I'm one of those people Walker hates. Now retired, I used to work for Milwaukee County as a Registered Nurse. As County Executive, he was my boss. Large and in charge he took and took and took in every union contract. Public employees were always his favorite scapegoat and he never missed an opportunity to disparage us as overpaid, lazy, and with millionaire level benefits. It was always his way or the highway.
He was also a hostage-taker. He always unnecessarily threatened massive numbers of jobs unless unions bent to his will.
We've seen this before, but it's on steroids now because he has massive majorities in the State Legislature that can pass any bill he wants. This is likely why he thought he could pull off such extremist legislation.
I'm sure he was shocked at the protests. While he has now admitted that stripping collective bargaining from public employees has been long discussed, his actions speak of typical Republican trickery. Putting the bill out late Friday with a quickie hearing scheduled the following Tuesday and a vote shortly after is not what is done with major legislation that has huge statewide implications. His goal was to shove this through before anyone notice.
So, he lies, distorts, and lies some more. He repeats the same tired talking points about this being cost saving although he rejected an offer giving him all the cost savings he wanted. He tries to garner support by appearances on RW media. Rinse and repeat.
He's feeling the heat. His early presser today at 2:30 PM Central Time is a good example. He has been holding them during the first part of local media news programs so the news gets pre-empted for live coverage with a large audience. Today, the 2:30 PM presser did get live coverage, but a small audience since most people are still at work. Certainly he wants to get his baloney out there before people get home, tune into the news, and find out about his phone call with Fake Koch.
He fled the presser with many, many reporters still having questions, mostly about his Koch conversation. You sure don't want that with lots of voters watching live.
Walker is feeling the drip, drip, drip of public scrutiny. More and more is coming out about his quickie bill (no-bid sell-of of assets, severe Medicaid and Medicare cuts to name just two), Democratic Senators evacuation of Wisconsin to prevent a quorum, fillibustering Assembly Democratics (over 26 hours as of now), scrutiny of his contributors and their "investment" for profit in his campaign coffers, and being pwned by a liberal blogger who not only exposed who the Governor is willing to talk to (and it's not the people, the unions, or the Democrats) but revealed his upcoming strategy and trickery, and polling that clearly shows he's on the wrong side of the issue are taking their toll.
His My Way or The Highway approach isn't working. Even the Tea Bagger Cavalry couldn't save the day. Fancy corporate funded web sites and signage arent changing minds. Public knowledge about his financers and the payday this bill will give them is growing.
He hears from the RW echo chamber. He hears from his corporate masters. He hears the drip, drip, drip growing louder. He's not a hero with a superhighway to the Presidency unfolding in front of him. He's a puppet. A guy who looks good, parrots talking points, and says no, no, no to and takes, takes, takes from anyone other than his financial backers.
Soon, the heat from the spotlight of public scrutiny will make his financers uncomfortable as the light shines on them. The continuing peaceful and polite protests expose the extremism of Republicans. Plummeting poll numbers will take their toll. Walker may be finished as a politician, but a fine corporate job always awaits their political lackeys.
Republican legislators might be the ones to lead the way to can this bill. Although many are extremists, their own political futures might be at stake and they don't have a Koch sugar daddy propping them up. Walker has said he's had to call every Republican State Senator every day to ensure their support. Cenk Ueger wonders how many of them will take his call today - and so do I.
Thanks for all your support. We're not backing down.Updated by Puddytat at Thu Feb 24, 2011, 12:04:38 AM
My thanks to the Rescue Rangers for the life preserver they sent. I thought this had just fallen off the list.
Update: And the Heat Goes On Edition: H/T Ice Blue for finding and posting this link to an item that was breaking last night with no details available so I put it out as a comment. This morning, there are more details on former US Atty and Wisconsin Atty General Peggy Lautenschlagers take on the Fake Koch phone call. She finds numerous serious violations of Wisconsin ethics, election and labor laws. She believes investigations are needed. The article is well worth reading in full.
Update #3: As much as I would like to stick around, I need to go and make signs for the Milwaukee protest. I'll be back after our protest. Thanks for all the Kossack love and support. You guys rock!
Update #4: Back from the local ralley. We've got several local rallies today all around Milwaukee and, in fact, all over the state. The many many cars honking and waving as they passed we appreciated. It warmed our hearts as we stood out in the cold. Tomorrow night is Nurses Night - the nurses will be doing the overnight occupation of the Rotunda - and I will be there. We have to keep the Capitol occupied all the time for fear that Walker will shut it down. I'll be pleased to be there Friday thru Saturday. It's awesome if you can come. Almost a life-changing experience.