Democratic leader consoles Wisconsin party after recall

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Democratic leader consoles Wisconsin party after recall

By Brendan O'Brien

MILWAUKEE | Sat Jun 9, 2012 1:01pm EDT

(Reuters) - Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz rallied Wisconsin Democrats holding their state convention this weekend, urging them to regroup after a failed attempt to recall the state's Republican governor.

Wasserman Schultz said Wisconsin Democrats had been up against "nothing short of an avalanche of secret, out of state, and corporate special interest money" in their bid to unseat Governor Scott Walker, who enjoyed a 7-to-1 financial advantage over his challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

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Wasserman Schultz urged Democrats to keep fighting in Wisconsin, a battleground state in November's presidential race between Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

"Make no mistake - we will not cede an inch to Mitt Romney over the next five months," the Florida congresswoman told the gathering Friday night in Appleton. "If he thinks we're going to let him bring the same failed policies of the past back to Wisconsin, he is sorely mistaken."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/09/us-usa-wisconsin-recall-idUSBRE8580BQ20120609

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Debbie is looking for more donations. That's what this is all about.

She could give a rat's patooty about winning elections. She's exploiting the pain and anger of Democrats to make us take out our purses and wallets "for the good fight".

Why doesn't the DNC and President Obama hit up our billionaires? As wealthy as the Koch bros and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are, they can't hold a candle to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. We have Spielberg and Katzenberg to create powerful political ads no Republican can beat. So why don't these two mega-billionaires start a SuperPAC for President Obama and have those two mega directors and producers combat the Koch bros?

[RBInMaine]

3. Gee, thanks so much for ridiculous circular firing squad hyperbolic radical nonsense talk.

[BlueCaliDem]

6. Same to you.

[russspeakeasy]

2. I don't listen to her anymore.

It seems to me that she has lost that "personal" touch.

[RBInMaine]

4. You're talking nonsense. Please get a grip.

[russspeakeasy]

5. My grip is pretty good. I don't listen to Ed Rendell anymore either.

[Samantha]

7. I think your grip is excellent

I have several people "banned" in this house, including but not limited to Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, recently added Romney, Reince Priebus (not going to give him the respect of actually looking up the correct spelling of his name), the current Chair of RNC, former chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Herman Cain and the entire Fox network. I have been a lot less upset. I do read about some of their antics just to stay informed of what the opposition is saying and doing.

Sam

[calimary]

8. Me too, Samantha. I don't watch Pox Noise any more than I buy books by crooks.

That was one from the post-Watergate era - "don't buy books by crooks."

I don't believe in rewarding or reinforcing bad behavior, I don't patronize TV or cable channels, or radio stations or networks, or manufacturers that I know support people or concepts I find objectionable. I don't buy anything manufactured by the koch brothers. I don't watch Pox, and I don't listen to stations here in L.A. that run CONservative talk.

One time I had an email war with the programming department at KABC TalkRadio. I'd written a comment in one of their "Contact Us" blanks, complained about the wall-to-wall CONservative spew and asserted that there was nothing they offered that I was the least bit interested in listening to. Someone in the office there responded to me, questioning why I hadn't been able to find anything worth listening to - and encouraged me to check out the great variety of different ideas articulated by their most excellent hosts on their airwaves! "You might find it really interesting!" No, I'm sorry. I don't find it "interesting" in the least! I don't find my blood pressure going up and the idea of screaming in fury at my radio "interesting" in the least! NOR is it "compelling" radio. Not when it makes my skin crawl, my teeth grind, and the bile rise up in the depth of my stomach. Whoever this poor idiot was, he or she wouldn't give up. Tried over a couple more emails to get me to sign up as a KABC subscriber and get all their great emails every day about the daily on-air exploits of all their wonderful hosts like larry elder and that-guy-whose-name-rhymes-with-Vanity, and al rantel and all these other lovely individuals spewing CONservative crap. People I wouldn't tune in for - if my life depended on it.

I stood my ground (in language their types can understand). I refused the repeated invitations to sign up. I continued to insist that KABC TalkRadio offered NOTHING to a listener like me, and until it started offering liberal and progressive talk show hosts, I had no interest in tuning in there. The person pressing the case for KABC finally gave up.

KABC TalkRadio used to have Michael Jackson on there - NOT the strange pop superstar. The erudite, classy, incredibly well-informed, and enviably well-connected talk show host. He'd be on from 9am to noon Monday through Friday. He was on it - on every local AND national story, with all kinds of great and relevant newsmaker guests who were as brilliant and sophisticated and discerning as he was. You always learned something, and there was never this sense of snark or food-fight or name-calling. He made you smarter, week after week. He ELEVATED the level of discourse. Now we have sewer rats running all over the radio landscape, and no one hires Michael Jackson or anyone like him anymore. No one seems interested in class acts anymore. He used to be king of the talk show airwaves here in L.A. A HUGE loss and debasement of the public discourse especially with the crap and the bullies and the louts and loudmouths and smug CONS with their snark and gloating and superiority complexes and nonstop hate. Just a freakin' wasteland. KABC's ratings are in the toilet. And they've been in the toilet for years. They can't compete with KFI, which is the other big AM talker, and of course, it's loaded with wall-to-wall CONS too, including limbaugh.

It's just a disgrace. Nauseating! And in the second-largest market in the country no less. You'd think in a market the size of L.A. there'd be plenty of anything you wanted. Not so. One shitty little nothing-station with nothing in terms of signal strength, where you can hear Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller. And that's about it. It's a wasteland here, radio-wise.