Posted by
Bill Crawford on Wednesday, March 09, 2011 9:16:00 PM
Well, as Obama was fond of saying in early 2009, "elections have consequences". Or was that Rahm Emanuel? I do know that Obama closed off a health care conference with a Republican caucus that year with "...but remember, we won the election".
I guess that doesn't matter any more. The Wisconsin Senate Democrats bailed out of state weeks ago, in order to prevent a quorum. It was just a matter of time before some parliamentarian wizard found a way around that one. Hell, they should have hired Chuck Schumer, he would have come up with something sooner than this.
The reports were zinging all through the right side of the blogosphere today that Governor Walker was about to compromise with the Democrats. Evidently, he was doing the outreach thing, and getting little or nothing back. I have heard reports all over the map on this one, so I won't presume to sum them up. At any rate, Walker decided at some point this afternoon that he wasn't getting anywhere, and he hauled out the heavy artillery.
So the Republicans stripped the collective bargaining legislation of any spending provisions, and the quorum rule no longer applied. They voted, and that was that. The funny thing is, these were granted by a past legislature, but upon arrival somehow became inalienable rights on the level of life and liberty in the U.S. Constitution.
The point is, two things are going to happen soon. One is that the Wisconsin Senate Democrats do not have any reason to hole up like Saddam Hussein in the spider hole, and will return as fast as their carpools can get them back to Madison. They will then join in a boiling circus that will make the last few weeks look like an assisted-living bridge match.
You see, they have run over grandma and crushed all the apple pies. Collective bargaining is now Norman Rockwell Americana and anybody who speaks otherwise is an infidel. Enjoy the respite. The news will go forth tonight, and fevers will rise like influenza by sunrise.
I understand that some of that vitriole will end up in my lap. I'm long past caring about it. That isn't the point. The point is, this has to be done, if we are going to ever crawl out of the hole so many states are in.