Writes former governor Scott Walker in The Washington Post — gift link.
"Keep reminding everyone that a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to vote. If Texas Democrats continuously refuse to show up to do that, they have abandoned their job. At the same time, talk about why Republicans are pushing their reforms. Communicate the need for the plan repeatedly to regain control of the narrative."
I was going to say you can practically hear the Wisconsin accent and maybe that works in Wisconsin, but Texans might be a little more rowdy and rebellious, but I see Walker asserts: "It worked in the Badger State. It will work in the Lone Star State, too." What kind of logic is that?
Posts
67 comments:
".....but Texans might be a little more rowdy and rebellious"
you think???
Narratives are created by our corrupt media (D).
look at how insane = democrat-alphabet media
a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to prevent votes they won't win.
The FUNDAMENTAL tenet of Democracy is refusing to do things that the people want. The people are to be Led.. Not Followed
Scott Walker only has a hammer, thus this is a nail.
Was looking at images to see if Walker had found a better barber (no) and ran across this visionary quote from another Wisconsin milquetoast.
"I honestly don't think he'll get the nomination at the end of the day,” Ryan said ahead of a likely Trump announcement Tuesday. "And the reason I think that is because we want to win. We want to win the White House, and we know with Trump we’re so much more likely to lose."
- Paul Ryan in 2022.
The world is completely different in 2025 than it was in 2011.
Now people are free to discuss this issue outside the corporate media frame.
The Democrats are in a place where the only thing Abbott can do is not punish them enough. Solid majorities want these people in jail and the billionaires that paid their bills in jail for decades.
Yah, if those Democrats paid to legislate aren’t showing up for their jobs it isn’t some noble act of civil disobedience or whatever you choose to call it it’s criminal activity. Theft. It should be treated as such or we’ll get more of the behavior.
He learned from Rick Perry to keep your prongs down to two, so you don't forget the other ones.
I would suppose that "two-pronged strategies" are already commonplace. Prong 1: defend. Prong 2: attack. Tertium non datur.
"It worked once. Ought to work again, right?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWAQ8rTBLUk
From the Dem perspective:
"It didn't work in the Badger State. It will work in the Lone Star State, though." What kind of logic is that?
and yet they stuffed the ballots to get the cadaverous evers, they then stuffed the ballots to pick mr autopen, then they pack the state supreme court, and now a nonpartisan group, lol, that pushes to gerrymander the remaining district,
where there is enough money and will they will undo everything you have done walker, thus endeth the lesson,
in texas it is harder, but there are still blue enclaves that may eventually corrupt the whole body politics,
walker ended up a cipher, partially because of lawfare, but also hiring some of the worst campaign you could find on god's green earth,
I think it's very interesting that 4 of the 5 districts the Republicans in Texas are trying to create will be majority Hispanic districts and the Democrats are desperate to stop them.
It hasn’t worked in Texas the other times Democrats have done this. It is why they increased the penalties after last time. Texans were pissed the Democrats could waste everyone’s time for nothing. Now they will pay for wasting time.
"and the Democrats are desperate to stop them."
The Democrats goal is power. They don't care about people except as they can be used to achieve that goal.
Democrats INVENTED the no-show bullshit government job. Where you get paid, but you don't show up to work and are free to go on vacation, or work elsewhere, while stealing the taxpayer dollars.
They're not giving up this plum.
Even the nickname's off. Badgers are to Wisconsin what Longhorns are to Texas (sorry, Aggies). Lone Star is the Leininkugel of Texas, I guess (though I only drank Pearl when I lived there).
Walker trying to run for office again.
@ Mason G
Yes, but what I find interesting is,
the Dems don't think they can win over these "brown people", as the Dems like to call them. They apparently see them as irretrievably lost. They see them as solid Republicans voters.
"... the no-show bullshit government job"
By the way, what the Democrats are doing (taking pay for no-show jobs) is criminal. This is "theft of government services" which is a federal felony.
18 USC ss641 outlaws what the Democrats are doing and they should be arrested and prosecuted. Up to 7 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.
“What kind of logic is that?”
I can’t say, but teh Plan is so crazy, it just might work!
Democrats could simply capitulate, as the Washington Post has.
kakscheisser®
Rowdy? I've never seen Texans occupy their State House in protest like I watched Wisconsinites occupy theirs a decade or so ago. That was rowdy and way over the top.
What kind of logic is that?
Um. Logical logic. Like, a political strategy that worked in one American state may well be viable in another American state. It's not dispositive, but it's certainly plausible.
meade must be on vacation.
no way he'd let his wife post negativity about his hero scott walker... seems to me ann worshipped the ground scott walked on too? What gave?
"Heartless Aztec said...
Rowdy? I've never seen Texans occupy their State House in protest like I watched Wisconsinites occupy theirs a decade or so ago. That was rowdy and way over the top."
And in the midst of all the insanity, Meade and Althouse went into the chaos. unarmed.
Been a fan ever since
Trump should offer a deal to illegals. Tell them, you can stay if you bring in the NGO worker who brought you here, bound and gagged, so that he or she can be deported in your place.
By strategically drawing electoral district boundaries, politicians or those in power can manipulate voter demographics to favor their party or themselves, effectively "choosing" their voters rather than letting voters freely choose their representatives. This undermines fair representation and competitive elections.
Banning it, and drawing boundaries fairly to encourage democracy would go a long way towards fixing the divisive politics it has created by forcing politicians to appeal to a broader base.
Democrat protesters tried to “occupy” the Texas Capitol in 2020. It didn’t go well for them.
"What kind of logic is that?" Logic of common sense? GOP correctly deducing from Dem shenanigans what needs to be done?
yes the alinsky precept about what constitutes an effective tactic needs to be re ezamined,
""It worked in the Badger State. It will work in the Lone Star State, too." What kind of logic is that?"
Seems like Althouse could ask an LLM.
BTW, haven't the Ds taken over the WI state gov since this thing-y happened there? Maybe following the WI model isn't the best for the Rs, if they don't want to be losers.
IDK.
if Marc Elias can subvert the franchise through unverifiable drop boxes, consent decrees,
pepe le dou-dou.
why they keep nominating skippy o' rourke, for every office above dog catcher, no self respecting latino calls himself beto, albertico maybe,
I don't mind they waste their money that way, but it is amusing none the less,
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2025/08/09/texas-house-republican-says-flying-to-cancun-is-real-abandonment-n2417013 that is painfully stupid,
Abbott and the Texas GOP need to do the following:
1) Make sure this crap never happens again. Lets go through a judicial review and make sure what is constitutional or not. And then the GOP should pass laws.
2) GOP should use their power to the maximum to punish the Democrats. We need to quit being the "nice guy party" and "the only adult in the room".
Finally, I am so tired to this nonsense. It shows, once again, the liberal/left and the Democrats have only one principle: "Just win baby, just win". No ethics, no honesty, no restraint.
Push everything to the max, and win by anyway neccessary.
has the possum speaker that chose dems for committee chairs agreed,
le Douanier said...
BTW, haven't the Ds taken over the WI state gov since this thing-y happened there?
according to wiki:
Wisconsin State Assembly: R54 D45
Wisconsin Senate: R18 D15
United States representatives from Wisconsin: R6 D2
United States Senate: R1 D1
please clarify your comment about D's taking over Wisc?
Banning it, and drawing boundaries fairly
Describe a fair redistricting method- use any state as an example.
Le Douchebag probably thinking Evers amounts to control.
Gil,
They've lost power in the state, like I wrote. Total loss in two of three branches. And loss of other statewide offices. And dwindling power in the third statewide branch. That's a lot of losing.
I suppose you think that it's great to have WI send folks to DC so that they can support hiding the Epstein Files, and DJT selling crypto, and all the other DJT scams while he's driving the country into more debt and spending. I guess that's a win for the mega mega R party. But I'm not sure that's the sort of R stuff that the ham sandwich, coupon clipping dork from WI wanted to advance before the cult of personality took over the R party. Seems like a hollow victory.
ROCEAN, Texas essentially did as you suggest, but backwards as that’s how it has to be done. They passed laws they believe to be Constitutional to punish Democrats to stop this. But as they have never been used, then they couldn’t be tested. Now they will be applied, and Democrats are sure t contest the Constitutionality. I suspect the fines will be upheld. The removal from office might be more difficult to uphold.
It looks like I'm going against the popular consensus here, but...I think Walker is right. 1) Elected officials have to vote. There is literally no other reason for them holding a seat as your representative. If they cannot put that as a priority over playing activist and keeping up some weekly narrative, they should look at a job elsewhere. Like at a university. Or as a journalist.
Second- the GOP is today and has been notoriously awful at communicating their ideas. They act as if it'll just be understood. That people will just 'get it'. Trump is the one-off. He is a fresh and one time only approach to getting his message across. Much of the rest of the GOP is lousy at it. And so, while the Dems carry the narrative, the GOP assumes people will see through it.
They often don't.
Good to know prohibiting a quorum is now legitimate strategy should GoP ever need a stop in a legislature somewhere..:
pepe le dou dou
"And so, while the Dems carry the narrative, the GOP assumes people will see through it."
The "e" portion of the "GOPe" doesn't really care one way or the other, as long as they get to keep their phony-baloney jobs. They're not any happier about Trump than the Dems are, but are in the unfortunate (for them) position of having to pretend otherwise.
It'd be neat if they could pass a law saying that for every day a representative is absent from the state to prevent a quorum, s/he will automatically be registered as "present" but denied the ability to cast a vote on another bill of the speaker's or majority leader's choosing
It couldn't possibly be upheld, but it would be neat.
Walker’s advice seems sound to me, but do TX Reps need it? Or are they doing just fine on their own?
Whenever the Flee-baggers do return for duty, I hope they are made to pay their fines before being admitted back into the chamber. And when I say 'pay their fines', I mean, wait 'till that check clears, boys.
"Describe a fair redistricting method- use any state as an example." All you can do is make it more difficult. My suggestion: We don't want those long, stringy districts that follow interstate highways and such. So take the North South and East West dimensions of the state. Iowa for instance is basically a rectangle with a ratio of about 3:2. Make your new districts of a size that contains a proportionate number of citizens. If you have population for four districts, you'd get four rectangles. I guess you'd have to allow for some wiggle room, so in this hypothetical state no District would be permitted to have a ratio of that exceeds (3.5 to 2.5) to (2 to 1.5).
FormerLawClerk said...
"... the no-show bullshit government job"
"By the way, what the Democrats are doing (taking pay for no-show jobs) is criminal. This is "theft of government services" which is a federal felony.
18 USC ss641 outlaws what the Democrats are doing and they should be arrested and prosecuted. Up to 7 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine."
And every Chicago alderman who has ever lived is saying, " You can't scare me!"
If nothing else, it shows how Democrat politician think they work only for the Democrats within the districts they were elected in - assuming not only that the Republicans there are undeserving of the benefits of governance, but also that their Democrat subjects are so hyper-partisan that they endorse such behaviors.
Odd that there's no polling on this, now isn't it? Republicans are missing a trick - as usual - but this may also be an indication that many Texas Republicans are RINOs.
“ a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to vote.” — I dissent. A couple of years ago, all of the Republican state senators in Oregon walked out to prevent a quorum from voting on several awful bills. That was their only option because the Democrats had a supermajority in the state senate. The Democrats responded by pushing a popular initiative for a constitutional amendment (which the voters voted for) to bar absent without-leave-senators from running for reelection.
"'It worked in the Badger State. It will work in the Lone Star State, too.' What kind of logic is that? "
Greater logic than the Democratic Socialists who demand policies that have NEVER worked ANYWHERE.
Are the Dem fleebager's staff still getting paid? Will they remain on the payroll if their Representatives are canned? If so, why?
Fuck Scott Walker. He won a few battles but in the end lost the war. Wisconsin is now solidly Democratical and we'll remain so for the foreseeable future. Ignore that guy.
Tacitus, there is no method that won't favor one party or the other even if by pure chance. The only possibly "fair" method would be proportional representation without regards to geography or even state boundaries.
My redistricting proposal: start at the state capital building. Give AI a population density map and the current census showing the number of people in the state, and be sure it knows how many people it takes to warrant a representative in the House (at present, around 761,000 according to Google). Ask it to draw polygons of the fewest possible sides from the state capital outward, each to encompass that number of people.
You would end up with urban-rural districts in some places, majority-minority districts in some places, basically combinations that might or might not make sense and would require politicians to show flexibility in order to respond to all their constituents. [Shrug] Anyway.
Jamie,
My proposal is to take the 10-year budget for redistricting, reserve 10% of it for ongoing administration, and put the rest into a prize fund.
Then, have a deadline on July 1st of the odd numbered year preceding the next presidential election, for proposals to redraw the districts. The top scoring plan will be put into effect, with the prize money proportional to 4 years going to the person organization submitting that proposal.
Proposals will be rated as follows:
* The population variance between the largest and smallest district must be no greater than the current district map.
* The winning proposal is the one whose sum of all the boundary measurements is the smallest.
Note that because of population changes, there'll be an ongoing need to do this - - it's not something where the state would gradually convrrge on the most compact possible solution for all time.
Oh -- that is just for congressional districts and state house districts.
The other part of my plan is to overturn Reynolds v Sims, so states with bicameral legislators are free to have state senates based on county rather than population if they want to.
If anyone looks at the new proposed Texas congressional map, they’ll notice it looks much cleaner than the current map. It still could be better, but it is better than before. One issue Texas has is the population density varies greatly, such that the more west you go, the larger the districts. Of course, the cities have the worst looking polygons, but it is a combination of high density and the antiquated ideas of districting by racial enclaves.
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