Uppity Wisconsin blogs

Who's in charge here?

xoff — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:36:00 +0000

Gov. Jim Doyle and Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton are both out of the state, which makes the AP, on a slow news day, wonder who's in charge.

In 2010, do we think Joe Biden is acting president every time Barack Obama crosses the border? Let's get real.

AP thinks maybe Secretary of State Doug LaFollette is in charge. If he is, this will reassure you:

“I’m here and will be around all weekend,” La Follette said Friday afternoon. “It’s interesting, I wonder if I need to give my phone number to someone? But my home phone number is in the phone book, if anyone needs me.”

Where is Alexander Haig when we need him? Still dead, apparently.

Tommy, media can't tell the difference between 'really afraid' and 'Bring it on'

xoff — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:04:59 +0000

Sen. Russ Feingold and maybe, could-be, might-be challenger Tommy Thompson traded jabs again Friday, which seems to perplex Tommy and some of the political media covering the race. Wis Politics says:

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold said Friday that potential GOP opponent Tommy Thompson has "become part and parcel of the corporate lobbying system," while the former guv shot back that Dem attacks on his list of clients indicate they “really must be afraid.”
... Some observers have questioned why Feingold is choosing to focus in on Thompson when the former guv hasn’t announced he’s in the race yet. Following his speech to supporters in Madison, Feingold said in an interview that he's honing in on Thompson "because he can't have it both ways.

Tommy is used to getting a free ride from the media, who report his every move. He thinks he should get daily stories that undermine Feingold's campaign -- and those of the two Republicans already in the race -- without anyone criticizing or questioning him. That ain't how it works.

Maybe Tommy doesnt know that because he's never really taken a punch in a campaign, and thinks his opponent should act like a punching bag and never hit back.

What Feingold and the Dems are doing is serving notice to Tommy that if he does get in, he is in for the race of his life -- one that he just might be afraid of.

Latest sign that Tommy may be backing off, or that Bill McCoshen, his head cheerleader, has been too far out in front of the boss:

The former Wisconsin governor and Health and Human Services secretary said he plans to discuss a potential run for office with his family during an Easter vacation, but also would need to make sure his businesses could operate without him.
“I’m not looking at an exploratory committee,” he said. “I’m looking to hear what people are saying.”

McCoshen has been telling people to expect an exploratory committee, maybe by the end of March.

Tommy wants to know what people are saying. It's pretty clear what Feingold's been saying: "Bring it on."

Quote, unquote

xoff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:21:59 +0000

Neither Scott Walker nor anyone from his staff contacted rail equipment manufacturer Talgo to ask them to consider the Super Steel facility before the company made its decision,Talgo executive Ferran Canals told committee members.-- Journal Sentinel.

Illusory Tenant has more.

UPDATE: That embarrassing sentence has disappeared from the story.

March 19 marks seven years of waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq: Thousands dead, $747B spent. . .

xoff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:23:26 +0000

and we're not any safer.

From Rethink Afghanistan:

Report the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as an example of waste, fraud and abuse on Recovery.gov today. Simply scroll down to the field marked “What” and paste this message into the text box:

"I'd like to report the waste of trillions of dollars of our national wealth on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that don't make us safe. It's fraud to portray these as wars that increase our security, and it's abusive of U.S. troops and local civilians to drag these wars out any longer. End the wars so we can have real economic recovery."

In the Anybody But Tommy Department

Steve Hanson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:43:08 +0000

New video from the state Democratic Party.

On Selling Paranoia, Or, Conservative Emails, Examined

fake consultant — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:56:47 +0000

It seems that many of those who are regular guests of this space are committed to a worldview based on some degree of reason and rationality.

That's a handy thing if the "Covert Alarm Locator Apparatus" in your Isaac Daniel® Compass Global 1000 GPS sneakers should happen to fail and you need to find your way back to where the rest of us are; sadly, not all voters are equipped with such a helpful worldview.

Luckily for them, there are lots of conservative "mouth organs" ready to fill the "information gap".

They send out lots of emails every day, spreading their Word, and as a public service I receive several of them; this to help keep track of just what's out there, exactly.

If you ever wondered why otherwise normal people believe some of the craziest things about "Obama's Secret Death Care And National Virgin Sacrifice Program", have a look at some of the things I get every single day, and it might all make a bit more sense.

Pithiatism [G. peithein, to persuade + iatos, curable] 1. Hysteria induced by suggestion. 2. Mental disorder cured by suggestion.

--"Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary", 11th Edition

It is my friends at Human Events ("Leading Conservative Media Since 1944") who seem to be the most assiduous in keeping my inbox full, and every day a weird combination of political missives and "exiting promotional opportunities" are arriving out of the ether.

Who is Human Events?

Human Events is an offshoot of Eagle Publishing (as is RedState), and they're performing several functions in the Conservaverse: they help spread The Word by gathering all the usual suspects, all in one place (the contributor list at Human Events includes Michelle Malkin, Pat and Bay Buchanan, James Inhofe, "David Feherty, Civilian", and the Wango Tango guy himself, Ted Nugent), they are a daily reinforcer of the Daily Talking Points, as evidenced, again, by my inbox...and they are also one of the reasons Conservative books always seem to jump to the top of some bestseller list or another upon their release, a topic to which we'll return shortly.

Additionally, they're a source for others, both political and commercial, who seek access to a mailing list, which is why, from time to time, I also receive emails from Ann Coulter and Chuck Norris--and why I recently received the insider scoop on how gold is being accumulated by Central Banks and that I better get some too...before it's too late.

Here's what else has been coming in: The Tea Party Express sent me an email just this morning to let me know they would be "on tour"; this action taking them from Searchlight, Nevada (read: Harry Reid) to Washington, DC:

"...Since the Democrats in Congress are so determined to ignore the will of the voters, and force a government-run healthcare fiasco down our throats - as part of the step-by-step slide towards socialism - then we here at the Tea Party Express will "Just Vote Them Out" one-by-one.

So fellow patriots, here's an update on the launch of Tea Party Express III and the "Showdown in Searchlight."

First, we want to thank you all. You've taken a lot of pressure off. In just the past two days we've raised over $15,000 and now have only $65,000 left to raise by March 27th.

We have just 10 days until the launch of "Tea Party Express III: Just Vote Them Out" national tour, and the kickoff event: the "Showdown in Searchlight" mega rally..."

Fun Fact: The Tea Party Express has apparently been making enemies and influencing people among the Tea Party activists themselves, based on a perception that the group is a front for the Republican Party and that the extreme behavior of some members of the group is bad for the larger Tea Party movement.

My take on this: if they're supposed to be raising money for the Republicans, and they're having trouble raising $80,000 for themselves...well, it would appear that the Republicans are going to need unlimited corporate donations (thank you so much for that, Supreme Court...) if they hope to stay in business.

An Action News Update!

Even as I'm writing today's story, this just came in:

"ObamaCare Vote Imminent, Pelosi May Have Votes

He's Pledged To Shove ObamaCare Down Your Throat Even If It Kills Him...

...Barack Obama may have given Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid a deadline to ram ObamaCare through Congress, but knowledgeable sources in Congress are telling us that Pelosi will push the Senate-passed bill to the floor of the House of Representatives the very second she believes she has the votes to shove it down our throats... or maybe even sooner...

...And we don't need to tell you what's at stake. You already know about the extreme cuts in Medicare... the rationing... the crippling taxes... and the long waiting lines that we may all be forced to endure for substandard medical care.

"... bankrupting the insurance industry and undermining the free market is a stated goal of some healthcare reform advocates.

... the goal of healthcare reform is to create a system that bankrupts private industry and leads to socialized medicine. And that is a goal shared by Barack Obama."..."

The email goes on to suggest that a donation of up to $1000 would be very helpful to enable the sender to "Blast Fax" every Member of Congress...et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

You may have already noticed a recurring theme in these messages: the fear of things being shoved down throats is ever-present among Conservative Messengers--which, to me, either suggests something about the lack of imagination over there these days...or the lack of a fully-developed sense of joie de vivre; something that may have impacted folks like Larry Craig and David Vitter and John Ensign, all of whom, on certain occasions, have presumably done a bit of throat-shoving themselves.

(For extra credit, discuss amongst yourselves: Is all this throat-shoving talk having an effect on some people's attitudes about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" issue?)

Ann Coulter wrote me today to let me know that:

"...I have a plan!

... We can't have a free market in health insurance until Congress eliminates the antitrust exemption protecting health insurance companies from competition.

If Democrats really wanted to punish insurance companies, which they manifestly do not, they'd make insurers compete..."

We interrupt Dear Coulter's message for a quick Fact Check: the House did indeed vote on February 24th to remove that antitrust exemption, with all 19 dissenting votes coming from...wait for it...Republicans; the bill, known as HR 4626, is now on the Senate's Legislative Calendar.

We now return you to Coulter, still in progress:

"...The very next sentence of my bill provides that the exclusive regulator of insurance companies will be the state where the company's home office is. Every insurance company in the country would incorporate in the state with the fewest government mandates, just as most corporations are based in Delaware today.

That's the only way to bypass idiotic state mandates, requiring all insurance plans offered in the state to cover, for example, the Zone Diet, sex-change operations, and whatever it is that poor Heidi Montag has done to herself this week.

President Obama says we need national health care because Natoma Canfield of Ohio had to drop her insurance when she couldn't afford the $6,700 premiums, and now she's got cancer.

Much as I admire Obama's use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio's state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited OB/GYN visits, among other things.

It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics -- you know, things like cancer..."

Again, a quick interruption: if I had the power to know in advance what diseases I was gonna get in the future...and whether fertility might or might not be an issue one day...why would I waste my money on health insurance premiums when I could do a whole lot better in Las Vegas--and get free cocktails at the same time?

"...Of course, an insurance company has to be able to refuse NEW customers with "pre-existing conditions." Otherwise, everyone would just wait to get sick to buy insurance.

It's the same reason you can't buy fire insurance on a house that's already on fire.

That isn't an "insurance company"; it's what's known as a "Christian charity."...

... Right now, insurance companies are protected by government regulations from having to honor their contracts. Violating contracts isn't so easy when competitors are lurking, ready to steal your customers..."

(Emphasis is added)

I assume that that last paragraph will become an important Talking Point for Republicans looking to blame Democrats for recent insurance company behavior, and I'll be looking for this argument to appear in debates from now until November.

Wanna hear something even weirder than the idea that Democrats are what's making the insurance companies deny their customer's claims for care related to their pre-existing conditions?

Even as these groups are trying to either reinforce or get me to change my worldview, they're also constantly trying to get me to buy stuff, including the Swivel Sweeper G2, a certain set of "As Seen On TV" knives, and, ironically, EcoCanteen stainless steel water bottles.

"It's Free, But We Make It Up In Volume"

Finally, a few words about Conservatives and their books.

I get, on a regular basis, the chance to have important works of Conservative literature sent to me at rock-bottom prices, assuming I either subscribe to something or join some club that's planning to save Our Great Nation from...most likely, from people like me.

So how can so many people make money giving away books?

It works like this: groups like the Conservative Book Club purchase thousands of copies of a book by [insert name here], using money that appears to be donated from private sources and PACs. Since the bulk purchases are timed to occur as the book is released,

it's possible to create "Number 1 Best Sellers!" more or less on demand...and then I begin to get emails offering me the book for a price far below the cost of production.

A perfect example: Dick Morris sent me an email, just today, to let me know that I have only have a few days left to take advantage of Newsmax's offer to get my free copy of "Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown", a book that seeks to help me profit, as you might have already guessed, from the Next Global Financial Meltdown.

Check out what the Newsmax email says about how bulk purchasing works:

"...I knew that YOU should have this information too. So at great cost to Newsmax, I purchased more than 10,000 copies of this book to GIVE AWAY - completely free (just pay shipping)!

They were gone in a matter of days . . . so I purchased another 10,000. Those, too, were snatched up just days later.

So, I arranged for another shipment. Only a few copies are left . . . and this is your last chance to claim one for yourself.

If you were to go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble, you would pay around $28 retail for this book. (By the way, both of these retailers are out of copies!) ..."

(Emphasis is almost original: underlined words were changed to italics.)

(Quick Fact Check: As of March 18th, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are both selling the book, new, for $16.34, down from the $27.95 retail price, and both appear to have the item in stock...along with Wiley and Borders and a1Books and papamedia and even the UK's Book Depository.com, who will let you have it for the apparent lowest price anywhere: $15.99--with "free shipping worldwide.")

As you can see, Newsmax acknowledges they purchased more than 20,000 copies of the book, and possibly as many as 30,000...and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that's a big part of the total sales for this title. In fairness, however, I could not locate BookScan or other sales data for this book, so that's just a guess, and I could be wrong.

Sarah Palin added an interesting new twist to the process: SarahPAC (and, yes, Virginia, there really is a SarahPAC) spent more than $60,000 to purchase copies of her own book, allowing her to convert campaign donations into ordinary income that she can spend any way she wants; the books were then given away, at no charge, to donors...and now the cycle begins anew, as a second book has been announced.

All of this is reflected in how book sales are reported, with the New York Times adding a dagger (?) to the description of certain books on its bestseller lists, which:

"...indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders."

For the record, Mitt Romney's new book, currently atop the Hardcover Nonfiction list, has two such daggers.

Add all of this together, and what do you get?

How about: a combination of events that are likely associated with a lot of today's...Pithiatism.

A never-ending vicious cycle of self-affirming impending doom and Swivel Sweepers, delivered to your mailbox every day, until you can't remember if Buy One, Get One Free* (*Just Pay Additional P&H) refers to a consumer product or the possibility that a Death Panel will commit you--and your family--to a beyond-top-secret Conservatives-Only Gulag soon to be established at the corner of Castro and 18th; located in a fortress built above the GBLT Historical Society's current offices and staffed by Rainbow Stormtroopers especially chosen by Nancy Pelosi herself.

It's a scary, scary world out there, my friends...and if these folks have anything to say about it, it'll stay that way.

Rasmussen retrenches, says numbers don't count, Tommy not ahead

xoff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:19:09 +0000

Rasmussen Reports, which has been peddling some very suspect numbers about Wisconsin political races in recent months, has a new Wisconsin poll (paid for by who knows whom.)

What's been remarkable about Rasmussen polls is the high name recognition of two Republican Senate candidates that no one has heard of in real life -- not to mention the fact that it shows Tommy Thompson, who's not even running, beating Russ Feingold.

The pollsters tried to defend themselves, but their latest set of numbers takes a new tack.

The two Repubs, David Westlake and Terrence Wall, both are less well known now than they were a month ago, they say. But their favorable-unfavorable numbers are still greatly inflated.

Now, Rassmussen says those numbers don't count:

Feingold is viewed very favorably by 34% of Wisconsin voters and very unfavorably by 31%. Twenty-one percent (21%) view Thompson very favorably, while 17% view him very unfavorably.
Fewer than 10% of Wisconsin voters share strong opinions of either of the two announced GOP candidates. Thirty-three percent (33%) have no opinion of Wall, while 40% feel the same about Westlake.

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Weasel words.

By the way, Rasmussen says the Thompson-Feingold matchup is a dead heat, 47-45. It seems like just last week that Wisconsin's Phony Research Institute released a poll showing Tommy up by 12. Gee, it was last week? Imagine that. I rest my case.

Barrett the underdog?

xoff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:08:45 +0000

So Tom Barrett is officially the underdog in the race for governor, according to some pointy-headed professor in Virginia (as George Wallace would say), who must know something people in Wisconsin don't know. Maybe he's been reading those phony right-wing polls,, which even claim Mark Neumann would beat Barrett. Anyway, this guy says the statehouse race is leaning Republican.

There is nothing like being the underdog, as a lot of basketball players will tell you this week.

Kind of makes you want to give the underdog a boost, doesn't it?

Raw Milk Compromise

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:56:27 +0000

Senator Vinehout Announces Compromise on Raw Milk Dilemma

(MADISON) Limited sale of raw or unpasteurized milk would be legal in the state under a compromise passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Higher Education. The bill creates temporary sale and safety standards while Legislators work through the final rules over the next year.

“It is clear consumers will continue to buy raw milk regardless of whether or not the sale is legal,” said Agriculture Committee Chair Senator Kathleen Vinehout. “Our common sense approach allows limited on-farm sales of fluid milk while increasing protections for the public’s health.”

“We heard an out-pouring of support for the sale of raw milk,” said Vinehout.

Vinehout chaired a ten and a half hour hearing in Eau Claire attended by over 600 people from all over the state.

The compromise puts in place interim standards while a requested Legislative Study Committee works through permanent rules this summer. Under the amendment brokered by Vinehout, raw milk will be tested for pathogens; farmers will register as raw milk producers and maintain records of sales. A warning label on raw milk containers will disclose the potential hazards of consuming raw milk.

“We sought to achieve a balance between citizens’ desire for a natural but risky product and public health concerns regarding potential disease outbreaks. This arrangement will allow family farmers to sell unpasteurized milk directly on the farm while following responsible safety measures,” concluded Vinehout.

Wisconsin's Pretend Research Institute tries to resuscitate its reputation

xoff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:59:36 +0000

UPDATE: Equally unreliable Rasssmussen poll says Feingold and Thompson in a dead heat for US Senate. WPRI had Tommy up 12%.

Wisconsin's Pretend Research Institute (WPRI), the right-wing propaganda machine, is trying to defend itself against recent bad publicity suggesting its polls -- or the way it reports results -- are slanted to fit their world view: WPRI Poll Tracks Consistently with National Polls:

Today, NBC and the Wall Street Journal released a poll that details public opinion regarding the health care bill before Congress, the public’s views of the direction of the country, and other national issues. The NBC/WSJ poll tracks very closely with the WPRI poll we released late last week. To wit:
•In the WSJ/NBC poll, 48% of the public opposed the health care bill currently before Congress, while 36% labeled it “a good idea.” In the WPRI poll, 37% favored the plan and 55% opposed it.

•In the WSJ/NBC poll, President Obama’s approval rating was 48%. In WPRI’s poll, Obama’s approval is 49%.

•In the WSJ/NBC poll, 33% of Americans believed the country was headed in the right direction, while 59% believed the country was on the wrong track. In the WPRI poll, those numbers are 34% and 59%, respectively.

All of that proves exactly nothing, of course. Are we to believe that the opinions of Wisconsin people are exactly the same as those across the country? If that's the case, there's no need to do any more state polling; we can just rely on Gallup or NBC and the WSJ (probably not the Washington Post, which WPRI no doubt regards like Pravda.) Did Barack Obama get the same percentage of votes in Wisconsin as he did nationally? Don't think so.

This little bit of misdirection, penned by Christian Schneider, the blogging artist formerly known as Dennis York, does nothing to reassure anyone that WPRI's amazingly positive numbers for Republicans Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker are accurate. Nor does it excuse the fact that WPRI tailored its news release on one of its polls to make support for school choice look stronger than it actually is.

Nice try, though.