Ayn Rand, Welfare Queen

Why am I not surprised?

Headlines of the Damned

Today's edition of Headlines of the Damned is brought to you by the Kansas Leader & Times:

This has been another edition of Headlines of the Damned.

[via G]

Sen. Johnson's Health Care Gamble

I'm actually surprised that this hasn't recieved more attention, but this weekend Sen. Johnson was on Mike Gousha's show fielding questions about the passage of a potential Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate this term. Here's what he said:

“My guess if we actually held a vote is you might be surprised how many Democrats just might join Republicans and vote to repeal,” Johnson said.

It's important to parse words here. Johnson qualifies his statement with an "if" because he knows repeal is never coming to a vote. The GOP needs 13 Dem defections just to break a likely filibuster that would prevent a vote and they're not going to get that. Of the 24 senators that are up for re-election in 2012 only Sen. Manchin hasn't done any of the heavy lifting that actually passed the law in the first place. Everyone else is on the hook and risks looking like a flip-flopper.

So, no, there will probably be no Democrats join Republicans to repeal the bill.

What's more is that the GOP might actually have more to lose should the repeal bill make it's way to the Senate floor. While Johnson was chatting with Gousha, Sen. Chuck Schumer was on Face the Nation explaining just what kind of shit show that would look like:

On CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Schumer, a New York Democrat, applauded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for "wisely" saying he would not bring the repeal bill to the floor.

But he added that if the repeal measure did come up, Democrats would force a vote on every individual provision in the health care bill - including those provisions which many Americans (and some Republicans) have publicly supported.

"Mitch McConnell has the right to offer an amendment," Schumer said of the Senate Minority Leader, who has vowed to force a vote on the repeal. "If he does, if the Republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular, and that even some of the new Republican House Members have said they support.

"Are Republicans going to vote 'no' on a provision to maintain the donut hole benefits so that seniors pay less for prescription drugs? Are they going to vote against the ability of 21- to 26-year-olds to stay on their parents' health care? Are they going to vote to repeal … the free check-ups that seniors on Medicare get which save billions of dollars in prevention?" Schumer asked CBS' Bob Schieffer.

That would change the equation dramatically and force Johnson to support or reject very specific policies instead of just continuing to blast the nebulous umbrella of "Obamacare."

Johnson seems animate about getting people on the record about ACA:

Freshman Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, of Oshkosh, said it is important for the Senate to vote to put supporters of repeal and those against it on record."The passing of Obamacare is the single greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime," Johnson said. "It will destroy our health care system. We simply cannot afford Obamacare."

That kind of rhetoric cuts both ways. Johnson's entire career as a Senator hinges on repealing ACA. If four or five years from now Obamacare is still the law of the land then Johnson will look like a pretty piss poor defender of freedom. That's a huge gamble to make. Legislation is hard to pass for numerous reasons, but one of frequently ignored consequences of that fact is that it's equally hard to repeal.

What Does Ron Johnson's first Op-ed Piece Tell Us?

The short answer: he needs better ghost-writers.

The MJS gave Johnson some real estate in their august pages to fir the junior Senator to "welcome" President Obama to the Badger State and the results are ... remarkably vapid.

The piece takes the form of an open letter, a stylistic method that only works in two circumstances: 1.) when the author has absolutely no ability to otherwise communicate to the intended "reader" and 2.) when the author wants to speak disingenuously to the "reader" to the amusement of the wider audience. Since the op-ed is neither informative nor entertaining I can only asume that President Obama isn't taking Johnson phone calls yet. I know that the author was trying to make Johnson look like he was standing up to power and the authority of a political rival, but he missed the mark by a wide margin and effectively made the Senator look small and insignificant.

Moving on, the second paragraph is doused in economic statistics, which are essential the national "sales figures" of this presentation. Everyone knows you never kick off with sales figures. It's like digging a moat filled with alligators in front of a brick wall covered in razor wire around your central argument.

Not that there much of a central argument to find in Johnson's essay. The piece is clearly about the economy's ill, after all there is this diagnosis half way through: "Our economy is stagnant because consumers and businesses rightfully lack confidence in government policy." OK, but which policy is undermining consumer confidence? Is inflation and monetary? government spending? debt? regulation? Any one of these issues are complicated enough to devote 570 words to, but instead we get a grab bag of economic concerns that aren't put in any order.

Then we get this graph:

The solution is to show consumers and businesses that Washington understands the problem and has the courage to address it honestly and forthrightly. We must pursue policies that will first limit and then begin to reduce the size, scope and cost of government.

Great ... like what? Johnson doesn't endorse any legislation or even recommend levels of acceptable government involvement in the economy. What we do get is: "America is exceptional - it is precious." Precious? Really? Is there any way to display pride and patriotism without sounding like Gollum from Lord of the Rings?

So why no details? One would hope they are forthcoming, but the more likely answer is that this op-ed is merely part of a larger effort to get Johnson out of his media cocoon. Johnson was on Mike Gousha's show last weekend discussing a host of issues (more on that in posts to follow) and it's a good bet that we'll be seeing more of him in local outlets shortly. It's easier to do this in the Wisconsin media than it is in the Washington media.

MORE: A shorter, non-open-letter -- and, thus, more effective version -- of this piece ran at RCP today.

Peter King has His Moments

Well played:

In the summer of 1989, a small-college tight end from Baker (Kansas) University came home to Pittsburgh to begin a coaching career. He found his way onto the staff at the University of Pittsburgh as an unpaid grad assistant. To support himself, he worked the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift in the toll booth at Exit 5 of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (the Allegheny Valley exit), 25 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. His dad, a firefighter, police officer and bar owner near a dying steel mill, raised him to be tough, respectful, hard-working and -- a Steeler fan. Which he was, loving the Steelers as a teenager when they won their four Super Bowls in the '70s.

The toll-taker, Mike McCarthy, will try to break the hearts of everyone back home.

From the Dept. of Awesome Photos

That's hero punter Tim Masthay during last summer's training camp.

Mind-boggling Stat of the Day

Not good, by nearly every measure:

When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, there were 1.4 million Christians in the country; since then, the number has dwindled to 400,000.

Just a Ton of Packers/Bears Commentary

Here's a week's worth of commentary on Sunday's big game with Bears.

You're welcome.

A Revolting Thought, Micheal Wilbon
Rogers Beats Cutler in a Cage Match, Rick Morrissey
Halas Helped Save Packers, Davide Haugh
Once More into the Breach, Tim Leyaden
Expect Defense to Dominate in Packers-Bears; 10 Things to Watch, Peter King
You Have to Hear These Fan Stories, Wayne Drehs
Ex-Packer Matt Bowen will Always Remember Packers-Bears, Matt Bowen
Starks has Grown into Role of Leading Ball Carrier, Tom Silvertein
James Starks in a Bears Uniform? It Nearly Happened on Draft Day, JJ Cooper
Packers are Good, but don't get Overconfident, Dave Begel
Rooting, Love Interests Collide in Packers-Bears Rivalry, Bob Petrie
Bears-Packers Rivalry Leads to Split Loyalties in Families, Joseph Bustos
Packer Parents in Bears County Cheer on the Packers, Stacey Baca
Packers Fans at Waukegan School take a Ribbing and Keep on Ticking, Dan Moran
A Little Slice of Cheeseland in Lakeview, Steve Johnson
6 Unusual Ways the Bears can Gain an Edge on the Packers, Uden Franklin
Vince Lombardi Would have Loved this Homegrown Packers Bunch, Don Banks
Governors Bet on Bears-Packers Game, Patrick Tricker
Trash Talk: Packers, Bears Fans Swap Stories, Wausau Daily Herald
Even the Church Betting on the Packers, WHBL
Bears Fans Weary under the Razor of their Packers Fan Barber, Amy Alderman
Obama says He's Going to the SuperBowl -- if the Chicago Bears are There, Michael Memoli
Bears to the Left, Packers to the Right; Two Local Bars Stuck in the Middle, Joe Vince
A Bear and a Meat Packer Meet in an Alley, Joe Sinopoli
Five Things to Watch: Pears-Packers, Michael Wright
Meet the Bears' Secret Weapon, Ben Bowman
Packer Fans take Team Pride to the Extreme, Tony Walter
Ticket-holder Since '33 Remembers Last Packers-Bears Playoff Game, WXOW
Analysis: Packers Offense Finishes Strong (Except Against the Bears), Sports Nation
Devin Hester to Write a Monthly Column for Chicago Parent Magazine, Liz Hoffman
Ted Thompson Owes Skippy Bayless a Cockpunch, Drew Magary
A Fat People's History of the Packer's Bears Rivalry, Christmas Ape
A Key Plot Point in 'A-Packer-lypse Now,' Steve Rosenbloom
Packers-Bears III, Wayne Larrivee
Eleven Memorable Games in Packers-Bears History, Steve Leventhal

Taxes We Can All Fjord?

A 2010 study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a similar result: Although America remains near the top of the world in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations -- that is, the percentage of people who want to start new things—in terms of actual start-up activity, our country has fallen behind not just Norway but also Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland.

[...]

And so the case of Norway—one of the most entrepreneurial, most heavily taxed countries in the world—should give us pause. What if we have been wrong about taxes? What if tax cuts are nothing like weapons or textbooks? What if they don't matter as much as we think they do?

Fascinating stuff.

Priebus vs. the Tea Party

Making the rounds today is a story at Politico on Reince Priebus relationship with the various Wisconsin Tea Party Factions. A number of different tea party leaders are quoted in the piece -- and if you didn't know them, you'd probably be inclined to think they were all cut-and-dry grassroots activist folk. Alas, this is not the case -- so without further ado here's some context behind the quoters.

• Mike Murphy, Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus

He's obviously not an RP fan:

“Priebus will do whatever it takes to co-opt the tea party movement,” said Mike Murphy, chairman of a tea party-allied 527 group called The Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin, founded in late 2009.

In the midterm elections, Murphy’s group supported tea party candidates, including some who were undercut by the state GOP, which largely ignored long-shot tea party candidates and endorsed the primary rivals of others at its May convention — months before the primary election.

“He didn’t allow for conservative voices that didn’t jibe with the establishment view and if he charges down that course (at the RNC), the tea party people will wake up and it may very well split up the Republican Party” coalition that powered the GOP’s 2010 landslide, said Murphy.

The Liberty Caucus is basically the plaything of Terri McCormick, the one-time state legislator, infrequent congressional candidate and all-around hellion who has butted heads and alienated her GOP overlords continuously in the past. McCormick is almost universally loathed by every ranking Republican in the state: Jim Sensenbrenner hate her. Paul Ryan hates her. WPRI hates her. Talk radio hates her. Former state GOP vice chairmen hate her ... and if you want to know why, just mosey on over here.

So when Murphy says "tea party people" he really means "my fellow Terri McCormick acolytes," which are very few and far between. Any prognostications and/or threats that come from Murphy should be taken with a proverbial grain of salt.

• Jake Speed, Chairman of the La Crosse Liberty Coalition

This might actually be the largest online tea party group in the state with close to 200 members. Speed does a respectable job keeping the conversation moving at a brisk pace at his web site and is apparently quite active with events, and what have you. There are a number of elected officials who claim membership to the group, including the former Speaker of the state assembly and recently appointed Secretary of Administration, Mike Heubsch. If there's any tea party leader in Wisconsin who seems to have bridged the gap between grassroots and GOP establishment, it looks like it's been Speed.

One quick note: Speed was once pretty antagonistic towards the GOP establishment (see here, for example), but now that he appears to have a seat at the table seems much comfortable towing the party line.

• Mark Block, formerly of AFP Wisconsin

Block's motives are as dubious as they are ambitious. As ringleader of the tea party astroturf circus here in Wisconsin, he got around plenty and spent money like it wasn't his (because, you know, it actually belonged to Koch Industries). In the early days of the tea parties, Block's group gave 9/11 truthers speaking spots at their rallies, so long as they agreed with other parts of AFP's agenda, so it's safe to say that Block is less concerned with substance than he is with presentation.

As the article points out, Block has left AFP to captain the U.S.S. Lusitania Herman Cain, presumably because (a.) Cain has a ton of money to throw around, (b.) isn't expected to win more than a dozen votes and (c.) still has to deal with the same media and political people that real candidates have to work with, thus providing Block with a wonderful opportunity to pad his Roledex.

Basically, Block is to grassroots organizing in the same proportion that pornography is to human intimacy.

• Tim Dake, Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty/Tea Party Patriots

Dake is still something of a mystery to me. Aside from dining with the newly elected RNC chair he also frequents the blog of fellow Grandson of Liberty, Capt. Karl, where he leaves words of encouragement and motivation. While that's certainly a neighborly thing to do, Capt. Karl is about as seriously disturbed as they come. He's a full-blown conspiracy theorist who has bought into some of the strangest urban myths we've ever heard and was so unhinged that last Christmas his wife walked out on him, taking the kids to a local domestic abuse shelter because she believed him to be "some sort of a threat to all of mankind because of my great concern for our country, economy and our liberty."

Dake's cameo in the Politico piece is rather telling:

Dake credited Preibus with supporting an effort by tea party activists who attended last year’s GOP state convention to add a plank to the party platform pushing for Wisconsinites to be allowed to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

“This was a very bold move on the Wisconsin GOP’s part, and it was done with Reince’s blessing, so he was clearly listening to a significant percentage of the tea partiers who felt that this was something that we were overdue for,” said Dake.

He conceded, though, that at that same convention “a lot of people were upset” by the party’s decision to buck 30 years of tradition by tendering endorsements nearly four months before the state’s Sept. 14 primary election.

“I talked with Reince about that shortly afterwards and I told him it feels like you guys are circumventing the will of the people on picking their own candidates,” said Dake. “And his argument was this is something internal to the party.”

So basically if you pay Dake some lip service with a meaningless addition to the party platform and have lunch with him every now and then, he really won't object to a blatant steamrolling of grassroots activists by the establishment come convention time.

It's really no wonder Priebus had a relatively easy time working with the tea party folks here in Wisconsin: some of these guys really aren't that bright.

Which brings us to the last two tea party leaders to show up at the end of the piece:

• Dan Horvatin, a leader of the Rock River Patriots

The RRP provided Wisconsin with one of the most excruciating hour's of the '10 election when they invited Ron Johnson to a meet and greet which they filmed for posterity. Many of the questions they asked were nutty, but now Sen. Johnson's performance was so disastrous that the campaign immediately scrapped its grassroots strategy and canceled similar events with other tea party groups.

Horvatin is probably the closest thing that Zack Speed has to an organizational equal within the Wisconsin Tea Party crew, but, as the example above demonstrates, the RRP are far more independent and less likely to acquiesce to WisGOP marching orders. The RRP was much more enthusiastic about Johnson's primary challenger Dave Westlake, and seemed justifiably miffed when Johnson secured the party endorsement less than a week after entering the race, prior to which he was completely unknown in state politics.

Some of these tea party folks, at least, have pretty good instincts when it comes to that nagging feeling that they are being played for fools.

• Ken Van Doren, Wisconsin Campaign for Liberty

Van Doren also brings up the GOP endorsements at the convention, for like the 83rd time in the article, which begs a question the author, unfortunately, didn't bother to ask: why did the state GOP break with tradition and endorse candidates last year when it was experiencing such a surge in grassroots activity?

The answer: precisely because there was such a surge in grassroots activity.

The closest thing to a competitive primary race last year was the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, where Mark Neumann ran an insurgent campaign that threatened to derail establishment Golden Boy Scott Walker's coronation. By endorsing Walker the state party was able to marshal resources and money to fending off Neumann's bid, which proved somewhat necessary in the waning days of the primary when Neumann seemed to be giving Walker a run for his money. All of this was orchestrated by Priebus (a Walker ally) and Co., which makes Van Doren's comment at the end of the article all the more telling:

Ken Van Doren, who is active in the Wisconsin branch of the Ron Paul-affiliated Campaign for Liberty said tea partiers won’t support the RNC and its candidates if they see Priebus fostering “this closed country club-type atmosphere. We have an opportunity to enlarge the tent, but if we’re only going to look out for the insiders, the big money people, the party is done.”

Van Doren grudgingly acknowledged that Priebus “didn’t lash out against the tea party publicly the way the heads of parties in other states did.” But Van Doren added “I always had the feeling that behind the scenes he was working against our interests.”

You think?

I Also Took My Wife to a Demolition Derby for Our First Date...

Feel the romance!

Priebus’s appearance at the House Republican retreat signaled his desire to build a better relationship between the RNC and elected congressional leaders. He was introduced by fellow Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan and told the crowd that his first date with his wife was at a Lincoln Day dinner with Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.

The idea of Tex Sensenbrenner chaperoning anyone's first date is kinda creepy.

?????

This may be the single most incredible paragraph you will read all year:

As Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported in an excellent 2009 story on Glock, the company's success might also be due to some questionable business practices. The company has come under fire, in a manner of speaking, for making secret political contributions. It has also been accused of dodging taxes and regulations through shell corporations. (Because the company is based in Europe and is privately held, it does not need to disclose nearly as much sales or legal information as a public U.S. company.) Corporate intrigue and violence are part of the picture, too. Gaston Glock's former business associate, a man occasionally known as "Panama Charly," is currently incarcerated in Luxembourg, convicted of taking out a hit on his boss in 1999. (The hitman was a former professional wrestler and, bizarrely, the attempt came not with a handgun but with a large rubber mallet to the head. Glock survived.)

Panama Charly? ... Hitman? ... Former professional wrestler? ... A large rubber mallet?

Go to the link and read the story. It's as good as advertised.

More is Apparently Less ... When it Comes to Regulation

There are so many layers of bullshit to this story it's really hard to know where to start:

A regulatory reform bill proposed Tuesday by Gov. Scott Walker would place new restrictions on wind development and calls for a special exemption for a Neenah-based businessman and contributor to Walker's gubernatorial campaign.

So right off that bat we've got Walker increasing regulations -- even though he ran an entire campaign claiming that just such regulations were "job killers," etc. -- whilst carving a convenient exemption, and likely competitive advantage, for a contributor.

All hail the "free market"!

The Bizarre Wisconsin Connection to the Tucson Shootings

Oh, great:

Jared Lee Loughner’s rants about grammar and mind control track closely to the writings of a conspiracy theorist who believes that is how the government controls the populace, one leading group says – and the man tells POLITICO he agrees with some of Loughner’s statements.

The far-right activist, David Wynn Miller, said in a telephone interview that he didn’t know Loughner, but agreed with his statement in a YouTube video that “the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.”

“Absolutely I would agree with it,” said Miller, 62, a former tool-and-die maker from Milwaukee who claims 1 billion “students” worldwide.

This Miller dude is a piece of work. Here's what the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ADL have to say about him. Here's a Cap Times article discussing accusations of brainwahing against Miller. The obligatory Wiki page. Miller's own crazy, crazy website, which -- of course -- is written in all caps.

The First Walker Favorability Poll

From PPP:

Some of the newly elected Governors- Rick Scott in Florida in particular but also John Kasich in Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin- are not particularly popular though.

[...]

Walker and Kasich both have worse numbers than they did in our polls right before the election. Walker's favorability is a 41/49 spread and Kasich's is 36/40. One key reason for the disparity? We're now polling all registered voters in the states, not just 2010 likely voters as we were the last three months before the election. There was a steep drop in Democratic turnout compared to 2008 in both of those states that was a key part of the Republican victories and those Democrats who didn't vote aren't real big on their new Governors.

Only 12% of Democrats in Ohio have a favorable opinion of Kasich compared to 65% with an unfavorable one. And in Wisconsin just 7% rate Walker favorably to 85% with a negative opinion. They don't have anywhere close to the sort of crossover appeal that folks like Sandoval and Mead do, and as a result they don't go into office particularly popular.

Yeah, it's a Dem polling firm and blah blah blah, but numbers are numbers and these are first of Walker's term.

Of Course It Is!

Did you know that Florida's official state song is called -- I shit you not -- "Old Folks at Home"?

The Single Worst Wisconsin Supreme Court Decision I can Remember

Here:

The Legal Watchdog blog looks at a terrible decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in which it upheld an order for a 17-year-old to register as as sex offender, even though he committed no sex crime. The youth forced another 17-year-old to accompany him to collect a debt. This was enough to convict him of falsely imprisoning a minor, which the Wisconsin legislature has defined as a sex crime.

The details are absolutely infuriating.

Scott Walker Pimps his Ride

No word on whether the new Yukon has spinning rims:

In campaigning to become Wisconsin's next governor, Scott Walker promised to usher in a new era of austerity in state government. But one of his first decisions suggests his determination to make the "haves" in state government more like the "have-nots" elsewhere stops at his own door — his own car door, to be precise.

Isthmus has learned that Walker plans to spend significantly more than his predecessor, Gov. Jim Doyle, on his personal state vehicle.

According to Emily Winecke, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Division of Administration, which maintains the state's vehicle fleet, the state has signed a 60-day lease on a 2011 GMC Yukon XL for Walker's use, from the car rental company Enterprise.

[...]

"This vehicle," says Winecke, "was selected by the governor-elect's security detail so that all members of [his] family could travel together in one vehicle." She explains that the costs "include" a $1,596.50 monthly rental fee for up to 3,000 miles per month, plus 20 cents per mile beyond that.

[via LCT]

Ignore Particulars. Complain about Process. Change the Subject.

Behold, Senator-elect Ron Johnson's foreign policy strategy:

Johnson told WisPolitics Tuesday he has the same concerns about the treaty that others are now expressing: that it ties the nation’s defense missile system to a reduction in nuclear arms.

The Senate voted 67-28 to advance the treaty.

“I’m concerned about anything in this lame-duck session that is just being rammed through without adequate debate, without proper hearings,” Johnson said.

While acknowledging the treaty has received a fair amount of hearings and debate, Johnson said he was concerned about other issues the Senate has taken up in the lame-duck session.

Ugh.

MORE: For more on why opposing the START treaty was a bone-headed idea from the beginning, here's Fred Kaplan.

Blogging the Civil War

Merry Christmas, nerds!

The American Interest is blogging the Civil War by linking to daily "updates" from the archives of newspapers as they were published 150 years ago. For example: on the morning of December 29th, 2010 AI will feature several articles and op-eds that were published on December 29th, 1860 and so forth.

Very cool stuff. Very cool project.

Only High Speed Rail Can Save Conservatism (Seriously.)

[Here's an early holiday gift for James Rowen and John Michlig.]

The Brookings Inst. has yet another report detailing the impending death of the traditional American Suburb today.

There's a ton of socio-economic repercussions to the phenomenon and the Gawker summary does a very fine and succinct job at getting to the heart of the matter:

The smartest, most educated young suburbanites are fleeing for big cities. Naturally. Didn't you? They're leaving behind their parents, who make up that hefty chunk of soon-to-retire boomers. It was inevitable that the suburbs would become more racially integrated, albeit slowly; but economic integration is happening faster than many suburban residents would probably prefer, thanks in part to the real estate market collapse which left lots and lots of suburban cookie-cutter development dream homes available at prices far, far lower than their developers had initially hoped.

So while young, mostly white suburban kids race to the cities and price out the original residents there, many of those urban minorities may find the suburbs to be more inviting and economically viable. Gentrification and degentrification—demographic groups passing each other on the highway into the city, heading in opposite directions. While bright young things head for NYC, LA, Chicago, and San Francisco, the Sun Belt and its massive tracts of sprawl stand ready, willing and able to absorb the displaced, once-urban masses of the working class. It's as if, over the course of a generation, the stereotypical growing-up experiences of White Suburban Americans and Minority Urban Americans will totally trade places. The only difference being that now the cities will get the government money and attention they've always deserved, and the suburbs will slowly wilt into sprawling, neglected slums.

Now let's look at the long-term political ramifications for a second.

Suburbs have long been strongholds for conservative voters for obvious reasons, but where are these conservative voters going to flee to once their suburbs become more racially integrated and economically diverse? They're probably not going to rush back into the new urban areas, where costs of living and, yes, taxes will be higher... so, where does that leave them?

Let's look at an unlikely hypothetical, worst-case-scenario, wherein , say, 15 years from now Waukesha Co. has ceased to be the center of the state's conservative base. Where did the voters go? Here are five possibilities ... see if you can guess the common theme that unites them all.

1.) The Exurbs

Walworth, Jefferson and Dodge counties start to see a small growth in communities of Waukesha transplants that are now willing to trade in a 30-45 minute commute for a 60-75 minute drive as long as it means a quieter life away from the riffraff.

This has already started to happen in St. Croix, Polk and Pierce counties which are effectively exurbs of the Twin Cities.

2.) Lower population Suburban counties.

Washington county, we're looking at you. Slinger and West Bend will get larger and everyone will have a lot more friends in Allenton. Washington county is already fertile Republican territory but it's far less populated than the other collar counties around Milwaukee.

3.) "Unurban" cities like Fond du Lac, Appleton, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Wausau and, yes, Oshkosh.

I'm calling them "unurban" cities because even though they look like suburbs in many ways, the fact that they are not supported by a neighboring urban center dramatically changes the local culture, economy and politics. Fondy's a bit different because it's close enough to Milwaukee to justify the commute, but, by and large, it's still its own little place.

4.) Rural Wisconsin

I hope this is self-explanatory.

5.) Other States

Let's face it, the people who will be leaving will be old. It'll either be time to go off to that great retirement home in Boca or Scottsdale.

What do all of these have in common? Ideological diffusion. The demise of the suburbs basically creates a diaspora among the conservative community. Now, some might say, "That's great, now the message will reach new ears, etc." Except it doesn't really work like that. At the end of the day, conservatives simply become more spread out and elections quickly begin to reflect that phenomenon.

So what does all of this have to do with high speed rail? Conservatism needs suburbia to flourish. It's doesn't need academia or a media machine or conferences or all the sexy stuff that gets loudmouths on TV -- it needs an environment in which to ingrain itself into every aspect of life and suburbia is custom made for cultivating conservatism. It's no accident that the trajectory of the modern conservative movement follows a similar arc to that of the contemporary suburb. Once the suburb starts to become replaced by a slum, conservatism will begin its death throes.

That's where high speed rail comes in to play. HSR basically allows suburbanites the chance to live an urban life in terms of employment and recreation while building a home away from the bustle of the city. It allows the "smartest, most educated young suburbanites" to live in a place that is familiar to them while still pursuing ambitions that suburbs often don't allow. It's not uncommon for people to take a 30-60 minute El ride clear across Chicago for whatever reason and think nothing of it ... that's an urban convenience the suburbs need desperately in order to attract the kind of people who will be making the economy work in the 21st century.

I'm not saying that not having HSR will kill off the suburbs. An aging population, the housing bubble, long commutes, expensive gas and dozens of other things will do just fine, thank you -- but HSR can help save it by opening the suburbs up to a new market: young folks who want urban lives between 8 AM and 8 PM Monday through Friday, but don't want to pay for the cover charge for living in the city limits. As it currently stands, the hassle of living in the burbs far outweighs the hassle of living in the city and when suburbs continue to isolate themselves by declining mass transport services -- especially during rough economic times -- they create a recipe ripe for isolation and, eventually, ghettoization.

I'm sure actually conservatives will roll their eyes at this argument and go on about the intellectual merits of their philosophy (while at the same time preaching a gospel of anti-intellectualism, go figure), but the fact of the matter is that most voters chose how they vote based on their own personal life experiences, not how they rationalize the merits of one policy or another, and nothing creates conservative voters like suburban life. Killing the suburbs will essentially be killing off conservatism.

Reince Priebus: Back-Stabber

I'm not going to pretend for a moment that I have any clue as to the machinations of internal GOP politics, but I do know a good knifing when I see one and Reince Priebus may have just committed one of the most flagrant backstabbings I've seen in a very long time.

Look back just two short years ago. When Michael Steele was elected chair of the GOP with Priebus as his manager, we here in Wisconsin were treated to gushing fluff pieces on how Steele and Priebus were the Republican ebony and ivory ready to bring the party back to glory. Here the MJS from February of 2009:

The two did not know each other well when Priebus endorsed Steele for RNC chairman last fall. But there was "an instantaneous click," said Steele, who said he saw Priebus as someone who shared an interest in modernizing the party and shared the experience of promoting Republicans in a state where Democrats had the upper hand.

Priebus ended up managing Steele's underdog campaign for the chairmanship.

It's easy to see why Priebus thought Michael Steele was such a potent political force. After all, this was the guy who thought it would be a great idea to have Mike Tyson be one of his surrogates on the campaign trail when he ran for the Senate.

(Amazingly enough, nothing about the photo above has been Photoshopped.)

By April of that year there were already questions about Steele's ability to manage party funds, but Priebus was out there shilling for his guy:

Randy Pullen, the RNC's elected treasurer, former RNC General Counsel David Norcross and three other former top RNC officers have presented Mr. Steele with a resolution, calling for a new set of checks and balances on the chairman's power to dole out money.

The powers include new controls on awarding contracts and spending money on outside legal and other services.

Mr. Steele could not be reached, and a spokesman for the RNC chairman declined to comment on the move.

The resolution prompted a top Steele supporter to issue a scathing attack against Mr. Pullen and his allies after they had asked Mr. Steele to support the "good governance" resolution at a special meeting of the full national committee set for next month. The party spent about $300 million in last year's elections.

"I urge you to reject this hostile attempt to embarrass and neuter the chairman of the RNC," Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in an e-mail to the 168-member national committee.

And that was just the beginning of a long sting of events for which Steel would gain his notoriety during which time Priebus was notably silent in his criticism of his boss while he retained the position of top party counsel and closest advisor to Steele.

And that was merely the beginning of a long string of gaffes that rapidly diminished the stature of both the chair and the RNC. Now Priebus is saying things like:

“I will run a tight ship at the RNC,” Priebus wrote. “I will keep expenses low. I will put in strong and serious controls. We will raise the necessary funds to make sure we are successful. We will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC.”

And:

But in a video message accompanying an e-mail Priebus sent to RNC members, the Wisconsin lawyer said: “I don’t believe we can win the presidency without a highly functional RNC, and unfortunately we don’t have that today.”

Which begs the question: Why didn't you do implement these policies when you had the chance as a member of the leadership of the party?


As I said earlier, I don't know a damn thing about Republican intramural skirmishes, but this is still pretty low. I don't expect much loyalty from politicians, but the I do think there is something to be said about the appearance of loyalty, and this act has none to mention.

Steele's been awful and a ham sandwich can likely do a better job running the party -- no one's going to disagree with that. There's clearly a sense that Steele's time as chair represents a massive missed opportunity, both financially and in terms of party growth, at the GOP. But what's the sense of rewarding the people who brought the party Michael Steele in the first place, especially after such a shameless act of treachery?

When Steele took over the RNC there were huge lay-offs of leftover from the old regime. Priebus comments criticizing the management of the RNC are the first he has uttered in since the beginning of Steele's chairmanship. If he couldn't manage to correct the course of the U.S.S. Michael Steele how the hell is he going to manage the rest of the party?

The Recess Supervisor praises Priebus' ambition and compares the move favorably in relation to the House Dems keeping Nancy Pelosi -- but aren't both moves really just the same thing?

Wherein We Take a Swipe at Admittedly Low-Hanging Fruit

If you have 10 minutes of your life to waste, feel free to throw them away watching the video below. Afterward, I will gleefully explain why the fellow in said video is a nutcase.



The dude in the video is named Mark Jungwirth. He's an Oshkosh resident in his mid/late 20s and the ringleader of "We Are Change" Oshkosh -- a consortium of conspiracy theorists who live in an alternate reality populated by black helicopters and tin foil hats. These guys seem to think that the official or authoritative explanation to anything is reason enough to consider that account misleading and deceptive. As a result, their ranks are filled with 9/11 truthers, global warming deniers, Federal Reserve nonsensers, FEMA intern camps (seriously) warners, to name just a few of the numerous conspiracy theories to which these dudes subscribe.

Now, as a general rule, folks with such a tenuous grasp on reality tend to be hypersensitive to any real or merely perceived affront to their "rights." Unfortunately, these folks also tend to be poorly informed as to what exactly constitutes those "rights" and generally stick to an interpretation of the law that -- not surprisingly -- conforms quite conveniently to whatever their current situation or whim happens to be.

Take, for example, Mr. Jungwirth's trip to the bank. Not once does it occur to this young man that maybe ... maybe ... video-tapping in a bank is not kosher for reasons that should be rather obvious. Unfortunately, those reasons, obvious as they may be, become completely oblivious to Jungwirth the instant he detects a potential infringement on his rights and is faced with a potential opportunity to embarrass an institution with more power than he has.

"Why should that [i.e. filming the fingerprinting] be a problem?" he says in the video. "That really doesn't make any sense to me at all."

There's actually a lot going on here that make the elements of this situation the perfect ingredients for a total epistemological meltdown of Jungwirth's fragile worldview.

First, is the fingerprinting, which, of course is only done in police states. Second is the anti-video policy of the bank, which is clearly designed to censor the truth from the masses. Third, we're talking about a bank here -- or at least a credit union -- a powerful institution that unquestionably has it's greedy hands on the levers of power. I'm sure there's some Federal Reserve angle that fits in this milieu as well...

All that aside Jungwirth procedes to tell a strange version of his encounter prior to showing the clip from inside the building. He claims that the woman at the credit union -- who is justifiably pissed off at his little stunt -- called the place a "federal building" (1:30) when she quite clearly calls the credit union a "financial" (industry shorthand for a "financial institution" or "financial building"-- at around 6:10).

Jungwirth then explains that he was told exactly why he's being fingerprinted, noting that it's through a program called "Operation ID." While anything with the word "operation" certainly may have a sinister connotation to it, in this case it just a program that police forces around the country have been running for private citizens and small business for almost 30 years now to curtail property loss from theft. The program works substantially differently in a financial institution because the property in these places is usually just cash, hence the fingerprinting.

Jungwirth, however, freely admits in the video that he has no idea what Operation ID because he hasn't even bothered to do any fact-checking before taking to his vlog. Why bother to look for reasonable answers when one can portray one's self a persecuted champion of truth!

WOLVERINES!

This brings us to the overarching problem of this incident: the credit union Jungwirth is patronizing is a private institution. It's not a government entity -- municipal, state, federal or otherwise. They are comlpetely within their rights to set up as many surveillance cameras as they want to on their property. They can demand that patrons not film on the their premises. If they wanted to require a fingerprint and a stool sample in order to withdraw money, that's they're call. It's probably a poor business decision, but very liberty that Jungwirth claims to be fighting for allows the credit union to operate in this fashion.

Jungwirth literally conjures up a completely new conspiracy theory out of nowhere and doesn't even bother to check the facts -- or his own video evidence -- before disseminating this sorted tale over the internets.

This is how conspiracy theories start in the far reaches of the fever swamps of the lunatic fringe. If you look at the comments section of the YouTube page, a poor soul from the credit union took it upon himself to try to explain just why Jungwirth is batshit insane. Unfortunately there's really no other recourse for the credit union to take against the action of a poorly informed, aggressively ignorant, belligerent asshole.

Personally, my favorite part of the video is when Jungwirth sells out the friend who accompanied him to the bank by essentially calling him a giant pussy for wanting to bail on the guerrilla filming session and then uses this as his excuse for not delivering the really important part of the discussion with the branch manager. "Oh, yeah, we would have totally gotten this awesome footage if only my cameraman wasn't such a giant gaping vagina!" Way to rally the troops...

There's a wealth of idiocy at We Are Change - Oshkosh's YouTube page. My personal favorite video can be found here. If you'd like to see Jungwirth interview Joe the Plumber (seriously) go here -- it's a real merge of the minds. Here's Jungwirth waxing ignorant on foreign affairs.

I honestly can't wait to see what this guy will do next.

Watch Owen Robinson Fold like Beach Chair in a Stiff Wind of Hypocrisy

Oh, how soon some folks forget...

A couple of years ago, shortly after a tough year for the state GOP, Owen Robinson decided that he would take a page from Grover Norquist's playbook and circulate a "no new taxes" pledge among state legislators. Numerous GOP elected officials took the bait. Here's the key passage:

I am asking each of you to pledge that you will not vote for a budget that includes any tax increases or any fee increases that aren’t directly related to the cost of delivering the service. If this leads to no budget being passed any time soon, then so be it. The Republican Party should be proud to be the party that obstructs tax and fee increases - especially on people who are already overburdened by the cost of their government.

Emphasis in the original. You can read the whole text of the pledge here.

But now that Scott Walker is about to inherit the Governor's mansion and the GOP control both houses of the legislatures, conservatives are quickly realizing that their rhetoric is not compatible with the fiscal reality. Here's Robinson yesterday:

I’m not philosophically opposed to ["hiking the sales tax from 5 percent to 7 or 7.5 percent"]. The nice part of the sales tax is that it is collected from more people thus broadening the tax base. It is also something that people have some control over paying. If I can’t afford the sales tax right now, I can reduce my spending. The down side is that people get used to it, so it’s usually less painful for politicians to raise it.

BUT, or shall I say BUT... the only way I could support this is if the other taxes are cut to offset the increase in the sales tax AND overall taxation and spending are decreased. Tax shifts virtually never work because the politicians always neglect the other side of the equation. Increasing the sales tax can only be done as part of an overhaul of our system of taxation.

The sales tax is in no way, shape or form "directly related to the cost of delivering a service" ... any service.

Almost four years ago Robinson thought so little of taxes he thought a government shut down was preferable to any increase and that GOP legislators should be proud of "obstructionism," but now that Republicans have to contend with the problem he's no longer "philosophically opposed" to the idea of some forms of tax increases now that Scott Walker & Co. have to deal with the problem.

Way to show some iron-spined resolve...

This is as craven a flip flop as they come. Robinson appends his blog post by declaring his sudden bout of tax flexibility as merely a "theoretical discussion," but this is nonsense. His pledge is clear in no uncertain terms, but these days Robinson's all about the ifs, buts, BUTs, maybes, possiblies, etc.

I hope the absurdity in calling this a tax "shift" rather than a "raise" is blatantly apparent to everyone watching this debacle. The GOP isn't even three weeks away from its electoral victory and they are already abandoning the uncompromising rhetoric that got them back in power in favor of equivocating blather they mocked democrats for just a few weeks ago. It should be a blast watching them actually try to govern.

Ron Johnson and His Staff Have No Choice But to Reject their Federal Health Care Plans

During his campaign, Ron Johnson made clear -- and in no uncertain terms -- that he was against "government-run health care." In fact, he cited "Obamacare" as the reason he got into the race in the first place. Well, now it's time to put his money where his mouth has been.

If Ron Johnson expects to be taken seriously, he needs to decline the health care plan given to members of the United State Senate by the federal government. He's a millionaire, after all, and should have no problem finding his own private insurance plan.

But at the end of the day this is only one insurance plan. Symbolic -- yes, but hardly a sufficient sample size to make a difference in either the federal deficit. Johnson may be just one person, but he's also now in charge of an office that can be staffed with between 40-50 people. If Johnson is serious about the dangers of "government-run health care" he should require his employees to find their own private health insurance carriers.

There's really no way around this. It wasn't just "Obamacare" that Johnson railed against during the campaign -- it was "government-run health care" and as such Johnson owes it to the voters to deliver. Right now Johnson is a member of the minority party without any seniority, so it's not like he's got a lot of clout in the Senate. He's pretty much limited to symbolic gestures, and by declining the health care plans offered to all federal employees is really the only tool he has to make any dent in the deficit and/or statement about the virtues of "free market health care."

This isn't just a silly request coming from an opposition nutter. Two of Johnson's colleagues in the House are declining their health care plans, while another seems to not understand just what it was he campaigned against. The only way Johnson can credibly distinguish himself between the two is if he rejects the Senate's health care plan and mandates his staff find private insurers.

Let's be clear about this: even if Johnson himself declines the perk, it will essentially be meaningless unless his staff is required to do the same. Senators don't work alone and a lion's share of the actual day-to-day duties of any federal office are completed by the staff. They are just as much representatives of their employer as they are of the people they work for and they should be held to the same ideological standard.

Russ Feingold held his staffers to much stricter standards with regards to gifts from lobbyists than any other congressman during his 18 years in office because campaign finance reform was his pet issue. Since Johnson felt so passionately about the value of private health insurance, he should feel obligated to act in a similar manner. This isn't about policy: it's about holding one's self to a higher standard, and, frankly, given Johnson's apocalyptic rhetoric on the evils of "government-run health care," he has no choice but eliminate every last trace of it from his office.

Anything less will look hypocritical.

(The same goes for rest of the newly elected GOPers who won their elections from Scott Walker to the lowliest state Assembly person. It's not enough for just you to decline what you've been shrieking against, but you also have to deny the same perk to your staffers. This is, after all, the world you've wanted.)

MORE: And no sooner did I speak than did PPP [via M] field a poll yielding the same results:

Most Americans think incoming Congressmen who campaigned against the health care bill should put their money where their mouth is and decline government provided health care now that they're in office. Only 33% think they should accept the health care they get for being a member of Congress while 53% think they should decline it and 15% have no opinion.

Remember: we're asking incoming GOP congressmen to not only refuse the health care plan for themselves, but also for their staffers. Here are the crosstabs:

PPP Poll on Incoming GOP Congressmen Refusing Federal Health Care Plans