Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Sarah Palin's Bright Future and the Republican Base: The "Insurgence of the Mediocre"

The Recess Supervisor, a former Wisconsin Assembly GOP staffer, has nailed the appeal of Sarah Palin over on Playground Politics:

Great conservative apparatchiks, whether Lee Atwater or Ralph Reed or others, knew well how to manipulate undereducated, rank-and-file conservatives. It's not hard, since many of them aren't that smart.

That's not to say they aren't God-fearing or hardworking or good parents or fine citizens. But they just aren't that intelligent when it comes to matters of policy or politics. They're not sophisticated enough to have much of a view on anything outside their own community, so they tend to focus on things that can be understood simply and easily - things like morality, a morality often imparted by a local church and taken as gospel without any kind of intellectual questioning.

They don't understand foreign policy or trade policy or tax policy or the kinds of economic matters the GOP power players are interested in. But they do get gay marriage and abortion and school prayer. So for a generation, the GOP talked about the latter in an attempt to gain enough power to influence the former. (N.B. Democrats do this bait-and-switch too, but I'm not talking about them right now.)

Today's conservatives, however, aren't in on the joke. Politically, they came of age hearing these paeans to Christian fundamentalism, without understanding that these were simply techniques of convenience used to sell other parts of the GOP agenda.

They are, in other words, mistaking the sizzle for the steak.

Many modern conservatives soldier on like theocrats, trying to sell this homophobic, xenophobic, Europhobic, Islamophobic, liberal-phobic sizzle as though it's the main course. They think you win debates by proclaiming that policies are "liberal" or "socialist" and then thrusting your arms upward in triumph. Those who come from this camp are rarely interested in honest discussion because they're rarely capable of intellectually defending their positions. They like using one-word labels to dismiss contrarian worldviews, and then quickly retreat to the comfortable surroundings of those who agree with them.

Sarah Palin is tailor-made for these folks. And this is the GOP's trainwreck-in-waiting.

Sorry for the long quotes, but this post is really right on target:

Even as the breadth of her support narrows, the intensity of the support she receives grows greater, a fatal attraction for a political party whose base seems increasingly detached from anything resembling reality. To reinforce their delusion, those folks then go around talking about how the "other side" is afraid of or intimidated by Palin's superhuman political skills.

Hardly. Sarah Palin is an erratic, intemperate politician of average intelligence and below average eloquence. If she ran for President in 2012, she would undoubtedly suffer a loss worse than anyone since Walter Mondale met the Reagan steamroller in 1984. I remain confused as to why anyone would be scared of such a politician, but for the fact that lots of social conservatives are ineloquent and profoundly average and seem enamored by the notion of electing someone equally ineloquent and profoundly average to public office. Call it the insurgence of the mediocre.

-Barry Orton

Belling on Censorship, Pornography, Love, and Romance

Mark Belling is attempting to become the most outrageous self-centered Wisconsin hypocrite. It's a touch competition, but Belling is succeeding.

This week it is A dual dose of double standards where he goes off the chart about the efforts of some of his friends to pull a book from the shelves of the West Bend Public Library. The book deals with among other things, gays. Yes, it  addresses homosexuality and the imagination of a young gay man who is beaten by thugs and his subsequent dreams or visions after he passes out.

Belling finds it pornographic.

 It all started when a pair of grandparents in the Bend found some gay porn in the children’s section of the library. The stuff was so raunchy I couldn’t even read from it on my radio program without jeopardizing WISN’s broadcast license...

The book, which Belling never identifies, is Baby Be-Bop, deemed appropriate for ages twelve and up, and is the story of the gay closeted fifteen year old.

 

Publishers Weekly :

Embroidering her prose with lushly romantic imagery, Block returns to the world of Weetzie Bat for this keenly felt story. A prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat, the novel opens while Weetzie's best friend Dirk is still a child, lying on his mat at naptime. "Dirk had known it since he could remember" - known, that is, that he is gay. Tenderly raised by Grandma Fifi, famous for her pastries and her 1955 Pontiac convertible, Dirk struggles with love and fear: "He wanted to be strong and to love someone who was strong; he wanted to meet any gaze, to laugh under the brightest sunlight and never hide." After his first heartbreak, with his closest friend (who cannot accept Dirk's love nor his own for Dirk), Dirk battles more fiercely for identity; beaten up by a gang of punks, he slumps into semiconsciousness and is visited by his ancestors, each telling a haunting, lyrical tale of love, faith and self-acceptance. What might seem didactic from lesser writers becomes a gleaming gift from Block. Her extravagantly imaginative settings and finely honed perspectives remind the reader that there is magic everywhere. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc

 

Belling concludes

that the standard for censorship is majority rule

: "...This is what America is supposed to be all about – citizens petitioning their government to respect the public will..." I wonder if he would respect the will of a majority of Milwaukee residents if they voted him off the air?  

At that point he would start bellowing about the Constitution. For once he would be correct.

 

 

 

Solving the State Budget Crisis

The crisis was years, no, a decade, in the making.

Rather than maintain a fair level of taxation, a right-wing fueled legislature created more and more tax loopholes, depriving Wisconsin of badly needed funds for essential programs. Those efforts, combined with a faltering national economy brought on by the combination of the war in Iraq and  deregulation of the financial services industry leaves Wisconsin and other states reeling.

Years ago, I recall a situation where a legislator stopped a public improvement project in another legislator's district out of spite. There was no concern for the people of the district or the people of the state of Wisconsin. The only thing the dominant legislator thought of was payback and punishing his rival. The people were merely pawns in a game.

As Governor Doyle brings forth proposal to deal with the budget crisis it presents an opportunity to test the legislators in both parties. 

Some will posture and look to the next election.

Hopefully they will be the minority in both parties. 

Wisconsin Republicans: More of the Same, Tax Cuts and Loopholes

The budget picture is not pretty. The state of Wisconsin and virtually all levels of local government are in desperate straits as they try to finish out 2009 and prepare the budgets for 2010 and beyond.

Years, and I mean years going back into the 1990's, of questionable budget practices are catching up with government. 2009 will end with deficits and it is virtually impossible to prepare balanced 2010 budgets without massive tax hikes and damaging cuts in service.

We got into this mess through a series of practices that were not prudent. Tax cuts and tax loopholes for the wealthy and the use of one time revenues for operating budgets were two of the most significant blunders.

While Democrats put forth new taxes and fees, eliminate the tax breaks and loopholes, and propose service cuts, Republicans do nothing. They have no plan, or more accurately, they have a plan which is to do nothing.

Doing nothing is to continue the same path that got us into this mess.

Arlen Specter Always Uncomfortable, Never a Leader

The problem for Arlen Specter (PA) and the Democrats is that this man who knows better will probably be as uncomfortable as a Democrat as he was as a Republican.

Arlen Specter's  jump to the Democratic Party surprises no one. For the past half dozen years it was clear that Specter was uncomfortable with the Neocons and right-wing zealots in his party. The addition of one more vote in the Democratic column is all he brings, along with his desk and chair.

Over two years ago we posted Arlen Specter Makes a Deal: Sells Out The Constitution for Power. At the height of one of the Constitutional crises presented by the out of control Bush White House that had no recognition of civil liberties, Specter made a lot of noise about freedom and then collapsed:

Specter went into negotiations with the White House and his own party, knowing that his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee was at stake. He caved.

...It is hard to believe that the Arlen Specter of the nineteen-eighties—the maverick who defied his party on an issue of the magnitude of the Bork nomination—would have considered yielding on a question as fundamental as habeas corpus ...

He destroyed the foundation of Anglo-American jurisprudence and took us back to the days of the Star Chamber Courts.

...Specter is hoping the courts will restore the rights of the detainees to bring habeas cases. “The bill was severable. It has a severability clause. And I think the courts will invalidate it,” he told me. “They’re not going to give up authority to decide habeas-corpus cases, not a chance.” Others are less sure.

When you look at Specter's record on all matters Constitutional in 2006, the man has no shame. He signaled all year that he was unprincipled and shallow.

Unlike most of the Republicans in power at the time, Specter knew better as to what was right and what was wrong. Like all of the Republicans, he failed to show any leadership.

Specter is as good as those who surround him. He is not a leader.

That is why he choose to be a Republican in the first place, that he why he failed to lead during the Bush Constitutional crisis, and that is why, faced with sure defeat as a Pennsylvania Republican, he switched parties.

What power he gathered was through seniority, not command.

His vote is welcome; his addition to the majority is welcome.

Never count on him to lead.

Paul Ryan Has Some Explaining To Do - To The Right. Ask Ozzy Osbourne

It is time to invite Ozzy Osbourne as the featured speaker at a evangelical teen rally for celibacy and saying 'no' to drugs.

It is amazing that highly touted Republican talking head Paul Ryan from Wisconsin's First Congressional District, was invited to be the poster boy for the April 15th Tea Party.

Paul "No European Socialism Here" Ryan was the darling of the crowd of 5,237 on the Capitol Steps in Madison. This was a boisterous crowd clamoring for the heads of those who spent taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. The purpose of the rally was to protest government spending and the use of their tax dollars for the bailout.

Paul Ryan was one of ninety-one Republicans who voted for the Emergency Economic stabilization Act of 2008 - The Bailout.

As one talking head on Fox would say, "What you say Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling, Americans for Prosperity, the MacIver Institute, and All Children Matter?"

Paul Ryan Is Right of Republican Right

Two years ago, on January 17, 2007 when George Bush was still President, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress took up HR 5, the College Student Relief Act .

HR 5 lowered the interest rate on student loans over a period of five years. Interest rates would decrease to 6.12 percent in 2007, 5.44 percent in 2006 and continue to drop until they reach 3.4 percent in 2011. The first reduced interest rate would apply on loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2007.

According to the Washington Post the bill's projected cost of $6 billion was to be offset by trimming federal interest rate subsidies and raising the fees on loan providers.

Every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted for the legislation. So did a majority of the Republicans.

In fact 64% of the House Republicans voted for the bill, which brought much needed relief to students already burdened with loan payments that rivaled their parents' mortgages.

When the dust settled only 17% of the House Republicans voted against this critical legislation.

Paul Ryan, the new inspired voice of the the Republican Party, voted against the bill.

All Ryan could say in defense of his position was, "This is a cynical way to make good on campaign promises...we'll see another $20 (billion) to $30 billion blow out the door."

This is the same Paul Ryan from Janesville who voted on April 1,2009, two weeks ago, to oppose legislation that prevented billions of federal bailout dollars going for executive bonuses.

So much for Ryan's Neo-Populism.

Scott Walker Rethinks Stimulus Aid: Ideology Bows to Reality

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, his eye firmly on the Wisconsin govenor's office, is back-peddling on the issue of accepting federal stimulus aid.

Early last week he wanted no part of the federal aid, Walker says no thanks to federal stimulus package Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 6, 2009:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker says thanks but no thanks to any federal economic stimulus money for county projects...Walker's stance fits with his conservative ideology and the turf he's begun to stake out for himself as a potential Republican candidate for governor in 2010, said County Board Chairman Lee Holloway.

Grover Norquist and the end of ideology

Be clear about one thing. If there was no electorate to worry about, no elections for higher office, Walker would never touch the federal money.

Walker is a Grover Norquist Republican who believes government should be shrunk until it can be drowned in a bathtub.

Now, with mounting public criticism, as the city of Milwaukee and dozens of Wisconsin counties prepare proposals, he says he will consider assistance if it meets his conditions, January 9, 2009  Walker won't rule out taking U.S. stimulus aid - County executive face criticism for refusal.

"I'm not opposed forever" to carrying out projects with federal money, he said Friday...

...He listed three conditions for acceptance of the federal aid: that it not require any unusual local match; that it not go for a service that would require county taxpayers to pick up the bill in the future; and that it not have hidden operating expenses.

Scott Walker is faithful to neither his constituency or himself.

Those Pesky Adjectives

Walker is locked into his Grover Norquist economics.  Ideology comes first. But he is trapped. As Walker put it, "The last thing you want to do is put money in hands of government."

He is wrong. There is an invaluable role for government.

Walker will never understand one basic historical, economic reality. Throughout history, regardless of of ideology or economic system, in ancient or modern times, government investment in infrastructure leads to private investment and increased productivity. Simple examples include:

• The Roman aqueducts
• The U.S. interstate highway system
• The Aswan Dam
• The Moscow subway system
• The Panama Canal

• Tunnels through the Alps and under the English Channel

Walker says to accept the money, there must be no "unusual local," costs.  Walker says taxpayers should not have to pick up the bill in the future.  Walker also says there must not be any "hidden operating expenses." 

Frankly, if Milwaukee County screws this up it means money more for the rest of Wisconsin, which will then have a competitive economic edge over the state's largest county. That is the good news.

There is bad news.

The failure of Milwaukee County to participate will drag down the entire state as we try to emerge from this Grover Norquist-inspired economic disaster.

author's note: There is no relationship (that I know of) between Republican Grover Norquist and Milwaukee's previous mayor, John Norquist, who would have spent the stimulus package on public transit.

Why We Lost The Cold War

As a child growing up in the nineteen fifties there were plenty of reminders about the never-ending battle against Soviet Communism.

In and out of the classroom we knew of the value of our democracy, the freedoms we enjoyed as Americans.  We had open and free elections, though blacks could not vote in the South where the poll tax ensured the rule of whites. We could travel across our great country without having to show identification or answering to anyone as to our purpose, so long as there was no probable cause to stop us.

The differences were not limited to democratic values.

The virtues of capitalism were everywhere. In Poland, peasants stood in line for hours for a loaf of bread. In Moscow it took weeks, no months, to have a telephone installed. And the Soviet airline Aeroflot was a joke, United States Airlines Compete With Aeroflot - And Win :

At the height of the Cold War, Americans indulged in self congratulations when comparing our airline industry to the Soviet's Aeroflot. The rickety communist propelled travel provided images of a sweaty, husky commissar boarding an oversold but underfueled airplane, burdened with packages and a bottle of carry-on borscht.

As he worked his way into the seat, storing his chickens in the overhead compartment and his goats under the seat in front of him, he settled in next to an equally husky and sweaty peasant with a crying, soiled child -one  under each arm. If they were lucky, they would arrive at the scheduled destination city, and perhaps within twenty-four hours.

Onward

After the first of the year I was shopping at a big box store. The lines indicated it would take a half hour to check out. I asked the manager why there were so few clerks, "With the holidays over, no help to be had?" The response was frank and honest, "No, after the new year, we were instructed by regional to reduce our staffing to these levels."

My Facebook friends know that I spent over an hour on hold Monday with a life insurance company, a health insurance company, and a telephone company.

It was my fault trying to reach them on the first Monday after the holidays. Of course, I tried reaching them last week to no avail. There are only so many minutes one can waste on a cell phone.

Maybe the free-everything capitalists are right. We need competition. We need competition from the Communists. Then American corporations will start providing service.

Some of my friends probably think that the destruction of our Constitution under the second Bush reign with warrant-less search and seizures is a disaster. They probably think the telephone company turning over their phone records to the government without any legal authority is a travesty.

Screw the Bill of Rights.

The real travesty is the telephone company not answering the phone.

Praise Nordstroms. Praise the local Sundance 608 movie theater. Praise the Nitty Gritty. Praise the local Sentry.

 

 

 

Milwaukee Talk Radio

Bruce Murphy nailed it in his summary of the Milwaukee talk radio tempest, Why We Went after Talk Radio:

Conservative talk radio is a different animal entirely. Both Sykes and WISN afternoon host Mark Belling, the two top rated such hosts in town, have expressly declared they are entertainers and not journalists, and have no obligation to present both sides of an issue. Their appeal arises precisely from a lack of good will toward certain segments of the community...

Following the national format used by Limbaugh and the others dating back to the 1980's, these formerly effective mouthpieces built an audience on two bases, the extreme right wing, and undecideds who were looking for intelligent political commentary to guide their decisions.

The last four years through a variety of techniques from providing an alternative progressive radio voice to public exposure of these charlatans the base diminished.

Murphy notes, relying on Dan Shelley's original article, "Secrets of Talk Radio", that the hosts of right-wing talk radio have no intention of engaging in rational dialog.

The nice thing is that the audience for Sykes and Belling is diminishing to the point where no one listens to them, except the true believers and those of us looking for an occasional chuckle or fodder for our blogs.