Here’s a pro-tip* for Bob Shrum: if you’re going to try to marginalize and mock a US Senator (to the point of calling him “buddy”), make sure that you have the right info first.
Continue reading Bob Shrum ignorantly and incorrectly lectures Senator Ron Johnson.
[FURTHER UPDATE: Media Trackers retracts, apologizes for putting out the story. My apologies to Mr. Frank for my reaction; it was obviously uncalled for.]
[UPDATE: The police are now reporting that the staffer’s story has been recanted. Absent any evidence to the contrary, this would include the alleged text messages: I look forward with some interest to whether that, at least, can be verified. And yes, you may safely assume that I do not appreciate people lying to the police about things like this. – Moe Lane]
OK, remember the Kyle Wood incident from last week? Short version is, Kyle Wood is a staffer for Chad Lee, the Republican candidate for WI-02, which is Tammy Baldwin’s current district. Chad is opposed by Mark Pocan. Tammy Baldwin happens to be gay. Mark Pocan happens to be gay. Kyle Wood happens to be gay. And Kyle Wood was assaulted in his home last week, allegedly for being a gay Republican who was out of the closet and supporting a straight Republican running in a Democratic district. This is a real story: the cops are looking for “Male, white, mid-20s, 6′-6’2″, curly brown hair, broad nose, with a muscular build.”
Now, let’s meet Philip Frank.
[picture removed]
Much to the chagrin of the people running for the Wisconsin Senate, and the people running for the House – but mostly to the chagrin of Barack Obama, who enjoyed the paper’s endorsement in 2008 (Kerry got it in 2004, which should tell you the paper’s basic lean). But that’s not the funny part! The funny part is why there is going to be no endorsement:
Veteran Wisconsin journalist Bruce Murphy writes: “Sources tell me the newspaper felt the heat of endorsing Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the bitterly contested recall election and decided it wasn’t worth it.”
Ah, those wacky Wisconsin recall folks. Just think: if they had only maintained a collective smidgen of the self-awareness needed to act like fully-socialized citizens of the Republic and not, say, perpetually-spoiled preschoolers having a tantrum then the largest paper in Wisconsin might not have been sufficiently sickened enough of the whole thing to refuse to endorse anybody at all. …Or am I supposed to pretend that the same paper that endorsed Obama and Kerry was going to go with Romney, this time? I can never remember just what uncomfortable truths are still safe to utter aloud, and which ones will cause psychotic breaks in the Online Left.
Moe Lane
The interesting bit in this article on union pushback against the new movie Won’t Back Down is not this one…
In real life, Parents Across America, an advocacy group which has received union funding, has launched a “fight Hollywood” campaign asking members to contact entertainers at all involved with the film or even a summer concert to kick it off. The intent, according to its website, which lists phone numbers and emails of agents and publicists, is to brand the film as a “feel bad, not feel good” movie. On their list: Davis and Gyllenhaal, plus Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Jack Black, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Josh Groban.
…it’s this one: Continue reading #rsrh ‘Won’t Back Down’ and the Walker Effect.
(Via Instapundit) OK, quick background: Barack Obama made a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a few days ago. Reports for that speech uncritically repeated a wildly inflated crowd size: 18,000+ in a venue that seats 5,000 (local reporting suggests to me that a crowd estimate of 8 to 9 thousand would have been a good deal more accurate*). It turns out that the sole source for the inflated number was probably none other than Milwaukee mayor (and two-time WI-GOV loser) Tom Barrett: he apparently told an Obama staffer what the crowd size was, who then told the person writing up the WH pool report, and then it got reported uncritically as fact by lazy – or, sure, busy – reporters all over the country.
The reason why I bring this up? It’s because – contrary what you might think, or have been told – it is not actually always true that all you need to control the public perception of a movement or cause is to control how the Media reports on it**. If that were true, then the Tea Party would never have gotten off of the ground, and the Occupy Wall Street movement would have. And if you’re believing your own agitprop… well. Things have a way of sneaking up on people who make that particular error.
Continue reading #rsrh Tom Barrett does a dirty deed to Barack Obama.
I first saw the tip-off from @mattmackowiak, but said tweet unfortunately needs some typos corrected:
Nonetheless: good news for the Republican House majority. Whether the Democrats like to admit it or not, not having the money to protect one beleaguered incumbent and challenge two House freshmen is rarely good news.
Well, it’s rarely good news for the party without the money. I imagine that the GOP finds this very good news indeed.
Moe Lane
Folks, this is the definition of ‘insanity.’
Gov. Scott Walker’s law repealing most collective bargaining for local and school employees was struck down by a Dane County judge Friday, yet another dramatic twist in a year and a half saga that likely sets up another showdown in the Supreme Court.
See Hot Air for analysis, including the (accurate) prediction that this ruling will be overturned by the WI Supreme Court with all due speed. I just want to note that the politics of this are pretty awful for the Democrats. Not to belabor the obvious, but the people of Wisconsin are happy with their collective bargaining reforms. It saves them money and keeps the budget solvent; besides, the people who are against said reforms are pretty freaking bizarre. If the Wisconsin Democratic party wants to go over the cliff, the Wisconsin Republican party will be happy to help them.
And that’s pretty much it. Again: thanks.
Moe Lane
Such an innocent looking passage, to spark such panic from the Left.
From Paul Ryan’s convention speech yesterday:
President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those were very tough days, and any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.
A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.” That’s what he said in 2008.
Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.
This is, by the way, a perfectly accurate statement. There was a GM plant in Janesville. Barack Obama did make a speech there in 2008. He did, in that speech, make those comments*. And the plant did not “last another year” – despite, I should note, the Obama administration’s bailout of GM that the administration is kind-of, sort-of touting as an ‘achievement.’ These are all true things; which has not kept the Left from screaming otherwise, to the point where the Obama campaign has officially (and in my opinion, unwisely) called Paul Ryan a liar. Continue reading Why the Left freaked out about Paul Ryan telling the truth about the Janesville closing.
The Wisconsin Capitol’s new police chief said Monday that he plans to crack down on protesters who don’t follow the building’s rules because he wants to restore a sense of normalcy and safety to the statehouse.
Chief David Erwin told The Associated Press in an interview that he respects people’s right to petition their government, but that he believes some protesters’ behavior has crossed into intimidation.
Apparently there are STILL a remnant of the most brainwashed progressives showing up every day to scream at legislators; Capitol Police have finally gotten the state Attorney General to agree to process civil citations (the county DA is a Democrat, and thus apparently disinterested in civic* hygiene). They’re also going to make people get permits. Expect protests; just don’t expect anybody in the media to bother covering them. After all, these people are Democrats who failed; it doesn‘t get any more disavowed than that.
Moe Lane
(Via @kevinbinversie)
*Never having attended a Madison protest, I cannot state with any authority about whether it was a matter of public hygiene as well. Although certainly some of those people appeared to have been non-initiates in the mysteries of soap…
