Factcheck: Tommy Thompson Is Liar

I guess we knew that.

Not all of us realized what a sleazebag the former governor has become.

Not even 9/11 victims are immune from Tommy Thompson's quest for political power.

Factcheck:

A false and vicious TV ad attacks Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin for voting against 'honoring the victims of 9/11.' The fact is, she voted to award three Congressional Gold Medals to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Tommy Thompson Hits Botton—9/11 Ad Is "Desperate and Disgusting

Yesterday, Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin (PFFW) President Mahlon Mitchell released the following statement condemning a new TV ad from U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson that uses images of the 9/11 tragedy and loss of life to launch a dishonest ad that tries to suggest Tammy Baldwin opposes honoring the victims of the 9/11 terrorists attack on America.\

"It's desperate and disgusting for Tommy Thompson to play politics with the loss of human life and the 9/11 tragedy. For Tommy Thompson to attack Tammy Baldwin's patriotism and make dishonest claims about her strong record of accomplishment supporting first responders is simply disgraceful. We stand with Tammy Baldwin against these dishonorable political tactics that have no place in Wisconsin."

Amoral and respectful of nothing but himself: That's Tommy Thompson

Feingold: Lame Duck Congress May Target Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

Update: Tommy Thompson says he Can’t Detail New Medicare Plan Until He Uses ‘The Computers’ in Congress.
"Congress may try to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid sometime after the election and before the new members are sworn in. At least that's what former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold thinks. A lot of other people do, too."
- Teamster Nation

Tommy Thompson's Son tells crowd: Send Obama back to Kenya at GOP Event

Tommy Thompson cashed in on white fear of blacks his whole political life.

Now, his son, Jason, has taken up the torch, with no objection from anyone in the Republican Party, but rather applause, laughter and a supporter chiming in, "We’re taking donations for that Kenya trip."

One big, happy, white party. How GOPers and Tea Partiers are not filled with disgust at this routine appeal to racism remains an unanswered question.

There was a time, less than 50 years ago, when this racist tripe would have been booted out the party. No more, not today.

As Harold Meyerson writes:

The Republican ticket may hail from Massachusetts and Wisconsin, but Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan head the most Southernized major U.S. political party since Jefferson Davis’s day. In its hostility toward minorities, exploitation of racism, antipathy toward government and suspicion of science, today’s Republican Party represents the worst traditions of the South’s dankest backwaters. No other party in U.S. history has done such a 180. Founded as the party of the anti-slavery North and committed to deep governmental involvement in spurring the economy (land-grant colleges, the Homestead Act, the transcontinental railway), today’s GOP is the negation of Abraham Lincoln’s Republicans. It is almost entirely white — 92 percent, compared with just 58 percent of Democrats. It is disproportionately Southern — 49 percent of Republicans live in the South vs. 39 percent of Democrats.

Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan privatization schemes shining through now

Romney-Ryan on earned social insurance:
Let 'em die

George W. Bush's audacious scheme to phase out Social Security in 2005 died a sudden death as an array of political forces joined to defend the popular social insurance program.

Still, this election cycle the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan privatization schemes targeting not just Social Security, but also Medicare and Medicaid are being revamped as the GO-Tea Partiers repeat the billionaries' cry that these programs are unsustainable.

The AARP, with the ready backing of many allies, is 100-percent behind protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid against the newest efforts to destroy these popular programs, and that includes Tommy Thompson's promise to do wway with Medicare and Medicaid..

And the AARP is mobilized to politically strike at the heart of Romney-Ryan and the party's plan to destroy these programs, to save them, they now say.

Open GOP ridicule of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is playing with fire. Hence the "save" language.

Check out the AARP's 2012 election coverage, and watch the debates.

You've earned a say on the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the powerful AARP says.

Even if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan disagree.

Thompson’s senior adviser attacks Baldwin for her sexual orientation

Louis Weisberg has the story at Wisconsin Gazette.

Larry J. Sabato Rates Wisconsin's U.S. Senate Race a Toss-up

Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley:

Wisconsin — The dynamic in the Badger State has remained static for months. If ex-Gov Tommy Thompson is the Republican nominee, he probably starts off favored against Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) in the general election. If not, Baldwin could move ahead. The Republican field, already featuring Thompson, ex-Rep. Mark Neumann and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, recently grew when businessman Eric Hovde jumped into the race. He’ll try to recreate the success of Sen. Ron Johnson (R), a one-time political novice who defeated ex-Sen. Russ Feingold (D) in 2010. Even though the Badger State’s presidential primary is coming up on April 3, the Senate primary won’t be until Aug. 14. TOSS UP

A toss-up points to the critical impact of:

• Candidate field operations (advantage, Baldwin)
• Voter suppression program (unknown - GOP obstruction law may not be in effect)

Stem Cells—Thompson, Neumann and Fitz Have to Answer in Radicalized GOP

James A. Thompson

Imagine if the lost decade of 2001-2009 saw a Manhattan Project-size effort funding stem cells—treating Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, paralysis, Leukemia, blindness; imagination and political will are the only impediments to what stem cells may do in the future.

U.S. Senate candidate, Tommy Thompson, needs to answer to the Wisconsin people on stem cell research, namely Thompson's flip-flopping.

Pioneering scientists like University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, James Thompson, should be supported in the lab as though our families' health and lives depend on it; and not have to wage a political fight against the Republican Party that is steadfastly hostile to the promise of "human embryonic stem cell research, ... a [GOP] position running counter to both scientific and public opinion."

GOP candidates for Senate, Mark Neumann and Scott Fitzgerald, need to explain their extremism on this public-minded research as well.

• Tommy Thompson for Senate
• Mark Neumann for Senate

• Scott Fitzgerald for Senate

As Alan I. Leshner and Dr. Thomson write in their December 3, 2007 column defending embryonic stem cell research, "Standing in the Way of Stem Cell Research":

Efforts to harness the versatility of embryonic stem cells, and alleviate suffering among people with an array of debilitating disorders, began less than 10 years ago. Since then, scientists have continued to pursue embryonic stem cells because of their ability to transform into blood, bone, skin or any other type of cell. The eventual goal is to replace diseased or dysfunctional cells to help people with spinal cord injuries, neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions. ...

Federal funding is essential for both adult and embryonic stem cell research, even as promising alternatives are beginning to emerge.

Unfortunately, under the policy President Bush outlined on Aug. 9, 2001, at most 21 stem cell lines derived from embryos before that date are eligible for federal funding. American innovation in the field thus faces inherent limitations. Even more significant, the stigma resulting from the policy surely has discouraged some talented young Americans from pursuing stem cell research.

On this, Wisconsin should listen and be guided by Dr. Thompson, not Tommy Thompson and Republican extremists.

A look at this video [below] of Thompson appears to indicate that Thompson may have lost it.

Secret Fracture between Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker Shows Moderate-Extremist Split in GOP

Scott Walker

Ruth Conniff has an important story in the Huffington Post [and The Progressive] that is easy to miss during the holidays.

Scott Walker's corrupt and no-compromise approach to ruling (and not governing in a representative democracy) has Republicans from the Tommy Thompson days disgusted with Walker.

When Thompson was governor, he was known to take offense if anyone questioned his commitment to public schools and support for the UW System. But Walker is a different type of Republican: Slash-and-burn, violate civil rights; and so corrupt, Tommy Thompson appears a William Proxmire by comparison.

Paul Fanlund writes in the Capital Times: "The recall is not about public employees nor is it about politics as usual. It is about Walker's toxic brand of political fundamentalism -- heartless and historically unprecedented -- that should repel fair-minded, mainstream voters everywhere."

Yep.

Even Walker knows the gig is up, as he hits the holiday air waves with his wife talking about "peace" in a new awkwardly acted spot.

Writes Kirsten Boyd Johnson: "The most comical part is that this is the best that Scott Walker can do even though he has been outspending his recall organizer opponents four to one in the contest so far."

An excerpt from Conniff's piece:

As the political crisis was brewing in Wisconsin last winter, Governor Scott Walker rebuffed former governor Tommy Thompson's advice to reach a compromise with public employee unions, according to a state senator as well as a friend of Thompson's who was involved in the political drama at the time.

"Tommy was beside himself that Walker was so dogmatic,' says the friend. 'We had lots of conversations about this--about how it was going to do nothing but cause chaos, and it was bad for the state. Businesses aren't going to move here in the middle of all this conflict."

Thompson, along with other moderate Republicans, reached out to Walker, the friend says, and urged him to sit down with union leaders and seek a compromise before Walker pushed through a law curtailing public employees' collective bargaining rights -- the issue that sparked mass protests and the state's first ever recall campaign against a governor.

"After a certain point, Walker quit taking Tommy's phone calls," the friend says. "I think Tommy was giving him advice he didn't want to hear."

Democratic State Senator Bob Jauch says that during the crisis, after he and 13 other state Democrats had fled the state to stall a vote on the collective bargaining issue, he spoke with former officials in Tommy Thompson's administration who said Thompson was trying to persuade Walker to reach a deal. "I heard it from three different people who talked to him," says Jauch.

Jauch also describes a recent meeting with Thompson at a memorial service for the president of the Wisconsin Capitol Correspondents Association, Dick Wheeler:

"I said, 'Tommy, you and I could have solved this whole thing over a cup of coffee.'" Jauch says. "Tommy put his hands on my shoulders and said, 'Bob, it would have been a pot of coffee, but absolutely we could have solved it.' "

---
See Conniff's entire piece.

1,700 Wisconsin Jobs at Risk in NewPage Corp's Bankruptcy

Millwright at Wisconsin protest in Feb. in Madison

Wednesday’s filing provides fodder for critics of the private equity industry who contend leveraged buyouts like the Cerberus takeover of NewPage destroy companies and jobs

You know the Scott Walker administration won't lose any sleep over a bunch of families getting kicked in the gut by the machinations of hedge funds and private equity firms: AKA employers.

NewPage Corp., which employs about 1,700 in Wisconsin and just filed for bankruptcy, is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management L.P.

Nathaniel Shuda in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune has the news on the bankruptcy.

One of central Wisconsin's largest employers has begun the process of restructuring its operations in an attempt to improve its financial standing.

NewPage Corp., which employs about 1,700 people at its paper mills in Wisconsin Rapids, Biron and Stevens Point, requested Chapter 11 protection Wednesday, according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It also filed similar documents in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Company officials said U.S. operations would continue as normal during the process.

Workers have been dreading the bankruptcy for a long time, and in speaking to working folks and their families [whom today's Republicans refer to as "parasites"] in central Wisconsin the last year the attitude is: Walker and the big-money interests don't much care what happens to workers and families. Our labor is held in low esteem.

Vendors were reportedly called in to Ohio the first half of this year and assured they would be paid; and word spread quickly that bankruptcy was imminent. The word was correct.

NewPage Corporation includes among its holdings paper mills in Biron, Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids.

Wisconsin families can't do much more than hope that forces out of their control minimize the damage to families.

As for Scott Walker, maybe he'll send over a copy of Ayn Rand's books explaining why workers are parasites and really, for the good of society deserve what they get.

As for what NewPage is, Peter Lattman of NYT explains this morning:

The NewPage Corporation, the ailing papermaker owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, blaming a sharp decline in the magazine industry, a spike in the cost of raw material and too much debt.

The company, which is based in Miamisburg, Ohio, and has 6,000 workers, will now operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it restructures its balance sheet and seeks to slash its debt, which exceeds $3 billion.

The long-expected Chapter 11 filing in United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware punctuates a painful investment for Cerberus, which borrowed heavily to acquire the MeadWestvaco paper mill business in 2005 for $2.3 billion and renamed it NewPage.

“The company’s current capital structure was put in place during a different time with different assumptions,” NewPage said in a statement.

NewPage is one of only several multibillion-dollar buyouts struck in the market boom — a list that includes the retailer Linens ’n Things, the music company EMI Group and the aluminum maker Aleris — that have ended in bankruptcy.

During the depths of the financial crisis, many private-equity watchers expected deep misery for the buyout firms that issued more than $1.5 trillion in debt to finance leveraged buyouts since 2003, according to Dealogic. But the number of bankruptcy filings was limited as the capital markets quickly recovered, allowing firms to shore up their companies by repurchasing debt or issuing new equity.

Still, Wednesday’s filing provides fodder for critics of the private equity industry who contend leveraged buyouts like the Cerberus takeover of NewPage destroy companies and jobs.

The NewPage filing is the second recent prominent legal case involving Cerberus, the New York investment firm that had ill-fated investments in GMAC and Chrysler. Last month, Cerberus was sued by Innkeepers USA Trust after it backed out of its $1.1 billion acquisition of the hotel company.

After being battered during the financial crisis, and suffering sizable redemptions in its hedge funds, Cerberus has had vast improvements. Among successful investments, the firm has made a killing buying distressed mortgages at the market bottom.

It has already written off its stake in NewPage, which has been a troubled investment from the start. Under private-equity ownership, NewPage, which specializes in coated paper for magazines, has shut factories and slashed jobs. The company operates 16 paper mills from Duluth, Minn., to Rumford, Me.

Cerberus brought in Robert Nardelli, the former head of Home Depot and Chrysler, last year as chairman to help turn the company around. He did not do so, and resigned in May.

NewPage alluded to another reason for the bankruptcy filing: the iPad. While not mentioning the Apple tablet or similar devices by name, the company’s bankruptcy papers cite “increases in the use of electronic data transmission and storage” and “an increased demand for electronic reading material.”

Now, several private-equity firms and hedge funds that own NewPage’s debt — the Avenue Capital Group, Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital Management among them — will fight in court to control the company.

Perhaps Tommy Thompson, advisor to the Capital Fund Firm hedgefund, can help explain why communities and families ought to love hedgefunds

Tommy Thompson's Early Problem Is Himself

Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson has not learned from Karl Rove, or from Brett Farve for that matter.

Karl Rove's attempt to force a Sarah Palin decision on running for the GOP nomination for president in 2012 ought to be applied to Thompson who has [one too many times] played with the idea of his getting in, "You can only tease so many times in the political process, and I think she is getting to the end of that," said Rove on Fox.

But Thompson's latest tease has people thinking "Farve" [no need to elaborate], no matter that it's August.

' .... , or get off the pot,' as the saying goes.

People are not well in this economy; and want to know if a prospective office-holder knows this fact.

Put another way; politics is more about the people, not so much about politicians.

Tammy v. Tommy for U.S. Senate in 2012?

Looks a lot like Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) v. Tommy Thompson (R-Hedgefund) in the Wisconsin general election for U.S. Senate.

The great race featuring two of the most successful and beloved Wisconsin politicians.

This site is still getting lots of Mark Neumann traffic in hits the last several weeks, a predictor that Mark Neumann may be considering a run for the GOP nomination.

But who knows.

Thompson Is a Tough Sell to Tea Party Set

Update II: Tommy Says 'No'

Update: Tea Partiers Boycotting Rally Because of Thompson

More evidence the new Tommy Thompson with his blatant associations with big money and hedge funds would not sit well with all elements of the GOP-Tea Party sphere.

Thompson will announce his intentions at a Tea Party rally today in Madison.

From the Oshkosh Northwestern and AP:

Dave Westlake, a declared Republican for the GOP Senate nomination who identifies closely with the tea party movement, said Thompson should’t be using the rally to make his announcement.

'He’s using a platform that’s supposed to be about rallying around a common cause to reduce the size of government, to lower spending and lower taxes and he’s using it for his own personal announcement,' Westlake said. 'He’s not the tea party movement. He’s a big spender and did a lot of things that was the antithesis of what people in the tea party want.'

It appears that Westlake reflects what a lot of the Tea Party set thinks about big money, incoherent though their formulations are.

Russ Feingold Is Fine for Re-election, GOP Dreams Not Credible

Madison, Wisconsin—The lone voice in the U.S. Senate voting against the infamous 2001 Patriot Act is Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) whose vote for liberty then, and in support of the Fourth Amendment throughout his career, will help secure his re-election amid growing and groundless shouts that Feingold is in trouble.

Consider RealClear Politics (RPC), a site that takes news-opinion from the mainstream media (mostly dailies and more often from the political right) and presents the aggregation as: Real clear politics.

RPC's foumula for clarity leads predictably to erroneous results which roughly comprises the conventional political wisdom. It's that bad.

RPC 's latest RE Wisconsin is a piece from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (MJS) columnist Patrick McIlheran that Russ Feingold may be "done" in Wisconsin politics.

I can guarantee you two things: Feingold's people got a laugh out of this one, and McIlheran's analysis such as it is will be taken seriously among those formulating the conventional political wisdom.

As a writer, McIlheran is a bold sign (along with fellow MJS columnist Mike 'send-innocents-to-prison' Nichols) of the decline of the American daily newspaper—ideological and insipid.

McIlheran quotes Feingold's GOP opponent, Terrence Wall who says that "I'll win. ... Feingold's done."

Using data from the discredited Rasmussen polls, and the amazing fact that GOPers bad-mouthed Feingold at listening sessions, McIlheran agrees with Wall that Feingold just may be over, though he also allows that this all depends on former Gov. Tommy Thompson entering the race.

The problem is Thompson has not announced for the September primary; GOP candidate Wall says he's in to stay; and Thompson accepted a job in February as a capital fund advisor after making a lot of money from corporate America—an enterprise that might not present a problem in some campaign seasons but certainly does in this one after that whole economic catastrophe thing.

So though on occasion progressives too are driven to head-shaking by the idiosyncratic ways of Feingold, for example Feingold foolishly voted for the confirmation of John Roberts and against the dismissal of impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, Feingold's people would welcome Thompson as a candidate and I think Thompson and his advisers know it.

What Patrick McIlheran knows is anybody's guess.

Tommy Thompson Joins Capital Fund Firm as Adviser, Office Run Unlikely

Situation clarifies that a Tommy Thompson run is unlikely.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson was announced as the newest advisor to a Peak Ridge Capital Group venture capital fund.

Thompson will be relied upon at Peak Ridge for his expertise in agriculture and agribusiness. The firm is currently investing its agricultural technology fund, having announced its first investment from the vehicle. Rapid Diagnostek is a Wisconsin-based company developing a hand-held device to test for illness or disease in 60 seconds. The fund is designed to invest in agricultural technology companies providing solutions for food supply, lowering the cost of production and improving efficiencies in the supply chain. The fund also invests in clean technologies, as well as chemicals, systems and biofuels processes.

Thompson Announcement Expected in February

Tommy Thompson is expected to be back in Wisconsin next week from an overseas trip. An announcement of sorts shortly thereafter is anticipated in response to all the political gossip and communications asking Thompson to run in this volatile campaign season as a weak field of GOP candidates is slated in the 2010 Wisconsin governor/U.S. Senate elections.

Here's betting Thompson's answer is: 'No, thank you;' and 'no, thank you.'

Rasmussen Says Tommy Thompson Edges Feingold

Rasmussen Reports: Wisconsin Senate: Thompson 47%, Feingold 43%, and only four percent not sure.

Pass the salt.

The survey reads:

4* I’m going to read you a short list of people in the News. For each, please let me know if you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable impression.

Wisconsin Survey of 500 Likely Voters
Conducted January 26, 2010
By Rasmussen Reports

Thompson
18% - Very Favorable
38% - Somewhat Favorable
20% - Somewhat Unfavorable
19% - Very Unfavorable
5% - Not sure

Feingold
26% - Very Favorable
21% - Somewhat Favorable
18% - Somewhat Unfavorable
30% - Very Unfavorable
5% - Not sure

Desperate Wisc GOP Ineptly Reprises 1986 Gov Race

With Tommy Thompson likely out of the race for governor, a desperate Wisconsin GOP is attempting an old trick.

Back in 1986 it was the dump "Tony the Taxer (Earl)" campaign [and the Thompson-pushed image of black welfare recipients in Milwaukee] that launched Tommy Thompson's entry into the governor's mansion and national prominence.

Now, a Wisconsin GOP Google ad reads:

Tom "the Taxer" Barret (sic)
Higher Taxes, Fewer Jobs
Wisconsin Cant (sic) Afford
Tom the Taxer
www.wisgop.org

Sure, the GOP misspelled Barrett's name and the word "Cant", but that's not the only advertising mistake the GOP will make this campaign season.

Tommy Thompson Run Looks Improbable Now

A Tommy Thompson run for governor now appears unlikely.

And Thompson won't run for U.S. Senate—forget Jonathan Martin's Politico story that he's weighing it; the eventual GOP Senate nominee is toast and I want what David Blaska, Owen Robinson, and Chuck Todd are smoking.

Thompson is on a trip to the Far East for at least a week, and it's-my-turn-to-run Scott Walker and here's-a-$1 million Mark Neumann aren't dropping out.

A Thompson run for governor announced in February or March would cause catastrophic unpredictability in what the GOP already fears will be a divisive primary in this volatile environment, and in a state known for bucking the establishments of both major political parties.

Sure, Sen. Herb Kohl can parachute in the primary like he did in June 1988, refuse to debate other candidates, and win by air war.

That won't work for Thompson now as too many Republicans are vested in their chosen champion who will face a strong Democratic opponent in Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett.

Thompson is a great cultural fit for Wisconsin; but running now would just make too many enemies and confuse the already blurred political lines.

Thompson's like Chinese food, you're ready for him again but not when other entrées are prepared and ready to serve.

Tom and Tommy?

The Wisconsin gubernatorial race is wide open, even though the reported Obama backing of Tom Barrett led the heroic Democrat to throw his hat in the ring against two heavyweight Republican contenders.

A Tommy Thompson supporter this weekend described Thompson as a "tremendous bundle of energy," having what appears as a personal inclination to run for governor in 2010. But no official decision is expected until after the holidays and a personal inclination is but one factor among many.

There is growing GOP-muckity-muck sentiment to push aside Mark Neumann [in favor of whom?], a short-sighted move that may not sit well with a guy with razor-sharp, multi-appendaged elbows.

One GOP-leaning blogger in favor of moving out Neumann tries lamely to belittle him for not having finely-tuned field and press operations, as if money and ideology were not the consummate political organization.

Anyway, Thompson and Tom Barrett both culturally fit Wisconsin as does Neumann to a lesser extent.

But will Thompson get in after declared GOP candidate Scott Walker has invested nearly two years in running?

That Tommy is considering a run and is being repeatedly urged is revealing that politicos believe that the too-slick-by-half Walker [an admiring John Nichols calls him the Wisconsin William Buckley] and the ideological Neumann would not fare well against the affable Milwaukee mayor who looks like he belongs in Fondy or Superior downing beers as much as smacking punks in Milwaukee.

See also: One-term Tommy Thompson in 2010 Has Appeal.