If this was 1776, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial would support good old King George because he's "tough and experienced" (yes, I'm definitely snarking their original 2010 Walker endorsement) citing that he hasn't committed a criminal offense to warrant a recall. That riff raff who want him gone are criminals (they destroyed all that valuable tea by dumping it overboard - remember?), agitators, and lowlifes. Glenn Grothman, prominent politician, would be calling them "slobs" and be outraged at the bazillions in damage they caused opposing the just and rightful King.
On top of that, the rebels have the audacity to challenge the authority of the God Annointed King and are even threatening to declare independence from the empire he rules. Madness, just madness. They illegally assemble in groups to nefariously plan an illegal overthrow of The Kings government, discuss and distribute information that is not printed in Royally Approved publications, but worst of all insist they have something called "rights" which would actually limit Royal Authority. I need my smelling salts now.
He has decreed that colonists have no rights and must accept Royal Dictates as the law. Their demand to be heard or voice an opinion are outrageous, to say the least. The peasantry need to attend to their work and obey the law. Beyond that, they should be quiet and pay their taxes.
The King has responded by creating additional rules to prevent assembly of groups of more than 2 people and to require them to apply for a government pemit with the promise to pay for any alleged "damages" the group would cause as well as the costs of security to keep them under strict surveillance. They'd be prohibited from coming into any Royal Building for fear of the damage they might cause and could only enter in groups of 1 or 2 after submitting to a full search of their person. Guns would be permitted, but not cameras. (Hey, wait.....that's what Walker did here!) The Kings media approves of all these actions.
Colonists must bow to the King and accept his ultimate rulings and laws. They are, after all, colonists and must accept their place in society. Most importantly, they must remember that speaking against the King is a crime and actions against the Empire are treason.
This is how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel would have reported our national revolution.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our founding fathers and mothers must be rolling in their graves. They understood the need for newspapers and factual reporting. They gave them rights they never had before. But today newspapers are the bought and paid for tools of corporations to spread myths, memes, and propaganda to enrich and enable the monied elite to keep robbing the citizens of their rights, their dignity, and every last cent they have.
I was disgusted when our RW leaning rag, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, once again endorsed Scott Walker - this time in the recall election. I knew it was coming as their reporting shifted from the nearly balanced and more factual reporting they started to produce to more pro-Walker turd-polishing and harsh criticism of his opponents in the past few months.
The unresolved question I had in my mind was this: why endorse him so soon before the election? That's right; more than 3 weeks prior to the vote, here comes their endorsement. I now know why. Their strategy is to prop him up even more right before the election.
Today, the JS editorial pages are filled with Letters to the Editor critical of the endorsement which means that next week, right before the election, the Journal Sentinel will fill those same pages with pro-Walker letters and support. Their excuse, of course, will be "to provide balance", but it's a thin veil over their obvious bias.
It's Memorial Day weekend, of course, and readership will be down as people travel to join family to honor our troops, veterans, and those who gave their lives in the ultimate sacrifice to our country. They'll be cooking out, attending parades and driving back home with little time for the Sunday newspaper other than a quick scan of the headlines. Not so next Sunday when they'll open the Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, and find WalkerFest all over the editorial pages, a celebration of all things pro-Walker just 2 days before they go to the polls.
In 2010, the Journal Sentinel printed their endorsement on October 24, a little more than a week before the election as one would normally expect. This years endorsement, in it's timing, was more unusual while not unexpected.
To recall radical Republicans we've been opposed by GOP supporters and their sleazy tactics (running fake Democrats, intimidation and violence, destruction of petitions and signs, verbal abuse), mega millions of spending on lying paid ads and slick mailers and more huge free yard and window signs than you could count in a lifetime, and even more mega millions in outside billionaire spending on more lying paid ads. And then there's more. Add to that a complaint corporate media all too willing to shill for one side and question or attack the other and you have the same recipe the GOP used in 2010 to take control of our entire State Legislature and State Executive branch.
They're doing it again. Rinse and repeat. This time with a governor under a cloud of investigation, with an extremist legislative record that bears no resemblence to his campaign promises or publicly stated agenda, and with a citizenry who rose up in opposition to the destruction of our state. Yet it's our side painted as the bad guys over and over again.
Fortunately, people have had enough of the Journal Sentinel. Subscriptions are down so far that they've put the online version behind a paywall of 20 articles per month. Sadly, however, their reporting is extensively covered by our corporate electronic media.
Solidarity.