Posted on 02/19/2011 4:09:28 AM PST by kevkrom
The union-led school closures and demonstrations in Madison have left most ordinary Americans shaking their heads in disbelief. Months ago, I penned a message to my fellow union brothers and sisters when I found myself on the receiving end of union boss Richard Trumkas wrath. Yesterdays demonstrations reminded me of the full-page ads taken out against me when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor. My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You dont have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs with We the People.
Here we are still struggling to get out of a deep recession and coping with high unemployment, record deficits, rapidly rising food prices, and a host of other economic problems; and Wisconsin union bosses want union members out in the streets demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for unsustainable benefits packages. I am a friend to hard working union members and to teachers. I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents, parents, brother, sister, aunt, and other relatives worked, or still work, in education. My own children attend public schools. I greatly admire good teachers and will always speak up in defense of the teaching profession. But Wisconsin teacher unions do themselves no favor by closing down classrooms and abandoning childrens needs in protest against the sort of belt-tightening that people everywhere are going through. Union brothers and sisters: this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Solidarity doesnt mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to makein wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job lossesto weather our economic storm.
Hard working, patriotic, and selfless union brothers and sisters: please dont be taken in by the union bosses. At the end of day, theyre not fighting for your pension or health care plan or even for the sustainability of Wisconsins education budget. Theyre fighting to protect their own powerful privileges and their own political clout. The agenda for too many union bosses is a big government agenda that only serves the union bosses themselves not union members, not union families, and certainly not the larger community. Everybody else is just there to foot the bill; and if that bill eventually takes the form of thousands of teachers and other public sectors workers losing their jobs because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep them on the payroll, thats a risk the union bosses are willing to take as long as their positions are secure. Union brothers and sisters: you are better than this and you deserve better. Dont be led astray.
One final word of warning to my fellow Americans: back in 2009, I warned about what would happen if states accepted short-term unsustainable debt-ridden Stimulus Package funds. Accepting those funds allowed states to grow government, increase already unsustainable levels of spending, kick the can down the road on reforming entitlements, and create public expectations that they would continue financing these new mandates once the federal funds ran out. States were not in a position to grow government and take on new financial commitments then, and now the chickens have come home to roost. As goes Wisconsin today, so goes the country tomorrow.
- Sarah Palin
Psycho, my man.. Can you help me get on the list of people they poll? I wanna be asked if I like Palin. (I said wanna on purpose, in case that Jeopardy geek is still on correcting our spelling and grammar)
There are a few that are skewed and dishonest, but the mostly care about their reputations. RCP gathers an average of all the most reputable polls. They are also good to watch.
On-line push polls are not reliable and they do not really effect the reputable ones. I have been polled several times by Pew, Quinnipiac and Rasmussen. Don't ask me why, it just happens that way.
I have been polled few times during the primary season. Usually when asked, I tell them I am in favor of the one I want on the ballot that doesn’t have a chance. I am registered as a Democrat, so I can vote in the primary for a loser that we have the best chance of defeating. Probably not the honorable thing, but it works for me. Of course, living in Maine, we don’t often have a conservative to pick from. This time, we got a pretty good guy for Governor, but the Senate and Congress are hopeless.
Christie is saying it. Check out his most recent speech. The guy is awesome.
“Youll note Im sure that most FR Palin supporters are being remarkably quiet on this one.”
They are having their Palin Fanatics Union meeting, it’s Saturday, the psycho therapy offices are closed.
I agree, he is not afraid to stand tall and fight, much like Walker. He is also not a quitter. (Neither of them are)
True, most Palin supporters are quiet. I’m not. I think the article is well done, and misunderstood. Fanatic? No. Need therapy? Probably. Pragmatic? Maybe. Who is your choice at this time?
No wonder the commies fear her. She has ways of connecting to ordinary people that they can never match.
I got no problems w/ unions. I got a problem w/ commies.
ROFL.....funny seems the TEA Party at Wis read Palin’s message at the rally imagine that....
Has she added any substance to it yet?
Good one.
Does she support an end to collective bargaining for public employee unions?
Does she support an end to public employee unions?
That’s all I want to know.
The rest is just pandering to folks who are working as hard as they can to destroy our country.
The time for political game-playing is over.
Are you talking about Christie, the Republican Governor who refuses to challenge Obamacare??
LOL!
You Palinistas are somehow thinking that her explanation of her resignation will fly with enough Americans to get her the nomination. It won’t. She QUIT a job that people volunteered time and money to get her elected. It was not like some chick quitting at McDonald’s. People invested in her term. She lost me then and this continued running commentary on everything is only harming her popularity, not helping.
I remember hearing all the wailing and gnashing of teeth in 1996 when the GOP standard bearer resigned his job to run. /s Talk about double standards.
Oh and I love the word choice of “chick” which tells me all I really need to know about the real reason you dislike Gov Palin....
Christie may not be a quitter (yet), but folks pushing Christie should remember that he’s only been in office for 13 months. If he left the governorship in the near future to run for POTUS, he WOULD be a quitter-—and certainly be LESS than a “half-term governor.” BTW Palin was actually in office for 1 week shy of 33 months (12/1/06 - 08/23/09), just 15 months shy of Romney’s term in MA. IIRC Romney essentially “left” the governorship during the last 2 years of his term to run of POTUS. He certainly wasn’t in MA.
You can’t even make a cogent reply. What a terrible analogy. Bob Dole, whatever one thinks of his politics, was an American hero who carried the horrible reminder of war for the rest of his life. He was a statesman and a gentleman in the Senate for years. Hardly a comparison with a half term governor with dollars signs in her eyes.
As for ‘chick’ you people are so sensitive about all things relating to Palin. My use of the word indicated a young girl working at McDonald’s, meaning a teenager quitting at an entry level job has no real impact; Palin’s resignation (a word I did use in my post btw) had far more implications for the people of Alaska. She is a pure opportunist.
If you want to see the underlying meaning behind ‘chick’ and Palin, all you need to do is check some of the Palin-fawning threads to see her as Wonder Woman, Rosie the Riveter, etc. Talk about demeaning and stupid.
chick is a teenage McDonald's employee? ROFL.....yeah not finding that definition in the dictionary anywhere. It is however a term that women find offensive and derogatory but you go with your McDonald's defense....lol.....
and your final comment simply reinforces to people reading it that you strongly dislike Palin and her supporters. none of your posts in this thread has dealt in anyway to the topic of the post. You simply have decided to sit in the back and throw spitballs because you don't like Palin. You have offered no points nor counter points about the op-ed. Your level of debate is around the 3rd grade level. If that is all you got there really isn't any need for you to continue to throw your little spitballs.
chrsitie and daniels and walker don’t
Chrisite and Daniels and Walker don’t
So walker daniels and Chrisite are just pandering to their base then. gothca
i hate to prick your bubble but the time for politcal games is just starting its called a 2012 POTUS primary cycle.
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