Like a wave bashing into the shoreOh, Hootie. Even now your profound words shed light on the problems of the world.
You wash away my dreams.
Time, why you walk away?
Like a friend with somewhere to go
You left me crying...
The huge crowds of the opening weekends have dwindled considerably, even as organizers try to find bigger and bigger names to stoke attendance. Protesters have now been denied the opportunity to use an overcrowded and occupied State Capitol as a symbol of their resistance.
The visuals are no longer compelling, and absent violence or big crowds, there's nothing new to add to the story. You've got forty people hanging out in the rotunda, and their arguments are no different than they were three weeks ago. What was a compelling story two weeks ago is now an afterthought. The stories shift from the headlines to the sidebars, and then off the front page entirely.
People's opinions are all over the map, and seem very evenly split on many issues, between siding with Walker and siding with Democrats. But for the overwhelming majority of voters, these issues of collective bargaining are like campaign finance reform. People say they care, but at the end of the day, there are other issues they care about a lot more.
The vast majority of Wisconsinites have no direct stake in this discussion. They don't directly benefit. They aren't directly harmed.
It's easy for them to understand how more jobs, or better jobs, or an improved economy will help them. Asking them to understand why it's important for them to give more of their money to public employees? Any benefit there is a lot harder to explain. People might be sympathetic, but to expect that sympathy to swing their vote? That's a big leap of faith.
Bob Jauch is right. Senate Democrats can't stay away forever. They know it, and the Republicans know it. The Democrats' biggest enemy right now isn't Scott Walker. It's time. And nobody ever wins a battle against time.
Time passes. Casual supporters are stripped away. People's attention shifts elsewhere, and all that's left are a handful of diehards fighting a battle in which everyone else has lost attention.
5 comments:
"The vast majority of Wisconsinites have no direct stake in this discussion. They don't directly benefit. They aren't directly harmed."
Really?
Time hasn't been too friendly to Scooter or the Brothers Fitz. The more it passes, the crazier they get, the more their approvals drop.
If I told you they passed a resolution saying the fleeing 14 were to get a lower grade of toilet paper if and when they return, would you think it was a joke, or would it be within the realm of possibility?
"Asking them to understand why it's important for them to give more of their money to public employees?"
???
The money was settled a long time ago. It isn't about the money, that's why dragging it out works against Walker.
Actually time has been the Dems' best friend, as each new day shows the WisGOPs looking more and more foolish and desperate, and reveals another ridiculous part of their agenda. Given how Walker and the Ftizes are acting, why should the Dems come back? Why not wait to force an embarrassing vote for trhe Senate GOPs in a month or so, which would guarantee enough recalls for a Dem Senate by June and make Walker a lame duck for the last few months of his governoship?
Yes, there was "only" 25-30K this weekend in miserable weather with no major announcements of an organizing rally nor the free publicity that right-wing rallies get on the radio. And of course, there are fewer people during the week to support workers because they (wait for it.....) WORK AT THAT TIME.
By the way, I was at a 200-person cancer-benefit on Sunday. I think that means it outdrew the Koch Brothers' bus on Sunday.
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