Tom Barrett announced last Friday night that he was entering the primary race for Governor. Unfortunately for Mayor Barrett, he brought Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel up for a $2400/plate fundraiser. Rahm, who was President Obama’s original chief of staff, is known for a a couple of infamous quotes:
1. He called progressives “Fu*kin Retarded”
2. During the takeover of GM talks – “Fu*K the UAW”!
You can tell alot about someone by the company they keep. This is the guy who Mayor Barrett first decided to align himself with? This is the person who we want to restore collective bargaining rights? Not I!
Now that Mayor Tom Barrett is in the race – I still strongly and wholeheartedly endorse Kathleen Falk!
See you at the polls!
Barrett certainly did everything he could to sound pro-union at the town hall meeting in Milwaukee tonight. Once he finally showed up that is…
Actions speak louder.
How many of you would risk your life/limb coming to the aid of a complete stranger who is being threatened with great bodily harm? By that one action, Tom Barrett won my admiration. I don’t expect any candidate to be 100% anything, including perfectly aligned with my own progressive agenda. Nor can I vote for Tom Barrett because, unfortunately, I no longer reside in Wisconsin. But, if I were still a resident of Wisconsin, I would vote for him. I can think of worse reasons to vote for someone.
Jan,
I think he is a good person and a bad candidate to be Governor of WI. Which trumps Rahm who i think is a bad person and a horrendous candidate. In a race aboput collective bargaining rights, tying yourself to Rahm first was not his best move. Add that to the fact that he really looked disinterested last time he ran. Of the four candidates running, I personally rate him a distant fourth.
Emmanuel is a mover & shaker in the Democratic party who has little regard for ossification. A couple of remarks made in exasperation shouldn’t prejudice his proven ability to get things done for the party and his constituents. This is classic “throwing out the baby…” Fortunately, his ability is recognized by those willing to put thousands of dollars into Baker’s campaign. Falk is Scott Walker’s best chance…primarily due to UAW’s past failures to recognize the need for modernization or repositioning to better serve its members and the public.
Cat,
please tell me what he has “gotten done for the party”. Thanks!
Jeff,
You say this race is “about collective bargaining rights.” Let me be the first one to tell you – if you make it about collective bargaining rights, you lose.
There are plenty of other damaging things Walker has done to our state besides collective bargaining – trashing environmental protections, tort “reform,” etc. Furthermore, there are plenty of moderates and independents around the state who are uneasy with Governor Walker’s tactics, but think his move on collective bargaining was needed. These people are not going to vote for Kathleen Falk – someone who is widely regarded both as a Dane County elitist, as well as completely in the tank for the unions.
Tom Barrett may not be the most pure candidate, but considering the unions all blew their loads early in lining up behind Falk, the Repubs definitely can’t say he’s a union puppet. And he’s already demonstrated he can win votes from the conservative Democrats in our state outside of Dane and Milwaukee counties.
Tea Partiers and bible thumpers are the ones who harp about ideological purity in their candidates. Do you really want to be like them? It’s time for a reality check. You can either take Barrett, who has a decent chance of winning moderates and voters outside the liberal enclaves in our state, and would most likely support 90% of the issues you support. Or you can stay on the Kathleen Falk boat as it slowly sinks below Lake Monona, and we end up with an even more fired up Governor Walker who thinks he has an even stronger “mandate” for his ridiculous policies. Your choice, pal.
Stan,
Tea Partiers and Bible Thumpers have mastered the technique of actually holding their party accountable and accomplishing the sorts of things that they promise in heir campaigns. I honestly would love it if the progressive base was a little more like them rather than constantly falling for political bullshit and then voting for the candidate who utterly ignored you once he had your vote last time.
Barrett’s own actions have not shown us a man who can campaign with the passion and energy it takes to beat Walker. Barrett has not shown us a man who supports collective bargaining or the working poor. Barrett’s record on education consists primarily of trying to consolidate more power in his own office but with no real indications of where he would make reforms. He won’t get support from the grass roots or the unions when it comes time for knocking doors and making calls and that is crucial
Guess it’s time to roll out the waaaambulance for Paul. The pathetic hand-wringing about the lack of a perfect candidate is leading us on a path to the triumphant re-election of Scott Walker, and that is an outcome I am simply not willing to accept.
Repeat after me – Kathleen Falk has no hope of winning a statewide election against Scott Walker. The “union puppet” label and Dane County pedigree, rightly or wrongly, is going to kill her chances with the few moderates in the middle who will ultimately decide this nasty and bare-knuckled election.
Not to parrot Donald Rumsfeld too closely, but the underlying point is true – you don’t go into an election with the candidate you wish you had, but with the candidate you have. Russ Feingold could have jumped into this thing and I’m sure he would have made all of us happy. However, he didn’t, and we all have to suck it up and move on.
In the meantime, it sounds like you’d rather have Scott Walker win again, just so the mainstream establishment of the Democratic Party could be taught a lesson. To me that sounds suspiciously like the “we must destroy this village in order to save it” crap I remember from Vietnam.
Suck it up and learn to be pragmatic, for fear of what happens when we don’t win.
Stan, you don’t seem to make a case for your candidate beyond a misguided belief that Barrett is somehow more electable than Falk. Offer some evidence, some polling or simply shut up already. Pragmatism has it’s place but it had better be a lot more justified than empty statements about a politician who has proven he is an inept campaigner with very little support from the most determined anti-Walker groups involved in this recall. Right now Falk is polling reasonably well state wide, has a solid organization and no record of acting like Walker in office. Also, since at this point we still have FOUR candidates we obviously aren’t stuck with the limpid Barrett for our war quite yet and won’t be if we want to win. Rumsfeld quotes are unnecessary and inapt in this situation, as is almost every situation.
Paul – your pointed effort to avoid acknowledging Falk’s fatal flaws in a general election underscores your ignorance or just plain partisan blindness. Either way, when she goes down to defeat I don’t want to hear any bitching and moaning from you.
What might those fatal flaws be? Lets see, Dane County is one of the best places to live in the country, world class university, lower than average unemployment, great schools, and she is not the target of a “Jane Doe” investigation.
Thats a rough platform to work with.