Wisconsin Writers Hiding Tony Evers' Empty Suit

Madison, Wisconsin—"I don't know who the Democratic Party is. I just don't know who they are anymore," said Terrance Warthen, co-chair of Our Wisconsin Revolution, in 2017 (MSNBC).

Warthen is in good company.

In Wisconsin, not much is known about Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers (D) beyond the fact he is not Scott Walker, a compelling attribute after eight years of unmitigated disaster.

But several progressive writers are working feverishly to conceal the fact that Evers is an uninformed, moribund, Republican-lite empty suit who just doesn't get it.

One month into the Evers administration, there is a public relations campaign from Paul Fanlund, John Nichols, Ruth Conniff and Dave Zweifel, all of whom rush to say that Tony Evers is some variation of nice.

This Tony Evers team of writers omits the fact the new governor has done nothing during the campaign, transition and administration in working against the lunatic, illegal and unconstitutional Foxconn-Wisconsin contract that Scott Walker concealed from Wisconsin, for example.

Outside of Tony Evers' world, Foxconn and the corporatist scam it represents are catastrophic, and  seeking some personal attribute to highlight it is a fools' game that ignores the radical work of rightiwingers whom the corporate press still term "conservative." This is not about "messaging," to which Evers has reduced the Foxconn scam.

Here are examples from the Evers-does-has-clothes caucus.

Paul Fanlund - Tony Evers is "personally likable," just like Sen Tammy Baldwin (D).

Fanlund ignores it was Baldwin's hard-hitting camapign "that used the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to effectively frame her opponent as doing the bidding of corporate special interests" (In These Times). Baldwin "garnered 150,000 votes more than Tony Evers," notes the piece and it was not by being Ms. Nice Girl.

John Nichols - "[Tony] Evers defeated Scott Walker precisely because the former state superintendent of public instruction speaks to a longing on the part of Wisconsinites for a presumption of civility."

Nichols has been pushing this line for months.

I know many activists around the state of many persuasions and none of them voted for Tony Evers because they long for civility. It is all about clean water, local control, collective bargaining, public schools and the University of Wisconsin System, among human rights concerns.

I have never spoken to Scott Walker because I don't like the company of racists and rightwing Christians, but if I did meet Walker, I would be willing to bet he would be likeable and civil.

So what?

This brings us to:

Ruth Conniff - Conniff quotes Evers' inaugural address, noting Evers' call for kindness and civility.

C'mon, every politician calls for kindness, peace, love and understanding.

This is what Conniff has to prop up Evers?

Dave Zweifel - "Evers showed once again that his style shuns nastiness," writes Zweifel. Finally, Zweifel does offer, "kowtowing to big business—million-dollar, even billion-dollar, payouts to hugely successful corporations started to grate" on voters.

But Zweifel like many other pro-Evers writers is working to reduce politics to personality, holding out the hope, for example, that State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) may hear the "governor's message."

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As Republicans have mobilized the corporate-prison-racist-Evangelical coalition as never before, the Tony Evers crowd calls for depoliticization, saying it's time to be nice, civil and bipartisan.

The Evers crowd does have some friends on the rightwing who emphasize the personal over policy—Peggy Noonan.

Noonan chastised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) for not appearing likeable, warm and spirited at the State of the Union spectacle.

AOC offered a response to Noonan, that Wisconsin's pro-Evers crowd should consider:

Why should I be “spirited and warm” for this embarrassment of a #SOTU?

Tonight was an unsettling night for our country. The president failed to offer any plan, any vision at all, for our future.

We’re flying without a pilot. And I‘m not here to comfort anyone about that fact. https://t.co/7bu3QXFMnC

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 6, 2019

Terrance Warthen and AOC have it right.

In Wisconsin, the Democratic Party and its amen corner have veered into a post-policy world where elected officials must prioritize being nice, likable, civil and spunky in the manner of a 1970s cheerleader—not that there is anything wrong with that, just that I would prefer the governor to be a fighter and straight shooter with more than a pedestrian knowledge of public policy.

Tony Evers could be really nice and resign, offering the executive branch to Lt Gov Mandela Barnes (D), who gets it.

Wisconsin Voters Don't Need Dem Party Insiders to Make Choice for Them — People over Party Always

Madison, Wisconsin — After eight years of incompetent opposition to the Republican Party, one might believe the Wisconsin Democratic Party establishment would be hands-off the gubernatorial primary to face Gov. Scott Walker (R) this Fall.

Hands-off is decidedly not the posture of Party insiders — State Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) and myriad made members of the gang that can't shoot straight — who bequeathed to us Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee in the DNC-rigged 2016 primary and ultimately the lunatic in the White House, (Blogging Blue).

@WisDems establishment says 'trust us to decide for you' after years of feckless opposition to @ScottWalker. I want @ForwardWFlynn, followed by @MahlonMitchell, @VinehoutK, @Paulsoglin, @keldahelenroys. Don't want @McDenimRebel, @Tony4WI; establishment can fuck off any time now. https://t.co/idlyGSFhBe

— Michael Leon (@mal644) July 20, 2018

As a lifetime Wisconsin voter, I never properly thanked the Democratic Party establishment for Trump, or for that matter Scott Walker's reelection in 2014, or sabotaging Peg Lautenschlager's reelection as attorney general in 2006, all to predictably catastrophic consequence.

Democratic Party pols launched a voter suppression campaign this Spring to defeat the progressive reformer, Matt Flynn, so the Walkerish sleaze operation deserves repeated exposure and challenge.

As Terrance Warthen, co-chair of Our Wisconsin Revolution, said last year "I don't know who the Democratic Party is. I just don't know who they are anymore," (MSNBC, Mal Contends).

I know who the Democratic Party establishment is. What the Dems lack in competence, they make up in deceit and character assassination against the leading candidate to eviscerate Wisconsin's prison state.

Wisconsin Democratic Party insiders have been stinking up the state and destroying lives for decades.

So, Chris Taylor's latest line of crap emitted in the direction of the progressive candidate for governor should be read for what it's worth. Taylor now contends that an attorney who explains she is not responsible for the crimes and sins of clients really means she is against women leaders. This is bullshit.

Dem party insiders should gracefully step aside. We the voters will take it from here.

If, and only if, the Democratic Party establishment is intent on taking away the leading reformist voice, I recommend a sabotage campaign against any other nominee. Stay tuned.

Racine Dems Unhappy with Corporatist Neolibs' Direction

Chris Jansing at MSNBC interviewed five Democratic-leaning
voters in Racine, Wisconsin to take the pulse of a key state.

Madison, Wisconsin—After nearly leading the nation in turn-out for years and becoming a reliably blue state in presidential elections, Wisconsin changed in 2016 due to a combination of Republican-inflicted voter suppression and disgust with Hillary Clinton.

The change still has the national media wondering what's up in Wisconsin.

Chris Jansing at MSNBC interviewed five Democratic-leaning voters in Racine, Wisconsin in an effort to determine the pulse of the Democratic-progressive vote that still comprises a majority here.

The findings presented to Jansing in a wide-ranging interview suggest the Democratic Party is in trouble unless it becomes more progressive and begins to tell its donor base to shut it.

Said Terrance Warthen, co-chair of Our Wisconsin Revolution: "I don't know who the Democratic Party is. I just don't know who they are anymore."

Whoever the Democrats are, Warthen said, "You're going to have to give up the money and go back to the grassroots."

Video of Democratic Voters Unhappy Over Party's Direction is below: