Fleebaggers Gettin' Itchy As 5pm (Central Time) Deadline Looms

You can't stay away from home forever. Being away from home is tough on our troops and they're disciplined and tough. These guys? Pansy-ass punks.

Fox Nation has learned exclusively from a highly placed source within Wisconsin state politics that the fourteen AWOL Democrats are experiencing “dissension in the ranks.” State Sen. Julie Lassa (D) is pregnant and “extremely unhappy” about being on the run. State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D) has been hit particularly hard by his paycheck being withheld. Wisconsin State Senate leadership is currently negotiating with eight of the fourteen to come home.

Important update over there at Hot Air -- the majority leader may be negotiating, but he says he's not conceding anything as regards the bill.

Meanwhile, a poll is out that says 42% of the country support the unions and only 31% support Walker.

Is that bad? Well, not when you consider that a lot of that 42% of support comes from the young, union members, Democrats... in other words, the pillars of support of the Democratic Party, also known as People Who Will Vote Against Us Anyway So Who Gives A Wet Shit?

I have a little more spin, if you want my spin. I'm not sure how much I'm buying this spin -- but I think I sort of like it.

On a lot of issues, there is something I would call a default, easy, "nice" answer. Like, if I have some kind of poll on some issue that's about trees, I'd expect the "pro-tree" side to get like 60%+ support, easily. On a whole lot of issues, people have no idea what the actual question is about but they offer up emotional responses to key words. Trees? I support them. Health care? I support that. Children? The little children? I'm on the pro-child side, and I don't care who knows it.

That's not to say that such support can be easily disregarded because the same reason people want to say they're "pro-tree" is the same reason they will vote against a politician successfully portrayed as "anti-tree."

But on many issues, there is an easy, lay-up answer, and it usually is a liberal-leaning answer, because, superficially, liberals are in favor of trees, and health care, and children. (At least they favor the idea of children, though they are also pretty big on the idea of, erm, terminating them.)

Now, "unions" are not as an easy lay-up default "nice" thing to support like trees are, but they do have some of that going on there. Like, it's the nice thing to say. People say lots of stupid shit when they're programmed to say the nice thing -- like when Rand Paul said that Wisconsin teachers make $89,000 per year (or three-quarters year, I should say) David Letterman wasted no time in offering the clapper answer "And they should make twice that!!"

Really, dude? A teacher required to be in command of the information a child is supposed to know at age 12 should be making $188,000 per year? Or three quarters year, I should say? For successfully teaching children lessons from a manual they should be making nearly $200,000 per year in straight salary, let alone benefits, and have summers and every major holiday off?

Really?

What the fuck should a doctor make then, I wonder? What should a garbageman make? Their jobs are harder, dirtier, go on throughout the year (including in sub-zero weather) and they have less respect. What should we pay them, then, to make that job competitive with the blandishments afforded teachers?

But you see my point. There is an easy clapper answer, and there is a tougher, more honest, but not-as-nice answer.

So here's my question: if the easy, "nice" clapper answer gets... um, 42% support... is that anything really to crow about?

Only 31% support Walker. What about the 27% who are undecided? What is more likely -- that they more support the unions but feel uncomfortable saying so that they support Walker but feel that isn't nice to say?

I think the latter. That's not strong support, certainly, as they can't even admit it to a pollster.

But I'd tend to bet that if you put them on a lie detector, you'd find they were more on Walker's side than they feel it's socially acceptable to admit.

Because "I support the unions" is such an easy answer to offer, it seems to me that 42% should be taken as the almost the highest level of union support including leaners, and it can be safely assumed that Walker gains the support, when you include leaners, of 55% or more.

posted by Ace at 03:40 PM

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