What's The Statute Of Limitations On Being A "Young Gun?"

Let's see. One of your "Young Guns" is 45 years old and the other two have laughably minimal records in Congress except as fundraisers. How are you going to sell that to the folks in the hinterlands?

Put in those swoopy "gleam" lights on their teeth and have them turn to a forty-five degree angle a lot. Maybe that will fool the public.

Here's another video trying to sell Cantor and Ryan's failed proposals.

Probably Just A Coincidence

Every time RoJo or Walker say they want to reduce the burden of government regulation you need to remember that it is this kind of thinking that has gutted USDA and FDA inspections of our food supply and made the egg recall more likely every day.

You'll want to get used to this kind of thing as Ayn Rand disciples, Walker and Johnson grab power for their corporate donors and cut the ropes on the remains of the Reagan safety nets.

But, let's all take a moment to savor the delicious irony that the egg recall itself is centered on GALT, IA.

RoJo Channels His Inner Sandra Bullock

Somebody changed the website to match the candidate's version of reality. How Net-like!

Meanwhile, back at the primary, Dave Westlake says “

In any hiring situation, an applicant who submits a resume but refuses
outright to show up to a job interview is immediately disqualified,” says
Westlake. “Yet that’s the kind of disdain for voters we’re seeing here,” the
West Point graduate and Army Veteran adds.

...and calls Johnson out for his lack of respect for voters.

Why is RoJo afraid to debate Westlake?

Is it because Westlake has a consistent message and connects with working people while Johnson gives the working man crumbs and distortions?

Or is it because Westlake is a tireless campaigner who has proven himself on the rubber chicken and Lincoln Dinner circuits while Johnson was busy buying himself an endorsement?

Beck Doesn't Know Much About Architecture, History or Irony

Beck:

Pointing to the place about 150 feet up the Egyptian-style obelisk, where
the color of the stone suddenly changes, Beck gravely exhorted the crowd to note
the "scar" on the founding president's memorial. It happened, he said, when
construction was halted for the national trauma of the Civil War -- the apparent
implication being that Saturday's rally would perform some necessary plastic
surgery on race-related social divisions splitting the country.

Reality:

When building ceased, a private group of political activists grabbed
the project's reins -- but they promptly made a huge mess of things.

Among other problems, they were rabid anti-Catholic nativists,
religious fanatics who believed only native-born Americans should hold any
public office. They stoked popular fears that waves of Irish and German
immigrants were overwhelming the United States.When Pope Pius IX donated a
building stone from the Temple of Concord in Rome for the restarted Washington
Monument project, the activists had it destroyed. Through in-fighting,
ideological division and bursts of election-related violence, the group fell
apart after two years. The shoddy work they had done on the monument had
to be removed. Hence the "scar" we see today.

h/t The Chief

Sheer Joy

You Can't Do Wrong Doin' Right from The Affairs of Dobie Gillis.

Barbara Ruick, Bobby Van, Debbie Rynolds and Bob Fosse. Watch the difference between Van and Fosse's edge. Van was a servicable dancer, Fosse a genius.

Also of note...sweaters, skirts and an improbable waistline. Enjoy.

Everything Is Hooked To Everything Else

We congratulate Ken Mehlman on the courage it to to speak out while still inside the lion's den and wish him well as he begins his walk to the light.

Still my favorite Wisconsin Mehlman Moment was when he put his arm around the weaker candidate. We happen to have a dramatic recreation of the conversation that night. Rod Steiger plays the part of Ken Mehlman and Marlon Brando fills in for the man who thought he was a contender but was a... Well, watch for yourself.

Oh! The Humanity!

Bristol Palin + Margaret Cho = DWTS Fabulous!

Yeah. I See What You Mean

Meg Whitman is necessarily racist. She's just telling two different stories to two different audiences. The retweet would be like saying that Scott Walker believes all white people are swallowing his brown-bag recycled lunches.

Those Are All Mistakes, Otto. I Looked Them Up.

Walker? Neumann? Facts?

Yeah. Not so much.

Enough Is Enough

It's time to stop pretending that you can safely let people who despise government run government.

Nope. That's What It Was Alright.

Definition of SUBSIDIZE

: to furnish with a subsidy: as

a : to purchase the assistance of by payment of a subsidy

b : to aid or promote (as a private enterprise) with public money

Sorry, Ron. Wrong again

Betting Line

What's the over-under on retractions and clarifications for the RoJo campaign?

Has anybody noticed that Westlake has been able to stand behind everything he's said for the last 18 months while RoJo has been contradicting himself with alternate breaths?

Lt Governor Candidate Just Figured Out What He Voted For

From Brett Davis' press release (emphasis added):

Lieutenant Governor candidate and State Representative Brett
Davis has learned that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections
is now using state dollars to pay for driver’s licenses and state-issued
identification cards for prison inmates. Davis learned
the policy change went into effect on July 1 of this year.

“These absurd spending programs continue to show Governor Doyle to be hopelessly tone deaf to the will of the people of
Wisconsin.”

All really inflammatory rhetoric that looks good on a campaign website. It overlooks the fact that the measure was part of the 2007-08 budget that Scott Suder and Mark Pocan put together. I guess though, as one of Brett's constituents all these years, I kind of assumed he was reading the bills he was voting for.

Maybe he should have talked to Scott Suder about the problems that being careless with ID can cause.

Walker Attempts The Blagojevitch Defense

Asked if he was surprised by the timing of the probe, Walker said: "I can't
be surprised by something I don't know about."

The candidate maintains that he's too clueless about the actions of his team to be surprised by anything they might do.

On the other hand, John Banner made a good living off of just one sentence. "I know nothing!"

RoJo On Union Issues and Local Land Use Laws

Johnson said. "I just hope the zoning officials and the city, the state
revisit that, rezone that piece of property."

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate continued: "If they don't
do it I hope the construction workers in New York show their outrage and say we
are not going to do that."

-Racine Journal Times

Ron Johnson, your pro-thuggery candidate.

Why Is Greenland Like A Chi-Chi's Margarita?

They've both been pretty much 80% ice since the beginning.

"There's a reason Greenland was called Greenland," [Johnson]
said. "It was actually green at one point in time. And it's been, since,
it's a whole lot whiter now."

Yeah. About That Mortgage Deduction That Pretty Much Drives the Housing Industry

RoJo is willing to give that up for you in order to save high-earner tax cuts.

The Ad Scott Walker Doesn't Want You To See

Not because it's wrong but because it's mean.




What do they call that when an elected official tries to make the media kill a story? There must be a word for it.

"You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means"

From Merriam Webster

Entrepreneurship

Main Entry: en·tre·pre·neur
Pronunciation: \ˌäⁿn-trə-p(r)ə-ˈnər, -ˈn(y)u̇r\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Old French, from entreprendre to undertake — more at enterprise
Date: 1852
: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise

It is not the same thing as marrying the boss' daughter.

Photo by Z-Dub

"He's a sociopath, but he's our sociopath."

As his personal failures and his political contradictions closed in on him,
she began to entertain fears about his fundamental decency.

It's As Simple As They Are

The right-wingnut-o-sphere is spinning itself into a tizzy trying to figure out why Russ Feingold would use the name of a person in an ad that they couldn't find.

"Why?" They cry. "Why wouldn't he put a real person's name in that ad?"

Ask Jody Montgomery.

Taken To Its Logical Conclusion

Would you go to a dentist who advertised, "My competition has done nothing for the past 23 years except drill teeth. Choose me because I've never done it before?"

Would you choose a surgeon who prided himself on not being a career surgeon while deriding his opponent as someone who'd done nothing but surgery for two decades?

Would you hire a bus driver who had never driven, a plumber who had never soldered a joint or an electrician who knew nothing about amps and volts and wattage?

Of course you wouldn't. So why swallow the ads of a knucklehead like Ron Johnson, who admits he doesn't "know" a lot about the Constitution, who plays stumble, fumble and fall with something so basic as a blind trust for his BP stock who sees the parade of jobs out of Wisconsin as creative destruction that's good for the businesses in the state?

Why vote for a candidate whose self-proclaimed strong suit is that he's never done the job and doesn't know much about how it works.

RoJo would hire a line worker with those qualifications. Why does he think Wisconsin is gullible enough to hire him?

I'm Struggling To Imagine Ike Introducing Mamie This Way

Offered without further comment from Real Clear Politics.

"Dear Lord Baby Jesus....I just wanted to take time to say, thank you
for my family: two beautiful, beautiful, handsome, striking sons Walker and
Texas Ranger - or TR, as we call him. And, of course, my red-hot smokin' wife,
Carly, who's a stone cold fox." - Will Farrell playing Ricky
Bobby in Talladega Nights.

“I'm very thankful for my red-hot smoking wife, the first lady of
Minnesota,” - Tim
Pawlenty, the sitting Governor of Minnesota, testing out the 2012
waters in Iowa this weekend.

Making One's Point By Example

This quote might be the single funniest thing I've ever read in a newspaper.

"There are tens of thousands of people with master's degrees who don't have
the common sense God gave a rabbit," said state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West
Bend), who has a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At least one name comes readily to mind. I think you make your point admirably, Senator.

It's A Fair Question

I haven't faulted Scott Walker for never finishing college. After all, I just got around to getting back to it myself. But he's making an issue of his record by not releasing the transcripts of the work he did while he was in college in the first place.

Nobody really expected Walker to have a record of A's and B's as Neumann has, just based on his critical thinking and decision-making skills, but if it took him four years to amass 84 credits that means that either Walker was a less-than-full-time student or he has more than just one or two F's in that transcript.

Maybe there were circumstances that kept Walker from finishing a class or two. Maybe he just wasn't putting his best effort into school. But the citizens of Wisconsin have to know a few things about a man who wants to run DPI, appoint the Board of Regents, and oversee the hiring of top-level administrators at the UW System Schools.

Join the call for transparency by Scott Walker. Ask to have his transcript made public. Mark Neumann and Tom Barrett have both done so and have shown they not only have nothing to hide but would be well qualified to weigh in on questions in education. What is Walker hiding by refusing to meet this simple request?

Keeping A well regulated Militia and Stopping The Man From Mowing Your Lawn

Well-reasoned Constitutional argument made by Ohio man. Neighbor says, "I'm really surprised it ended peacefully."