Posted on 02/26/2011 4:52:08 PM PST by bigbob
Saturday's speakers rally larger crowd than last week's
Star power invigorated a massive crowd of union supporters who turned out cold and snowy Saturday at the Capitol to protest Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that would strip most public unions of most of their collective bargaining rights.
The crowd easily eclipsed the estimated 70,000 that protested at the Capitol last Saturday. Protestors filled the lawns flanking both sides of the Capitol's State Street entrance for nearly the entire block. The crowd extended several blocks down State Street and the street surrounding the Capitol square was entirely filled with a dense and continuous circle of protestors that marched around the Capitol, while others filled the Capitol building itself.
Actor Bradley Whitford, a Wisconsin native who starred as Josh Lyman on the West Wing TV series, said Walker was using his budget repair bill to pay back his wealthy supporters and as a “trojan horse” to deny workers their right to collectively bargain.
Whitford led the crowd in thunderous refrains of “this will not stand” as he ripped the spirit of the bill, its potential negative effects on teachers and other public workers and the process surrounding it. He implored the crowd to stand united to protect every American's right to join a union and to fight for a day when “our classrooms are as shiny as our missiles.”
Other unionized actors speaking included Gabrielle Carteris, who portrayed Andrea Zuckerman on the original 'Beverly Hills 90210,” and Robert Newman, who starred for nearly 30 years as Joshua Lewis on “Guiding Light.”
Carteris said everyone in America is watching Wisconsin workers' fight, which she said is not about money, but “about us keeping our freedom.”
Newman told the crowd their cause is right and just. He joked that when watching the protesters on TV this week that their wardrobe, hair and makeup looked so well done that he knew “this is clearly a union production.”
Jeff Skiles, who was the co-pilot in the plane that had to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River, delivered a fiery speech in which he ripped Walker and the Legislature for dividing workers and the state. He said the bill would relegate public workers to “second class standing” and knocked proponents for “demonizing teachers, nurses, public sector employees that create and maintain the fabric of our communities.”
He said when his plane landed on the Hudson River, everyone worked together to save everyone.
“That is a lesson the people in this Capitol need to learn,” he said.
Other speakers included WEAC President Mary Bell, Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt, in addition to speakers representing teachers, firefighters, municipal workers, nurses, religious organizations, the NAACP and others.
Bell pretended to make a phone call to Walker, who was duped by a prank caller posing as billionaire David Koch this week. Bell derided the one-sided conversation she said has typified the debate.
Neuenfeldt delivered an impassioned address in which he praised the 14 Democratic senators who left the state to prevent action on the bill and applauded protesters who have camped out in the Capitol for 13 days. He called on Walker to compromise over collective bargaining rights.
“Governor Walker, refusing to negotiate is not good for Wisconsin,” he said. “It's disrespectful.”
“You need to come to the negotiating table a figure out a compromise so Wisconsin can move forward and start creating jobs again.”
He finished with a booming shout of “Onward! Solidarity!” Saturday's speakers rally larger crowd than last week'
Captain Sully's co-pilot must have hit his head when they landed...sad to see him promoting this crap.
In the end, it won't matter but it's more manure piled onto the media fire.
And the biggest rally of all was in November when it mattered.
While the people who pay their salaries and make much less than the thugs went about their daily business of trying to afford groceries, gas and hope they still had a job come Monday.
I bet they left the place a dump. Leftist are really not such great environmentalists.
Actually, the media fire does matter. The union/leftwing media alliance have done their best to deliver many negative media cycles for Walker and the GOP. All it takes is 3 Wisconsin Republican Senators to become weak in the knees and cave in. One we already know is a major RINO who wants to negotiate, so if 2 more bow to the media pressure the unions win. The left knows the stakes here are huge and have been able to turn out huge crowds that show no signs of diminishing.
Where are the pro Walker forces in Wisconsin? Most have jobs I know, but if these protests go largely unchallenged, I am not certain how long the good guys can hold out. A loss here would be incredibly damaging to efforts to push the same needed legislation elsewhere - and it would encourage more legislature walkouts and lawlessness as the media/unions/left will enshrine it as a legitimate tactic.
Already Walker is delaying the lay off notices that he threatened for this past Friday. The Dem Senators called his bluff. He shouldn't have threatened to send out the layoff notices and not done it. To the left that is a sign of weakness.
The key to winning is to just wait it out and stay strong, but Walker and the Republicans are taking a terrible beating in the media. Can the Republican state Senators really hold out that much longer? I hope so, but am not as confident as many here.
Big surprise. The Democrat estate is home to the Great America Blowhard. If there’s a mic, they’ll migrate there in massive numbers.
The only problem with this is trying to limit all the fowl that will want to peck at American on one day.
And of course, there’ll be the requisite clean-up where they temporarily roost too. And then there’s all the fowl that will flock together hoping to eat the seed corn.
Perhaps this trash cleanup is one industry the Democrats should get more credit for blowing out the numbers.
The truth behind that is, that the garbagemen are union too, and union members will always refuse to do another unions members job.
Watching and washing each others back, so to speak.
That, and liberals are pigs.
The “big” rally got little air time on the news here (Milwaukee). I flipped around to 3 of the local stations. As for crowd estimate, all they would say is that the crowd was bigger than it has been the past few days (when it was in the hundreds).
And, really . . . Bradley Whitford? This is the best they could do?
smelly, nasty pigs
I’ve read some of the lefty blogs today. They are claiming 100k crowd and that the police are defying orders to begin clearing the capitol building and instead are declaring solidarity and sleeping with the protesters.
I have no idea what is true, but it does strike me that, at least in the national media, Walker and the Republicans are getting pounded. Having seen the GOP cave in enough times, I am just not super confident in holding all the Republican senators together through this.
A win here really may be a “PATCO moment”. If the GOP can face down the full fury of the corrupt public sector unions and their media allies in Wisconsin, this sort of legislation will gather steam elsewhere. We may finally begin to break the cycle of taxpayers effectively funding Democratic Party campaigns.
On the other hand a loss here would encourage lawlessness elsewhere and likely dissuade Republican governors in other states from taking on the public unions so directly.
The stakes are really that huge. The left knows it and has pulled out all the stops, and I wondering why more pro Walker forces in Wisconsin aren’t counter protesting in support. I realize Republicans aren’t always the protesting types, but wow, in this case, Walker could sure use some visible support in the streets.
really now, how many were bused in and given free lunches? that is the MO
The “massive nationwide rallies” don’t appear to have gotten much airtime anywhere. Apparently the media doesn’t want America to see leftists behaving badly.
The visible bodies in the streets don’t matter as much to the state senators as the phone calls and emails in support. Also, Walker has been encouraging them to go home to their own districts on the weekends where they have been getting huge amounts of support.
The left has their tactics (old and passe), the right has its tactics . . . even older and definitely not passe . . . actually showing up to vote on election day.
So how do you think it will go? Think Walker and the Senate Republicans will hold out and win this thing?
police are defying orders
I think tomorrow night will be the turning point. The capitol police announced the new rules on “camping” (I’ll remember it’s now free next time I get my state park sticker) and the building closing on Friday. Kinda like the grownups asking the kiddies nice and gentle to bet their butts in bed. Now if they defy those orders, I expect we will see not-so nice measures taken. It’s probably bad PR for our side but some National Guardsmen with firehoses would be great.
** Think Walker and the Senate Republicans will hold out and win this thing? **
I do. Tuesday is payday for those sniveling Dem senators hiding in Illinois. All it takes is for one of those moles to show up in the Senate chamber trying to get paid and it’s quorum time, baby.
Look folks, a quick scan around the internet from the main media (ABC, CNN, FNC, NBC, etc. outlets) basically says these labor union protests flamed by Move On,org have been a major flop. The numbers are absolutely nothing to talk about. Dismal, at best. This report posted as reported by some unheard of web blogger site ain’t what one would call accurate reporting. Obama’s Labor Secretary Solis was firing up the DNC meeting. I guess Obama did not tell her that federal workers do not have collective bargining rights going back to POTUS Truman and his Democrat Congress who banned such rights due to conflict of interest. I guess Ms. Solis is not bright. The plain issue is no public service labor union should be allowed to stand for exactly the reason the FDR & HST have stated and enacted into law, conflict of interest. Governor Scott Walker, continue on the passing your law and, keep in mind, the voting public is on your side. These labor union goons can rant and rave all they want on their web sites, but at the end of the day they are going down in both Republican & Democrat controlled states!!! Democrat Senators in Wisconsin, you best return to work because the voters of Wisconsin have voted you out of power, in November, 2010 and now existing Federal law put in and passed by a Democrat congress is pointing to your defeat. That is exactly why dummy POTUS Obama has shut his ill informed mouth on this subject. Labor Secretary Solis is apparantly not the sharpest knife in the drawer!!! She ballbles on like the fool and misinformed administrator she is.
You can aggressively clear crowds of hippies and students, but not middle age teachers, firefighters, etc.
This is the reason these Teachers Unions get away with so much. All they have to do is send a couple thousands middle class looking teachers into the street to whine and the public loses it's nerve and caves into them. It's why it's been so hard to do anything about these out of control Teachers Unions.
Combine a liberal college town and public sector unions and you have a recipe for huge and persistent protests. Add to that these unions protests are piggybacking on the pro-Democracy protests in the Middle East and I suspect the pressure on our Wisconsin GOP Senators is enormous.
We already have lawlessness as these state Democratic Senators are simply not doing their job, but if the police begin refusing orders (which the left claims is already happening), then we have a serious situation where unions are literally overturning a democratic election. If they are allowed to get away with it in Wisconsin, these tactics will simply be replicated elsewhere - possibly successfully.
“I realize Republicans aren’t always the protesting types”
That’s right. Money talks and bullshit walks. I sent Walker a $200.00 campaign donation, joined his email list, and sent him a lengthy thank you and encouragement note.
What if everyone who supports Walker sent him $50.00? Far more effective than demonstrating.
They’ll hold. Walker went through this in his County Job.
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