Shut Up Already: You have nothing useful to say.

Here is a good example of television pundits having too much time and not enough to say. Yesterday’s recall election saw Republican Gov. Scott Walker again beat Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a rematch of their 2010 race.

This is what happened.

Now everybody is talking about what it all means. I’ve heard no end of discussions on what happened, and what it means for Wisconsin,  what it means for the working class, what it means for unions, what it means for the United States, and what it means concerning the upcoming presidential election.

I’ve also heard lots of speculation on how, and why, things went down they way they did. Well, let me give you a hint. I think this had a lot to do with it.

However, I’ve heard few people mention this poll, even on CBS News. Why?  Because there wouldn’t be all that much to talk about if we took  to heart the idea many people just didn’t think a recall is appropriate over policy disagreements.

So, speculate on, professional talking people. After all, we’ve got a lot of air space to fill. Who could better fill it than all of the airheads and blowhards on both sides of the political divide. What better place to do it than on television; all day, every day.

The Crap in Wisconsin

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to one of the area papers today. It references Patrick Buchanan’s column in that paper, which you can read here. While Wisconsin is getting the lion’s share of the news coverage, this same thing is happening in Ohio and other states as well.

Patrick Buchanan’s recent column on the political circus surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal illustrates just how much of a game governing has become for both parties.

He is correct in identifying the power struggle playing out behind the scene; the Republican governor is trying to weaken unions which traditionally support the Democratic Party. There can be no defending such an obvious political attack with union busting as a core concept. Abolishing public unions does not add income or lessen debt. Concerns about the effects public unions have on governments are legitimate, but the state budget proposal is not the time or place.

This time it was the Republicans who made an aggressive move under the guise of governing, but disguising mostly party business in a bill or proposal isn’t a tactic unique to either party.

Only parties and thin core constituencies win when parties run government. Everybody in the middle is out of luck. People are right to worry about a government willing to break unions and right to worry about union bullying. It seems the most people would benefit from meaningful cooperation between parties, not plays from party handbooks