Will Walker layoffs backfire on Wisconsin Republicans?

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/03/will_layoffs_increase_pressure.html

Will Walker layoffs backfire on Wisconsin Republicans?
By Greg Sargent


It's been widely assumed that once Governor Scott Walker starts sending out pink slips to public employees, it will increase pressure on fugitive Dems to return to Wisconsin and vote on Walker's measure rolling back bargaining rights.

But what if the opposite is true? What if the layoffs will actually increase pressure on Republican Senators to reach a deal with Dems and labor?

I'm told that Wisconsin Dems are mapping out an aggressive plan to make that happen, if and when layoffs start happening -- one designed to pin the blame for them directly on Republican Senators.


snip//

The basic idea here is that polls suggest that Wisconsinites have already made up their minds about the ongoing standoff. On the core issue of bargaining rights, they side with labor and Dems, and against Walker. Dems think layoffs won't change that dynamic; if anything, if Dems can persuade the public that the layoffs are the fault of Walker's unreasonable insistence on an unpopular and extreme proposal, that dynamic could be exacerbated in their favor.

Also: One labor official tells me that if and when layoffs start, they will aggressively highlight the moment on the fake Koch call in which Walker explicitly said he'd use the threat of layoffs to ratchet up political pressure on Dems. I'd say it's very possible the politics of layoffs will backfire on Wisconsin Republicans in a big way.

[Blue Owl]

1. Walker's face covered in his own backfired bullshit

would be an acceptable alternative to tar and feathering

[mike_c]

2. anything that "backfires on republicans in a big way" gets my K&R....

eom

[Kdillard]

3. I hope the plan works out because this guy will not compromise.

[WolfoftheWild]

4. you're damn right they will. Each person laid off has family and friends who vote.

He is doing a helluva job of turning the people against him. Much more effective than even the dirtiest attack campaign.

And you shall know him by his works...

[rbixby]

5. The laid off workers still cost the state money too

They go on the unemployment rolls right away. So really he's not saving that much money, just shifting where the money comes from.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Governor Walker aka Job Killer!

[craigmatic]

7. I think he single handedly made a purple-trending state turn back solid blue.

[Lifelong Protester]

8. Oh, yeah, BIG TIME

He is in WAY over his head.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. Republicans = job killers

[BR_Parkway]

10. Only thing that could hurt him worse would be a staffer leaking that he

was assigned to go through voter registration rolls to identify who would be laid off. And as petulant as Walker's being, even that wouldn't surprise me

[tsuki]

11. It is going to backfire because Governor Wrecking-Ball is throwing

a major two-year-old fit. The Union is beginning to look like the harried parent with a spoiled and disobedient child screaming for what he wants, all of it or he'll hold his breath.

[Greybnk48]

12. Agreed 100%

He continues to underestimate the anger he has unleashed among the majority here. Even the Farmers are down in Madison because he's cutting Badger Care which they rely on. He's not interested in governing; he's paid to do certain things and then leave IMO.

[JeffersonChick]

13. You'd think Walker would have learned his lesson

Did he not watch the coverage of Egypt? Does he not see that he's acting like Mubarak? That the protesters THERE didn't back down? He just keeps digging himself into a deeper hole.