If It's Tuesday, The Democrats Must Be Thugs

With news that recall proceedings in Wisconsin may go to voters as soon as July 12, and that six state Republican Senators face recalls to three Democrats, Republicans are now turning to the Noise Machine to declare the recall effort thuggery when Democrats do it, but patriotism when Republicans do it, and that means the New York Post.

Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, didn't mince words the other day on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show. The Democrats, he said, "play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong."

He was speaking about battles in Washington, but an even more vivid example can be found in Wisconsin, where the Democrats are still trying to overturn the 2010 elections.

Blindsided last fall by the election of Gov. Scott Walker, the loss of both houses of the legislature and the US Senate seat held by ultraliberal Russ Feingold, the Democrats have simply refused to accept defeat and instead are continuing the fight by any means necessary.

Lawmakers' weeks-long flight from the state to prevent a vote on Walker's reformist budget made national news; less well-covered tactics have included recounts and recall petitions as well as threats and intimidation. 

Nowhere in the op-ed piece by the Post's Mike Walsh is there any mention that Wisconsin Republicans are trying to recall state Senators too, but we wouldn't want pesky facts to get in the way of blowing the "those people are all thugs and criminals" dog whistle.  Expect a lot more of this as the recall election approaches, how Wisconsin Democrats are "lawless radicals" who must be "dealt with".


But that's par for the course.  If We The People do something that Republicans don't like, they are "thugs".  If they do something approved by the oligarchy, it's "patriotic".