Tuesday, March 8, 2011

How Not To Be Orange Julius

Steve M pretty succinctly wraps up Gov. Scott Walker's problem in Wisconsin:  he doesn't have anybody crazier than himself around.

Even when voters are turning out to cast votes for certifiably crazy teabag-style extremist candidates, a significant percentage of those voters actually believe they want reason and moderation to prevail; they really believe they want everyone after the election to come to an understanding of how to solve our problems through compromise. That's just the way it always is in America -- right-wing extremists can persuade quite a few swing voters that voting for them is consistent with moderation, because Fox and talk radio have made the argument that the liberal lefty commie Democrats are extremists on the other side, and a vote for far-rightists is a vote for "balance." (That's also the meaning of Fox's slogan "fair and balanced.")

Scott Walker's mistake was letting himself himself be perceived as the extremist he actually is, rather than as a guy merely restoring "balance." He needed a "bad cop" who was seeking even more extreme stuff -- or, at the very least, he needed to say, "I'm a reasonable guy; look at how little I'm actually asking for." 

Orange Julius on the other hand has complete Tea Party nutbars like Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, and Steve King around to make him look reasonable by comparison, and it's working.  Democrats are happy to agree to $50 billion in cuts when Sen. Rand Paul wants to cut $500 billion from domestic spending and get rid of the Departments of Education, Energy, and the EPA.

Walker doesn't have anyone crazy around to make him look sane, therefore he's losing the battle horribly.

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