The right would like to romanticize its Wisconsin win. But the truth intervenes. The truth is they want to take all the toys. They want what they want when they want it but they don't like to be seen as grabby and greedy.
Scott Walker almost ruined it by lying about his goals.
When Gov. Scott Walker moved to strip Wisconsin public employees of their collective-bargaining rights last year, a few weeks after taking office, it was clear that he wasn’t doing it to save the state money. If that had been the case, he would have accepted the unions’ agreement to pay far more in health care and pension costs. His real goal was political: to break the unions by demonizing their “bosses,” ending their ability even to collect dues and removing them as a source of money and energy for Democrats. ...NYT
In the end the right won. Kind of. But not an entirely satisfying win. It was a bought win, not a homegrown win.
This money has by no means bought a guarantee that Mitt Romney will seize Wisconsin in November; exit polls showed the same voters preferred President Obama by 51 percent to 44 percent. The state is improving economically, with a lower jobless rate than the nation, which may benefit the president as much as Mr. Romney. ...NYT
So they keep trying even though people are learning to trust them less and less.
... From the beginning, the money behind Governor Walker was intended to turn a once-reliable blue state into a laboratory for Republican ideas, where business could grow free of union fetters, taxes could be cut and thousands of people could be removed from Medicaid rolls.
The tactics worked in Wisconsin, and in several other states. Labor, so long in decline in the private sector, is also losing its clout in states and cities, unable to match or withstand the unfettered bank accounts of industry. The people who kept Mr. Walker and his policies in power are just getting started. ...NYT
Even an analyst from the conservative Manhattan Institute observed this morning on NPR that the effect of the Wisconsin election will be limited and short term.
As more and more Americans are affected by what they're "just getting started" on, the air won't be as breathable for Republicans.
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Around the corner is a hilarious report on how Mitt Romney's latest McMansion is riling new neighbors in La Jolla. Residents have some choice words about the Romneys...
ON Dunemere Drive, it seems as if just about everyone has a gripe against the owners of No. 311....
... LA JOLLA (derived from the Spanish word for “jewel”) was traditionally a Republican-dominated corner of San Diego. But that has changed over time. The La Jolla of 2012 is as purple a precinct as they come, with 7,764 registered Republicans and 7,024 Democrats.
“It’s odd that this is where Romney picked a place — it’s so progressive,” Mr. Clark said.
By all accounts, the Romneys chose No. 311 not for the neighborhood’s political profile but because of the home’s proximity to the water and to their longtime friends Victoria and John Miller, meatpacking magnates who live next door and served as the financial chairmen of Mr. Romney’s first presidential campaign.
On paper, the house sounds luxurious: it is 3,000 square feet*, with vaulted ceilings, five bathrooms, a 20-yard lap pool and Jacuzzi shaded by a Torrey pine, a wraparound second-level deck and a lawn that slopes down to the ocean. ...NYT
* The Romney's are expanding their seaside cottage to 11,000 square feet.
