Lies about tea party come true in Wisconsin
The public-sector union protests continue in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states. James Taranto,who writes the Best of the Web Today column at WSJ.com, finds it “quite striking the way almost every lie the left ever told about the Tea Party has turned out to be true of the government unionists in Wisconsin and their supporters:
• Extreme rhetoric. The Wisconsin Republican Party has produced what Mediaite.org calls an “incredibly effective” video juxtaposing liberal complaints about allegedly extremist Tea Party rhetoric with unionist signs likening Gov. Walker to Hitler and other dictators. Left-wing journalists are making similar invidious comparisons: “Workers Toppled a Dictator in Egypt, but Might Be Silenced in Wisconsin” read the headline of a Washington Post column by Harold Meyerson last week. The other day on CNN we saw scenes of a Madison crowd chanting, “Kill the bill” — which was said to be violent and invidious a year ago, when “the bill” was ObamaCare.
• Violence. Blogress Ann Althouse, a state employee based in Madison, posted a video of municipal salt trucks blowing their horns in support of the unionists. A YouTube commenter responded (quoting verbatim), “whoever video taped this has no life and should be shot in the head.” Unlike Frances Fox Piven, Althouse has never advocated violence, but don’t expect the Times to give this the kind of coverage it gave Piven’s claims that she had received threatening emails.
• Partisan AstroTurf. That’s the Beltway term referring to a fake grassroots movement. Politico reported last week that “the Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America arm — the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign — is playing an active role in organizing protests.” A blogger at the OFA website, BarackObama.com, writes: “To our allies in the labor movement, to our brothers and sisters in public work, we stand with you, and we stand strong.” …
• Refusal to accept election results. Although Republicans have a majority in the Wisconsin Senate, Democrats have fled the state, taking advantage of the body’s rules to deny the majority a quorum. The Indianapolis Star reports that Democrats from the Indiana House are employing the same tactic. Even Barack Obama, when he was an Illinois senator, usually voted “present.”
• Stupidity. Remember “Teabonics,” a photo album of misspelled Tea Party signs? The unionists can’t spell any better — and some of them are teachers! Althouse got one photo of what we think is a woman holding a sign that reads ” ‘Open for business’ = Closed for Negotiatins [sic].” Also, some of the teachers’ tactics — in particular, fraudulently calling in sick and exploiting other people’s children by enlisting them as protesters — seem not only unethical but calculated to repel the public. One blessing of low standards for public school teachers is that it ensures many of them are not bright enough to stage an effective protest.
The one exception: So far we haven’t seen any evidence of racism by the Wisconsin unionists. But we’re watching for it.
If only the tea partyers had been accused of getting fake doctor’s notes to excuse their absence from their (private-sector) jobs, it’d be a total match.
The tea party movement didn’t suffer much from the false accusations against it. Will the union protesters’ cause suffer because they’ve actually done these things?
– By Kyle Wingfield
Find me on Facebook
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
169 comments Add your comment
Real Athens
February 24th, 2011
12:04 am
Linda: Fox, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC ad nauseum are on 24/7. Still, NBC beats them in NUMBER OF VIEWERS – COMBINED.
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:09 am
Real@11:25, I have no idea why you are addressing me with TARP. I have not said one word about TARP.
I think you are getting me mixed up with the Dems. who lauded on the floor of the house & senate that Iraq had WMDs. Ask them how many times they need to be told that Hussein didn’t have any & how wrong they were to proclaim that he did. Google the videos. Listen for yourself.
What I know is that the US is borrowing over 40 cents of every dollar we are spending. Simplified, we need to reduce the fed. govt. by 40%, just to BREAK EVEN. We need to reduce the fed. govt. by another 10% to pay down the debt. That means we need to cut the fed. govt. in half! Do you get that?
Real Athens
February 24th, 2011
12:10 am
Linda: You’ve changed the subject, once again. You said, and I quote:
“Personally, I feel that Sponge Bob could have done a much better job of sponging up the oil in the Gulf with his pants than what the Obama administration was able to do with chemicals. What do you think?”
I ask you you, again: “Do you think the U.S. government should have been responsible for bailing them (BP – a private, multinational corporation, based in the UK) out and using tax dollars to clean up a mess they (BP) were wholly responsible for?”
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:14 am
Real@12:04, Prove it.
Real Athens
February 24th, 2011
12:15 am
Linda:
You can’t have it both ways, you wrote:
“If you don’t think Iraq did not have or aspire to have WMDs, you are out of touch with most of the world.”
You’d best put down the bottle and go to bed.
Left wing management
February 24th, 2011
12:20 am
Linda:
Some nighty-night stats for you:
* 41% of Wisconsin voters approve of Gov. Scott Walker, and 51% disapprove, a gap of –10. Strongly approve less strongly disapprove is even worse for Walker, at –12.
* Walker’s net favorable of –10 is exactly reversed for the legislature’s Dems, who are 10 points in the positive column. Unions are even better liked: 53% favorable, 31% unfavorable, for a net of +22. The Tea Party is in the red, though, at –8 (31% favorable/39% unfav).
* Walker’s agenda: 43% approve, 52% disapprove, which nets to –8 (must be a rounding thing).
* Protesters at the state capitol are even more popular than the unions, at a net of +30 (62% approve/31% disapprove). Public employees are at +43 (67%/24%).
* If unions offer givebacks on pay and beenfits, 74% say their collective bargaining rights should be preserved vs. 21% who say no, a net of 53 in favor of collective bargaining.
* Respondents lean center–right: just 15% call themselves liberal, vs. 38% moderate and 40% conservative.
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:29 am
Real@12:10, My discussion with another commenter was the EFFICIENCY of the O adm. in cleaning up the Gulf.
You changed the subject/discussion.
Your subject/question was WHO should have paid for cleaning up the mess. Whoever is deemed responsible in court, which has yet to be determined, for causing the spill should be held liable. Whoever is deemed responsible for delaying actions & using chemicals that made it worse, should also be held liable.
Whoever shut down drilling operations in the Gulf against court orders, causing the loss of thousands of jobs & contributing to our current spike in gasoline prices at the pump, contributing to our economic problems, should also be held accountable.
Left wing management
February 24th, 2011
12:30 am
Ok, ok, a little unfair of me to dump stats without identifying them. They were by GQR, a Democratic polling firm, so I’m sure you’ll ignore them, Linda.
But will you ignore this?
From USA Today
MADISON, Wis. — Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-22-poll-public-unions-wisconsin_N.htm
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:32 am
Real@12:15, You only quoted one way, not both.
I don’t drink except for beer in the heat of the summer when my husband & I are both working outside. Any other time I drink beer makes me want to pull weeds.
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:40 am
Left@12:20, I don’t poll polls except professional polls. I don’t even poll Fox because their viewers are conservative. Are your polls from Kaiser Permanente, like the Dems. polled health care? If so, I’m not interested.
Linda
February 24th, 2011
12:54 am
Left@12:30, I’m knocked over at how you think I think, but I’ve got some bad news for you. It doesn’t matter what I think, nor you. This issue will be decided in Wis. & about a dozen other states. It will be a win/win situation for taxpayers, students, patients, hospitals, governments (especially states), employees, parents, etc. State employees will gain more rights than they will loose. They will finally be free.
The losers will be public sector unions & Dems. & it will be a long, ugly trend with many battles.
Left wing management
February 24th, 2011
8:29 am
This issue will be decided in Wis. & about a dozen other states. It will be a win/win situation for taxpayers, students ..
You’re right! My bad. The polls are of no relevance whatsoever.
Have a nice morning, Linda!
My Perspective
February 24th, 2011
10:21 am
While generally sympathetic with the protesters in Wisconsin, I agree that the reckless rhetoric and Nazi swastikas on display at their rallys are unacceptable. Until one is prepared to condemn the demonization of “our” opponents, it is hypocritical in the extreme to complain about Fox News or anyone else that resorts to this disgusting tactic. Enough, already!
That being said, I am stunned by the righteous indignation expressed by Wisconsin Republicans who complain about the fugitive Democratic legislators’ attempt to thwart the democratic process and prevent the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box. How is denying the majority a quorum in Wisconsin any different from the Republican’s systematic abuse (my opinion) of the Senate fillibuster rule in Washington for the past two years? At least these Wisconsin Democrats had to get off of their legislative butts and drive to Illinois!
Lies about tea party come true in Wisconsin | Kyle Wingfield | Brian Browns Website
February 24th, 2011
10:59 am
[...] http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2011/02/23/lies-about-tea-party-come-true-in-wisconsin/?cxntfid=... [...]
Bohemond
February 24th, 2011
12:44 pm
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All the lefty talking points straight from Kos- the fabricated Evil Koch Brothers Conspiracy, the notion that bureaucrat unions represent “the right of free speech and assembly,” and of course the usual insults characterizing the Tea Party as stupid, elitist, uneducated, rich, trailer trash, millionaires and of course “racist.” blah blah blah.
It’s simple, lefties. Read the polls. The DNC and Big Labor have dug in here, like the Japanese on Iwo Jima, in a doomed cause: trying to defend the union goons with their fangs fixed in the taxpayer’s jugular, whining for more blood. You will LOSE; there is no justification for the public-union/Democrat money pump. The people are wise to the scam, and the more you try to justify it the more voters you alienate.
G.S.
February 24th, 2011
1:59 pm
Not sure anyone could make anything up about the Tea Party that is worse than its support for disgraced racist Mark Williams — calling it a good idea for people to join protests and pretend to be union members acting badly.
thebob.bob
February 24th, 2011
2:57 pm
All that’s missing is for the anti-Union Governor to send in a few agent-provocateurs (just like the good old days). Then, when the riots start, he can all in the national Guard and the Pinkertons (or is it Blackwater) and bust some heads in the name of ‘Law and Order’.
Fear, Hatred, Distortion, Distraction and Division is all Republicans have to offer America.
Dolcents
February 27th, 2011
10:23 am
For peace sake, let’s all chill and resort to common sense of visualizing our problems.
1. Banks have failed and they continue to fail. What are the causes of failure? Can someone out tell me the God Honest truth?
2. All our jobs have been exported outside this country to areas where organized labor is common and strong.
3. We have been engaged in two wars without a war tax. How did we fund Iraq war? Was that war a justifiable one? I leave the answer to fellow Americans to answer.
4. Our cost of living far outweigh our incomes. We have all been turned to ” financial slaves” since we live on debt brightly colored as credit. The so called poor people of our society are economically better off than a lot credit worthy citizens? Haha!!! Laugh it out loud. They simple reason is that they have never filed for bankruptcy protection- forgiveness of debt. Who takes care of it the tax payer.
Of your debt is more than forty perty percent of your income you are by default poor.
5. Our investments have evaporated right under our noses. Your investments is your future. Right now many of us have nothing. All our hopes and aspirations have evaporated into thin air.
Why do we continue to whine and cry over spilled milk and broken eggs. Let’s come together as unted America and fight the unseen forces that threaten our livelihood. I think the Republican Party while in power gave the financial institutions a lot of unsupervised freedom. They in turn tend to ruin us.
There is nothing called Capitalism. There is something called Economics and economics is a science that is dynamic in nature. Economics theories has to be critically examined vis-a-vis human behavior. The entropy factor due to human activities has to be minimized. A physicists and an engineers nightmare is entropy – a measure of chaos. To minimize disorder in financial sector due to the greedy nature of the active participants- human beings- there should be some amount of control in form of supervision.
Please let’s stop and think and stop name calling. Please stop downgrading teachers you have gone through the hands of a teacher.
Junior Samples
March 1st, 2011
2:27 pm
don’t you just love the chicken #*4&@&$& politicians that left the state rather than doing what they were elected to do. Classic dems.