“Moderate” Republicans miraculously find their voice, express “doubts” on union-busting, just in time for the start of campaign season:
For the first time in more than three decades, Minnesota Republicans are basking in majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, so on matters that need no signature from the Democratic governor, they can do as they please.
And yet, on a recent afternoon, Senator Dave Thompson said he had grown doubtful that the “right to work” amendment he hoped to put before voters this fall — a proposition requiring no approval by the governor — would survive a vote of his fellow Republican legislators, or even find its way out of Republican-controlled committees.
“I’ve been told that no hearing has been scheduled and that a lot of people are concerned, so I guess this isn’t going to move anywhere,” Senator Thompson said on Friday, days after the proposal drew hundreds of protesting union supporters to the halls of the Legislature, and after an advertising campaign critical of the idea began airing around Minnesota. “It’s not about the policy. There is a tremendous fear of the political ramifications — it boils down to that, nothing more or less,” he said.
After costly, bruising political showdowns with union forces last year in Wisconsin and Ohio, Republicans in some state legislatures are facing a tugging match within their party — between passionate conservative members like Mr. Thompson, a freshman who was among hundreds of legislators swept into statehouses in 2010 who want to push forward, and a more moderate bloc not sure it is wise to take on labor so directly now.
The dueling pressure comes at a key moment in an election year — not only for the presidency, but for more than 5,900 state legislative seats around the nation — with Republican leaders eager to keep newfound legislative majorities in capitals like this one.
The much-publicized union battles last year, which led to a recall campaign against Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and to the repeal of a bill limiting collective bargaining backed by Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, seemed likely to quiet such efforts. But some Republicans have pushed ahead, to the discomfort, in some cases, of their fellow Republicans.
Many right-to-work advocates were energized this winter when Indiana, with little debate within the Republican ranks that control state government, passed a bill making it the 23rd right-to-work state. It was the first state to take such a step in a decade, bringing new energy to similar proposals in Missouri and New Hampshire.
I understand the impulse to treat this as something other than a press release, but, really. At what point do we all just laugh at these carefully-timed-and-released claims of lessons learned and responding to their voters concerns? How many times can conservatives pull this scam?
They’re backing off these anti-working class measures not because there’s been any sort of “moderation” in conservative-libertarian anti-union dogma in response to public opposition but because they are worried about losing a certain crucial share of union voters in the next election. They’re afraid they’re going to lose their jobs. If they don’t lose their jobs, they’ll be back with a vengeance, because they’ll claim a “mandate” for the same anti-worker legislation they just carefully announced shelving.
I’m just going to quote media darling and principled conservative leader Mitch Daniels here, to get an idea on what their solemn vow on unions is worth:
“We cannot afford to have civil wars over issues that might divide us and divert us from that path. I have said over and over, I’ll say it again tonight: I’m a supporter of the labor laws we have in the state of Indiana,” he said in a speech to the Teamsters 135 Union Stewards Dinner on Sept. 23, 2006. “I’m not interested in changing any of it. Not the prevailing wage laws, and certainly not the right to work law. We can succeed in Indiana with the laws we have, respecting the rights of labor, and fair and free competition for everybody.”
Certainly not! Mitch Daniels was upset at just the mention of right to work. You’ll also notice Daniels talks about “respecting the rights” of labor. That language has completely disappeared from the Republican Party, but I expect it will reappear in states like Minnesota and Ohio and Michigan and Wisconsin, because it’s time once again for conservatives to run away from the policies and practices they support.
Daniels was, of course, lying to his union voters in 2006. Daniels promoted and passed union-busting laws in 2012. Republicans have every intention of pursuing union-busting in Midwest states. Like Daniels, they simply want to wait until after they retain their own jobs to pursue the anti-worker laws they’re committed to passing.
Gex
I suppose the idea that the voters are so thoroughly against the bill means that legislators shouldn’t be trying to pass it is a concept that completely escapes these “representatives.”
BGinCHI
The etch-a-sketch meme needs to be applied to the GOP in general. It’s not just Mitt Romney who is going to try to “wipe the slate clean” after the primary season. Lots of down ticket GOPs are going to do the same: just watch them come out for contraception and other stuff after the convention.
Lying liars lie.
scav
I love the little freshman, so cute in his stunned surprise at discovering interest in political ramifications during an election year.
PeakVT
Love the title.
Yutsano
So the basic takeaway here is that the Republicans are just lying again to keep their jobs. But it may or may not be working. Fair enough. They can’t exactly win by being honest after all.
Baud
Kay, in your experience, is it helpful for Democrats to call these guys liars directly, or is it better to draw contrasts, such as Rep. So-and-so voted for X, I will oppose X and vote for Y?
I sometimes think that when you call someone a liar (even if its accurate), you end up having the burden to explain why you think so, which can end up being a distraction with voters who have short attention spans.
ETA: Just to be clear, I’m not concern trolling about using the “liar” label; I’m just curious about what you think is the most effective strategy for reaching potential voters.
gbear
I wish the MN republican legistators had reached this point before they voted to put a same-sex marriage ban and restrictive voter ID initiatives on the coming ballots (and doing an end-run around a veto by governor Dayton). The contracts for MN state workers are up for negotiations this year and the republicans are going to do all they can to damage MN employees even without passing this horrid right-to-screw bill.
Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity
Forever. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of Americans.
Ben Franklin
Mr. Thompson, a freshman who was among hundreds of legislators swept into statehouses in 2010
The landscape is littered with conservative Milennials who haven’t a wit of historical perspective. They have learned only what they obtained in k-12;
tell the adults what they want to hear to get what they want (elected). After that stage, they lose focus, because they’v never been held to account, before now.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!
Oh, wait…
**cough** Ahem.
[after a discrete interval]
Now what was I saying again? Oh, yes:
And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!
catclub
@Ben Franklin: “After that stage, they lose focus.”
Nope, they have been focused like a laser on ladyparts.
pat
I moved from MN to WI (across the river) a few years ago. Living in WI, home of Scott Walker and a Repub majority, I have to say I thank the moderate Republican (Horner??) who made the gov’s race in MN a three-way so that Mark Dayton could win and put a stop to at least some of the most egregius shit the repubs are trying to unload on HUBERT HUMPHREY’S OWN STATE.
Southern Beale
Also just read at TPM that Texas Senator Kay Bailey Wingnut has come out in favor of Planned Parenthood and the vital non-abortion services they provide and how we need to not cut off their funds.
Ha ha ha. Guess the GOP has selected its presidential candidate and it’s time to dial back the crrrrrazy!
In other news, James O’Keefe Boy Reporter is getting his dirty laundry aired by his former Project Veritas cohort:
Grab the popcorn …
kay
@Baud:
I can’t speak for Minnesota, but in Ohio they’re calling individual state reps liars directly. It’s true. Many of them signed agreements (those questionaires) that they wouldn’t support any union busting efforts.
But that’s the state party releases and union operatives. I MYSELF use less inflammatory language if I’m talking face to face, because getting over resistance to switching party allegiance is a hard thing to do. To me, face to face, I’d be telling them “you voted for THE LIAR, idiot” and I don’t see how that’s persuasive, on a personal level.
I don’t attack the voter, partly because that just sits wrong with me. Voters don’t have all that much power. They have one vote. That’s not a whole lot of leverage, so I’m not holding them directly responsible for the damage.
I’m not going to attack the weaker party in this transaction :)
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
And quite normal in a representative democracy. I don’t think the reticence is a scam so much as reading the writing on the wall for future electoral politics. The problem with the moderates, is that they are moderate, not only possibly with policy prescriptions, but also as personal demeanor, that doesn’t match up well going toe to toe with fire breathing true believers, who take no prisoners.
They need more beatings, the GOP, to show them the hard way, that moderate milquetoast winger types currently serving as wall paper for the gooper tribe, are correct that there are limits to ideology driven politics in this country. Being out of power for the longer term, is about the only elixir that works for the wingnuts to put down the purist flag. We have some of those on our side as well, but hardly more than can fill up a high school gymnasium or two.
kay
@General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero):
I don’t believe it. There’s a recklessness there that makes me believe the MOMENT the election is over, they’ll be back.
If they were backing off, as in “bad idea” I’d be fine with it, and cheer. I don’t think this is what that is, though.
MattF
I’m no fan of Noot Gingrich, but it’s fair to say that he’s always been consistently and honestly anti-union. Now, that may be because he just can’t help venting the steam coming out of his ears when he hears the word ‘union,’ but that’s still preferable to a lying schemer like Daniels.
Ben Franklin
@catclub:
Well, they do outsource all personal responsibility.
Daaling
This is politics 101. I continue to be surprised all you political junkies don’t understand this.
It’s the same thing every political cycle. During presidential election years all the GOPers moderate and the Dems go on the attack. During midterms the GOPers crank up the crazy and the Dems hunker down.
Politicians who break that routine (Alan Grayson, Russell Feingold, Arlen Specter) generally lose!
Wake the fuck up people!
shortstop
I love the insult to voters in Thompson’s comment that the policy is fine but the politics are not. Because poor political ramifications couldn’t possibly be due to his and his friends’ horrible policy positions. No, the voters are just too dumb to recognize great policy.
scav
@kay: It really doesn’t square with their unleashing the monkeys on women, a not entirely negligible set of voters. Reading their intentions is rather like being at an intersection where the stoplight has been replaced by a misfiring kaleidoscopic.
Ken
It’s not about the policy. There is a tremendous fear of the political ramifications
Normally I don’t like arguments by etymology, but he really shouldn’t be talking about “policy” and “political” as if they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Chris
@kay:
I agree with this.
Last time, it took them an exile of twenty years from the White House and (mostly) Congress before enough Republicans finally realized they needed to moderate – and even then, Goldwater had the radicals back and at ’em just a decade later. And we’re a long way from being as successful as Roosevelt/Truman.
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
@kay:
On policy matters and legislating to install those right wing policies, I think you are basically correct, and with the GOP it is all about the herd moving as a single unit, to offset counters by dems to their unpopular and corporate centered policies. But when it goes past the failsafe point, into highly unpopular areas, then there is room for the pragmatists to start speaking up, even if they agreed with the odious policy , and or voted with the true believers who are operating on faith based afterburners.
Chris
@MattF:
I think it’s just because he represented a district in the South, which historically has never been union-friendly territory. Mitch Daniels, in the Midwest, doesn’t have that luxury.
jibeaux
Kind of in the same vein as McCain and Murkowski, who voted for the Blunt amendment, then coming out & getting lots of happy press for saying Republicans need to get off the contraception issue. It’s not like the Blunt amendment was ancient history or something. I AWARD YOU NO POINTS.
jl
@kay:
” To me, face to face, I’d be telling them “you voted for THE LIAR, idiot” and I don’t see how that’s persuasive, on a personal level. ”
I don’t see how it works on a personal level either. Also, I don’t think asking the media to call people liars, or sending in letters that can be construed as the mirror image of reactionary whining and self victimization will work either.
Since I plan on doing campaign work this fall, I have been thinking about what how I will approach people. Best approach I have thought of so far is the old maxim ‘Actions speak louder than words”, and remind people that it is the legislature’s actions, and not the cheap (and too late to matter) talk of some self advertized moderates that count.
And I will remind people of what actions have come out of the House and state legislatures: the war on contraception and reproductive health and women, union busting and employment law that stacks the cards in favor of big corporations whether you are in a union or not, incessant attacks on Social security and Medicare with cheap sketchy privatization schemes that will get people killed. And I could name more.
And speaking of ‘sketchy’, a certain Etch Sketchney will most probably be the GOP candidate for President, and how far should people trust that gazillionaire?
Problem here is that olde tymey Mom and Apple Pie proverbs like “Actions speak louder than words” are declared communist now, when they don’t favor the GOP mania of the week. But I don’t think that will persuade many people if they are reminded of the toxic actions that the GOP has taken over the past year.
Martin
@Southern Beale: Oh, come on. Who among us doesn’t have a rape barn? Amirite?
kay
@scav:
I’ve sort of come around on the War On Women. I think it’s a tactic. They did some calculation that pandering to anti-abortion AND some anti-women sentiment in the Party would benefit them with the base.
The risk was worth the reward, was the calculation. I don’t think it worked, as a tactic, but I think it WAS a tactic.
The most interesting part to me was finding out that there is a NON religious sector of the GOP (male) base that just dislikes women, or like to see women “humbled” and brought down to size somehow.
I think we saw that w/Limbaugh. That’s freaking scary, because it’s not “anti-abortion”, it’s just “women are stupid and whiny and uppity, too”, ie: the Limbaugh defenders. It’s BIGGER than I thought.
jibeaux
@kay: Yes. The GOP is chockablock with garden variety assholes. This feels awesome, already knowing something kay didn’t know!
jl
@kay:
” I’ve sort of come around on the War On Women. I think it’s a tactic. ”
I do not care whether it was a tactic or not. Some issues are too important, the ethical costs are too high, to be used as tactics.
People’s health, especially vulnerable people like pregnant women, kids and elderly. And retiree incomes and medical care. Access to education.
The very fact that a political party is willing to sacrifice these issues to tactics means that it is unfit to govern.
Edit:
” The most interesting part to me was finding out that there is a NON religious sector of the GOP (male) base that just dislikes women, or like to see women “humbled” and brought down to size somehow. ”
I hope all women now know that this segment exists, and will be with us for some time. And that they do not forget.
Martin
@kay:
No, I usually take the following tack: “You voted for X, and X lied to you. You may like policy A, B, or C that they propose, but you have to ask yourself which of those will they lie about next?”
My mom’s problem with Romney is she doesn’t know which Romney is the lying one – the old Romney or the new Romney. She has no idea what she’s voting for.
Roger Moore
@kay:
This. Everything about the Republicans right now says that their moderation is an election ploy and not a serious policy change. They lied about their intentions in exactly the same way before, so there’s no reason to believe that they’re being any more honest now.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@kay:
In my experience with face to face conversations, GOP support amongst white males generally is patchy. Divorced white males on the other hand, they are rock-solid with that demographic. The GOP is the Deadbeat Dad party.
Frankensteinbeck
Baud:
Perhaps tell them that a congressman who grabbed at any excuse to vote for destroying unions once will do it again as soon as he sees another excuse? They’ve shown what’s in their hearts. They were elected to create jobs, and instead they tried to make existing jobs worse.
kay
@jl:
The one piece of advice I would give you is this: you know a lot more about the details than they do, because you’re a political junkie. Don’t overwhelm them with massive amounts of information, because you’ll do all the talking.
I’ve gotten to where I let them tell me what they know, first. You’ll be amazed at how little actual talking you have to do :)
jl
I thought the corny fake sensible (supposedly moderate)conservative male white dude who has contempt/hate/fear in his guts for women and minorities and poors was common knowledge. But then I am part of the make white dude club, and can pass (with sadly little effort) at first glance as corny and conservative, so I am reminded of the existence of this bunch on a daily basis, even in a commie liberal enclave.
scav
Oh, I agree it is and was a tactic, just not one I understand in the it doesn’t seem to be operating on the same calculating logic as their others. It is much more visceral and weird as all get out. Had to talk with my mother about it and I’m understanding it a bit better after she reminded my of my UncleWhoShallNeveBeNamedAgain. Exactly one of the non-religious shits who think women (and children) should shut up and obey. Peed against the walls in his own house during football games (which we learned about when the AuntWhichWeKept called and asked if this was normal). Alas, it is easier to get rid of a single blood uncle than all his brothers in spirit.
jl
@kay: Thanks. I will be following your posts as the election nears for handy dandy tips and examples, since you serve in the electoral trenches.
Seriously keep posts on your experiences coming for us campaign door knockers and GOTVers.
Frankensteinbeck
Southern Beale:
I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. His ethics are cthonian and the dildo boat episode could only seem like a good idea to someone with a massively distorted and contemptuous view of female sexuality. He’s the poster boy for likely rapists and sexual harassers.
catclub
@kay: I am reminded of some description of divorced white men as reliably GOP wingnut, with a large soupcon of self-esteem issues.
The personal hate for one woman seeps out of the collective id as the war on women.
Chris
@kay:
Important point. Not just women but other issues, like gay-bashing or Muslim-bashing, that we attribute to the religious right specifically are actually pretty widespread in my experience even among those who aren’t at all part of the Jesus-freak crowd.
It helps that in the cult-like atmosphere of the GOP, everyone’s encouraged to get with the program as much as possible, so what would’ve started as an issue specific to the religious right (or some other faction) gets propagated to the rest of the base that way.
catclub
@scav: “it is and was a tactic, just not one I understand”
If you think you are a giant majority, and that all the people who matter are just like you. It makes more sense.
See also: divorced white men.
kay
@jl:
We have an OFA organizer staying with us, a young woman, and I’ve been wanting to write about that, because it seems like such a hard job, her job, but as the economy gets better, I get busier at the law office.
I started posting here when the economy was absolutely tanking, so I was, ahem, less busy than I ordinarily would be :)
We’re (almost!) back up to pre-crash business here, which is great, but leaves less time for Balloon Juice.
scav
@catclub: Did they all fail math? Memo: only go to CPAs with ladybits. If not available, in order, gays or in the last resort, happily married menfolk or the happily unwed. Sorry exceptions to the rule. I’ll trust the happily divorced menfolk on non-arithmetical projects.
Todd Dugdale
The MN GOP has been taken over by the evangelicals. Right-to-Work isn’t worth the fight for the evangelicals, while the Constitutional ban of SSM and the voter ID referendum are.
The evangelicals are losing their grip, largely because they are being incredibly stingy with money, and also because they have been insisting on terrible candidates in the primaries. After the election, they will get shaken out and the economic agenda will re-appear. This isn’t “moderation”, as much as it’s a slow-motion coup.
jl
@kay: BJ should make its first part time hire, IHMO. Cole is coming to realization that Tunch is still one big fat cat, so maybe a renewed effort on Tunch’s healthful slimming diet will cough up huge mass quantities of ready cash.
Anyway, keep contributing when you can, I appreciate your posts.
kay
@jl:
I will. It would help if I wouldn’t spend 20 minutes screwing around with photos I take at events. IPhoto is like a compulsive person’s nightmare time-waster. I’m trying to make people look more attractive, I think, and then I have to make up for my crappy photography skills with editing.
cmorenc
IF the GOP wins the Presidency, House and Senate, and holds onto most of their statehouse gains from 2010 in the 2012 election, you can expect them to seize this as a radical mandate to not merely dismantle every piece of government infrastructure built since the New Deal, but to burn it down in a raging inferno and salt the ground with fiscally and judicially toxic residue such that it will be decades, if ever, before progressives could even begin to partially restore it. And they’ll dance around the fire.
And while they’re at it, women’s birth control will be curtailed to include only methods which have no even theoretical chance of interfering with the potential for a fertilized ovum to successfully implant. That essentially just leaves condoms, diaphragms, and the rhythm method, and even diaphragm use may be impaired because if supplemented by anti-spermicidal jelly, that might potentially still allow a weakened sperm to fertilize an ovum, impairing it’s potential success.
Ben Cisco
(WARNING: Dear GOP “Moderates”:
__
Your “awakening” doesn’t pass the smell test, you waited too long to realize that you were in bed with a gang of lobotomy recipients, you used them for the “benefit” of your party anyway, and NOW you want to skip the harvest?
__
NOT. ON. YOUR. LIFE.
__
If you had any grasp of either reality OR sense of shame, you would all resign en masse. NOW. You stood by and let your Klown Kar Kavalcade (R) come within a hair of wrecking the place, and NOW you want to disavow your IMF (Incurious Major Fuckup) agents?
__
SCREW THAT.
__
You OWN them, and you’re gonna wear them like last year’s cotillion dress, like a pleather suit, like a fucking powder blue, ruffled-shirt, bell-bottomed tuxedo complete with fish bowl platform shoes. You earned every ounce of ridicule your party is now subject to because you courted these ridiculous, incurious, impervious, functionally illiterate bags of goo. You don’t get to run away now.