And the winner is ...

So. NBC News has just called it for Walker.

When an actual jackass, that is of the Democratic mascot variety, would have been a far superior choice to lead the once-great state of Wisconsin, yet the jackass loses to a union-busting authoritarian governor with a criminal defense fund, then about all one can say is that there is something deeply, disturbingly wrong with American democracy.

In immersing oneself in MSNBC's evening coverage of recall Election Day, one would have thought that Tom Barrett was wiping the dairy meadows with Scott Walker. The network's progressive exuberance was overwhelming in spirit, but ultimately defeated in reality, which is a sad metaphor for activist progressivism itself.

The empirical evidence of a broadly delusional conservative America mounts in election after election, with 2008 representing an abnormally hostile reaction to the catastrophic Bush regime specifically--but now, other than the electorate's chronically wretched memory and seeming inability to sort facts from fiction, little else.

Now--just now--comes the AP's calling of the race, too. That's right, boys. Pile on. And rub it in.

Don't tell us about the money. Don't remind us that Walker gathered a gazillion while Barrett ate peanuts. In a typical race, OK, the money could be a deciding factor, and usually is. But not this time; no it should not have been, this time. No. What the Wisconsin governor had been up to, and what he executed, and how he was caught on tape, bragging of dividing and conquering, and all while organizing a legal defense against criminal violations of the law--no, not even a 25-1 advantage in cash could have vanquished "The 99 percent."

Let us hear no more of this propagandistic abomination, the "99 percent." It is a misleading, fraudulent and thoroughly empty sloganeering tactic for Alinsky wannabes. Nothing else.

What liberalism requires is adults of a serious mind and profound educational talents. Not slogans. Not feel-good catch-terms. Let us bury the 99 percent. And raise hell. Like Harry did. 

Comments

[RC]

The upcoming elections depress me. I see an increasing ill-informed, nativist, authoritarian America, controlled by the radical reactionaries (why don't more people use your phrase? I have been for the past 8 years) taking hold. It seems that the only thing that might bring about serious change is a true depression, and with the GOP in charge, that depression is a certainty.

[Peter G]

Come let us reason together. The results of the election are virtually unchanged from 2010 despite the heaping piles of money spent by the Republicans and their agents. What does that tell us? Virtually no one changed their mind about who to vote for. Certainly not either self identified Republicans and Democrats. One particularly on point MSNBC exit poll question tells the story. Who thought the recall election was even justified? And guess what? A large majority of independents did not think it was. And I took quite some heat for daring to point that out on some other liberal blogs. They never made a case for why it was important to reverse Walker's deconstruction of public sector unions to the vast majority of voters who aren't members of union, and do not directly benefit from the reversed policy. They should have made the focus of this thing, if they were going to do it, as a misguided and damaging austerity program on the part of Walker. They might have had a chance to sell that.

[AnneJ]

Again, I will quote the late great George Carlin: "It's not the politicians who suck. It's the people who suck". And we get what we vote for. I don't care how much money is spent it is still up to the voter to pay attention to what's really going on before stepping into the voting booth. In the end it's the vote that counts. Not the money.

[Marc McKenzie]

@Peter G: Spot on. Obama was not on the ballot yesterday. And there is the fact that the majority of people in Wisconsin, even those who voted for Walker, prefer Obama to Romney by a large margin.

Even if Wisconsin went for Walker yesterday, they seem set to go for Obama in November.

@AnneJ: Exactly. Which is why I say that people need to occupy a voting booth, not a park.

...But they also have to be informed. That might be difficult considering the MSM we have today, but we have to try.

[Grung_e_Gene]

Voting is always the answer. Not Voting empowers those who want to restrict it to only the "Right" people.

What the Walker Recall should show us is a reborn Labor movement is needed. But, while 125 years ago Haymarket Square didn't immediately create the strong Unions which crafted the Middle Class, Walker's "Divide & Conquer" strategy at the behest of his Koch Overlords can be spark which leads to a faster, stronger New Labor Movement.