It is difficult for me to find the words to adequately describe my disappoint over yesterday’s recall election. Walker won by a 53% to 46% margin, so Wisconsin still does not exist, and the region had only a minor name change to the Totalitarian Corporate Plutocracy of Fitzwalker$tan. I cannot remember a time that residents of a state had so great an opportunity to educate themselves regarding the policies and character of a candidate, and the 53% that were too lazy to do so and voted for Walker are so contemptible that Walker is exactly what they deserve. Even 37% of Union workers voted for Walker!!! My heart goes out to the rest. In the end, only five votes mattered.
Gov. Scott Walker, whose decision to cut collective bargaining rights for most public workers set off a firestorm in a state usually known for its political civility, easily held on to his job on Tuesday, becoming the first governor in the country to survive a recall election and dealing a painful blow to Democrats and labor unions.
Mr. Walker soundly defeated Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, the Democrats’ nominee in the recall attempt, with most precincts across the state reporting results. The victory by Mr. Walker, a Republican who was forced into an election to save his job less than two years into his first term, ensures that Republicans largely retain control of this state’s capital, and his fast-rising political profile is likely to soar still higher among conservatives.
Here in Waukesha, some Republican voters said the result ended the most volatile partisan fight in memory, one that boiled over 16 months ago in the collective bargaining battle and expanded into scuffles about spending, jobs, taxes, the role and size of government, and more. Democrats, some of whom are already pledging to mount strong challenges for state lawmakers’ seats in November, seemed less sure about the meaning of Mr. Walker’s victory… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Ed Schultz discussed the loss with Jon Nichols and Ruth Conniff.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Of course, Barrett has conceded now, but there is one good thing for us.
Democrats appeared to have assumed control of the state Senate with results posted early Wednesday showing former Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) defeating incumbent Van Wanggaard in a tight race.
Republicans held on to three other state Senate seats in Tuesday’s recall voting. Democratic challengers lost recalls bids against Sens. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls.).
Rep. Jerry Petrowski (R-Stettin) was elected to fill the vacancy left by Sen. Pam Galloway (R-Wausau), who resigned earlier this year after opponents gathered enough signatures to initiate a recall election.
All eyes Wednesday will be on the 21st District. Results posted early Wednesday showed Lehman with 36,255 votes to 35,476 for Wanggaard with 100% of precincts reporting. The margin of 779 could bring a recount.
In a statement, Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller said:
"Tonight, Wisconsinites across the 21st Senate District elected a new State Senator… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Milwaukee Journal Sentinel>
If the recount holds, at least Fitzwalker$tan will have muzzled their Fartfuhrer.
At the outset, I said that Walker won by five votes. Here they are:
24 Responses to “Walker Wins by Five Votes”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Citizens United and Koch Brothers with fuzzy vote counting… It’s a sad day…
Sadly for all of us, Citizens United did EXACTLY what SCOTUS wanted it to do. So now they can hang their disgusting, disenfranchising “Mission Accomplished” banner.
So to each and everyone of the “SCOTUS Five” when you spin the Wheel of Fortune I would like to say, “Buy a “U”, you a$$holes!”
Big Amen to you both!
A U please.
I am very sad for the people of Fitzwalkerstan because too many did not open their eyes and ended up stepping in one big pile of bear scat! One figure I heard that surprised the hell out of me was that 37% of union members voted for Walker. And when Fitzwalkerstan becomes a ‘right to work’ state, what will this 37% say then? I heard that many of the rural areas voted for Walker. That does not surprise me in that farmers, ranchers etc tend to be more conservative — well at least that holds true in Canada. But ideology should never trump common sense! Another point, the chart showing out of state money raised showed approximately 66% of Walker’s warchest came from out of state, where as 26% of Barrett’s came from out of state. Personally, I think that if public funding of elections is not in the cards, then out of state money should definitely be disallowed. And of course, Citizens United must be overturned as well so that people have control, not corporations — I so agree with your statement and cartoon — Walker won by 5 votes! It will also be interesting to see the federal Democratic reaction to this — personally I thought Mr Obama should have weighed into this by at least visiting the state to speak publicly to the Democratic ideals.
In Walker’s speech, his first words were “Thank God for his abundant grace!”. I just about hurled on that one! And had Walker not won, would he have said the same thing? Interesting how these rightwing evangelical nut cases, these pseudo Xtians, use God for their own purposes.
Let this be a lesson to Democrats all over the country that they must stand up and fight! They must get out there and educate the people. They must do better if they hope to defeat the Republican/Teabaggers in November 2012!
Vote Democrat 2012!!!!! Vote Obama/Biden 2012!!!!!
Lynn, you put it so succinctly, thank you.
Lynn, I agree, but because Democrats won the state Senate, Fartfuhrer can only make it right to work if a couple dems vote for it too.
Nate Silver of 538 provides a bit of a silver-lining to yesterday’s debacle – and it doesn’t even involve the fact that Walker-Koch outspent Democrats EIGHT-to-one.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/governors-races-can-be-a-contrary-indicator-for-presidential-elections/
Most interesting point, Nameless. Thanks!
Since the election was in June, I am thinking some conservatives may have think they won the war and may not participate as hard come November. They may think that conservatives got it in the bag and stay at home. One can only hope.
Kevin, that would be wonderful, but I wouldn’t count on it.
This is the DNC’s fault for not contributing enough money to Bartlet’s campaign. They and other wealthy Dems left this race out to dry. My pinky finger could have won this election with a bit of their money – Bartlet was just plain out spent and that’s what we get when the DNC doesn’t step up to the plate.
I call bullshit on this recall election.
Lisa, in the end the DNC did kick in and kick in heavily, but the DNC had less to spend that the billionaires.
If money was the “winner” why didn’t Walker win by a bigger margin?
I think you have to accept the fact, that this IS what a majority wanted, no matter how distasteful to me and you.
I think it would be real funny, now that he won, if soon he would be indited for felony charges.
Alaskans voted for Sen. Stevens even though he was indited. Americans have voted for all kinds of crooked, immoral candidates.
There are a lot of Americans who want to destroy unions, want voter ID laws, want more tax cuts, want to eliminate social programs, etc..
Steve, I agree that this is what the majority wanted. The election was closer, because Democrats have a stronger ground game. The margin was also small because the money had to overcome Walker’s terrible record.
Let it be so.
That’s because of ignorance and apathy.
As I posted elsewhere, Walker and Republicans won big in the recall election; for $47 million, Walker got to keep his job and republicans got a neutered sock puppet.
Good point, Phil.
All I can add is that I feel sorry for the honest people of Wisconsin!
As do I.
Rather than stand with their brothers and sisters, 53% of the people in Wisconsin sold their soul to the devil. They chose to elect an uneducated, lying criminal as our governor who doesn’t know how to compromise and whines when he doesn’t get his way. He pitted family against family, friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, co-worker against co-worker, private against public… My family, like so many others, happens to be a victim of dictator Walker policy. The only comfort I take in this is that 53% now have bad Karma. Karma always has a way of righting “wrongs”!:) When you follow Satan to hell, you deserve everything you get.
Welcome Uprising. 🙂
I agree. The ones I feel sorry for are the ones that did not goose-step with the Fartfuhrer. The 53% that did have already guaranteed their own punishment for doing so.
Chimpy got “elected” by 5 votes too. Go figure.
And he replaced two of the five with two who are even worse.
It’s a sad day for the common folk when elections can be bought. It’s even sadder that elections are bought by those criminal “persons” who are in actuality corporations.
That’s true, but it only happens because the common folk allow it.