Surely, there will be much more to say over the weekend after some more details become available regarding the budget agreement reached by the grown-ups of the Capitol tonight. My congratulations to Governor Doyle, Speaker Huebsch, Nurse Judy, and Speaker-in-Waiting Kreuser for finally getting it done. It took you long enough.
But the biggest story will most certainly be the veritable death knell of all the conservative humdrum that began once upon a time with the Ament recall. This compromise shows you exactly what pledge signing and ideological extremism gets you at the end of the day:
A big, fat seat on the bench while everyone else governs around you.
Kudos, southeastern Wisconsin conservatives, and an early welcome to the irrelevance that will await you in the minority in just over a year. Hurts so good, don't it?
Leadership waits for AFP to embarrass itself with its poor attendance at a rally on Wednesday, and just over 48 hours later, they do the deal. They see the power the movement conservatives don't have, just like everybody else.
Perhaps now, Emperor Robinson will put some clothes on.
Your conservative revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences.
But the biggest story will most certainly be the veritable death knell of all the conservative humdrum that began once upon a time with the Ament recall. This compromise shows you exactly what pledge signing and ideological extremism gets you at the end of the day:
A big, fat seat on the bench while everyone else governs around you.
Kudos, southeastern Wisconsin conservatives, and an early welcome to the irrelevance that will await you in the minority in just over a year. Hurts so good, don't it?
Leadership waits for AFP to embarrass itself with its poor attendance at a rally on Wednesday, and just over 48 hours later, they do the deal. They see the power the movement conservatives don't have, just like everybody else.
Perhaps now, Emperor Robinson will put some clothes on.
Your conservative revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences.
3 comments:
You don't think by finally getting the budget done, the Democrats have saved the "AssGOP" from itself, in some ways? Or do you think that they'll still lose the majority, but it won't be as bad as it could have been? It's a pretty moderate budget in the end, one that the Dems won't really be able to use against the GOP.
In any case, the next 12.5 months should be very interesting.
With a split legislature, I think it's safe to say that few, if any, bills will be making it to Governor Doyle's desk in the next six months. If leggies want to be able to take credit for getting *anything* done this session, they're going to have to vote for this bill.
Dem challengers still have a bounty of good stuff from the Assembly budget that they can use in hit pieces. Stuff like "here's the kind of Wisconsin that so-and-so would really want - cuts to the UW, raising taxes on the working poor, more corporate giveaways, blah blah blah."
Rural Republicans have a lot of stuff in here good for them. BadgerCare expansion, increased transportation aid for school districts, aid for districts with declining enrollment, to name a few. Outstate Republicans would be crazy not to vote for this.
I think what this says is that the Dems are confident that with the Assembly budget as a backdrop, they believe that between the top of the ticket issues and their own financial/human resources in competitive districts, they can outhustle the Assembly Republicans and still get the seats they need.
This thing could've been a lot worse for the GOP, and Huebsch deserves credit for tempering a lot of what the Dems originally pitched. Question is, will the conservative base give it to him? Is the old message of "tax less, spend less, borrow less" going to work, or are conservatives so extreme that relative victories don't count for anything more?
Indeed, it will be very interesting, starting with the debate and vote on Tuesday.
where else can owen and Freed Dooley get anyone to listen to their wingnut beliefs???
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