Obama, the DNC, & the Unions vs. The Rest of America


Christiane Amanpour: So, George, Wisconsin. Is this the sort of battle that we’re going to see shaping up around the country? Is this really the sort of political and philosophical debate that’s going on right now about what these cuts are going to mean?
George Will: It would have been even if the president hadn’t intervened. But in the span of three days, Christiane, he first submits a budget that would increase the federal deficit and, two days later, he mobilizes his party, his own political machine, and organized labor, which is an appendage to his party, to sabotage Wisconsin’s attempt to do what he will not do, which is deal with the insolvency of their government. In doing so, he has set the stage for 2012 by saying the Democratic Party is the party of government, not just in having an exaggerated view of the scope and competence of government, but because its base is in public employees.
h/t Fred

65 Replies to “Obama, the DNC, & the Unions vs. The Rest of America”

  1. The beginning of The End for the DemocRats came when the NOW gang gave Bill Clinton a pass on MonicaGate while he was busy killing Americans in Texas and letting Arabs kill Americans in NYC, WTC attack I.
    The end of that beginning was when Barry “The One” Obama beat Hillary for the DemocRat nomination. As soon as they picked this stuffed shirt, they were done like dinner.
    This here conflaguration of astroturf fascism in the MidWest is now well into the middle of The End. Barry has thrown off any pretense of representing American interests, and is sinking his own campaign money AND the DNC’s campaign money into a vain attempt to mau mau the Republican majority into backing off what they were elected to do, reduce the cost of government.
    I say vain attempt because the Republicans know this is their last shot at being a national party. If they wuss, the Tea Party will decimate them in 2012. The Tea Party is a far greater threat to Republican poobahs than the Dems could ever be. Those poobahs are therefore properly motivated to succeed, as the saying goes.
    The Very End will be crushing electoral defeat in 2012, I do believe. It will be all over but the weeping on college campi.
    At that point an -actual- conservative party will no doubt arise to drive government ever smaller and squash the last of these astroturf-@$$h0les still in public life.

  2. Listening to and watching the clip shows that the position of the Unions is not one that I would want to hold, not in a situation with more and more families eating Roast Spam for Sunday dinner.
    These folks waving the signs are not the middle class of Wisconsin, they are the monied and silk clad upper class. As I read recently, it’s like the Nobility running out during the French Revolution to call for more cake and finery. Not a good thing to do!!

  3. Phantom, I wish you were correct but I can’t be that optimistic. Here’s why: The Hard Left is still deeply rooted in Academia and the Media and will not be removed anytime soon. They infect the minds of young people and much of the general population like a mind numbing virus.
    The Republicans may very well win in 2012, but it’s not going to be by more than, I would estimate, 55% of the voters. Then they will mess up, as all elected officials eventually do, and the Democrats will be right back in come 2016 or 2020.
    Until I see the Hard Left get minimized in the Democrat Party AND most all RINOs thrown out of the Republican Party, I don’t think the basic dynamics in American politics are going to change one iota. 🙁

  4. Donna Brazil Labour Democrat>”This is a grass roots protest just like the TEA Party.
    Lies.
    They are organized labour, organized ain’t “grass roots”.
    The protest is organized and financially sustained by the Labour Unions.
    Nobody called Brazil on that obvious lie.

  5. The union lady advocate doesn’t get it. She argues “workers” shouldn’t bear the brunt of fiscal shortages. Then, who should? She argues “business” should, while acknowledging, when it suited her argument, that the vast majority of corporations are small business people.
    They are bearing the brunt, their revenues are down (you know the people who pay tax on revenues to pay teachers’ salaries). Just who are the fat cats here?
    She sounds just like Jack Layton – let’s nail “big” business when it’s actually small business, with no pricing power, who get creamed by high corporate taxation policies.
    Think about, an incorporated business owner/operator has the highest tax rates already. They need relief, not tax increases.
    If they are fortunate to make a profit, and therefore stay in business, they pay corporate taxes. Since they rely on their business for personal income, they pay income taxes too.
    We are no longer entitled to our entitlements. Get over it, go back to work and count yourself fortunate.

  6. Robert W. (Vancouver) at February 20, 2011 3:39 PM
    I’m not sure that this isn’t the start of the moment where the Progressives go back into hiding for another 50-70 years. There’s a ton of people involved in this deal right now. It could change darn near over night, and that most definitely includes the RINO’s getting the boot.

  7. Now is the time.
    Obama and his legions of Progressives have pushed for Social Justice, Racial Justice, Climate Justice and Justice Justice.
    Now Economic Justice, the only real Justice, will kick in, kick ass and impose its will on all the molecule thin logic of modern Progressives, Environmentalists, Socialists & generic Liberals.
    It ain’t gonna be pretty, but it is going to happen.

  8. Patsplace said:
    “These folks waving the signs are not the middle class of Wisconsin, they are the monied and silk clad upper class.”
    Meet: Da Lady In Red & Bodyguard.
    “THIS BILL IS STUPID & I KNOW STUPID!”; or,
    “THIS BILL’S STUPID & I KNOW STUPID!”.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/59785813@N08/5460872631/
    “This photo belongs to
    *
    SleepinJeezus’ photostream (6)”

  9. Thank you Kate for this link to a rational discussion on this issue.
    The union representative seemed to not be able to answer key questions and returned to canned rhetorical arguments that did not address the question.
    Overall, I believe there will be a surge in anti-union ideals.
    This will be interesting, indeed.

  10. If the Republicans and Conservatives can find a way to ask non-government employees one question there is hope. To wit: are you willing to work to age 75 with few benefits so that government employees can work to 55 with lavish benefits?

  11. Christiane Amanpour is such a Leftist tool. She sickens me.
    When the Republican House of Representatives Rep., Steve Southerland, says that American families are going to have to do more with less, Amanpour nods and pouts, sitting pretty in her privileged, bloated lifestyle.
    As for Donna Brazile, African-American (and, might I add, Amazon?) political analyst for the Democrats, what a piece of work she is. At one point in this panel, I believe she says to rookie Steve Southerland something about his being a freshman and that he’d better “be careful.” Hmmm. ‘That a threat, Ms. Brazile?
    She’s obviously one of Obambam’s henchmen. Brazile justifies the public employees’ union greed based on the excesses of Wall Street. HUH??? Isn’t that just like a Leftard? Don’t deal with what the average American family has to cope with, vis a vis rising costs and lower or no income; compare public employees’ bloated salaries and perquisites with the over-the-top lifestyles of Wall Street crooks.
    ‘Sounds just like Obama’s thinking.
    Lord, have mercy on the American people. There’s been a hostile takeover and you can be sure that, with American journalists like Christiane Amanpour on the scent, nothing’s going to improve. In fact, they’re going to give cover to useful idiots like Donna Brazile and her “leader,” Barak Hussein Obama.
    Watch Mars Attacks for a taste of what’s to come …

  12. // But in the span of three days, Christiane, he first submits a budget that would increase the federal deficit and, two days later, he mobilizes […] to sabotage Wisconsin’s attempt to do what he will not do, which is deal with the insolvency of their government. //
    Actually, Wisconsin’s GOP produced the projected deficit by reducing taxes & is now scrambling to have the SELECTED public employees make up for it.
    Beyond that, the unions at issue don’t object to negotiating employment conditions & reductions [they had offered financial concessions]. They object to abolishing the right to such negotiations.
    As I mentioned, “selected” — he is not applying this to police or firefighting unions [which supported him in his successful campaign for Governor]
    The whole interview is quite interesting.

  13. Whose hair is weirder, Donna Brazile’s or George Will’s?
    Christiane Amanpour’s education, from Wiki: “(she) completed her primary education in Iran, and at the age of 11 her parents sent her to boarding school in England. She attended and graduated from an all-girls school, New Hall School in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Christiane returned to England not long after the Islamic Revolution began.”
    Now I’m not just making a cheap shot here; Christiane’s parents did the right thing by her. After all, their daughter is not very bright, and yet she acquired the right accent and she’s done very well for herself. Imagine what an intelligent woman could have achieved with her opportunities! Because private education rocks, and voucher education is basically private education without private education fees; i.e. it’s the best thing ever.
    Ah, the Matchgirls Union – hard to have a problem with them (ooh, look, “schoolnet.co.uk”). Very Dickensian and all that. Now that’s what I call a union!
    These pampered, overpaid and largely utterly unqualified taxpayer employees in Wisconsin should be fired for pretending to be off from work sick, for dragging their pupils along to their greedy, selfish protest, and for generally being idiots who usually couldn’t pass an exam designed for children at the grade level they teach. I’m glad they’re doing this, because the Tea Party movement needs to be reminded constantly of why they exist and what they’re up against.

  14. Of course the Police and fire fighters are not part of the “draconian” measures/ The government needs them on side, to serve and protect them, should things get totally out of hand

  15. Posted by: dizzy at February 20, 2011 5:27 PM
    It is my understanding that if the “Right to Negotiate” is not removed, then the imposition of these terms can not be imposed by any municipality in Wisconsin, as the union will refuse to Negotiate these condition. A prerequisite is that the “Right to Negotiate” MUST be removed, except in the Wage Component of the contract.

  16. //Now I’m not just making a cheap shot here; Christiane’s parents did the right thing by her. After all, their daughter is not very bright, and yet she acquired the right accent //
    From your source
    “In 1983, Amanpour graduated from the university summa cum laude with a bachelor of journalism degree.”
    “first major assignment covering the Iran-Iraq War” “to Eastern Europe to report on the fall of European communism” “to work in Frankfurt, Germany, where she reported on the democratic revolutions sweeping Eastern Europe” “Amanpour’s reports of the Persian Gulf War brought her wide notice” “Thereafter, she reported from the Bosnian war and many other conflict zones[..] from Sarajevo during the Siege of Sarajevo,” & “gained a reputation for being fearless during the Gulf and Bosnian wars from parachuting into conflict areas”
    ” Amanpour speaks English, Persian, and French fluently. ”
    If only you had gone to a “voucher school”.

  17. Some may call the coming upheaval a *Civil War*, they will be partially correct, it WILL be a WAR, but there won’t be a damned thing CIVIL about it…

  18. Some may call the coming upheaval a *Civil War*, they will be partially correct, it WILL be a WAR, but there won’t be a damned thing CIVIL about it…

  19. Posted by: EyesWideShut at February 20, 2011 5:00 PM
    Oh, my. Now THAT condenses things to the lowest common denominator.
    Nicely put, EWS. Hope you don’t mind if I steal it and use it, relentlessly 🙂
    mhb23re
    at gmail d0t calm

  20. dizzy, she was raised in Iran; of course she speaks “Persian” (Farsi?) fluently.
    “Batchelor of Journalism” – yeah, that’s genius-level stuff right there.
    I, myself, have parachuted. It’s fun!
    Do you have a point?

  21. // Of course the Police and fire fighters are not part of the “draconian” measures/ The government needs them on side, to serve and protect them, should things get totally out of hand //
    But, but … he has the Tea Party at this back !! In any case, they aren’t all on side
    // one of the things the governor has done is to try to divide folks within the labor movement by exempting certain unions—the police union, fire unions—[BUT] The Madison Firefighters with allies around the state basically said, “We don’t care if we are exempted, we are going to will stand in solidarity.” Those moments when the firefighters walked into these huge rallies, often in uniform behind bagpipers, it was a sense of solidarity and commitment, and it was chilling. And also I do believe it was another part of what should these Democratic legislators into acting. //

  22. Dizzy: only four of the 36 fire and police unions in WI supported the GOP. (via Hugh Hewitt).

  23. // Do you have a point? //
    Given that I quoted you & then continued to quote from your source, I should have thought that my point was obvious.
    She is neither stupid nor pampered.
    In addition to her reporting career, in her present role, she & her staff have done a great job in canvassing the various opinions on complex issues. In the above video, four varied panelists [three against the union action]; in another case, much more complex here [videos load automatically]
    You can’t recognize quality when you see it.

  24. A momment of sober reflection is in order.
    What is so overlooked is that this is not a game of monopoly nor a light hearted matter much like different sports partisanship.
    Bear in mind that even sports rivalries can get violent even in the 1st world…
    Add to the this the violent rhetoric of the left/democrat/labour faction and the simple logic that this will inevitably incite a genuine violent backlash….
    Then consider that the union faction is astroturfing this simultaneously in several states and the prospect of a broad-based civil war arises.
    The MB in the ME and the left/democrat/labour axis are playing the sorcerers apprentice. Much like the MB incited unrest/protests throughout the ME, the left/democrat/labour axis is rapidly loosing control of this agenda and may become the first victim of this pandora’s box they have sprang open.
    Global events are showing that, as always, there is nothing civil about civil war…and velvet revolutions are rare.

  25. Dizzy.
    The firefighter unions only supported the governor in one or two districts.
    I am confused…why is it that workers should not make meaningful contributions to their pensions or health plans?
    And why are public sector employees always portrayed as selfless angels?
    This is a discussion we will soon need to have in Canada and I am looking forward to it.

  26. Oh. Ms Amanpour may be very qualified but she is a tiresome bore and a confirmed leftist. Thank God for George Will his hair not withstanding. Ms. Brazille’s hair is just weird reminds me of Gary Oldman’s hair in Dracula. Do you think she sleeps upside down?

  27. “Fifty-9-year-old Lou Sanner of Madison practices”?
    Practices? Mal-practices?
    …-
    “Doctor who gave out medical notes draws scrutiny”
    “MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Reports that a Madison doctor handed out medical excuse notes to hundreds of protesters at the Capitol this weekend have prompted investigations from the doctor’s employer.
    Fifty-9-year-old Lou Sanner of Madison practices family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He was outside the Capitol on Saturday as tens of thousands of protesters rallied against an anti-union bill.
    Critics say handing out notes without thorough examinations constitutes fraud. Sanner says many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress. He says he talked to the individuals first and gave them notes when medically indicated.
    UW Health says any doctors who distributed such materials did so on their own behalf. It says officials are looking into the matter.”
    http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=14066389

  28. Robert said: “The Republicans may very well win in 2012, but it’s not going to be by more than, I would estimate, 55% of the voters.”
    Robert, everything you said is true, but there’s one thing you are not aware of (because unless you physically go there nobody is talking about it). People’s houses have lost -half- their value since 2008 and continue to fall. 17% of adults are unemployed or barely employed. The figures for under 25’s I don’t have on me, but they are worse.
    Large Eastern cities like Chicago, New York City, Boston, etc. are shedding population. People are -fleeing- these cities and fleeing DemocRat majority states. Think what that means, Robert. They are upping stakes and moving, because staying is worse than a leap into the unknown.
    The post election mood in Phoenix last November was guardedly hopeful that the Republicans would do what they said and repeal Obamacare, cut taxes and cut spending harshly.
    So here we are in February three little months later. SEIU rent-a-mobs are trying to hold back by force and intimidation what these state governments were elected to do. The people of America are Not Amused.
    It is my belief that the extent to which they are Not Amused is being actively concealed by the entire mainstream press, and that this effort is being very well noted by those who vote.
    And if the unions are getting short shrift from The Rest of America now, just y’all wait until this bubble in the stock market bursts again.
    So I could be wrong, but this is the basis of my prophecy.

  29. Christiane completely turned me off, when, in Rome, AS Pope JP II lay dying, she made political points with her PC crowd by criticizing him.
    I had no problem with her criticizing the pope, but the timing was astonishingly opportunistic and in very bad form. I was NOT impressed.
    In this clip, George Will—yes, his hair and Brazile’s, which really distracted me: WHAT is she thinking?—really clipped Amanpour’s wings. She’s an MSM Marie Antoinette—and she was quite unable to manoeuvre the discussion in the direction she wanted it to go: sweet 😉

  30. Actually, Wisconsin’s GOP produced the projected deficit by reducing taxes – dizzy
    That’s incorrect dizzy: none of the Republican tax cuts have taken effect in the present year and the Wisconsin state budget will be in deficit, this year.

  31. // Dizzy: only four of the 36 fire and police unions in WI supported the GOP. (via Hugh Hewitt).
    Posted by: Gord Tulk at February 20, 2011 6:42 PM //
    I see. As usual, more complicated than an interview can encompass. Here are some names
    The Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association, the two largest rank-and-file unions for police and firefighters, endorsed Democrat Tom Barrett during the campaign.
    Walker collected endorsements from the Milwaukee Police Association, the West Allis Professional Police Association, the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters and the Wisconsin Troopers Association during his campaign.
    Nothing about the other 30 units. Perhaps they endorsed nobody.
    Wisconsin seems to have a lively political culture
    // there is no financial crisis in Wisconsin. I am not the person saying that. The Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau, a nonpartisan agency, said that without Governor Walker’s tax cuts for big corporations that he passed last month, Wisconsin would have ended this year with a surplus. //
    // he is crying budget cuts, but many of the proposals have nothing to do with economics. They have basically to do with preventing unions from exercising their normal methods of representing workers including eliminating dues checkoff for union dues and requiring unions to be recertified every year //
    // They decided this is not going to be a negotiation, its going to be their way or the highway. So we chose the highway. //
    // The thing that’s important to understand here – a lot of people do not understand the Wisconsin tradition. We had a governor in Wisconsin, Robert M. LaFollete, who had a great phrase: “Democracy is a life.” What he meant by that is Democracy does not end on election day. You do not elect a king to rule you for four years. Democracy begins on election day. You elect someone and then that person that legislator or that governor is supposed to listen to you, to represent you, not to rule over you. //

  32. Thanks, dizzy. Six and a half minutes of my life, say seven with adds, that I’ll just never get back.

  33. Is Obama trying to screw his chances in 2012?
    Maybe. After all, he doesn’t care about the US and he doesn’t have to clean up the mess.
    His use of adoring crowds and other “useful idiots” not just displays his clearly partisan position. It enables those idiots to bankrupt and ruin everyone. It stuns me people can’t see it. There should be massive protests outside of the White House everyday.
    I back Black Mamba. We need better trolls- for the children!

  34. Black Mumba said
    “””SDA commenters should unionize and demand better trolls.”””
    U think there are lower forms trolls then we gots here?
    that would be amazing:-)))

  35. Mamba and Osumashi, don’t worry about the trolls. Just keep on looking at the man behind the curtain dizzy is trying to distract us all from.
    Union contracts, specifically health care provisions and pensions, destroyed two of the Big Three automakers, a destruction completed by Obama. Union contracts destroyed Stelco, forcing its sale to US Steel. Union contracts destroyed most of the big airlines in the USA. Union contracts have -bankrupted- New Jersey, New York, California, Oregon, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.
    Socialist politicians in states such as California are threatening to cut fire, police and school services to protect all union contracts, and to extort higher taxes from the public.
    The man behind the curtain is -sweating-.

  36. http://politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/18/rachel-maddow/rachel-maddow-says-wisconsin-track-have-budget-sur/

    […] Our conclusion: Maddow and the others are wrong.
    There is, indeed, a projected deficit that required attention, and Walker and GOP lawmakers did not create it.
    More on that second point in a bit.
    The confusion, it appears, stems from a section in Lang’s memo that — read on its own — does project a $121 million surplus in the state’s general fund as of June 30, 2011.
    But the remainder of the routine memo — consider it the fine print — outlines $258 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy ($174 million alone), the public defender’s office and corrections. Additionally, the state owes Minnesota $58.7 million under a discontinued tax reciprocity deal.
    The result, by our math and Lang’s, is the $137 million shortfall.
    It would be closer to the $340 million figure if the figure included the $200 million owed to the state’s patient compensation fund, a debt courts have declared resulted from an illegal raid on the fund under former Gov. Jim Doyle.
    A court ruling is pending in that matter, so the money might not have to be transferred until next budget year.
    To be sure, the projected shortfall is a modest one by the standards of the last decade, which saw a $600 million repair bill one year as the economy and national tax collections slumped.
    But ignoring it would have meant turning away eligible Medicaid clients, which was not an option, Lang said.
    This same situation has happened in the past, including during the tenure of Doyle, a Democrat. In January 2005, a fiscal bureau memo showed a similar surplus, but lawmakers approved a major fix of a Medicaid shortfall that would have eaten up that projected surplus. […]

  37. this all happened 25 years ago in Britain…and the very selfsame inevitable unavoidable denouement is approaching in the USA….dies irae baby!
    it’s simple arithmetic….elementary old boy!
    remember when Wilson and labour were taxing 19 shillings in the pound…remember when everybody split for the USA Ireland or Suisse ?
    remember british leyland?…remember paying 50% more domestically to produce a ton of coal than one could have it shipped from australia?
    remember arthur scargill?….well, those of his ilk are machinating stateside…
    i see a massive purgative vomit for society acoming down the pike….
    it’s gonna be super…

  38. Well, I’ve only seen Amanpour a few times in the seconds before getting to the remote.
    You need only listen to that accent to know she’s a phony.
    And none too smart: in that little whitewash series she did on Islam she actually likened early Christian martyrs to modern day islamic suicide bombers.
    Clearly, if she’s not rock-hard-stupid she’s disingenuous in extremis.

  39. Sorry silly people, read the stats, union membership has sunk to record lows. The middle class has shrunk along the same time lines. When does the working class wake up and realize their days are numbered, with or without unions. Business has always been best served by cheap labor, it is an age old struggle, just new players. Wake up and smell the stench!

  40. Now you are simply lying, dizzy:
    there is no financial crisis in Wisconsin. I am not the person saying that. The Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau, a nonpartisan agency, said that without Governor Walker’s tax cuts for big corporations that he passed last month, Wisconsin would have ended this year with a surplus. – dizzy
    That report you cite actually finishes by stating that the state faces mandatory additional expenditure this year of $ 258 million ( programs like Medicaid ), which will put the state budget in deficit THIS YEAR, before any of Walker’s tax cuts take effect.
    This information can be found in an article by Jason Stein in the Wisconsin Sentinel Journal.
    This story of a non-existent budget surplus was started by the Madison Capital Times ( a self-described ” progressive ” newspaper ) repeated by Rachel Maddow, and is now being spread by the radical network – even down to radical bloggers, like yourself. The link you provide is itself part of the radical network – Democracy Now! is a megaphone of the radical left. )
    For those who would like to read up on the Wisconsin budget, you can go to these links at the Wisconsin Sentinel Journal:
    http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/18/rachel-maddow/rachel-maddow-says-wisconsin-track-have-budget-sur/
    The information on the budget can be found in an article by Jason Stein in the Wisconsin Sentinel Journal ( in his All Politics Blog )
    http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/116480323.html

  41. Phantom: I have MANY American friends and know very well of what you speak. Once again, I *hope* you are correct but am skeptical of politicians of ALL political stripes.
    I realize that elected Republicans are scared to make cuts because they think that a majority of Americans will desert them. Perhaps if Wisconsin’s Governor survives this, and hopefully stronger than ever, it’ll give more courage to other politicians to stand up and do what’s right

  42. Kelly Arthurs: As far as I know, no regular on this blog was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Your class warfare talk belongs in your weekly Socialist / NDP / Green Party meetings -or- over at the CBC News site where they love such talk!

  43. Question . . . what is something that make Obozo a happy camper . . .
    “When you put these two trends together, what you find is that the federal government has over the years essentially turned into a gigantic wealth-transfer machine — taking money from a shrinking pool of taxpayers and giving it out to a growing list of favored groups.”
    http://tinyurl.com/4dhwuj5
    Taking more and more from fewer and fewer . . . isn’t Community Organizing a great scam, to say nothing of socialism.

Navigation