Reagan

All I don't know is what I can't read in the newspapers -- Walker edition

September 19, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

From an article by the very estimable John Nichols in The Capital Times comes a bald if unsurprising statement about Gov. Scott Walker. It involved Walker's reaction to the current John Doe investigation and FBI raids involving his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive:

News reports of the FBI raid are the talk of the state. But Walker is not talking. He and his press secretary are instructing reporters not to bring the issue up at public events.

Since when do a governor and his staff feel so uber-privileged that they will not only refuse to answer questions about a particular and unpleasant matter, but will effectively threaten any reporter who dares to bring the matter up in the first place? Is this transparent government, where the public has a right to know? Of course not, but it fits right in with the state GOP legislative leadership's recurring tactic of calling public meetings without following the spirit or even the language of the Open Records Act.

Obama's alleged doom was Reagan's gain

September 4, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Little peopleSo the conventional wisdom is now that Barack Obama simply cannot win reelection in 2012 if the unemployment rate doesn't drop significantly by then. His handling of the economy is poohed by two thirds of polling respondents and right now fundy Christian nutcase Rick Perry is riding high in polls as the Republican challenger apparent and a nominee who would beat Obama in the general election.

Oh, really? Well, no one could say times are good, but a key fact seems to have escaped the attention of most pundits:

Ignoring the fact that he inherited an economy on life support, the unemployment rate under Obama has dropped from around 10 percent to 9 percent. At the end of Reagan's first term, when a far less damaging recession was still causing grief, the national unemployment rate was EIGHT PERCENT. Yet Reagan won handily with his "stay the course" campaign. And Obama, unlike Reagan, is likely to face a GOP that has devolved far to the right and is turning off independents in many polls.