Charlie Sykes Loves Him some Ron Johnson

It should probably come as no surprise that we think very little of Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Fellow, talk radio nuisance and all around circus clown Charles J. Sykes, so we were less than surprised when Sykes summed up his interview with Ron Johnson on Tuesday by gushing:

Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson joined me this morning to talk about his announcement that he is running for US Senate against Russ Feingold. You can listen here.

This race, he said, will be about "freedom."

When have we ever heard that before from a candidate?

The link above will lead you to an MP3 of the interview. I think it's safe to say that Johnson has the pole position on the Sykes endorsement.

If Sykes/Johnson actually believe that this election will be about "freedom" then they will both spend the next six months demonstrating how egregiously out of touch they are with the electorate. This is not going to be a battle of philosophies -- the time to wage that fight was 2008. This election will be about pocketbook issues, jobs and the economy first and foremost among them.

I know that harsh reality doesn't make for good talk radio, but if Johnson has any intention of making his campaign anything other than a vanity run for office he will have to present the public with much more than mere philosophy. Here's Politico on what won the Democratic candidate the special election in Pennsylvania last night:

The playbook from the Pennsylvania special election isn’t complicated: Make the election a choice between two local candidates and not a national referendum on the Democratic Party or the state of the nation; savage the Republican from the outset and don’t let up; keep the focus on jobs and core economic issues; most important, separate yourself from your national party’s policies and politicians as necessary.

In other words, the exact opposite of what Belling, Sykes and the rest of the talk radio cognoscenti believe will happen. Right now, the only people who care about "philosophy" are hardcore conservatives, who are currently going through an existential crisis. The rest of Wisconsin wants results. Scott Walker actually realizes this and it's one of the reasons the Gubernatorial race will be so competitive.

Good luck with their game plan: it pretty much is guaranteed to win the GOP candidate the honor of giving a tearful concession speech in November.