Uppity Wisconsin

Political writers who in February ridiculed the notion that Obama, flush with a 17-point primary victory here, could in November win substantial blocks of voters among the 'white working class' (WWC), appeal to white voters in Republican strongholds such as Waukesha County, and who crowed that their reading of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) federal election law was spot-on correct, are in a word: Wrong.

Typical among today's brand of Republican commentators, such admissions have not been forthcoming.
 
White Working Class

Update: Hartford Courant: Secret Ballot To Decide Lieberman's Fate - "Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators. He didn't support us on military stuff, and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. But you look at his record, it's pretty good."
- Sen. Harry Reid

I don’t care for Joe Lieberman as a U.S. Senator.

Lieberman went right along with the obscenity of the Iraq Invasion and the Patriot Act, among other imbecilities.

I don’t care for Joe Lieberman as a public man.

Even among elected officials in Congress, Lieberman stands out as a lying propagandist.

Those wishing that the 2008 election will result in commentary from the rightwing that is not quite so uninformed and dull will be disappointed.

Seeing the reaction to the news that the GAB is considering a timetable of its maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS), one is left with the impression that desire for rightwingers to read before commenting constitutes a lost hope. Hyperbole? I wish.

Regarding the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case, one would believe that those rightwing writers dissing the decision would read the briefs, relevant sections of the HAVA statute and the text of Judge Sumi's decision to dismiss. Sumi’s decision is 22 pages-long and is a quick read.

But rightwingers, like Dad29, show a stubborn resistance to facts. Hey, they were right all along, Dad29 would have you believe.

Working at Fire Station #2, 5415 King James Way (Fitchburg, WI), the words of a black man in his 20s this morning stand out as poll workers worked with his voting identity and residence.

"I will be voting today," he said calmly but with determination.

Black folks who were newly registering at the polls had a determined look in their eyes; I mean it. And there was a steady stream of black families coming from the newly-registered room.

I lived in the ward for some eight years and I know the high and low-turnout areas. Many voting today were from low turn-out areas.

Inspiring. These are just the people that J.B. Van Hollen and the Republicans want to disenfranchise. And they would not be stopped today.

- via mal contends

The Proletariat site contends "It seems to me Roe v. Wade will be a lot safer in a McCain than an Obama presidency," promoting Ralph Nader's appearance in Madison tonight.

Is this guy kidding?

From John McCain's site on women's choice:

Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life Overturning Roe v. Wade John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states.However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion.

I have voted for Nader for president before, but I swear some of these pro-Nader people are as deluded and oblivious to facts as the religious right.

From Pollster.com. One must believe that the Republicans are so scared that they would virtually ban Bush and Cheney from the convention, and nominate "Caribou Barbie" (that's what Stephanie Miller calls her) for vice-president and hype her national security credentials with mostly straight faces.

Fun times.

Update: Most observers mention Palin’s less-than-two-year administration of Alaska's National Guard as a sardonic reference to her stunning lack of credentials to become commander-in-chief, but not Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville); Ryan hypes it.
 
Said Ryan in a statement: "As the head of Alaska's National Guard and mother of a soldier she understands the importance of supporting our brave men and women in uniform. …  I look forward to giving everything I've got to help the McCain-Palin team win in Wisconsin, so they can bring the right kind of change to Washington." (MJS, Aug. 29, 2008) The GOP looks like some desperate dudes. Can you imagine any Democratic nominee for president or vice-president touting his/her credentials by pointing to heading the Alaska National Guard for less than two years?

Like a modern-day Santiago, the politically ailing John McCain battles the titanic forces of Barack Obama and spears his GOP the largest catch of his political life: The great marlin in the form of Governor Sarah Palin.

Milwaukee - Spent this weekend listening to numerous people in Milwaukee in one of Wisconsin's most diverse and densely-populated areas.

Asking residents (living in expensive homes, modest homes, and rentals) their concerns in open-ended questions, I expected answers on Iraq, the national debt, the price of a college education, downsizing and outsourcing to be the most frequent complaints.

And downsizing and outsourcing were mentioned, but by far the biggest complaint was the lack of respect for a person's home, a quality-of-life issue for which residents seek redress from all levels of government.

Complaints ranged from jerks littering on front yards, vandalism, loud music, trespassing, with burglaries rounding out the list.

The consistency is striking, residents in a $500,000 home two blocks down from a $100,000 home share the same anger at toward trespassers, vandals, and people screaming in front of their homes like they're at a Brewer game.

In so many words, people just do not like anyone messing with their homes in which they have carved out their familiar, calming refuge in an increasingly isolated, inequitable society.

via mal contends - Robert Novak opines that "Republican losses in Congress will range from bad to catastrophic ... ," and yet Novak still contends that McCain has an even 50 shot at winning the election because of the static some-five-point-lead Obama has enjoyed at the polls for weeks.

"The complete lack of movement in the national polls is good news for Sen. John McCain and bad news for Sen. Barack Obama, even as the Democrat continues to hold a modest lead," writes Novak, whom we hope stays with us for decades to come.

But since when does a newcomer, non-incumbent presidential nominee blow away his challenger in the polls before the conventions and Labor Day—the first Monday in September. Can anyone name one example?

As Alan Abramowitz, Thomas E. Mann, and Larry J. Sabato write:

Update: Prominent evangelical leaders to McCain: Don't pick Mitt. We don't trust him.

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone discusses the failure of John McCain to consolidate his position as GOP nominee with the religious right, asking: Is this the end of the GOP's unholy alliance?

As written here before, though I happen to disagree with their descriptive facts of the world, those of the religious right whom I have met personally (here in Wisconsin) are earnest and well-intentioned, disdainful of cynicism and involved in the concept of community. And they do not respect liars.

And that's why McCain is not playing well.

(H)is basic stump speech doesn't contain a single line about God or religion. McCain is probably the first Republican in modern history to talk more about 'green technology' than about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. ...