While I’m as amped up as anyone about the war Republicans here in Wisconsin are waging against public employees, unions, the middle class, and the poor, protesting Gov. Scott Walker at the Special Olympics is completely unacceptable.
The individuals who chose to protest Gov. Walker while he was speaking to Special Olympians should be ashamed of themselves.
I agree that they probably shouldn’t have done it.
However, if you look at the article, two separate Special Olympics officials said that they felt that the protesters were respectful and not disruptive. Moreover, I’m really not impressed with all the right-wing fake outrage over this incident. If they’re outraged at this protest, certainly they should be even more outraged at the budget and other legislation that will harm people with disabilities?
In fact, when I first saw this post on the lefty blogs news feed I thought you were going to post a link about Republicans protesting at a Special Olympics event in some other state.
Whether the officials felt the protests were respectful or not, the protesters should have used some common sense and picked a better venue to express themselves. As for the “right-wing fake outrage” over this, I’m far from being “right-wing” and my outrage isn’t fake; it’s very real. You’re right that people should be outraged about the budget and other legislation that will harm folks with disabilities, and we are outraged, but let’s not stoop to the level of the Republicans.
This was supposed to be a special moment for the kids involved, and instead some jackasses had to try to make a point….dressed as zombies no less.
This wasn’t a protest; it was a farce.
Im with alex…..
The special Olympics should not have been held at “ground zero”, no one protested them they got caught in the line of fire… if peoples “feelings” got hurt that still doesn’t compare with people loosing jobs, students loosing education, loss of health care, loss of tax payer monies to special interests and on and on. I didn’t attend the Zombie protest nor the special Olympics but people need to get dead serious about why these protests are happening.
Do you think it would have mattered where the Special Olympics were held? As long as Gov. Walker was there, protesters would have shown up, and I think it shows a stunning lack of consideration for the athletes.
Oh, and just so you and I are clear, people are dead serious about why these protests are happening, and shit like this (pardon my language) only gives the other side ammunition to use against us. These kinds of things make us look callous and selfish, and we should do better than that.
“make us look callous and selfish,” actually just reaffirms how many people see progressives.
I wouldn’t consider your opinion to be representative of anything, considering you also think liberalism is a mental disease.
Pretty much, I don’t consider him more or less an intelligent or civil human being for that matter. He paints a broad brush and called us terrorists. I will never forgive that under any circumstances.
In fact, him calling us terrorists proved to me how selfish and disgusting he is. Thugs is one thing. Terrorists are a whole other can of worms.
Know what T for years I have had to tolerate being called a racist, a homophobe, a teabagger and on and on by the left bu people who do not know me…..so I decided if that is the game they want to play I could do the same thing….and now that I have resorted to the tactics of the left they start acting all offended. You all should have thought about your actions a long ago.
I love how Notalib lumps all liberals together.
What’s more, I love that he’s clearly no believer in the Christian principle of turning the other cheek.
I don’t disagree – gross generalizations and “they all…” type statements are ignorant, lazy or dishonest.
And not a day goes by without a dozen of them from posters and even your fellow contributors here.
I agree with you Locke…and I’ve tried to raise the level of the conversation but obviously it’s a losing battle…so I am just trying to set a good example instead.
And if I’ve fallen off of my high ground on this blog…then somebody had it coming! LOL! But I’ve certainly tried to avoid lumping groups under one banner.
And?
I’ve been called a lazy good for nothing Native Ameircan who lives off of the government, was only accepted into my position because of my race and sex, not my intelligence or talent, and yes it bothers me. It bothers me greatly. I’ve been called a terrorist, a thug, unAmerican, a deviant.
But you know what? I act professional about it. The issue is that when you hear someone say someone is ableist, sexist, racist or a homophobe, you shouldn’t say they are that. But you should tell them that what they said was that. A what they are and what they said kind of deal.
I don’t justify what I say. I don’t excuse it. Yes I will be honest, I am mad at you and will likely remain mad at you because you continue to dig yourself into a deeper hole saying that they threw the first stone. I don’t think you ever bring substance into the conservation until you drop the insults and broad brushes. I know you are capable of civilized conversation because I have seen it in the past, although people had to jump on you to get your actual opinion out without it being layered in stereotypes, demonizing, and insults.
Tactics of the left? What a laugh. The right were throwing insults at me throughout my entire life. When I’ve first arrived on the political scene, I was nothing but polite and understanding even giving people benefit of the doubt. But you continuously disrespect people like me, Ed, and Zach who try to be nothing but civil. Will I admit that some of us on the left are out of line? Most certainly and I have called them out on it, whether it be mocking Reagan for his Alzheimer’s or giving Palin sexist remarks.
The reason everyone jumps on you particular is because you are the person here who repeatedly continues to paint the same broad brush and try to make us feel sorry for you when you have been doing the exact things to us. Here’s the fun fact: all sides have assholes on it. Now the question is, are you going to be an asshole or are you going to bring up good points and have us talk like adults?
I am with Zach…I don’t care what the adults said…the kids aren’t going to understand the nuances and their special time shouldn’t be interrupted in anyway.
There are a gazillion opportunities to make our point with the governor without this type of intervention.
I think that’s the best point of all, and makes it so much worse. For crying out loud, there’s a time & place. It’s like the Westboro Baptist Church and their garbage. Nobody’s saying you can’t protest – just exercise a little common sense. If anything, they’re hurting their own cause.
With Zach on this one. This is absolutely unacceptable and I’m glad the protest organizers disavowed it.
Nice debate here. I’m with the Special Olympic officials who claim there was no disruption. The protest was silent. I bet the kids felt no slight.
Now the incident does allow the Republicans to practice their fake outrage schtick. Like they need any practice at that. Still, this protest might give some political advantage when the Repubs go and get all weepy to their constituents. So, no, I don’t think it disrespectful, but I do think it might have been a tactical error.
I don’t think Zach should be so judgmental and dismissive, especially not in a public forum. Who are you to say something is “unacceptable” or not. That’s pretty strong language. You could have said, “I wish this wasn’t necessary, and I certainly hope it does not interfere with the mission of the Special Olympics, but Gov. Walker brought these protests on himself by attacking the benefits and rights of a wide variety of Wisconsin residents, including people who have disabilities.”
We should feel free to protest the Governor and his policies anywhere and everywhere. The only exception would be a private funeral in my opinion.
I personally think that we are advocating for people with disabilities and that we are their real allies, *not* the ‘feel-good’ special event politicians and ‘charity-givers’ that Republicans tend to be.
“Joe,” you’re entitled to your opinion, just as I’m entitled to mine. I say this is unacceptable because that’s my opinion of what these folks did. I could have said a lot of things, but I said what I felt, and if you don’t like what I said, then so be it.
You say that we should feel free to protest the Governor anywhere and everywhere, and while I’m certainly supportive of protesting the governor’s policies, crap like this certainly isn’t going to win many hearts and minds. This battle is as much about perception as anything, and protesting the governor at an event meant to honor Special Olympians isn’t going to win us much goodwill.
But hey….let’s keep doing stuff like this, because we don’t need public support!
Joe Anon said: “You could have said,…”
Zach, why do you not write what I think you should write on your blog, either?! Who do you think you are?
As I noted in my response to “Joe,” I could have said a lot of things, and while I certainly could have been less assertive, I felt I needed to make my point about how stupid I think this was.
Do any of you really think progressives are upset about these stupid liberal college students terrorizing a Special Olympics event? Of course the pretend they are but just look around the new at many progressive Wisconsin blogs and websites there is huge support for the action of these mental midgets. Then they try and deny that liberalism is a mental disorder.
Yeah, you’re right. Clearly I’m not upset by this; neither is Ed or T.
Again huh? More than a few of us have condemned the action at the Special Olympics event.
Reading comprehension.
Learn it.
“The only exception would be a private funeral in my opinion.”
What about a private wedding? One of his kids graduation? Attendance at his place of worship?
My gut says that any public appearance or any official duty is fair game…after that it starts to get gray. Picket his house? Probably ok. Picket a school while he’s there for parent teacher conferences for his kids…not so much.
I think the kids in their stupid zombie outfits didn’t help matters by wandering over to what happened to be a Special Olympics event. But I also smell “setup” in the matter, as why did the MacIver (i.e. WMC and Charles Sykes-backed ideology tank) have a whole video ready to go for what is a lame photo op? And even the Special Olympics organizers admitted it wasn’t a big deal and not disruptive, regardless of what the fake outrage brigade tends tp say.
And then Scotty has the nerve to call that “appalling”. No, Scumbag. What’s appalling is you cutting aid to schools that goes toward helping the developmentally disabled. What’s appalling is cutting Badgercare so parents can’t get adequate care for their special-needs kids, and deciding that giving tax breaks to unproductive corporate slime is more worthwhile than helping actual Wisconsinites that work for a living.
I know Zach and co. get uptight about “optics”, but the time has passed to believe that being kidn and rational is the only pathway to success. When you are acting as disgustingly as the WisGOPs have acted, and when the media is complicit in helping these thugs (Journal Communications is completely in the tank for those guys), it’s time for ACTION. If it ruffles a few feathers, so be it.
That doesn’t mean you do silly stunts like reading your lame agenda or zombie walks, but it does mean being aggressive and forceful. Now more than ever, we need to keep the spotlight on Walker and the rest of these d-bags.
With all due respect, I’m not “uptight” about the “optics” of this situation; I just think it was a shitty thing to do in general.
“… it does mean being aggressive and forceful…” Yes by all means and I have been encouraging that…but you don’t have to be mean spirited to be aggressive or forceful…but to be effective you have to take and maintain the high road…you have to pick the right battles…it is much more fun to pick someone to pieces with good grammar, a full vocabulary, and the correct information rather than name calling…and better even when you can do that and walk away before they figure out they’ve been dissed.
Let’t get off the sideshow stuff…let’s win the recalls…lets win 2012…we ain’t takin’ nothing ‘back’…we’re moving forward.
YEah, this is a sideshow and the more we talk about it the less we will focus on recalls. How is it the Republicans are able to manipulating us into focussing on the sideshow so much? Nationally the Republicans are working to force a default if we don’t cut entitlement programs even further, yet the media and seemingly everyone is focussed on weiners. Weiners??? Now here we’re focused on a protest that may or may not be ill-advised.
We need to focus on real objectives, not on the shiny objects they throw in front of us.
I agree that this the zombie act was a stupid action that has led to an issue that the WisGOPs are intentionally blowing up to keep our eyes off the prize – taking back the Wisconsin Senate. But I also think it is appropriate to use this to pivot and say “Spare me your rotuine, WisGOP.”, and hammer them with what their cuts to education and special needs support will do.
If they want to talk about Special Olympians, let’s talk about what they’re planning to do to them. And it isn’t pretty. We need to stop worrying about what Charles Sykes and Vicki McKenna and the Journal Communications propaganda machine might say about things, and start going strong wiith the truth about what these scumbags are trying to do to our state.
There’s a time and place for everything. This “protest” was neither the time nor the place, end of story.