George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Peter Robinson ·
Feb 22, 2011 at 8:42am
When George Will is good, he's very, very good. From his latest:
Walker [Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin], by a fiscal seriousness contrasting with Obama's lack thereof, and Obama, by inciting defenders of the indefensible, have made three things clear:
First, the Democratic Party is the party of government, not only because of its extravagant sense of government's competence and proper scope but also because the party's base is government employees. Second, government employees have an increasingly adversarial relationship with the governed. Third, Obama's "move to the center" is fictitious.
Gorgeous, no?
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Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Right on the money -- and once again Barack Obama, the gift that keeps on giving, has managed by dramatize the conflict. I say again, "If Karl Rove did not invent this President, where did he come from? Could you in your wildest dreams have imagined that the Democrats would be so stupid?" Not, it has to be Rove, the evil genius of American politics, right?
Jun '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
A moderate doesn't instruct his political organization to put more muscle into union protests of state governors and governments. That is the thuggish behavior of a socialist community organizer who years ago embraced the tactics of Saul Alinsky. It should disturb and anger any American, especially those who took him at his word when he said that there are no red states or blue states just the United States. He is using his office to attack those states that are attempting to get their fiscal houses in order. And that is the reprehensible content of his character.
Jun '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
I've been reading George Will for decades, and yet his writing is never stale or recycled. Conservatives owe him much for his fighting the long fight even in the worst of our wilderness years.
His prose is never showy, but is always elegant and goes straight to the heart of the issue (as Peter's quote on the Wisconsin issue demonstrates).
He is also a paragon of civility--even when dealing with nitwits like Bill Maher.
Let's ask him for a week of guest blogging.
Jan '11
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
A month ago I was still persuaded that Obama might be incompetent rather than evil. Since then he has issued a sick joke of a federal budget that drives us deeper in debt every year, lied about that budget, and sent his union thugs into Wisconsin to disrupt the lawfully elected governance of the state.
EVIL.
Jun '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Youtube: "Shocking Level of Influence: Trumka Talks to White House EVERY DAY and Visits a Couple Times A Week"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4NrT2oTQqE
Dec '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
After the Socialist Party candidate for president, Mitterrand, won the French election, one of his first initiatives was the hiring of hundreds of thousands of state employees.
Even at the time, few had the debilitating naïvety to laude him for his benevolence in giving steady work to so many who otherwise would never be offered a job.
A seasoned politician who switched parties, fabricated rumors of his assassination to revive his relevancy, served as a government minister with portfolio, and never left politics when out of government, he was clever enough to understand that, once president, his padding of government payrolls was not meant to add efficiency to the administration of government power, but to ensure the longevity of his own.
Our historic first Islamic apostate president uses unions as Reid did in Nevada, and as socialists have always done in Europe.
Oct '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Wisconsin government shutdown has spread to the Indiana Legislature. Yes, I said a “government shutdown.” The left wing media and the Democrat party hacks in Washington have been spreading fear of a Republican-caused government shutdown in Washington, DC. Let’s use that language against them for the legislators who are abandoning the democratic republican principles and pretending that elections do not have consequences.
Spread the word across the vast right wing conspiracy that these state house democrats are doing “government shutdowns.”
Dec '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Zing! The union bosses and the Democratic politicians whose campaigns they bankroll using union money don't want the workers to have a choice. They may not chose "correctly". They may be exploited by the evil greedy taxpayers who selfishly want to keep money for themselves that rightly belongs to the government workers.
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
'Nuff said.
Sep '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
An excellent article by George Will indeed. I have a follow-up question for you, Peter.
President Obama has given the unions support from his own personal, political organization, Organizing for America. What happens when they lose as it seems certain now?
What happens to Caesar when the Praetorian Guard is defeated?
Obama sacrificed Democratic control of Congress for a bill that's been struck down in the courts. He signed on to a massive spending spree that failed to come close to it's objectives. The Middle East may well end up going to the Islamists.
So what happens to his political power when Walker wins?
Jul '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
The other Praetorian Guard steps in to help him distance himself from the first Praetorian Guard.
Jun '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Wylee Coyote
The other Praetorian Guard steps in to help him distance himself from the first Praetorian Guard. · Feb 22 at 1:15pm
Note the choice of words in the NY Times article you linked, that White House involvement in the Wisconsin issue have been "overblown". Not that there was "no involvement" but what there was wasn't in their estimation significant.
Gosh, one would think if the Washington Post, the paper which made the original allegation had gotten it wrong then they would be pressed by the Obama White House for a retraction or at least a correction. My guess is that WAPO will stand by their story. An excerpt:
"The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals."
Richard Trumka phones the White House everyday and stops by for a chat twice a week and we're supposed to believe that the Obama administration has clean hands in all this? Give me a break.
Sep '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
Wylee, the NYT piece you linked to was delusional.
"The battle in Wisconsin over public employee unions has left President Obama facing a tricky balance between showing solidarity with longtime political supporters and projecting a message in favor of deep spending cuts to reduce the debt."
Italics mine because that phrase makes me go, "Huh?" In any case, I'm not sure the NYT reaches enough people to defend Obama from much of anything. They're more like the Praetorian Webelos.
Edited on Feb 22, 2011 at 5:12pmMay '10
Re: George F. Will on Wisconsin and the President
This hilights a key issue. If the number of govt employees increases sufficiently, they wil be able to elect their own bosses, essentially achieving a bloodless coup d'etat.
Democracy will continue, in the sense that there will be elections, but they will be sham elections since only one candidate will have the organizational strength to be elected.
The number of govt employees needs to be capped.