Bernie Sanders: DNC vetoed labor leader from party platform committee

According to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the Democratic National Committee vetoed his nomination of a labor leader to serve as one of his representatives on the party platform committee, with Sanders being told not to pick anyone else from the labor movement. When the Democratic National Committee announced that…

Continue Reading

John Nichols: Scott Walker’s anti-union fantasy isn’t working for him anymore

Yesterday John Nichols wrote a great piece in the CapTimes outlining how Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union fantasyland simply isn’t working when it comes to winning him votes. The point is not that contemporary Republicans returned to their party’s pro-labor roots. The point is that even Republicans recognize that Walker cannot…

Continue Reading

John Nichols: These times are much too Dickensian

This is an excellent read… These are Dickensian times, when charity is rationed by politicians who callously dismiss the poor as a burden and imagine the unemployed as a lazy lot who are best forced by hunger to grab at bootstraps and pull themselves upward. Charles Dickens wrote in 1843….

Continue Reading

John Nichols: Wisconsin Democratic Party needs to reconsider itself

This is spot-on. To renew itself now, the party must recognize how it broke through in the past. First, the Wisconsin Democrats of the 1940s and 1950s welcomed outsiders and moved them quickly into the forefront of the party. Consider this notion: What if, in 2014, the Democratic Party had…

Continue Reading

Some spring election thoughts

First, this is a great thing: WI votes to amend $ out of politics:Belleville 85%DeForest 69%Delavan 76%Elkhorn 69%Shorewood 77%Waterloo 61%Waunakee 79%Windsor 70% — John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) April 2, 2014 Nichols’ tweet came before the results were tabulated in the City of Waukesha, which voted 71% to 29% to limit political…

Continue Reading

John Nichols on WTDY firings: Wisconsin progressivism deserves an outlet

Once again John Nichols nails it. Sure, Sly often extended his remarks from “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” to flat-out condemning crony capitalists and crooked candidates. Everyone who listened to Sly took offense at one time or another. Every guest (including this writer) disagreed with him sometimes. But…

Continue Reading

John Nichols to headline event in Waukesha on 10/30/12

John Nichols is coming to Waukesha, Wisconsin next Tuesday, October 30th to discuss the November 6th election and what’s at stake. The event is sponsored by Organizing for America volunteers. RSVP is required (see below).  

Continue Reading

Democrats need to keep restoration of collective bargaining in the political dialogue so it doesn’t become an afterthought

Earlier this week I wrote about the fact that not one single Democratic State Senator had listed the restoration of collective bargaining rights for public employees as a legislative priority in the next session of the State Senate, and I also noted Senate Majority Leader Mark Miller’sstatement affirming Senate Democrats’…

Continue Reading

John Nichols: If Kelda’s campaign were a vehicle after an accident, it would be considered “totaled” (AUDIO)

During an appearance on WTDY’s “Sly In The Morning” on July 26, John Nichols and Sly discussed the negativity of Kelda Roys’ Congressional campaign, with Nichols comparing Roys’ campaign to a car that’s been totaled following a car accident. Listen for yourself (The Roys segment starts around 18:45). On a…

Continue Reading

CapTimes and John Nichols Get Punked

They were inadvertently punked by Madison labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki.  The fake story was about Paul Ryan threatening the Smithsonian for putting up a display of Wisconsin protest signs from last year.  The story was an elaboration of the true story of Assembly Rep Nash attacking UW for a similar display. The story was…

Continue Reading