January 22, 2004
Mutually Assured Silliness
It was almost pathetic to watch the State of the Union on Tuesday and the State of the State on Wednesday. Same crowd, same theater, same Pavlovian applause followed by obligatory standing ovations, same TelePrompTer, same Reaganesque use of people in the gallery singled out for special attention.
Missing last night was any real attention to poverty. No passion for the 8,000 children in Milwaukee public schools who are homeless. Why are they homeless and what is our plan to provide real shelter?
Nothing for the 80,000 Wisconsin manufacturing workers who lost their jobs in the past three years. What is the plan? More tax breaks for business so they can, like Ray-O-Vac, pay for the moving trucks?
Yes, we need an increase in minimum wage, but where is the clarion call for a living wage?
But the worst moment was Doyle's "in-your-face-environmentalists" when he bragged that he and John Gard stood up to the entire environmental community to deliver for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.(He was more subtle, but the message was clear: "I'm not afraid of you.") The Republicans, standing and applauding, could not help themselves. They were laughing and smirking since they had convinced a Democrat in the governor's chair to do what no Republican had done before.
I had about enough when most of the Democrats felt compelled to stand and applaud this fraud called "Job Creation." I was delighted to see Rep. Spencer Black sitting.
Suspicions were confirmed last night. Government has become WMC, Gard, Panzer and Governor Doyle. The Democrats in the Legislature should save the taxpayers' per diem money and just stay home. It was not a great night for progressives.
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