It’s only recall primary day, yet the AFL-CIO’s highly paid labor chief is already spinning an expensive defeat as a “moral victory.”
What if Walker, the prime target of the country’s labor movement in a campaign viewed by many on the political left as rivaling the presidential race in importance, were to prevail?
“He would be a debilitated governor for the next two years in office, and he would be finished the next time he runs,” Trumka said in a new interview.
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That result, plus Walker’s bruised image, would not likely embolden other GOP lawmakers around the country to take on bargaining rights, Trumka argued. “Not if you’re sane and rational, it wouldn’t,” he said.
We’re not talking about Democrats losing in, say, Texas, where Democrats haven’t won anything statewide in so long that students heading off to their freshman year of college this fall have never seen a Democrat governor. Moral victory in politics = actual defeat. The Democrats and Big Labor will have poured tens of millions of dollars into defending the cradle of the American labor movement against a conservative Republican, and lost. Three times in a row, if you add up Walker’s election, the Senate recalls, and the Walker/Kleefisch recalls. Make that four, after Big Labor’s recall candidate, Kathleen Falk, loses to Tom Barrett in the Democrat primary.
Reformers elsewhere will be emboldened to take on government unions and roll back their lavish benefits and break their power. Reformers will rightly figure, if Walker can do that and survive in Wisconsin, then they will be able to do it and survive in their own states. And they’ll be right, because Big Labor cannot afford to mount Wisconsin-level efforts in multiple states. The Wisconsin recall is an all-in move for them.
If Walker survives the recall, Wisconsin will go down as Big Labor’s Waterloo. It could be the beginning of the end of the government unions’ never-ending taxpayer-funded money laundering cycle. That’s why they’re spending so much money and effort to oust Scott Walker.
Love the partisan logic: A win, no matter how thin is a “Huge Mandate!” A loss means your opponent is now “damaged”.
I’m not sure what you are saying here; you quote words that do not show up in the article.
Regardless, this is chutzpa: “…That result, plus Walker’s bruised image, would not likely embolden other GOP lawmakers around the country to take on bargaining rights, Trumka argued. “Not if you’re sane and rational, it wouldn’t,” he said….” Translated: even if you win, anyone else trying this stunt is doomed.
Let’s hope Walker wins by a wide margin, say 54-46. That would set the cat among the pigeons in many places.
A “moral victory” plus $4 will buy you a tall latte at Star-Schmucks!
I contributed to Walker’s plight last year and have been deluged with request ever since. I have not offered anymore of my money because it occurred to me that if the people of Wisconsin are stupid enough to kick out of office the only man in most of their collective lifetimes to actually do what he PROMISED in the election campaign then they deserve the union dictatorship that they will elect. I was a member of a work union my entire professional life but it was nothing like a public employee union. We took many big pay and benefit cuts during my tenure and always had the health of our company first in our thoughts. The public unions NEVER think of the taxpayers or the burden placed on them by their demands. They always see themselves as the aggrieved party and never see themselves as being overpaid or entitled. If we as taxpayers would just stop and think of the ridiculousness of allowing public unions to negotiate with a temporarily elected politician, who can be wooed by the union members, for present and future benefits we would laugh at the absurdity of it.
I gave to Walker’s campaign too–and yes, I have received more requests for funds, but not near as many requests as I get from the RNC. And then they don’t credit the donations I make towards my pledge even though they are cashing the check. I’m starting to get suspicious. This has happened twice. Regardless, I am rooting for Walker big time; it’s an extremely important election.
“The begining of the end of the government unions”, except here in the Peoples Republic of California, where Jerry Brown started their ascendancy the first time he was governor, then got re-elected decades later telling them “I am your man”. Sadomasochism is the trending California style and not just in San Francisco. Why else would we keep electing Democrates?