost their lives. Many of those who perished in that horrific nightmare come true were the first responders: police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical personnel. All of them selflessly put any concerns for their own safety to the side as they charged up the stairs of the twin towers in an effort to save the lives of the innocent.

They, as much as any group of people ever has, deserves are continuous thoughts, prayers and eternal gratitude.


As happens every year on this date, people gathered to remember and honor the victims and their families. Likewise, politicians feel compelled to issue statements regarding the occasion. This is especially true during election years.

In that light, here comes Tommy Thompson, Republican candidate to replace the retiring Herb Kohl, giving us his reflection on the events of that infamous day:

Tommy Thompson released the following statement reflecting on the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Thompson served as Health and Human Services Secretary at the time of the terrorist attacks. The next day, he was at Ground Zero orchestrating the largest activation of the national disaster medical system in our nation's history.

"Eleven years ago today, the resolve of our country was tested. Families across America witnessed as our nation came under attack. Although we were shaken, we did not falter. I will never forget the unwavering strength Americans, especially first responders, demonstrated at Ground Zero that day. As both individuals and as a nation, we came together to grieve for the loved ones we lost and to rally against unspeakable evil. Together, we showed the world that the American spirit could not be broken.

"As we reflect upon the events of September 11, 2001, we are reminded that freedom isn't free. We live in the greatest country in the world because our men and women in uniform bravely put their lives at risk to defend not only our nation, but those constitutional freedoms we enjoy each and every day. I encourage people in Wisconsin and across the nation to take a moment to reflect upon those we have lost and to honor those who are bravely fighting today."

Well, isn't that special!

Too bad that this is the Tommy that wants something from the voters. The real Tommy, has shown by David Dayen at FDL, isn't as compassionate towards the first responders when they were fighting to get cancer included as a 9/11 illness. At least not until he could make money off of their suffering, that is:

The issue could play a role in a key Senate race in Wisconsin. Tommy Thompson was President Bush’s Health and Human Services Secretary. The Bush Administration did not compensate victims of the environmental hazards at Ground Zero, and downplayed the consequences. When Thompson finally got around to helping workers suffering from illnesses from Ground Zero, it wasn’t as HHS Secretary (where he was criticized for not doing enough), but as a private entrepreneur. His company, Logistics Health Inc., won a CDC contract in 2008 for $11 million to track the health and treat some of the workers exposed to toxic environmental hazards. “It is ironic that former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson’s firm won the contract to provide the services, given the history of delay from the Bush administration when he was secretary and now,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney at the time.

Thompson also showed his acumen in issues of protecting innocent citizens from terror when he said in 2004, upon stepping down at HHS, “For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply. Because it is so easy to do.” Fortunately, nobody took him up on the tip.

Y'know, the right wing is very conscious of who does what regarding this day, only supporting the "true patriots." Well, it's pretty obvious that Thompson doesn't fit that bill. It's time for Thompson to take a retirement from politics and devote more attention to his farm.

Boy Did He

Here's the latest ad from Tammy Baldwin, and she took the gloves off for this one:



The press release that comes with the video, with all the damning evidence, can be found here.

Compare/Contrast - WI Senate Edition!

Here is another stark contrast between the two parties, especially in terms of the Senate Candidates!

Tammy Baldwin is thought so well of by the national Democratic party that she was given a prime time speaking spot on the biggest night of the convention.

Now, let's compare that to her opponent in November Tommy G Thompson.   Tommy recently barely escaped a primary where 2/3 Republican voters voted against him and he almost lost to Washington DC resident and intellectual lightweight Eric Hovde.  Then during the convention, Thompson was not allowed anywhere near prime time or the camera's.  Except for this one exception:








Where someone caught Tommy begging David Koch for some more money.   You know this is an important conversations for Tommy because he does not have a drink in his hand!   

However, I will give credit where it is due,  whoever planned the convention has heard Tommy speak before and wanted no part of it.   Especially with this on his resume:

Yes, sadly the 1990's Tommy G Thompson is no longer and he has been replaced with the hate filled, crazy, greedy version you see above.   Tommy is so desperate these days, his main campaign focus now is trying hard to let everyone know that Tammy Baldwin is gay.   What a truly sad figure Tommy has become.  

:There truly is no comparison anymore, let's make sure we send Tammy Baldwin to Washington DC in November!