I just burned another vacation day at the capitol building in Madison. I was outside all day, like most of the rest of the taxpaying citizens who showed up to rally against Governor Walker's union-busting bill. I have enough stories for 10 diaries, but I'm exhausted so here's the best one and some photos.
After cheering outside the assembly chamber windows during the governor's late-afternoon budget address, a crowd of about 10,000 marched around the capitol, left hundreds of post-it notes on the big wooden doors, and cheered loudly. For some reason Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman wandered outside the building but apparently forgot to arrange for someone to let him back in.
He attracted a crowd of about 30 people who followed him as he went door to door. The followers chanted "Shame! Shame! Shame!" as he made his way around the building, even peeking through a window to see if he could attract someone's attention. "Now you know how we feel!" someone yelled. He finally was able to catch up with a Democratic Assemblyman (who had his own cheering section applauding him) and the two of them made their way to a secured entrance. Grothman was pointed at and "Shamed!" until he made his way back into the capitol, but he was not touched, threatened, or impeded in any way. I have no doubt, however, that he was very uncomfortable mixing with the peasants.
So I get home and I see Glenn Grothman answering questions from Laurence O'Donnell on MSNBC. He repeated the usual talking points and lies, but at the end he defended the illegal locking out of capitol protestors by calling "most of the protestors" slobs. Slobs! He backed off a bit at the end and said it was mostly the overnight campers who were the slobs, but he really stepped in it. He then identified the overnight campers as Teaching Assistants, college students, hangers-on, and the unemployed. Ouch! I guess the cops and firefighters were the hangers-on.
So, in honor of Glenn Grothman, can you help spot the slobs from the photos I took today?
Nope. They look pretty clean.
This is Arvid. I've met him twice at the rallies. He makes his own signs. Look at that penmanship. Not a slob.
Those firefighters' uniforms are a little dirty, but that's just part of their job.
I saw these people close up. They were well groomed.
Ok, maybe one or two of these guys.
Obviously not a slob on this line, the only protection between Governor Walker and the angry slobs.
Needs a shave, but not a slob.
Maybe a slob when he lived in Poland, but not now.
Nope. This dog cleaned up after his owner.
Aaahh! Here they are. Just look at 'em.
Updated by Giles Goat Boy at Tue Mar 1, 2011, 11:52:11 PM
Interesting. Video of Grothman's trek around the capitol now on youtube. I saw the beginning and ending of the incident at the capitol as I was walking the opposite way around the building. He had quite an intense moment in the middle that I was not previously aware of. (I wasn't there for that part.)
He headed for a door that was under one of the big outdoor staircases. I think the crowd assumed he'd go through and they'd just yell shame for a while. They weren't trapping him, they were following him. The problem was apparently Grothman couldn't open the locked door, so the crowd bunched up behind him. Maybe if the capitol was open as required by law???
Brett Hulsey and others calmed the crowd and Hulsey escorted Grothman out to find another door. Even after that, people yelled "Shame!" at Grothman, which is when I saw him again. I doubt he was ever in physical danger, but I'm sure he thought he was, and I can see why. Of course, he hasn't been out in the crowds for two weeks like I have to know they are frustrated but committed to being peaceful.
It will be spun both ways in the next couple days, but what it really speaks to is a need for leadership, and we won't get any. Walker is incapable of leading and nobody trusts him at this point. He'll continue to play games and provoke the peaceful citizens who have complied with every order and every request until someone finally loses it.
The bottom line is nobody got hurt. Hulsey did a great job, as did the numerous people calling for peace. The protestors have had two weeks of practice at quieting when the peace signs are given and fortunately the training worked.
It also makes Grothman's "slob" comments seem even more bizarre. I would think that after a harrowing experience like that he might consider toning down the rhetoric.
I urge you to go look at the video.
Updated by Giles Goat Boy at Wed Mar 2, 2011, 08:32:30 AM
Ok, we knew Grothman was a whack-job, but this just keeps getting weirder. His quote in the Wisconsin State Journal confirms what I wrote, that he wasn't in danger.
Grothman says Hulsey did help him escape the crowd but he was never that worried. "I really think if I had had to, I could have walked through the crowd and it would have been okay," he said.
Exactly. He would have been "shamed" all the way to his destination, but the crowd was not going to to touch him. I wouldn't be surprised if this was simply a stunt to help Fox News get some video, and I don't say that lightly.
Of course, Grothman goes off the deep end, too and says this:
"They're loud, they'll give you the finger, and they yell at you, but I really think deep down inside they're just mostly college kids having fun, just like they're having fun sleeping with their girfriends on air mattresses. That's the guts of that crowd."
My photos, and I have dozens more, would indicate Grothman is dangerously delusional.