One million. Well. Even I was surprised. I thought maybe closer to 750,000 would be the final recall total…but ONE MILLION??!! Wow.
There are, no doubt, a lot of ecstatic people in Wisconsin right now. Thousands of them are in Madison as I type. Ed Schultz is reporting from there this afternoon and tonight. And a march to the GAB office is about to begin. Quite a celebration indeed.
Regardless, I am not doing flips and cartwheels quite yet. And not just because that would probably land me in the hospital. I cannot find it in me to rejoice in this monumental number because I know the rocky road ahead of us. I want to cheer and bust open some champagne like my friends at the Capitol, but I still harbor a great deal of apprehension and fear. For example:
- Walker’s administration is gathering millions of dollars – much of it from Texas and other states – to fight this recall. And as we all know, sometimes money speaks louder than voices.
- Walker’s administration is going to tie up the proceedings for as long as they can, hoping the movement will lose its momentum. Lawsuits and complaints are sure to be in abundance.
- Walker’s administration implemented a Voter ID Law which has basically amounted to a poll tax in the state of Wisconsin. There are countless stories of people who have been denied cards due to the inability to retrieve original birth certificates. Also, while the cards themselves might be free, the hoops to jump through in order to get them are not. Many counties do not have DMVs with reasonable service hours. They will do everything they can to keep the people from voting.
- Walker’s administration is initiating rumors that petition signers will have their names and info plastered on public websites in order to punish them with threats of privacy invasions.
- Walker’s administration has tried to push for an early start to the redistricting maps so the numbers will favor them prior to the recall elections.
- Walker’s administration can afford to invade our living rooms with constant television ads full of his own chest thumping and over blown lies.
They will do anything and everything they can to impede this process and right now, like it or not, they have the reins and the cash. So, no, I cannot bring myself to get overly excited here. I know what these people are capable of and nothing will shock me anymore.
There is one more thing which worries me and that is the same thing that got us here in the first place. Lazy, head in the sand, apathetic lumps who do not bother to get off their butts and VOTE!! Signing a petition at the grocery store is much easier than taking 15 minutes out of your day to cast a ballot. So, yes, I do worry there will be an aire of complacency and we will be right back where we started.
Keep in mind I am glass half empty kind of gal…hell, in my experience the glass is often bone dry. So you will have to forgive my poo-poo attitude. There are plenty of great people who are quite confident this endeavor will see a favorable conclusion. And I hate to stomp on their joyous day. So I will leave them with a raised glass, a big ole “atta boy!” and a wholehearted “CHEERS”!! But I will still worry.
With over 1 million signature...they would have to discount over 400k to void the recall. That is impossible. So...with everyone supposedly worried about all the cost...why friggin' bother??!! There is no way they are going to be able to cancel out 400k signatures, so WHY SPEND THE MONEY? Just a thought.
Like the anti-walker group has no big money behind them. Give me a break. I hope Walker ties up this whole fiasco. And that all the elections are staggered, all over the summer months, so it costs all the voting precincts in the state millions and millions of dollars. It will be worth all that tax money that will be diverted from schools, services and social programs etc., to pay for it.
You do realize that Democrats are just as capable, if not more so, of doing the exact same things that you now chastise Walker for doing, right? After all, which side of the political aisle was it that spent over $1B in the last presidential election, outspending the other side by an almost 3:1 margin? Hmmm….. I managed to catch Walker on this morning's Fox & Friends before work. He openly acknowledged that there are probably more than enough valid signatures to trigger a recall election and has no qualms about defending his record. " And as we all know, sometimes money speaks louder than voices." But only voices can vote - money can't. Wasn't this just solidified by Rick Santorum's amazing finish in the Iowa caucuses? "Lawsuits and complaints are sure to be in abundance." Much in the same way the Wisconsin Dems attempted to disqualify the attempted recall of three of their party member state senators, yes? "There are countless stories of people who have been denied cards due to the inability to retrieve original birth certificates." In all honest reality, there are just as many stories of alleged and/or verified cases of voter fraud out there, right?
Even Politifact has rated this leftist talking point as being completely FALSE. "Walker’s administration is initiating rumors that petition signers will have their names and info plastered on public websites in order to punish them with threats of privacy invasions." Ummm.. you may want to check your link, as the story there asserts that Walker backers are doing this, and not the Walker 'administration.' " Walker’s administration has tried to push for an early start to the redistricting maps so the numbers will favor them prior to the recall elections." Not sure how redistricting would affect anything in a state-wide election. Perhaps you're referring more to the senatorial recalls with this? And you don't think that the Dems would be doing the same thing if the situation were reversed? Come on now, be honest here.
Just as the public sector unions and the Dems have proven and shown that they can do the exact same thing, right? Again, it's people that vote, not TV commercials. And everyone that already shares your convictions will not be influenced in the slightest by those ads, just as the lefty ads won't be effective in influencing any of the hard-liner conservatives. So essentially, you have a pretty level playing field, do you not? So what exactly is it again that you're complaining about? BTW - I'd like to invite to check out the newest installment of Hoffa's Retro Cinema Club if haven't done so already. This installment features a spotlight on filmmaker Charles Band and looks at his 'Meridian: Kiss of the Beast' (1990). http://mountpleasant.patch.com/blog_posts/hoffas-retro-cinema-club-film-maker-spotlight-on-charles-band-ft-meridian-kiss-of-the-beast-1990 Cheers!
"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts" - C. S. Lewis
"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts" - C. S. Lewis Now I must ask if walkers dad was a catholic preast. Walker like to harm all the children he can. It is obvious our anti christ governor is one sick puppy.
Why is it so 'impossible' that 400k signatures could be rejected? It seems every bit as possible as the recallers collecting 1 million signatures in 60 days...
This is walkers recall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G15gcAAS3Yw. Listen to walkers speech.
Capitol Report: Unions busy behind the scenes vetting candidates to take on Walker Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/capitol-report-unions-busy-behind-the-scenes-vetting-candidates-to/article_db50f24a-4073-11e1-a549-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1jvSTQ5kg "In the end," he (Erpenbach) adds, "what the Democrats will need to do is give people a reason why they shouldn't vote for Walker." Well, I thought the reason was collective bargaining. Are we changing the reason because we know the original reason won't fly?
REEEEEEALLY?????? Like Democrats don't have cash. FLASHBACK Wisconsin Recall Elections: Record $44 Million Spent By Campaigns, Outside Groups The report found Democrats and their backers outspent Republicans $23.4 million to $20.5 million in this summer's recalls. "Outside groups outspent the candidates themselves $34.5 million to $8 million. The advantage for Democrats also was seen in outside spending, as they generated $18.6 million compared to $15.9 million for Republicans."
"The drive to collect an average of 9,000 signatures a day, fueled by anger over Walker's successful push to take away nearly all public worker collective bargaining rights, began with pajama parties and other events after midnight." I read many articles similar to this, so sorry if that's the opinion I formed. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/scott-walker-recall-wisconsin_n_1094469.html
Why isn't this about collective bargaining? Isn't that what angered the masses last February? Avoiding that issue as a reason for the recalls makes me think that this is more of an issue of the Dems being sore losers...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57361562/walker-turning-down-$37-million-for-health-care/