17 thoughts on “Thoughts On The Smiley-Faced Fascists”

  1. I have just one word for you, Rand. Kloppenburg.

    Glenn Reynolds over at the Instapundit is in a lather of righteous indignation over E J Dionne comparing Mr. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill victory to Mr. Obama’s overreach with Health Care Reform, snarking that Dionne was cheerleading for HCR and didn’t think it to be overreach at the time.

    And University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Ann Althouse is in a full head of hair shampoo of righteous indignation over the upcoming election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court slot being non-partisan and how JoAnne Kloppenburg is making it partisan (how dare she!) for drawing the contrast between her liberal self and the arch-conservative incumbent Judge Prosser.

    The only thing non-partisan about these judge elections is that they run without party labels, otherwise these elections can be as partisan-political as partisan can be. Professors Reynolds and Althouse are also foaming about how your smiley-faced fascists want to pack to court to overturn Mr. Walker’s fresh legislative victory.

    We always knew the liberal bloggers and the trolls they sent over to us were childish, but now we are on the same level. “You are overreaching! No, you are overreaching!” and so on. But we will know soon enough — isn’t that Supreme Court election first week of April?

    That Supreme Court election goes far beyond court challenges to the Budget Repair Bill as so many political issues end up in the courts these days.

    We can fuss and foam and rinse and lather and repeat all we want about how unrighteous those union and their Democrat and liberal supporters are and how the liberal Media cover up their indiscretions. But the Budget Repair Bill and Ending Public Employee Collective Bargaining victory that everyone is so happy about may lead to loss of a Supreme Court seat and a reversal of a 4-3 conservative-liberal balance on the court.

    The Budget Repair Bill spent an enormous amount of political capital. Mr. Obama thought that Health Care Reform was worth spending all the political capital he had. Was the Budget Repair Bill also spending all the political capital the conservative/libertarian side has?

  2. Actually, it’s good to see the Smiley-Face Fascists finally admit that these so-called “non-partisan” races, another 19th Century Progressive innovation, are anything but.

    And packing a State Supreme Court, just to overturn a particular law, will also show also just how biased judges have always been, and how they too are just political animals willing to bend the law to the short-term interests of those who pay the most to get them elected.

    Maybe after all this it’ll finally sink into the thick-headed Mushy Middle that “both parties are alike” is not true, and which of the two sides is the one that’s never been for “civility” or “bipartisanship” or “compromise”, unless it furthers the Progressive Left’s goals.

  3. i wasn’t referring to the judge elections.

    Mitch Daniels spent a lot of political capital when he ended collective bargaining rights for public-employee unions by exectutive order. He currently has a 70% (or thereabouts) approval rating in Indiana.

  4. Tell us Paul, if not now, when? Where do you draw thre line in the sand? The longer this boil festers the worse the cure will be.

  5. No one is packing a State Supreme Court, just to overturn a particular law.

    Members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court are elected and they stand for reelection. Currently a seat is occupied by a judicial conservative, who is standing for reelection on April 5. In a unitary February primary before the Budget Repair Bill, the field of candidates was narrowed to the incumbent, Judge Prosser, and one challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, who is regarded as a judicial liberal.

    Liberal and conservative means something on high-level judicial posts. Yes, every judge should strive to interpret the law as it is written, but there are different points of view on how to do just that.

    Mitch Daniels is Governor in another Big 10 state, but I will admit that I don’t know much about him apart from 1) his executive order back in 2006 ending collective bargaining, 2) talk about him being a Republican 2012 Presidential candidate, 3) his facing a similar quorum-busting tactic from Democrats leaving his state over legislation that will go even further against unions than what was in his executive order, 4) his not wanting to push such legislation so as to not have a Wisconsin-type protest on his hands, 5) that the impetus for this legislation is coming from Republican legislators and not him, and 6) the carping and grousing throughout comment sections of the Right Blogosphere that “I am not supporting that squish/RINO for President and I want Scott Walker.” Mr. Ortega, do you consider Mitch Daniels a member of the Mushy Middle who needs to chose sides?

    I am trying to tell people that there is something about Scott Walker, and I have the feeling that he is no Mitch Daniels. I am getting the feeling that Scott Walker thrives on confrontation whereas Mitch Daniels is, how do we say, more nuanced. Whereas there is a consensus in the Right Blogosphere that this quality of Scott Walker is a feature and not a bug, I think it is way early to tell whether Mr. Walkers style of leadership will lead to 70% approval ratings in 4 years.

    I am also telling you that there will be a canary-in-the-coal-mine test of the air quality in Wisconsin in April 5. Just as the election of Chris Christie and later Scott Brown were referunda on the Obama Administration and a foreshadowing for November 2012, I am telling you that if JoAnne Kloppenburg is seated on the Supreme Court after April 5, it will be a foreshadowing of November 2012 or even earlier if there is a mass slate of recall election candidates.

    These non-partisan judge elections in pre-November general elections, such elections are traditionally “inside baseball” and there is very low turnout, favoring incumbents such as Judge Prosser. Scott Walker’s actions has not only nationalized the April 5 election, we will find out if he has internationalized that election when Richard Fernandez weighs in with an opinion. This is not good for an incumbent conservative judge with a narrow conservative-leaning State Supreme Court.

  6. The other thing to consider is that Mitch Danels recinded public employee collective bargaining in Indiana, which is a decidely more conservative state than Wisconsin, and he did this in 2006, where the economy was some years away from the 2008 crash.

    The Scott Walker Budget Repair 1) was put forth during a lingering recession that has put enormous pressure on pay and benefits of those still lucky to have jobs, 2) combined an across-the-board 8-10% pay cut, with 3) elimination of collective bargaining, coupled with 4) elimination of mandatory union dues. That last item was the real sticking point in the negotations with the 14 State Senators because, yes, it is an existential threat to unions, everywhere.

    Not only that, Governor Walker’s announcement included a threat to use the National Guard to operate prison (yes, yes, only a contingency plan), combined with exclusion of police and fire personnel from these provisions, giving the entire announcement an ominously threatening tone. There was a sense “I know this bill will create a vigorous pushback, and I am prepared for war on this.”

    So the Democrats, the unions, and the liberals went ballistic with massed protests, wildcat strikes of teachers, liberal sympathizer MD’s writing phony excuse notes, tape marking up the priceless marble in the Capitol, protestors crossing the line into incivility and even law breaking.

    And this, of course, is all the fault of Democrats, unions, liberals, and sundry protestors, and Mr. Walker’s judgement is not in question regarding setting this off? The Democrats, unions, liberals, and professional protestors may be all the things people say that they are. I question, however, the wisdom of hopping on the Scott Walker bandwagon and of the cheering for this victory.

  7. “Tell us Paul, if not now, when? Where do you draw thre line in the sand? The longer this boil festers the worse the cure will be.”

    That is an argument that Liberals make and not Conservatives. The “if not now, when?” argument was made in favor of Health Care Reform in the teeth of an economic crisis rather than waiting for an economic recovery. Mr. Obama and the Democrats had a “use it or lose it” view of their majorities to hurry HCR through rather than do it right.

    I am expressing the opinion that Mr. Walker’s approach was needlessly confrontational and there will be a heavy political price to pay for this. I am also expressing the view that if this struggle is viewed through a war analogy, as suggested by the phrase drawing a line in the sand, instead of being given a medal for bravery in confronting the enemy, he might be up for a court martial for reckless tactics endangering his men.

    There is this broad Right Blogosphere consensus to award Scott Walker the highest medal right now, and I guess I am expressing the contrarian view that the day will come when he will be up for that court martial, the judges will be the very people who are cheering for him. It is not only where you draw the line in the sand, but how you draw the line in the sand, and I don’t think Mr. Walker is a good political tactician, that is, unless you think that the goal is to bring on the Epic Political Confrontation to End History.

    I guess it is just me and arch-squish David Brooks against the rest of the Right Blogospher. I am a conservative and not a liberal, and I see such Manichean End of History moments as ending badly. We can blame it all on the unions, the Democrats, and the liberals, but it will end badly.

  8. “We can blame it all on the unions, the Democrats, and the liberals, but it will end badly.”

    If you really feel that way, then please end it early for yourself with a bullet to the head, and let the rest of us fight it out. We don’t need your despair dragging us down.

  9. “If you really feel that way, then please end it early for yourself with a bullet to the head, and let the rest of us fight it out. We don’t need your despair dragging us down.”

    Rand, your parent post was about civility.

  10. I thought I was quite polite. I didn’t threaten you; I merely made a suggestion on how you could make yourself and the rest of us happier. A win-win.

  11. Ken, is there something you want to tell us? I mean, sometimes people who tell others to “end it all” have something that’s bothering them. Or maybe the Democrats are using their army of Homosexual Rape Zombies to poison the soil around all our major cities. I just don’t know, Ken! I’m just another clueless person here in this trailer park.

  12. I thought he was quite clear.

    If you are going to succumb to despair, do so quickly and quietly. That way, those of us who refuse to do so may be about the business of trying to fix this mess without any anchors attached to us.

  13. Ken’s remark was grotesque, as was his second note.

    I don’t know what happened to Gerrib, but at least he was civil. Ken’s trying hard to get banned.

    Jeff

  14. And this, of course, is all the fault of Democrats, unions, liberals, and sundry protestors, and Mr. Walker’s judgement is not in question regarding setting this off?

    Pretty much. Show me a nice way to strip public-sector unions of their power. It’s a common evolutionary trait for parasites to harm their hosts when someone tries to remove them. And sorry, Paul, but that’s how I view public unions, as parasites on society.

  15. I am expressing the opinion that Mr. Walker’s approach was needlessly confrontational and there will be a heavy political price to pay for this.

    You have a good chance of being right here. Walker could very well flame out. And I have doubts that the public unions have been kept out for long. Still Walker has a strong case for action and he did it quickly. Whatever retribution the electorate will do will be somewhat softened by time and maybe hindsight.

    Further, somebody was bound to be first. I don’t buy that Walker is poisoning the well for future budgetary action by the other states and by the US as a whole. Everyone has budget problems. Many states have public-sector union trouble too. Either they deal with these problems or they run out of money with which to buy all the nice services that people want.

  16. Paul,
    There is no easy way to fix the budget problems caused by public union benefits. The cycle of union money to Democrats and taxpayer money to union benefits can only be broken by removing political negotiators from the process. The reaction from public unions from NJ to WI to OH are the norm. They will not go quietly into that good night. The quote from a LAW professor about maybe it’s time for political violence is not a minority view. You can argue he was too confrontational but tactics don’t win wars, logistics does. Let’s see how much money the union collects now that people don’t have it deducted automatically, for example. ANY proposal to limit collective bargaining will be met with this type of behavior. The union was willing to take a hit now because they knew they would get it back when the Democrats got back in the majority. What you and David Brooks evidently don’t understand is the press will vilify anyone on the right. There is no rational discourse. Brooks is tolerated because of his squishiness. Everyone else, not so much

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