WI Dems’ Antics Make Public Employee Unions an even Harder Sell
Such antics of those protesting the policy proposals of the elected governor of Wisconsin as closing down public schools on successive days while having legislators flee the state to avoid voting on the plan (not to mention name-calling) are unlikely to endear them to the American people, much less those in Wisconsin who are likely following the demonstrations more closely than are their fellow citizens in the other 49 states.
Citing a “new poll from the Washington-based Clarus Group” finding that 64% of registered voters thought “government employees should not be represented by labor unions”, Politico’s Ben Smith observes that public unions are already a hard sell. (Via Gateway Pundit.) Those antics will make that sell even harder. Ed Morrissey suggests that by comparing the governor to Hitler, the protesters are already on the path to defeat:
Godwin’s Law states that any political argument, carried on long enough, will eventually provoke a Nazi reference. My own personal corollary to Godwin’s Law is that the first side to invoke it invariably loses, mainly because Nazis and Adolf Hitler are simply not analogous to normal politics in American democracy, unless one is discussing actual neo-Nazis. It exposes a clear lack of historical literacy about the Nazis and the history between the two World Wars of the last century. It’s the kind of argument favored by the relatively uneducated.
“If,” I quipped in an update to a previous post, Governor “Walker were like Hitler, citizens who tried to protest his policies, particularly those who did so right in front of his offices, would be shipped off to concentration camps.” Teachers, Morrissey writes in another post, may have “hoped to generate sympathy for their plight in Wisconsin, they should instead prepare for some significant backlash to their wildcat strike“. Exactly. Read the whole thing.
Instead of intimidating Republicans into opposing the governor’s reforms, the antics of the unions and allied Democrats have steeled their resolve:
“If anything, I think it’s made the Republicans in the Assembly and the Senate stronger,” he told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren in an interview Thursday night. “They’re not going to be bullied. They’re not going to be intimidated.”
Walker also fired back at President Obama, who sided with the public employees, saying on Fox News Friday, “We are focused on balancing our budget. It would be wise for the government and others in Washington to focus on balancing their budgets, which they are a long way off from doing.
At the same time, these antics are likely to increase the distaste most Americans feel for public employee unions.
UPDATE: According to Glenn Reynolds, Frank Luntz is reporting that the union antics in Wisconsin are backfiring, leading the blogfather to quip, “Really? A bunch of tax-paid people walk off their tax-paid jobs to demand more money from taxpayers, and that might play badly with . . . taxpayers?”
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Walker will prevail on this and will succeed in setting the example of breaking the back of the looter state employee unions. In doing so, he will very likely move to the head of the list for potential GOP presidential candidates in 2012. He could very well be the dark horse candidate I’ve been hoping for.
Comment by John in Dublin CA — February 18, 2011 @ 6:36 pm - February 18, 2011
[...] its illegal immigration bill (which mirrors the 70-year-old federal law) and get involved in the Wisconsin budget cuts protests than to make any legitimate, beyond dog-and-pony-show progress on securing the Texas [...]
Pingback by Sex Slave Ring Busted in Houston: Victimized Girls Brought in Across Unsecured US Borders from Mexico for Years (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone — February 18, 2011 @ 7:26 pm - February 18, 2011
In this I don’t mind if Governor Walker takes a page from Ivan Drago. Hey, if they’re going to compare him to Hitler why not a commie boxer too?
Comment by John — February 18, 2011 @ 8:21 pm - February 18, 2011
Walker’s desire to shoot first, without asking for concessions, makes his actions even harder to swallow than the Dem’s actions. These workers have the legal right to collectively bargain, and it is neither right nor just to summarily declare that right null.
Public employees SHOULD pay more for their benefits, and gee, the Union has said they would negotiate. This disaster could have been avoided.
I’m wary of any politician who is willing to trample on a group’s rights so willingly. No politician should have the right to take away rights once they’re granted.
Comment by Bill — February 18, 2011 @ 9:41 pm - February 18, 2011
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by It's Only Words, GayPatriot, Ben Grivno, Reid McLain, MN_Votes and others. MN_Votes said: RT @grivno: WI Dems’ Antics Make Public Employee Unions an even Harder Sell http://goo.gl/WZRsY #TeaParty [...]
Pingback by Tweets that mention GayPatriot » WI Dems’ Antics Make Public Employee Unions an even Harder Sell -- Topsy.com — February 18, 2011 @ 9:48 pm - February 18, 2011
Of course it’s a hard sell. Wisconsin teachers make $100,000.00 with benefits!
Comment by Dave_62 — February 18, 2011 @ 9:58 pm - February 18, 2011
Hi Dan,
“Ed Morrissey suggests that by comparing the governor to Hitler, the protesters are already on the path to defeat.”
Could do, but Fox News likes to drop the Nazi reference a reasonable amount on particular issues and it doesn’t appear to effect their ratings very much. Maybe it is a variation of Godwin’s Law that prevails: “Nazi references by Liberals (and only Liberals) signal that they have lost the argument.”
Comment by Cas — February 18, 2011 @ 9:59 pm - February 18, 2011
@Dave_62 I don’t know any k12 teacher in the public sector who makes 6 figures. Care to cite a source?
Comment by Bill — February 18, 2011 @ 10:06 pm - February 18, 2011
I gotta agree with Dave_62. And I think this is the most salient point of all – the fact that the teachers’ salaries have been released showing a massive salary PRE-benefits is not going to endear many to their side. Especially when so many others are out of work or facing possible unemployment soon.
Comment by Black Sabbath — February 18, 2011 @ 10:07 pm - February 18, 2011
better yet, mine the numbers yourself.
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/99999999/APC0110/80221166/DataMine-Search-Wisconsin-teacher-salaries
By the way, these are the people who teach your kids, get ignored, threatened, have their class sizes increased at the drop of the hat. I think teachers are underpaid, though will concede they should be paid for performance, not for tenure.
Comment by Bill — February 18, 2011 @ 10:12 pm - February 18, 2011
It’s disgusting to watch that bourgeois, comfortably-middleclass teacher compare herself to the Egyptian patriots of Tahrir Sq.
The unions may have just overplayed their hand….
Comment by Ted B. (Charging Rhino) — February 18, 2011 @ 10:13 pm - February 18, 2011
average annual salaries in WIsconsin’s largest districts:
http://www.teacher-world.com/teacher-salary/wisconsin.html
* Green Bay: $55,110
* Kenosha: $68,400
* Madison: $50,770
* Milwaukee: $54,620
* Racine: $49,710
This doesn’t include the supplies they have to buy on their own dime, because the school district (and parents) won’t, the time they spend at home on lesson plans and reviewing work.
Seems like a fair salary to me…
Comment by Bill — February 18, 2011 @ 10:15 pm - February 18, 2011
Could do, but Fox News likes to drop the Nazi reference a reasonable amount on particular issues and it doesn’t appear to effect their ratings very much.
Which is just another typical attempt by Cas to lie and spin and deflect from what the facts show Cas and his fellow Obama supporters are doing.
Ever notice how Cas makes all these accusations and assertions, but can’t even provide basic references, links, or evidence? Isn’t it amazing how Cas can never deal with actual behavior, but instead has to come up with all sorts of twisted theoreticals?
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — February 19, 2011 @ 12:27 am - February 19, 2011
Bill, did you even read the posts to which you attach your comments? Or are you cutting and pasting the same comment on a number of conservative blogs which address the issue.
Why does the newly elected governor need ask for concessions? Were you requesting Democrats to ask for concession when they win the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature and try to enact legislation opposed by minority Republicans?
As long as the Republican majorities in each chamber allow for the required amount of debate according to the state’s constitution and the rules of their respective chambers of rules which I presume means allowing for the minority to submit amendments, that’s all the concessions they should offer.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — February 19, 2011 @ 1:29 am - February 19, 2011
Cas, please provide evidence for your assertion that FoxNews likes to drop the Nazi reference, when, say, they compare elected officials to the brutal German dictator.
Thanks.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — February 19, 2011 @ 1:31 am - February 19, 2011
B. Daniel Blatt:
“Jon Stewart Demonstrates Just How Often Fox News Personalities Reference Nazis”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-demonstrates-just-how-often-fox-news-personalities-references-nazis/
Comment by David — February 19, 2011 @ 1:51 am - February 19, 2011
It begins at 1:20
Comment by David — February 19, 2011 @ 1:53 am - February 19, 2011
And you just walked neatly into the trap, David, demonstrating how whiny liberals like yourself complain about Nazi comparisons, but fully support and endorse your making them.
This is why your side is losing. People are realizing what hypocrites you and your Barack Obama are.
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — February 19, 2011 @ 2:28 am - February 19, 2011
David, did you read my comment. Here, let me cut and paste it to remind you of the point I raised, “please provide evidence for your assertion that FoxNews likes to drop the Nazi reference, when, say, they compare elected officials to the brutal German dictator.”
Yes or no, do Fox commentators as some union members and the allied Democratic activists joining them at the Wisconsin state capital compare elected officials to Adolf Hitler?
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — February 19, 2011 @ 2:52 am - February 19, 2011
A brief stroll through the Zombietime blog and you see who the anti-Semites really are.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 19, 2011 @ 5:00 am - February 19, 2011
Got any valid links proving this?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 19, 2011 @ 5:00 am - February 19, 2011
Don’t be silly, TGC. It’s an anecdotal assertion that illustrates a leftist talking point…. it doesn’t need proof.
Besides which, the teachers in Milwaukee Wisconsin make on average $105,000 per year in pay and benefits for nine months of work per year. They can afford to shell out a few bucks a Dollar Tree for school supplies.
Comment by V the K — February 19, 2011 @ 10:01 am - February 19, 2011
Considering that the “average salary”-figures are skewed by the diparity between the high-numbers of inexperienced teachers who don’t last five-years in teaching, the tenured middle-aged teachers who are the most “outraged” must be at-least 50-100% higher. A department chairman at most High Schools with a Ph.D. or Ed.D. makes well over a quarter-million-dollars a year including benefits…and can usually retire after 30-years-service. The principal of our local High School makes nearly $500k including benefits, and gets early-retirement privileges “…due to the stress of his job“. That’s more than most lawyers make in our area….before they pay their office overhead and business taxes.
Comment by Ted B. (Charging Rhino) — February 19, 2011 @ 1:21 pm - February 19, 2011
And do these “poor” teachers participate in the budget process to make sure there’s enough money for what is necessary instead of what is unnecessary?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 19, 2011 @ 4:27 pm - February 19, 2011