Wisconsin's governor: Protest end of labor contracts, I'm dragging out the Guard

I have no clue what this sentence is supposed to mean, except that they are two phrases Republicans like to throw at him as pejoratives because they say them in a snarky tone.

 

I remember many years ago being told to be particularly careful in headlines involving Montreal Expos player Razor Shines.

 

Schultz Storms Into Obama’s ‘Locker Room’ For Some ‘Tough Love’ On His Handling Of Wisconsin

by Frances Martel | 1:24 pm, February 26th, 2011


It seems that Libya, Egypt, and Wisconsin may not be the only places where President Obama will need to address a full-on revolt– he’s losing major points with the hosts of MSNBC. First it was Cenk Uygur who took him out to dry for his silence on the Wisconsin union protests, and now Ed Schultz is demanding nothing less than a road trip, though he has the 2008 campaign trail soundbites to back up why he’s being demanding.

“Where are you?” Schultz asked the president during his program on Friday, noting that his following monologue was directed at “the liberal locker room,” where he needed to wake the President from his apparently slumber. “It is day 11 of the protests in Madison and there’s still no deal between the Wisconsin 14 and [Governor] Scott Walker,” Schultz noted, but the White House has been “lukewarm.” “The President has been virtually silent about all of this,” he continued, noting that union workers are “the people who voted for President Obama” and that Senator Obama had promised much more full-throated solidarity than what he is providing. He played a clip from the 2008 campaign trail in which Obama promised to “put on a pair of comfortable shoes” and go on strike with the unions wherever they may protest, followed by a clip of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responding to that clip by saying the President stood with the workers. “This Carney guy, maybe he just didn’t get the memo,” Schultz quipped.

Schultz then took a detour to slam Sen. Lindsey Graham for saying further involvement in state issue by the President would be “inappropriate”– “they [Republicans] hate the American workers,” he noted as he implored the President to ignore them and go on a “road trip.”

Schultz believes the President is deliberately ignoring the unions– after all, what other pressing issues could be occupying the President’s time that are more important than a ragtag group of state senators shacking up in a hotel somewhere? Surely there can’t be anything going on in the Middle East right now that would require much time and effort from the executive– it’s not like northern Africa is experiencing a series of historic revolutions that have left hundreds dead and threaten to swallow up the world’s most oil-rich nations. Nor would the President be hampered domestically by the federal financial situation and the fact that Republicans keep threatening to shut down the entire federal government. Surely President Obama must be twiddling his thumbs while Wisconsin burns, if by “burns” you mean “experiences a series of peaceful protests in which union members walk around in circles for a while and the governor gets prank-called by shock jock talk radio hosts.”

Schultz addresses all of these possible critiques by merely mentioning that “Libya is going to hell in a handbasket,” but then adding that Wisconsin is, too. It’s a weak retort to the possible response. But all in all Schultz’s attempt at shaking the President out of what he perceives to be political slumber is earnest and attention-grabbing, and sure to be a hit among people who find Schultz’s “working class” style to be approachable, if not preferable in small doses.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ed-schultz-storms-into-obamas-locker-room-for-some-tough-love-on-his-handling-of-wisconsin/

 

I've got to believe that politicians are polling on this.

Walker is standing firm. No Republican State Senators have buckled, and Obama hasn't been very vocal in his support of the union employees.

People who have been predicting that this episode would be the ruination of Walker look to be off base to me.

 

Employers are more than welcome to open their books at the bargaining table and articulate their situations.

Somehow, we've gotten the idea that "collective bargaining" means "workers are allowed to drive their employers out of business."

Almost every court ruling in the past 40-50 years, when it comes to interpretation of the NLRA, has been on the pro-business side. To appropriate a phrase from Michelle Bachmann and others:

"Where in the (NLRA) does it say that employers can replace striking workers?'

"Where in the (NLRA) does it say that outsiders can't solicit support on employer property?"

And on and on and on.

Can we please, please, please stop acting like big business is so put upon by unions? Can we?

 

Videos: Say, whatever happened to Obama’s comfy shoes?

The pledge in 2007 at a Spartanburg, SC rally could not have been clearer. Barack Obama, then campaigning as a desperate underdog to Hillary Clinton and badly in need of union support, told a crowd that he would join picket lines as President to keep workers from being denied collective bargaining rights. In fact, Obama said he’d dig up a pair of comfortable shoes to walk the line himself to defend union positions around the country, as the Daily Caller remembers:

If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself — I’ll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America.

That is exactly the scenario claimed by public employee unions in Wisconsin, and not without some merit. Governor Scott Walker’s proposal would limit collective bargaining for most PEUs to wages only, not pensions and benefits, in order to allow the state and localities enough flexibility to balance budgets. So when will Obama put on those comfy shoes? CNBC’s host wanted to know that as well, and last night asked one of the Fleebaggers, state Senator Fred Risser, that same question. http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/25/videos-say-whatever-happened-to-obamas-comfy-shoes/

 

Just watched Walker on Meet the Press, and as hard as David Gregory tried to cut him off when truthful answers offended his liberal sensibilities, Walker controlled the interview and made Gregory look like the shill for the left that he is.

 

How is that a response to what I posted?

 

Ed Schultz nailed it on his speech to Obama. Do what you do best, go down there to Wisc, Ohio, Indy etc. MAKE US BELIEVE AGAIN MR. PRESIDENT!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41771258#41771258

 

Walker has stood completely firm and made the same consistent points for two weeks now.

Meanwhile, the position of the left was first about "slowing
the process" -- so the Fraudulent Fourteen went AWOL. Then it became about how there should be "negotiation" and "debate." So the Assembly debated 61 hours and then voted -- at which point the Dems said they'd been "silenced." What a joke.

The lefties said it wasn't about money -- while bitching about the small amount the poor put-upon workers would have to pay for their pensions and health care.

Then they said they agreed to the concessions and it was about their sacred bargaining rights (which are privileges, in reality). But at the same time, they were violating the previously bargained deals that say they cannot engage in work stoppages. Then they engaged in the fraud of phony doctor's excuses. And while they've been saying they've agreed to the financial concessions, they have been rushing to sign deals with local municipalities that don't have the concessions.

While Walker has been consistent, the crybabies have been changing the argument almost daily in hopes of finding something believeable or something that at least sounds credible enough to fool their gullible followers. The left's last tack is a prank phone call from Mr. "Fuck the Troops." And even in that call, Walker stayed completely consistent on all his points.

Only one side has been clear and consistent, and that's because only one side has truth and honor on its side.