Uppity Wisconsin

From those intrepid researchers at One Wisconsin now comes the Scott Walker Failure Files, documenting his long record of failed leadership, mismanagement and skewed priorities.  Here's the interactive website. Check it out. An amazing collection.

The latest Republican Governors Association spot says Tom Barrett has raised Milwaukee’s taxes “every single year,” increased spending by $300 million and seen the city lose dozens of businesses during his time as mayor.

“Tom Barrett more taxes, less jobs. Just like Jim Doyle, only worse,” the RGA spots say.

Here's the thing: Barrett's city budgets may have gone up $300-million, but Scott Walker's county budgets have gone up $396-million.

The city may have lost dozens of businesses, but the county (which includes the city) has no doubt lost even more. And even more jobs.

Scott Walker, more taxes fewer* jobs. Just like Jim Doyle and Tom Barrett, only worse.

Pretty catchy message, huh?

(*Can we fix the grammar, RGA, while we're at it? Fewer, not less.)

After months of trashing the Rasmussen Reports polls, what a surprise to find that they look pretty credible compared with the latest one from the University of Wisconsin survey center.

Judging from those numbers, pretty much all of the campaigning anyone has done up until now has been a waste of time and money. Three and a half months before the general election, they say, no one knows who's running, and if they do know they don't care.

A dozen previous polls in the governor's race, summarized on Pollster.com, have had Democrat Tom Barrett somewhere between 34 and 46 per cent of the vote, with Republicans Scott Walker and Mark Neumann in a range between 34 and 49. (One from St. Norbert College had Barrett lower, but it's an outlier -- or it was until the UW effort came along.) 

The UW poll would have us believe that Barrett has 15 per cent of the vote, while 32 per cent say they'd vote for a Republican (no one asked them which one.)

In the Senate race, they say Russ Feingold leads Ron Johnson 25-19.

One of the dangers of a contested primary is that it will force candidates to try to out-do one another in appealing to their party's most hard core elements, be that liberal or conservative.

Case in point: The GOP primary for Wisconsin governor, where Scott Walker continues to veer farther right, even changing his positions, to keep Mark Neumann from outflanking him in the extreme right lane.

And it's beginning to look like Walker is getting even farther out than Neumann

First it was immigration.  Walker took a more moderate position, but when Neumann beat him up and some of the GOP base complained that Walker was too soft, he quickly switched and became a hard-liner.

Last week it was the state smoking ban.  Walker first said he didn't like it, but wouldn't commit to repealing it.  But once Neumann came out for repeal, Walker followed suit.

Now, it appears Walker has found an issue where he can be even more extreme than Neumann -- human reproduction.  Liberals often call the issue women's reproductive rights, but one group backing Walker and Neumann doesn't discriminate by gender.  It wants to ban condoms, too.

Now I remember why they call it the Daily Disappointment.

The headline on today's Journal Sentinel story was promising: Wisconsin candidates' cost-cutting plans don't add up

Finally,it seemed, someone was going to ask the hard questions of the candidates for governor, like a number of people and organizations have been asking for some time.

Like asking the Republicans: "When there is already a $2.5-billion state budget deficit projected, how do you plan to fix that and the $2-billion to $3-billion more you've proposed in tax cuts, mostly for the super rich and corporations? What will you cut?"

That question will have to wait for another day.

Despite his endorsement by the crazies at Pro Life Wisconsin, who oppose all abortions and all birth control, Mark Neumann says he does not oppose birth control. Who says he's not forward thinking? Welcome to the 20th Century, Mark. (Or the 19th, at least.)

Says Neumann:

“I do not agree with them on that issue. When it comes to birth control, obviously that’s something – I’d have two dozen children by now.

Not bad, even a little humor. But he should have quit when he was ahead. Instead, he continued:

Neumann, with his wife, Sue, by his side, spoke to reporters after turning in his signatures to get on the ballot.

I can't believe Scott Walker thinks he can put this one over on the voters, let alone the news media, but never misunderestimate how gullilble people can be.

Walker's latest budget cutting scam is -- Ta-Da! -- to eliminate 4,000 state jobs.  He says it will save $284-million a year.

But it won't save a nickel, because those 4,000 jobs he want to eliminate are not filled now.  The Doyle administration is leaving them vacant to save money and reduce the state budget deficit.

Walker can't reduce the state payroll by eliminating those jobs, because there are no people on the payroll now.

Based on Walker's figures, the Doyle administration is already saving taxpayers $284-million a year. 

Any chance we'll see this in the news coverage of this non-idea?

(Apologies for the headline.  I know the vision of Walker naked will give some people hives.)

Scott Walker, trumpeting the meaningless number of signatures he collected on his nomination papers for governor, almost got asked some real questions by reporters who showed up.

Like, what about the endorsement from Pro-Life Wisconsin, the extremists who not only oppose all abortions but all birth control?

One asks not whether he agrees but whether he agrees with Democrats who say he's out of the mainstream, which lets Walker get away with saying he's always been pro-life -- a non-answer, but to a non-question.

The follow up: "Do you agree with that specific part of their platform?" Walker says he'd have to look at it, but he's been consistently pro-life.

One last question from another reporter: "Do you oppose condoms?" Walker: "Well, to me, that's not a position of the governent."

So Walker escapes the pack of pussycats once more. (Apologies for mixing metaphors.)

Video.

Hat tip: Pretty Important.

So the campaign for governor has come to this: 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Republican candidate for governor Mark Neumann says his goal is to attracted 300,000 jobs in 10 years by working closely with University of Wisconsin campuses to attract more businesses and research.

Neumann unveiled his plan to create three "research triangles" that would match expertise on the campuses with businesses that create jobs.

Neumann says his plan can succeed even if the university's budget is cut as part of his plan to reduce the budgets of all state agencies. His plan even calls for offering a tax break to businesses that create jobs.

Neumann's Republican challenger Scott Walker says he can create 250,000 jobs in four years. Democrat Tom Barrett says his goal is to create 180,000 jobs in his first term.

Well, I guess I have to be for Neumann.  He made fun of Walker when he announced his 250,000 job "plan," but now Neumann's got the biggest number.  Unless Tim John, whoever he is, says he'll create some bigger number.

I thought Planned Parenthood Advocates must be exaggerating when they described Pro-Life Wisconsin, which just made a dual endorsement of Scott Walker and Mark Neumann for governor, as opposing not only all abortion but virtually all birth control, too.

But that's actually the case. Pro-Life Wisconsin is as extreme as it gets when it comes to the issue of women's reproductive rights -- or men's, too, for that matter:

Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund supports candidates for public office who demonstrate a commitment to protect each and every innocent human life – in all circumstances and at all stages of development. To be “100% pro-life” is to know that a human life begins at fertilization and that there may never be a legal exception to an innocent child’s inalienable right to life.

That means the group supports a law that would require a 14-year-old girl, raped and impregnated by a relative, to carry a child to term and give birth -- even if it meant the teenager would die.

Think that's extreme, to not even allow exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman's life? There's more.

Because hormonal birth control can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus (hence the name "contraception",preventing conception), the group believes the pill, patch, shot, ring, all cause abortions.

The group's legislative director, testifying at a hearing on the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Act, actually said they oppose condoms or diaphragms use as well. They oppose contraception. Period.

And Walker and Neumann sought and have accepted their support.

Wow! What more is there to say?

Another day, another Rasmussen poll, this one in the gov's race. Sigh.

It's a full time job reminding people that Ras is a Repub polling firm which is notorious for doing polls, especially early in a race, which usually shows Rs doing much better than they do in any independent polls.  And they're famous for fixing things to reflect more real numbers as the election gets closer, when there will be something to compare their numbers to.

Here's one explanation: Garbage in, garbage out.

Tom Barrett has injected stem cell research into the race for governor, saying he would champion it, as Gov. Jim Doyle has done.

"My concern is you have candidates for office . . . who want to inject politics into science," said Barrett. "I think it would be a huge mistake to allow an ideological agenda to stop the work that's being done here."

The candidates for office he referred to were the GOP candidates for governor, Scott Walker and Mark Neumann, who both oppose embryonic stem cell research.

Wisconsin has been on the cutting edge of stem cell research, which makes it even more problematic for the Repubs. Research done here boots the state economy, the state university, and creates jobs.

The issue is not as prominent nationally as it was in 2006, when Doyle hung it like an anchor around the neck of his his opponent, Mark Green. But it remains a potent issue, as conservative blogger (and losing Assembly candidate) Jo Engelhoff realizes:

So the Dems are playing the embryonic stem cell card again. And well they would – it worked last time. Really worked. Remember the Michael J. Fox ad? Mark Green was a killer, denying life-saving research for your family member and mine...

It was a useless strategy in 2006 for the Mark Green group to argue the productivity of adult stem cells...

Finally, a reporter has asked Scott Walker how he intends to pay for the $2-billion in tax breaks he's proposed for corporations and wealthy individuals, as One Wisconsin Now has been asking for months.

Scott Bauer of The Associated Press asked the question, and -- surprise! -- Walker didn't have much of an answer.

He back-pedaled pretty quickly. It turns out he doesn't have a tax plan, the AP learned:

Joel McNally writes in the Shepherd Express on the new, improved Republican Party, which apparently has disavowed any negativity. Its new motto, ala Jiminy Cricket, is "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

McNally is rightly amused by Jim Klauser's horror at Mark Neumann saying something negative about fellow Repub Scott Walker:

Klauser’s surprise at learning Neumann would run a negative campaign ranks right up there with Casablanca Police Captain Renault’s famous quote about being “shocked, shocked” to learn gambling was going on in Rick’s Cafe.

Even worse, Neumann negatively points out that although Walker makes a show of submitting a no-tax-increase budget every year, taxes have continued to go up every year but one since he’s been county executive.

That’s pretty mild when it comes to negative Republican campaigning. It doesn’t even include any lying or name-calling or signs with Walker made up to resemble Adolf Hitler.

But this fall we’re all looking forward to the brand-new, positive Republican Party that doesn’t try to mislead voters or knock down the other fellow.

Good stuff.

I’ve even heard Republicans say that they would vote for (Democrat) Tom Barrett before Mark Neumann. Why? Because at least Barrett isn’t a lying crap weasel." -- Owen Robinson of Boots and Sabers, a conservative suburban blog.

Wow! A lying crap weasel? If Neumann can survive that kind of vicious attack and stay in the race, he's a man of steel.  Bet Jim Klauser wishes he would have thought of that one.

Quote courtesy of Milwaukee Biz Blog