Brian Sikma
Lefty group hijacks Occupy Wall Street to recall Wisconsin gov.
By Brian Sikma
In a desperate move to boost their effort to recall Governor Scott Walker the liberal Soros-front group One Wisconsin Now has hijacked the Occupy Wall Street movement. The formal Democratic-party sponsored effort to force a recall of Governor Walker starts this week with activists needing to gather over 1,000,000 signatures in the next 60 days to recall Walker and his lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch. Today a social media effort billed as "Occupy Walker" (see here for the Twitter account) kicks-off an opening week effort to disseminate as many anti-Walker "facts" as One Wisconsin Now can invent.
One Wisconsin Now, a member of the national Progress Now network, has been active in Wisconsin since 2006. The group's executive director is Scot Ross, a boisterous, chain-smoking political hack and failed candidate for Secretary of State. Ross is best known for his involvement in the Wisconsin Caucus Scandal when he admitted to prosecutors that he worked nearly full time at taxpayer expense on a Democratic lawmaker's campaign.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has for now superseded the energy and intensity of the Madison protests that took place this past spring. Then, the national spotlight covered the hundreds of thousands of union members and professional activists who mobbed the Wisconsin capitol in an attempt to intimidate legislators and Governor Walker into halting reform efforts. Now, a handful of worn-out protesters with a laundry list of run-ins with the law forlornly watch as a national movement mimicking their tactics has moved from Wall Street to streets across America.
It is perhaps no surprise that the hard-core political knife fighters who will stop at nothing short of a recall of Scott Walker have chosen to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement. The move will certainly generate some attention and make the recall movement more relevant with current protest events, something that could not happen otherwise since months of time have elapsed since the Madison protests. But beyond generating excitement among the liberal base, the tactic will do nothing.
Occupy Walker is just an attempt by far-left political professionals to use the Occupy Wall Street movement as a political pawn. If they fall for it, Occupy Wall Street will become just another tool in a status quo that it thinks it can change.
A majority of Wisconsinites are opposed to recalling Governor Walker. The conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute conducted a poll recently that showed 49% of voters do not want to see Walker face a recall election, as compared to 47% of voters who do want to see the governor recalled. Hijacking the Occupy Wall Street movement will not add to the popularity of the Walker recall effort. The WPRI poll also found that the Occupy movement is viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters. (41% to 34%).
With Walker's reforms working, it is telling that anti-Walker groups would find not only a political tool (or ally) in Occupy Wall Street, but also an ideologically kindred spirit. OWS, as the nation has scene from many local protests, isn't so much about protesting legitimate wrongs (bailouts, too big to fail, etc.) but refusing to accept personal responsibility for a whole host of issues. Occupiers, like the Madison union protesters, aren't upset that someone got a sweetheart deal at taxpayer expense, but that they weren't among those who got the special deal. The entitlement mentality has long been cultivated without regard for consequence. Grumbling protesters are giving Wisconsin — and the nation — a first-hand glimpse at where the entitlement road ends: ever larger government, ever less personal responsibility, and a financial future where everyone loses and nobody is allowed to win.
If anyone needed more proof that a Walker recall is about politics and not malfeasance in office, the hijacking of the Occupy Wall Street movement is all the evidence necessary. The goals of OWS are as political and self-serving as the goals of the recall Walker movement and perhaps that's why both are not exactly popular with a majority of Wisconsin voters.
© Brian Sikma
November 14, 2011
In a desperate move to boost their effort to recall Governor Scott Walker the liberal Soros-front group One Wisconsin Now has hijacked the Occupy Wall Street movement. The formal Democratic-party sponsored effort to force a recall of Governor Walker starts this week with activists needing to gather over 1,000,000 signatures in the next 60 days to recall Walker and his lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch. Today a social media effort billed as "Occupy Walker" (see here for the Twitter account) kicks-off an opening week effort to disseminate as many anti-Walker "facts" as One Wisconsin Now can invent.
One Wisconsin Now, a member of the national Progress Now network, has been active in Wisconsin since 2006. The group's executive director is Scot Ross, a boisterous, chain-smoking political hack and failed candidate for Secretary of State. Ross is best known for his involvement in the Wisconsin Caucus Scandal when he admitted to prosecutors that he worked nearly full time at taxpayer expense on a Democratic lawmaker's campaign.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has for now superseded the energy and intensity of the Madison protests that took place this past spring. Then, the national spotlight covered the hundreds of thousands of union members and professional activists who mobbed the Wisconsin capitol in an attempt to intimidate legislators and Governor Walker into halting reform efforts. Now, a handful of worn-out protesters with a laundry list of run-ins with the law forlornly watch as a national movement mimicking their tactics has moved from Wall Street to streets across America.
It is perhaps no surprise that the hard-core political knife fighters who will stop at nothing short of a recall of Scott Walker have chosen to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement. The move will certainly generate some attention and make the recall movement more relevant with current protest events, something that could not happen otherwise since months of time have elapsed since the Madison protests. But beyond generating excitement among the liberal base, the tactic will do nothing.
Occupy Walker is just an attempt by far-left political professionals to use the Occupy Wall Street movement as a political pawn. If they fall for it, Occupy Wall Street will become just another tool in a status quo that it thinks it can change.
A majority of Wisconsinites are opposed to recalling Governor Walker. The conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute conducted a poll recently that showed 49% of voters do not want to see Walker face a recall election, as compared to 47% of voters who do want to see the governor recalled. Hijacking the Occupy Wall Street movement will not add to the popularity of the Walker recall effort. The WPRI poll also found that the Occupy movement is viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters. (41% to 34%).
With Walker's reforms working, it is telling that anti-Walker groups would find not only a political tool (or ally) in Occupy Wall Street, but also an ideologically kindred spirit. OWS, as the nation has scene from many local protests, isn't so much about protesting legitimate wrongs (bailouts, too big to fail, etc.) but refusing to accept personal responsibility for a whole host of issues. Occupiers, like the Madison union protesters, aren't upset that someone got a sweetheart deal at taxpayer expense, but that they weren't among those who got the special deal. The entitlement mentality has long been cultivated without regard for consequence. Grumbling protesters are giving Wisconsin — and the nation — a first-hand glimpse at where the entitlement road ends: ever larger government, ever less personal responsibility, and a financial future where everyone loses and nobody is allowed to win.
If anyone needed more proof that a Walker recall is about politics and not malfeasance in office, the hijacking of the Occupy Wall Street movement is all the evidence necessary. The goals of OWS are as political and self-serving as the goals of the recall Walker movement and perhaps that's why both are not exactly popular with a majority of Wisconsin voters.
© Brian Sikma
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