June 3, 2012

Things for sale in Madison.

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By the way, I spent time in various Madison spots today — 2 cafés, walking on various streets including State Street and around the Capitol, basking and brat-eating on the Union Terrace — and I didn't see any activity related to Tuesday's recall election. No signs, no protesters, no drumbeating, no clipboards. And there were lots of people out on this beautiful June Sunday. I did see an old chalking on State Street.

And in the first café — where I sat alone, grading exams — there were about 6 people sitting at another table, talking politics. But they weren't talking Tuesday. They were talking Wednesday. What should they say on Wednesday? Who should be blamed for this calamity? They sounded especially upset at how much money had been thrown away. Not the $18 million dollars of tax money the state must pay to conduct the election, but all the contributions that went to the Democratic candidates... down the rat hole.

Later, I met up with Meade at the Terrace, and I asked him the question: Who should these people — the ones who wanted the recall — blame on Wednesday? Meade said: Obama. Do you see why?

42 comments:

Marcus Carman said...

Obama is to blame because he didn't come to the state and save Barrett's behind. However, my belief is he wouldn't have helped and would only have ensured massive Republican turnout for Walker

Patrick said...

Because Obama could have been a leader. Either to say, we need to have cool heads prevail, and defeat Walker in the next scheduled election, or he could have lead the fight for the recall. He pretty much sat on his hands for the last year, when he could have influenced the outcome.

Humperdink said...

$18 mil for this recall election? This is just monopoly money to the libs. I hope Walker trounces Barrett.

Humperdink said...

Oh, I forgot to answer your Ann. I would lay this at the feet of the gutless fleebaggers.

Meade said...

I just thought of something else. On Wednesday, Barrett will still be mayor of Milwaukee.

Which is fine - apparently he is popular there.

But he'll be a three-time loser for Wisconsin governor - dead now to the Democratic Party. His high-speed rail political career which once included U.S. congressman will come to a boondoggle trolley car ending as Mayor of Milwaukee.

Plus, for at least the next two years, Barrett will be... well. he'll be Governor Walker's bitch.

Meade said...

Patrick got it. Dead on.

Marcus Carman said...

In the end the recall will have claimed both Barrett and Falks political careers at the state level. Both were once rising stars, but politically bad timing doomed them

Meade said...

Obama could have been a leader. But just like with Obamacare where he let Pelosi and Reid dangerously take political control, Obama chose to play it cool and let events unfold on their own.

One more example of how Obama is the best intentioned yet hapless Democrat president since Jimmy Carter.

Meade said...

@Marcus Carman: very true. Neither come close to having the political genius of Tommy Thompson, who will predictably win Kohl's vacated seat and send one more rising Democratic Party star into obscurity: Tammy Baldwin.

Meade said...

And when I said hapless, I meant, well, I don't want to say IN-effectual. He's been effectual. But just effectual in all the wrong ways.

Marcus Carman said...

@Meade: spot on

Humperdink said...

@Meade. Yep, Obama voted present once again.

chuck said...

Obama chose to play it cool

I don't think that is quite right. Obama has *always* let others do the work. Before he was elected I predicted he would let Reid and Pelosi run the show. It didn't require a lot of thought to get that right, older folks seldom change life long habits. So Obama didn't *chose* to play it cool, he just did what he had always done, he played Obama.

Chip S. said...

@Meade--OK on "hapless". Now please explain what you meant by "best intentioned".

Larry J said...

Not the $18 million dollars of tax money the state must pay to conduct the election, but all the contributions that went to the Democratic candidates... down the rat hole.

But that's different, don't you see? Since when have Democrats ever cared about wasting taxpayer money? Wasting their own money is a different thing altogether.

[Airplane]Wasting their own money is a different thing altogether.[/Airplane]

That, and the bad acoustics in their echo chamber. The message that everyone DOESN'T agree with them is seeping in. That will not do.

rhhardin said...

Obama established Democrats supporting him as the enemy.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

First, I think Wisconsinites (or whatever you call people from the Badger State) are recalled out.

Second, Little Zero has so poisoned the Democrats' well that almost anyone up for election is in trouble, but then you also have to blame Reid, Pelosi, and the rest of the Democrat gargoyles in Congress who didn't have sense enough to see what would happen when they pushed bills no one wanted while letting the economy deteriorate.

Finally (and this flows from the second point), the contrast between Scott Walker's Conservative policies and Zero's Leftist ones are so stark no one can miss them.

BTW, I think Meade's wrong about Zero's not leading the fight. The '10 elections proved Barry's endorsement is the Kiss of Death.

He might have leaned on the unions to back off, but, at the time (we're talking the beginning of last year), it must have seemed as if the Purple Gang at SEIU would stuff all those "old lady professor-bloggers" in a sack and shut them down.

They just didn't know who they were messing with.

Meade said...

@Chip S: Best-intentioned as in the yellow brick road on the way to hell.

Michael K said...

It's hard to avoid overconfidence with the steady fumbling of the Obamaites. Carter, at least, had some record of doing something, even if he was only a one term governor. I can remember being a little ashamed of him when I visited England in 1977 but thinking, "At least he's run a business."

Lawyer Mom said...

Wonder how much the Ds did kick in, all told.

Here's Paul Krugman today, on the tube, saying basically "what's a billion between Dems?" http://bit.ly/LdLsll

Meade said...

rh, can you elaborate? Not sure I understand. "Established" is the verb, right?

Patrick said...

What can I say Meade. It's either "Great minds think alike" or "so obvious a toad could figure it out."

Of course, I'll go with the former.

Meade said...

*ribbit*

Palladian said...

Toads don't ribbit, they croak.

Don't croak on us.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So the I Kissed A Democrat gum says I'm Going To Hell.

What did the I Kissed A Republican gum say?

nichole said...

The same: http://www.perpetualkid.com/i-kissed-a-republican-democrat-gum.aspx

kcom said...

"Since when have Democrats ever cared about wasting taxpayer money? Wasting their own money is a different thing altogether."

Perhaps that's their motivation all along. They're cheap bastards (they give less charity) but they believe in "something should be done" so the only logical conclusion is that it needs to be done with someone else's money. They demonize wealthier people because, in the words of Willie Sutton, "that's where the money is". They can't admit they don't want to pay for things themselves, so they rationalize it that wealthy people must be bad and therefore it's open season on their money.

rhhardin said...

Things for sale in Ohio

roesch/voltaire said...

In my neighborhood where most of us were working on our yards and did not have time for beer and brats at the lakefront, I was contacted by a door to door Barrett supporter for the fourth time, and later invited to join in a phone conference for Barrett. There is a continual grass roots swell for Barrett that does not need an Obama endorsement, as will be seen by the Barrett win-- just over a thousand votes will be my call. cheers.

Quaestor said...

Obama is to blame. (Gee, I love how that trips off the tongue... merrily like a a music hall soft shoe sung and danced by Robert Preston to a tune by Meredith Wilson... Obama is to blame, his fault (pause) his fame (pause) will down in flames like Henry James on cocaine...ta-ta tah! Whatever. I'll work on it)

Why you ask. Because the DNC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barack Hussein Obama Enterprises, Inc. though a win in the Badger State, taking down a prominent reforming GOP governor was just the ticket to help set the national mood in favor of an Obama re-election. Thus they encouraged Wisconsin's Democrats and their public sector unionist allies with everything short of money. (Obama is stingy. More for Barrett is less for Barack, you see)

Humperdink said...

R-V. Be a man of your convictions. You could make some serious coin on Intrade if you bet on Barrett.

MadisonMan said...

Who should they blame?

The Koch Brothers!

Or they can blame the neighbors who didn't vote, and we all know who those people are!

avwh said...

Turns out Obama gave us plenty of warning, y'know - he's been voting present his whole political career. It didn't change just because he became DHOTUS.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Forget all the political activity.

And in the first café — where I sat alone, grading exams — there were about 6 people sitting at another table, talking politics.

If I were one of your students I would wonder how much attention are you REALLY giving to grading my exams??? Am I just a footnote to your cafe distractions?

On the other hand...maybe that IS all the attention your students deserve. Think about that! when you get those student loans and ask your parents if you can move back in because you have a useless degree in an occupation that is over populated.

:-D

Mutaman said...

What professional goes to do their work in a "cafe"? Shouldn't the Wisconsin taxpayer get a little more from a member of the law school faculty?

Carnifex said...

You people... can you not see the brilliance, the sheer audacity of hope that comes from leading from behind? What General leads from the front of his troops? The dead one of course. And we need Obama. We want Obama, on that wall.

The truth? You can't handle the truth!(sorry channeling my inner Axlerod there)

Zero is a fumbling idiot who has been foisted on the 53% of Americans who should never be allowed to vote again for reasons of insanity.

Obama is the reason I would make testing a(dammit brain fart)...You can't vote unless you pass a general awareness test...ie)

(condition.. that's what I was looking for)

1) What is Π?(2 decimal places is sufficient)
2)George Washington is commonly known as?
3)Is doing choom a crime?
4)Is it legal for a white racist cracker to shoot a homie on lean, while the homie be beaten the crackers head against the concrete?(Y/N)

The more answers you get correct, the more votes you get!

The answers are

1)3.14 We would also accept 22/7.
2)"The Father of Our Country". We wouldn't accept "That old cracker, bitch."
3)Yes, unless you have a prescription in certain states, which for some reason, seek to ban the smoking of tobacco. "Is in my crib" is not acceptable.
4)It is in states where sanity still rules. "Crackers be shootin' da brothers anyway, so who da fuck care" is not acceptable.

mariner said...

We want Obama, on that wall.
We want Obama, AGAINST that wall.

Omnibabe said...

Was up for a visit in Madison this weekend. Saw this on State Street and immediately thought of you!

TomB said...

@rick "Yep, Obama voted present once again."

Can you vote present by absentee ballot?

TomB said...

@Ingorance is Bliss "What did the I Kissed A Republican gum say?"

Bought with my money I earned myself

wildswan said...

The state spent 18 million on an election that brought 128 million in outside money into the state - the only example of an investment in wind power, i.e. political blather, paying off. Elections / Recalls - Wisconsin's renewable resource.