Now this represents real change.
After two years of using the pages of The NY Times to lash out at peaceful health care protesters and Tea Parties, the Board of Editors of The New York Times has decided that actual violence by unions in Wisconsin is “not surprising” (emphasis mine):
“Like many governors, [Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker] wants to cut the benefits of state workers. But he also decided a budget crisis was a good time to advance an ideological goal dear to his fellow Republicans: eliminating most collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Not surprisingly, thousands of workers descended on the Capitol building, pounding on windows and blocking doors, yelling “shut it down.” …
Keeping schools closed and blocking certain public services is not a strategy we support and could alienate public opinion and play into the governor’s hand. Short of that, the unions should make their voices heard and push back hard against this misguided plan.”
And just what does “push back hard” mean? Those sound like fighting words to me.
If one of the union members hurts someone, will that also be “not surprising”? Are the Editors contributing to a “gale of anger” the consequences of which will be their responsibility?
And what process is it that the Editors find so distasteful that they feel mob rule is needed? Why, it’s the democratic process in the Wisconsin state legislature.
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Comments
One of my Facebook friends, who gets upset when I post a comment in response to her posts, has one today linking Democracy Now's recent statement by Noam Chomsky, of all people. She's very enthusiastic about The People rising.
If I tell you she's a progressive, will anyone be surprised when I add that her attitude towards the Tea Party is not, shall we say, favorable? In other words, The People are authentic when they rise in certain ways but not others.
By the way, I know the woman (who is, I hasten to add, a genuinely warm and personable lady) through a Jewish group in which she has a leadership position. I have managed so far to ask if she is aware of Chomsky's view on Israel.
@Alex – "Some [of The People] are more equal than others." It's what the Leftists live by – and I sure she HATES when you show her that, tolerant person that she is. Heh.
Once again, the NYT shows what it really stands for, and it's not We the People protesting our unsustainable debt and for limits on federal government overreach. No wonder they are going bankrupt.
Wisconsin Dems hanging out at the Tilted Kilt
"Wisconsin Democrats run to Rockford, Illinois to avoid controversial vote
The senators ran to the Clock Tower Resort in Rockford."
WREX, Rockford, IL
Clock Tower Resort, Rockford, IL
Yesterday I called my federal Congressman's office and asked what the status of Organizing For America is. I was told it is considered Obama's campaign organization. Now we are learning that Organizing For America is encouraging people to go to Wisconsin to protest and plans on busing people into Wisconsin.
I have asked my Congressman to start an investigation into OFA, since Obama, and the Democratic Party, are now involving itself into state politics.
The Congressional switchboard is now open. I suggest all of you do the same today. Demand to know why Obama's campaign organization can involve itself into state politics and demand an investigation into OFA.
Or will you just sit by and complain about the Obama minions taking over your nation?
Liberal Orthodoxy~The Other Religion of Peace!
I for one will hold President Obama personally responsible for any acts of violence that may occur during these protests. The DNC and Organizing for America are neck deep in these demonstrations and will have to be held accountable. Right? It must be nice for our President to get back to community organizing.
http://punditpress.blogspot.com/2011/02/repeated-calls-for-civility-falls-on_17.html
And why are we surprised when the Left says violence and incivility are okay for them, but not for their political opponents?
I hope the taxpayers of Wisconsin give these public employees a smackdown the likes of which they have never seen.
I saw a picture of Walker with crosshairs superimposed on it. Oddly enough, the NY Times and other progressive sources aren't reflecting on the climate of hate this shows.
It's not only the NYT that is endorsing mob rule but the POTUS. With all of the personal death threats to governors, congressmen, senators, government officials and others, and with unions threatening to burn down the country in a burst of rate, where is our community organizer in chief? Shouldn't he be leading the calls for calm? No. He may soon be out there leading the protests with his bullhorn.
@Alex Bensky
I know a guy who works for the police department (not a sworn officer, he's a civilian employee) who, nonetheless, proclaims himself to be an anarchist.
Logic and a grasp of irony not being strong points of radical lefties, he doesn't sense anything odd about an anarchist not only working for the government … but for the police, no less !!! A big Obama supporter, government can't be too big for this anarchist.
It is so fun and so easy to push his button.
The opening sentence is also worth noting:
"In a year when governors across the country are competing to show who’s toughest, no matter what the consequences, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin stands out as the first to bring his State Capitol to a halt."
See what they did. They spun the story that it is Governor Walker who is to blame for the standoff. They decide to mention several parapraphs later that, actually, it is the Democrats who are acting like juvenile deliquents by running away from home. If that's the case, isn't it logical to conclude it is the Democrats who are obstructing democracy by hiding like fugatives in a neighboring state to prevent a vote? Yes, it you're objective. But not if you are the NYT. To them, Governor Walker "is the first to bring his State Capitol to a halt".
Keller and Pinch have turned a once respectable newspaper into a far left ideological rag.
@Alex Bensky
Speaking of Facebook friends,
A guy with whom I was on the high school newspaper is now a well-known columnist for the LA Times. We were Facebook friends for a short time. Of his few thousand FB friends, you could count on one amputated hand how many were non-liberal.
When I joined FB I told myself I wouldn't post about politics. But my old high school friends were not so reticent. So, I tried to politely give as well as I often impolitely got.
He soon de-friended me. Little ol' me against the frothing-at-the-mouth hordes was just too much diversity, I guess.
Soon after he de-friended me, Hugh Hewitt interviewed him on his radio show. It was hilarious. Just before a commercial break, my old classmate stated that during the 2008 election some journalists tried to paint Obama as a muslim. Hugh laughed and insisted he provide one single name of a journalist who labeled Obama a muslim … he almost taunted him by repeatedly insisting, "Go ahead, Google it during the break and give me lust one name when we come back after the break. Google it and give me one single name!!"
After the break, he was gone … he'd hung up. Hugh basically said, "I told you so" when he realized my classmate had fled. Then someone in the station started talking to Hugh. You heard Hugh saying, "He just called back to say he couldn't stay on the line because he has another interview to do? But he has the time to call back and say that? And an LA Times columnist has a bunch of interviews lined up one after another on a Wednesday afternoon?"
You could almost hear Hugh shaking his head in disbelief. Good comedy, it was.
This is seriously the stupidest take you have ever had. At least we know from your comment on "fighting words" that you know as little about First Amendment law as you do about….well, public policy, reading comprehension, and most subjects in the public realm. Truly disappointing, Mr. Jacobson
When I come home unexpectedly and my dog has messed the living room I can usually find her hiding in a distant room. Perfectly analogous to the WI situation.
Demo's are the dog, their policies are the turds in living room, and as soon as the adults arrive (Repubs), they run and hide.
"You could almost hear Hugh shaking his head in disbelief."
You can usually "almost" hear that, because the screws that long ago loosed themselves in Hugh's brain rattle when he shakes his head.
"Keeping schools closed and blocking certain public services is not a strategy we support and could alienate public opinion and play into the governor’s hand."
Notice WHY they don't support those actions. Not because it's wrong to shut down schools and withhold public services while throwing a tantrum.
No.
It's because they would lose the battle politically.
Trust me. It's going to get a lot worse.
What would we have to do to get the NY legislature to leave the state? It would probably be an improvement.
timb said,
""""You could almost hear Hugh shaking his head in disbelief."
You can usually "almost" hear that, because the screws that long ago loosed themselves in Hugh's brain rattle when he shakes his head.""""
–I know that Media Matters stenographers get 50 lashes for failing to turn off their peripheral vision when Fox News is on, so I must deduce you are some kind of subversive. I can almost hear you meekly protest giving Mr. Soros yet another back massage.
@LukeHandCool
Ain't it broad-minded of those lefties who have their sites like Media Matters and Think Pro[c]ess and about a half-dozen others like Washington Monthly & Newshoggers who throw a centrist or independent off a site simply for disagreeing with the agitprop theme of the day? It's sorta like you flunked outta cadre-school 101 and are irredeemably cast into the outer darkness. Only in this case, I'm living in the light and lettiing a little shine into those narrow corridors of their socialist minds.
I think our friend 'timb' infests other sites like ann althouse from time to time. I've seen the troll paw tracks on other sites. Maybe Yglesias, which still hasn't ejected me yet. Mediaite is a place I drop bouquets on our old-fashioned marxists from time to time—they don't eject people for anything except capital crimes against thought.
The NYT twin towers of twaddle, Punch & Keller, simply are reverting to their sit-in days of the sixties and are pre-pubescent in their understanding of the nuances of democracy.
Here's a point from a comment on Pajamas Media:
"The whole concept of public unions should be illegal, in that it allows members to be represented twice, once directly at the negotiating table as a union member, and again at the polling booth as a citizen of the locality. Simultaneously, each of those privately-employed citizens who together pay the bulk of the union members’ salaries have but one vote, and effectively no power to fight off the unions’ ever-greedier demands. One man, one vote? Not when there are public unions, who offer nothing but specious rationalizations and thuggery when challenged. Public unions are undemocratic in theory, and stink of nothing but corruption in reality. They must all be dissolved."
timb, are you still with us or have you gone back to orbit?
@dave in boca
You said it, Dave. I do so like your style!