Stuff To Do In Wisconsin Before Scott Walker Can Be Recalled

Recalling Scott Walker's senators-- and putting an effective check on his outrageous ideologically extremist over reach-- has to be the top priority of everyone in Wisconsin committed to democracy. This is a grassroots movement, not a Democratic Party initiative, although the party has embraced it as fully as we all wish Obama and his crew would embrace grassroots initiatives in DC. Immediately after the illegal vote to bust unions we pointed to next month's Wisconsin state Supreme Court elections as a way to immediately channel the Walker Hatred by defeating his right-wing crony David Prosser and replacing him with progressive assistant State Attorney General JoAnn Kloppernburg.

And that isn't the only Wisconsin election coming up in April. Take a look at Scott Walker's doppelganger, Assemblyman Rick Stone, who has been a rabid supporter of Walker's anti-worker jihad. Chris Abele is the Democrat running against him-- for the office Walker used to propel himself into the governor's mansion.



Earlier today we talked about ending the disgraceful-- not to mention ridiculous-- political career of Wisconsin's congressional Flimflam man, Paul Ryan. The Wisconsin Democratic Party seems to be following the DCCC lead in aiming at Sean Duffy instead. Duffy, a freshman who has already proven to be in way over his head, deserves the attention. Good messaging:

Fresh off vanquishing Wisconsin's middle class, Scott Walker is set to join Hollywood Sean Duffy Saturday night for a congratulatory champagne toast to the Koch Brothers, their chief patrons.

Hollywood Sean Duffy, who along with his wife has benefited greatly from Koch Brothers largesse and was a whole-cloth creation of the phony "Americans "For" Prosperity" group funded by the oil tycoons, recently dispatched his chief of staff to run the Koch Brothers lobbying outfit in Madison.

Walker, the most divisive governor in Wisconsin history, recently followed the Koch Brothers playbook to the tee in opposing Wisconsin's Catholic bishops, among others, and ending collective bargaining for public employees.

The two will raise champagne toasts to the Koch Brothers and their new Wisconsin rule at the Steak Pit in Washburn at 5 p.m.

"While thousands of nurses, firefighters and teachers are about to lose their jobs, and Wisconsin's standard of living is driven into the dirt, Hollywood Sean Duffy and Scott Walker find time to raise champagne toasts to their Koch Brothers masters," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said. "It is an obscene display, but at least we see Walker and Duffy now for who they are-true enemies of Wisconsin's working families."

Meanwhile Michael Moore isn't letting up. He was on air with Amy Goodman right after the vote talking about the Republican Party's declaration of class war against the American working people, talking about what the GOP is also doing in Michigan:

As Wisconsin Republicans passed Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union bill in the State Senate, a bill in Michigan goes even further. In the measure, emergency financial managers would be allowed to break union contracts, dismiss elected officials, and even disincorporate entire municipalities. Michigan Senate Republicans approved the bill yesterday, and protests are expected in the Lansing State Capitol building today. We speak to filmmaker Michael Moore. “[This] is a class war on the people,” Moore says. “I think that the whole world has been inspired by what happened in Tunisia and in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. And while their problems are different than ours, the spirit is the same. And we need a pro-democracy movement in this country, badly, right now.”

It's worth listening to:



And as a neighboring U.S. Senator put it:

We were all shocked by what happened in Wisconsin Wednesday night.

Eighteen Republican state senators broke faith with the people who elected them. They broke their word. They may have even broken the law.

They wanted to bust public-sector unions-- the last line of defense for the rights of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and other public servants-- so badly that they were willing to cheat the system.

Let's be clear: They did this in the hopes that, with the bill passed, the crowds would dissipate and we'd let this go.

But they were wrong. We're not going to let this go. We're going to help the people of Wisconsin fight this bill-- and the illegal power grab it took to pass it-- every step of the way. We're going to help them hold accountable the elected officials who sold out workers and subverted democracy.

And, most of all, we're going to make sure that this is the end-- not the beginning-- of the right wing's attempt to destroy the middle class. It took a power-hungry, corporate-backed governor and 18 senators with no respect for the law or the struggle of working families to bring this issue to national attention. But the fight to stand up for the middle class against corporations and the politicians they own has always been a national fight.

It's up to us to make sure we win that fight for the working families whose voices - whose livelihoods-- are at stake.

-Al Franken (D-MN)

He was too polite to add that the Republicans, like their right-wing predecessors in Germany, went after the workers ability to strike and unionize. You think it's far-fetched to compared Scott Walker to Hitler? You haven't been paying attention.