Posted on 08/10/2011 4:06:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LA CROSSE, Wis (Reuters) - A day after Wisconsin held the largest round of recall elections in U.S. history, analysts parsing the bruising, expensive and inconclusive battles have a gloomy prediction for the rest of the country.
Get used to it, the 2012 national election will be nasty.
Politics, said Mordecai Lee, a governmental affairs professor at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, is now "a battle of inches, it is a battle that never ends, it is a battle to the death."
Wisconsin's recalls, and the fight earlier this year over the union rights of public-sector workers that triggered them, have highlighted the wide gulf that separates Republican and Democrat voters nationwide.
The results, which neither party can claim as a clear-cut victory, have also exposed the lack of stability and predictability in U.S. government -- a reason S&P cited last week in downgrading the U.S. AAA credit rating.
Republicans won four of the six Wisconsin recall elections on Tuesday, just enough to cling to a state Senate majority.
"What we saw yesterday was basically a very divisive election to conclude a very divisive recall process in response to a very divisive set of policies enacted by the new Republican governor and legislature in Wisconsin," said Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political science professor.
He sees the polarization continuing through 2012, a feature of American politics since the red-state-versus-blue divide of George W. Bush's disputed presidential election in 2000.
The Wisconsin fight was triggered by Republican Governor Scott Walker's controversial, and successful, campaign to strip teachers, nurses, and other government employees of collective bargaining power they had enjoyed for five decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Wisconsin, where what happens matters more than Dems & unions would like to admit.
Nasty? Bring it on.
What is going to happen during the 2012 elections is the kind of nasty I like.
My only concern is whether the economy is too far gone to fix and that the conservative/free-marketers will be blamed for Obamageddon.
“The results, which neither party can claim as a clear-cut victory...”
Yeah right. Sure. Whatever.
If Republicans win, there are problems and irregularities with the system. It was a devisive and strident campaign.
If Democrats win, it was a hard fought contest. If was a principled campaign with a cleat mandate for governing.
Insert which ever year/election you would like - it's the same commentary each time.
Make that a “clear” mandate......
This story is obviously written by a bunch of libs trying to explain the defeats.
Republicans won 4 of the 6 recalls.
The unions DUMPED MONEY into these races - and they only caught 2.
And there are more recalls against Dems coming.
The left should be SHAKING - and they are.
2012 is going to be ugly alright - if you’re a hardcore Marxist living on government checks.
“”What we saw yesterday was basically a very divisive election to conclude a very divisive recall process in response to a very divisive set of policies enacted by the new Republican governor and legislature in Wisconsin,” said Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political science professor.”
Oh boy, they just wanted the GOP to roll-over and raise those taxes to 100%. It didn’t happen, so it is divisive ..... cry me a river.....
It’s Yahoo news picking up a Reuters article...it’s like watching somebody clean the krud from under their toenails.
In other words sanity won and the labor unions were flipped the bird by the people of Wisconsin!
“Messy”
So described because the outcome didn’t go the Dem’s way. They failed, so it must have been Had their candidates succeeded in regaining control of the state senate, it would have been hailed as a triumph of democracy.
Translation.... The Republicans won. This is always the meme whenever dems lose.
It's just like whenever they catch a democrat red-handed they'll always claim that "both sides do it".
This is how Daily Kos are spinning it:
“BJC, we came up short of our goal in Wisconsin last night. While we sought to retake the state senate by defeating three Republicans in recall elections, we only picked up two seats. We came close, losing one election by only 2,200 votes (4 percent), but it wasn’t enough.
Despite the loss, the reaction from our community has been far from entirely negative. Some of our members feel pumped after taking two seats in red territory, and after pulling off only the 14th and 15th successful recalls of state legislators in American history.
We would like to hear your thoughts. ... Here is a quick summary of what people are saying:
Positive
•We took our fight deep into red territory, picking up two seats we couldn’t even win in the Democratic tidal wave of 2008.
•We proved we can remove politicians from office when they steal from the middle class to pay off the super rich.
•We started a new, populist, citizen-driven movement against austerity that united labor and the netroots and stood toe-to-toe against the bottomless pit of Wall Street cash.
•This is by no means the end. Like many other new right-wing governors, Scott Walker is still unpopular. As time goes on, he, his cohorts, and their agenda will only become even more unpopular. In only a few months, along with 11 other Republican Wisconsin state senators, Walker becomes eligible for recall. There are also recalls and referendums taking place in states like Ohio, Michigan, Maine and Arizona.
Negative
•We lost. They won.
•One of the Republicans we defeated represented a fairly blue district, and the other was a freshman with ethical problems.
•Because we didn’t take three seats, we probably won’t be able to slow down Scott Walker’s agenda very much at all. The bleeding of working families will continue unabated.
•This was about as hard as we could possibly fight, and it still wasn’t enough. We are simply not going to be able to engage this fiercely everywhere. Looking ahead, at best this will stall the momentum of the new populist movement we were building.
Personally, I feel much better than I thought I would in the event of a loss. We made some gains while fighting for heroes, with heroes, and like heroes. I have no regrets, and I am incredibly grateful and honored to have stood with you.”
Winning 1 of the 2 recals next week is going to be the only way to put an end to this nonsense of perpetual elections.
Why are they interviewing a college prof whose employment is subsidized by the state in question? Many of the people affected by the necessary changes in budget and pay structure are him and his closest pals.
Winning 1 of the 2 recals next week is going to be the only way to put an end to this nonsense of perpetual elections.
that doesn’t make any sense, but seeing as how it’s from kos, how could it?
Please visit my vanity post from earlier today on this.
We need HELP in Wisconsin to defeat 2 dems in THEIR recall elections next Tuesday August 16th.
Thank you Norm, for allowing my thread interruption.
It is vital that we remove the 2 dems up for recall next week.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2761792/posts
They better tell KOS. They all think their was a conclusive victory yesterday and it wasn’t for their cause.
Waste of space above. They could have summarized it by saying Leftists win. Or they stage anarchy.
What the rest of us need to do is just pull out lawn hoses and cool them off. :-)
“•We started a new, populist, citizen-driven movement against austerity that united labor and the netroots and stood toe-to-toe against the bottomless pit of Wall Street cash”
WOW! Totally delusional! The unions dumped over 30 million dollars into these races and came up short! That ought to make them quake in their boots!
Always has been. Hopefully always will be.
And who has been a Dem State Rep and who has been a Dem spokesman for at least the last 25 years.
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