How Far Will Wisconsin Fascists Go To Win Next Tuesday?

They haven't been held accountable in the past... so why not try it again?

For many of Wisconsin's most vulnerable people, those thrown out of work by the failure of economic bets by Masters of the Universe they had nothing to do with, yesterday's biggest news was another attack on their ability to survive by Scott Walker and his zombie legislature. A week from today, thousands of voters in Wisconsin can go to the polls and turn their state back from Walker's overtly fascist path. That's next Tuesday-- and it's still not too late to lend a hand to progressives like Sandy Pasch running neck and neck with right-wing extremists like Alberta Darling. Yesterday Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate issued this statement:

"The six Republican recall senators need a heart and a lesson. That's because a week is a long time to wait for people who need to pay bills, who are suffering in Scott Walker's unemployment economy, who are up against the wreckage caused by Republican policies of reckless greed. Today, in one of the most heartless acts to have taken place in a season of heartless acts, Scott Walker's lapdogs in the Senate voted to make our state's job seekers wait a week until they are able to receive vital benefits to allow them to feed their families and clothe their children. What these six Republicans did is the ultimate act of kicking the unemployed while they're down."

Hard to imagine the Republicans could simultaneously be doing something even worse... but they are. (And I'm not even talking about burning down activists' headquarters in La Crosse to help the floundering Kapanke campaign.) Last week we mentioned that Scott Walker was on the fontlines-- leading the charge in fact-- in the ALEC plot against democracy itself. This week, his forces were on the rampage. The Koch Brothers' proto-fascist front group, the misnamed Americans For Prosperity, is sending out absentee ballots to Democrats with instructions to return them on August 11-- two days late. Here's what they've been sending to Wisconsin homes with registered Democrats, in order to undermine the campaigns of Shelly Moore and Nancy Nusbaum:


Democratic chairman Mike Tate, again:

"Scott Walker has sought the help of the corporate front group "Americans For Prosperity," and here they come with dirty tricks clearly meant to meddle in our elections and suppress votes against the Koch Brothers' agenda. Wisconsin's election authorities must stop the black hand of the corporate special interests and their front groups who are trying to strangle democracy in our state and support the six Republican senators now facing recall.

These six Republicans must immediately denounce the AFP scheme or it will signal to the public that they endorse the suppression of Wisconsin votes."

They filed a complaint with Wisconsin Government Accountability Board but what about the Justice Department? Does subverting democracy not rise to a serious enough offense for them? Many people think it is:

Americans for Prosperity is funded by David and Charles Koch, who funneled millions of dollars to Scott Walker and his radical allies. Walker’s allies have raised the specter of voter irregularity to further their agenda.

Make no mistake: This is voter suppression-- pure and simple. Americans for Prosperity must be taken to task for this disgusting, immoral, and anti-democratic behavior.

The battle against Big Business dominance is being fought on many fronts, even in Wisconsin. Yesterday, in explaining why he couldn't support Obama's anti-family deal with the GOP, Russ Feingold said "The debt ceiling deal should remove any doubt of the power corporate interests have over our government. That deal, hammered out by the president and Republican Congressional leaders, places the burden of reducing our long-term budget problems on average Americans, while the wealthiest individuals and corporations are given a free pass. Americans are willing to bear their share of the burden of addressing our nation’s long-term budget problems, but those sacrifices should be shared by all." Another front in the class war conservatives are waging against ordinary American families.

TPM speculates this morning that their may be catastrophic unintended consequences for Wisconsin from the abject surrender to the fascists by Obama and the Democrats yesterday.

[T]he perceived progressive failure in DC over the debt ceiling deal could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the wild and crazy Wisconsin recalls, leading to the kind of political domino effect left-leaning critics of the debt deal fear most.

Here's how the scenario works: as they're still licking their wounds from a national fight that in the eyes of many Democrats went the Tea Party's way, progressives in Wisconsin will be trying to pull out their voters for a round of recalls on August 9. That electorate could be underwhelmed now, folks familiar with the recalls say. And that could be the difference between flipping the Wisconsin state Senate away from Governor Scott Walker (R) and keeping it in Republican hands.

"There may be some who are sad to the point that they'll stay home," Charles Chamberlain, political director for Democracy for America, told TPM. DFA has spent well over a million dollars on the recall races, and expects to spend a lot more as the get-out-the-vote work begins in earnest.

The trouble is, Chamberlain said, the deal cut by President Obama and the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling has many of the same aspects as union-busting budget Walker passed through the Wisconsin legislature, firing up what has become one of the most active progressive battlefields in years.

"No real protections on entitlements. Dramatic cuts out of education. No shared sacrifice," Chamberlain rattled off. "That's exactly what happened in Wisconsin."

DFA's research has shown voters in the recalls motivated by cuts to programs like Medicare in Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) House budget (which has been the subject of more than one ad the group has run in contest). Behind that, they're moved by the potential for cuts in education programs as well as policies that adversely affect the middle class workers like librarians and teachers.

Progressive critics have said the deal to raise the debt ceiling could have many of the same effects. And the fact that voters just watched Obama get behind the deal could have a chilling effect on turnout.

Or will Obama's Satan Sandwich have just the opposite effect? Or no effect at all. 7 days. Last minute help is welcome.