Posted on 06/07/2012 6:17:46 PM PDT by Beave Meister
What happened in Wisconsin signals a shift in political mood and assumption. Public employee unions were beaten back and defeated in a state with a long progressive tradition. The unions and their allies put everything they had into "one of their most aggressive grass-roots campaigns ever," as the Washington Post's Paul Whoriskey and Dan Balz reported in a day-after piece. Fifty thousand volunteers made phone calls and knocked on 1.4 million doors to get out the vote against Gov. Scott Walker. Mr. Walker's supporters, less deeply organized on the ground, had a considerable advantage in money.
But organization and money aren't the headline. The shift in mood and assumption is. The vote was a blow to the power and prestige not only of the unions but of the blue-state budgetary model, which for two generations has been: Public-employee unions with their manpower, money and clout, get what they want. If you move against them, you will be crushed.
Mr. Walker was not crushed. He was buoyed, winning by a solid seven points in a high-turnout race.
Governors and local leaders will now have help in controlling budgets. Down the road there will be fewer contracts in which you work for, say, 23 years for a city, then retire with full salary and free health care for the rest of your life—paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such plans for themselves, and who sometimes have no pension at all. The big meaning of Wisconsin is that a public injustice is in the process of being righted because a public mood is changing.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Great post and accurate summation!
Peggy Noonan used to be a strongly reliable conservative voice until sometime in the mid 2000s.
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EXACTLY! I don’t know what happened to her when she backslid, but every time she opened her mouth, she made me ill as well as very angry. She went RINO on us at best, Liberal at worst. I blamed it on menopause.
I was born in Wisconsin, as was the Republican Party!
And I knocked on 3000 doors for Walker and was 15 feet from him at his Victory Party,
Reagan Palin Walker - Three of a kind!
By Peggy Noonan. I believe the sentiment expressed “FUPN” in a previous post is most appropriate:
Obama and the Runaway Train
The race, the case, a hope for grace.
The Wall Street Journal: October 29, 2008
The case for Barack Obama, in broad strokes:
He has within him the possibility to change the direction and tone of American foreign policy, which need changing; his rise will serve as a practical rebuke to the past five years, which need rebuking; his victory would provide a fresh start in a nation in which a fresh start would come as a national relief. He climbed steep stairs, born off the continent with no father to guide, a dreamy, abandoning mother, mixed race, no connections. He rose with guts and gifts. He is steady, calm, and, in terms of the execution of his political ascent, still the primary and almost only area in which his executive abilities can be discerned, he shows good judgment in terms of whom to hire and consult, what steps to take and moves to make. We witnessed from him this year something unique in American politics: He took do
Can’t think of any writer I respect LESS than Noonan, especially after her twin disgraces of 2008, in her elitist condescention of Palin and her slobbering adoration of Obama. Noonan repulses me to the very core.
Sorry Peggy - fool me once, shame on you - I won’t give you a chance to fool me twice!
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Good summary of Peggy Who.
Excellent observations. I’m impressed...and I’m stealing it.
;-)
Of course, I’ll give you credit, in terms of “a poster on FR”. But seriously, I think you punched through to the heart of the matter and are spot on, on all counts.
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