In order to really capture what it felt like to attend the pro-Walker rally at Hart Park a few weeks ago, Phil and I embedded ourselves in the crowd. In some ways, it felt more like participation than reporting to me, even though that was not the intent. For days after the event, I was not myself. I was aggressive, angry, on edge, and kind of depressed. I was deeply affected by the use of fear, anger and hatred these politicians harnessed in order to score political points.
I understand why Tommy Thompson felt the need to go all Tony Soprano with his “they’ll be black and blue!” remarks. It’s effective. It gets votes.
But after a Facebook group made threats to those who signed the Walker recall petition yesterday, some citizens are now terrorized and live in fear that they’ll suffer the wrath of these bullies. This is not okay. And it shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of the GAB to rectify the situation.
The politicians who encouraged this kind of behavior at Hart Park must denounce it, NOW, if they truly care about Wisconsin. They must not pretend that there’s no correlation between their hate speech and the hateful actions taken by their supporters. They must put the needs of those they serve or seek to serve over the needs of themselves.
Thanks, Lisa. I agree.
Tommy Thompson needs to walk back his incendiary comments. Scott Walker needs to repudiate threatening, incendiary language and actions. If there’s any responsible leadership left in the Republican Party, now is the time.
Do you believe these threats would still be occuring if Scott Walker, along with his wife, Tonette, and anyone else who spoke at this rally denounced threatening language and actions? How about it, David Craig, Alberta Darling, Jeff Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Santo Ingrilli, Rebecca Kleefisch, Jarrid Madden, Kathleen Madden, Tim Nerenz, Mark Neumann, Paris Procopis, Kurt Schuller, Kim Simac, Jeffrey Stone, Robin Vos, Leah Vukmir, and Van Wanggaard?
As a matter of fact, Tonette Walker spoke at the rally and she relayed a message from her husband: “This is not about anger. If we make it about anger, we are feeding it into the Democrats’ hands and that’s not what we’re here for.” Here’s the link (2:17-2:43min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUhWgEwaKYI
Laura,
That’s true, Tonette did say that. But Tonette Walker is NOT an elected official or a politician, and she’s not currently seeking office.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and for reading my post.
JB Van Hollen has an obligation to step in. I say recall him if he does not.
Kim Simac said something incendiary and ridiculous? I dont believe that….
Steven JB let his friend ken krantz prey on women because he was a fewllow republican, dont hold your breath on his involvement.
Well of course not, but we should still try holding him to it.
Can anybody tell me the name of ANY Republican politician who has publicly denounced ANY of the threatening language or behavior by Walker supporters at ANY point?
I’m serious. If there is anyone out there who has taken a stand, they should be recognized for being a voice of reason.
Any stories? Anyone?