Posted on 03/22/2011 3:03:11 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
....Mr. Walker’s conduct has provoked a level of divisiveness and bitter partisan hostility the likes of which have not been seen in this state since at least the Vietnam War. Many citizens are furious at their governor and his party, not only because of profound policy differences, but because these particular Republicans have exercised power in abusively nontransparent ways that represent such a radical break from the state’s tradition of open government.
..as a centrist and a lifelong independent — I have found myself returning...to the question posed by the lawyer Joseph N. Welch during the hearings that finally helped bring down another Wisconsin Republican, Joe McCarthy, in 1954: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy. Their political convictions and the two moments in history are quite different. But there is something about the style of the two men — their aggressiveness, their self-certainty, their seeming indifference to contrary views — that may help explain the extreme partisan reactions they triggered. McCarthy helped create the modern Democratic Party in Wisconsin by infuriating progressive Republicans, imagining that he could build a national platform by cultivating an image as a sternly uncompromising leader willing to attack anyone who stood in his way. Mr. Walker appears to be provoking some of the same ire from adversaries and from advocates of good government by acting with a similar contempt for those who disagree with him.
The turmoil in Wisconsin is not only about bargaining rights or the pension payments of public employees. It is about transparency and openness. It is about neighborliness, decency and mutual respect. Joe McCarthy forgot these lessons of good government, and so, I fear, has Mr. Walker. Wisconsin’s citizens have not.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Respect? Like the respect they showed by running away to Illinois and acting like toddlers? GMAB.
And go ahead and reminiscent about the RINO LaFollette. His seed are democrats now as they should be.
Does anyone know when this restraining order bs is gonna be resolved?
..as a centrist and a lifelong independent
If it says it in print it must be true.... ;-)
What I think he means is he looks around the UW History Department and sees half the department to the left of him and half to the right, but as it's a very liberal group, that doesn't make him a "centrist."
The blog he's starting at williamcronon.net promotes progressivestates.org, the Progressive States Network, a very liberal group with heavy union involvement.
See Ann Althouse, another UW professor with her own blog for a rebuttal.
Thank you x.
It was good to read Ann Althouse and the comments that followed.
Bump!
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