Anthony Weiner? LOL! - anon

Guess you havent been paying attention. The credibility casualties - are on the other side

He did a great job framing his package - sm

What this tells me is - sm

You have a point, but be honest, ..the left has some of the - most hateful people on the planet.nm

"clap, clap, clap" - anon

You are only about 30 years behind the times. - and grossly out of touch

unions=Dems - icedT

I'm not the above poster, but I don't know of a poll about recalls being partisan. I think it's just common knowledge, isn't it?  Corporations are powerful - yes. Unions are powerful too, if not more so (they got Obama elected and are pratically permanent fixtures in the White House). 

I have to disagree with the entire blame for the horrible ecomony on the ultra-rich, etc.  Union demands and promises made long ago have a definite effect on this ecomony also.  Other than the economy, it had other effects.  This year, I was told my 9-year-old daughter had to catch her school bus in the morning 9/10 of a mile from our house. Young girls and boys walking to the bus stop while it is still dark in the morning is a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, 2 girls were injured by cars this year in separate accidents while crossing a busy street in the morning.  In contrast, last year, I could look out my window and see her bus stop. That was before teacher union negotions. The union didn't budge one single inch on anything, so they had to no choice but to reduce the bus stops. The teachers got a raise and the superintendent was also given a $40,000 raise. It's this kind of thing that makes people get off their duff, get involved and vote. I gone to most school board meeting in the last 3 years, but I've noticed that the people lately seem to be more frustrated and fed up than ever with what's going on. 

Rachel Maddow had a segment a while ago that explained how she believed the Democrats were in a fight for their survival in Wisconsin and that it is, in fact, about money. Always has been, always will be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhZtYRiIho0

MADDOW HIGHLIGHTS FROM CLIP: Why is there a revolt in the American Midwest tonight? Why are we in day three of massive, massive protests—real upheaval in Wisconsin‘s capital city of Madison? Why are we seeing what was described today by my friend John Nichols, a seventh-generation Wisconsinite, as perhaps the biggest protests that have been seen in that state since Vietnam? Why is this—look at this—why is this happening?

As the state‘s own finances show, it is not happening because people who work for the state are the cause of some horrible budget crisis. It‘s not because teachers are lazy and rich. It‘s not because greedy snowplow drivers have bankrupted the state somehow.

The state is not bankrupt. Even though the state had started the year on track to have a budget surplus—now, there is, in fact, a $137 million budget shortfall. Republican Governor Scott Walker, coincidentally, has given away $140 million worth of business tax breaks since he came into office. Hey, wait. That‘s about exactly the size of the shortfall.

What is happening in Wisconsin right now has absolutely nothing to do with public workers. The headline here, the way this keeps getting shorthanded, is workers angry after state is forced by budget crisis to crack down. That‘s not what‘s going on. The state is not being forced to crack down. A lot of states do have budget crises right now, but heading into this year, Wisconsin was not one of them.

The main headline that you are seeing right now about this remarkable thing—look at these images—this remarkable thing that‘s going on in the American Midwest, the headlines you are seeing about this are mostly wrong, because what‘s going on right now in the American Midwest is about Republicans versus Democrats. It is about politics. It is about who wins the next election and the elections after that. That‘s what‘s going on right now in Wisconsin.

This is about the survival of the Democratic Party. There are parts of the story that actually don‘t make any sense unless you understand that.

One thing that doesn‘t make sense, Wisconsin‘s Republican governor, this guy Scott Walker, has proposed essentially dismantling all the unions for everybody who works for the government, right? That‘s what this is all about. He has proposed dismantling the unions for people who work for the government except for cops and firefighters and state troopers.

Why are they exempt? Is it because they‘re all law enforcement and emergency services, therefore, they need unions more than other state employees? Well, it can‘t really be that because corrections officers are among those who are getting the shaft, while the cops and the firefighters and the state troopers are specifically exempt.

OK. What‘s the other thing that‘s true about these three specific unions who are exempted from this crackdown, cops, firefighters, and state troopers? What‘s the other thing about them?

Oh, those are the three exact unions that supported the Republican governor in the last election. So, they get taken care of. Everybody else gets dismantled. That should have been the first hint that this maybe was about politics and not about a fiscal crisis. Here‘s another hint. If this union-busting thing that‘s on the table right now is all supposedly about fiscal realities, it‘s all nothing personal, we just got to take these dramatic actions, we‘ve got to save some money, then why does this supposed budget bill have stuff in it with no fiscal impact at all, stuff that saves the state of Wisconsin no money, brings in no additional revenue, cuts no spending?

Stripping collective bargaining rights from specific groups of people who work for the state is something that has zero fiscal impact. So why do that? What‘s happening in Wisconsin right now is not about a budget. This is about elections. This is about the Republican Party going after the institutions that make it possible for Democrats to win elections in America. I think that people sometimes confuse the idea of liberal with the idea of optimist. I am living proof that these two things do not always coincide. I‘m pretty much as liberal as they come. I generally see things as dark as you possibly can.

Like you know how people say the people unite canned never be defeated? My version of that has always been: the people united make a bigger target. You probably also have seen this liberal bumper sticker at some point in your life, right? It‘s the one fish that looks really calm and happy about to get eaten by the even bigger fish. But that bigger fish is actually made up of tiny little fish that have organized themselves into a fish shape, right?

The idea here is that small numbers of people organized together can defeat large enemies. It‘s nice, right? This is a nice liberal idea.

But I—I have always imagined that to have a third element. See? I told you I‘m the dark cloud. Yes, it is great to have a whole lot of tiny little fish organized and doing the same thing. That can be very impressive. But if a giant sharky fish comes along, then all those little fish can go in one big sharky bite. It is not sweet or sentimental. But that is the rough and ill liberal and basic mathematical truth of politics—particularly of money and politics. It is—it is great to have a lot of like-minded people individually, you know, doing their own thing, pulling for the cause. It is great. It is often heart warming to see it. But what is really, really great is to have some freaking heavy hitters on your side when it‘s important for you to win—to have institutions, organization, committees, PACs, political parties that can make big-impact political moves, that can keep up or even outspend the organizations on the other side. You know, there‘s a reason that all those oil billionaires that Karl Rove has on speed dial, there‘s a reason those oil billionaires don‘t just make their own individual “I‘m an oil billionaire” campaign contributions. They pool all of their money in Karl Rove‘s American Crossroads organization so then Karl Rove can make multimillion-dollar impact moves in election years.

It is nice to have a lot of little fish. But sometimes, it is the biggest fish that eats the best.

In 2008, the groups that spent the most money on elections that year were the Chamber of Commerce, the giant right-wing PAC Freedoms Watch, the National Rifle Association, and, hey, wait, what are all those weird little initials? Oh, yes, Service Employees International Union, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the public employees union. In 2010, post-Citiz ens United, seven of the 10 top outside spending groups in the election were all right wing. Chamber of Commerce, both the Karl Rove groups, the American Future Fund, Americans for Job Security—all of these right-wing groups. The only non-conservative groups that cracked the top 10 were the public employees union, the SEIU, and the teachers union. That‘s it.

Unions are the only competition Republicans have in electoral politics. Post-Citizens United, conservatives look at this and they smell blood. I mean, compare this to ‘08. They have knocked the unions down to sixth and seventh place.

Without unions, essentially all of the big money and politics would be right-wing money—all of it. That is not hyperbole—all of it. Unions are the only players. They are the only fish of any size on the liberal side. And, you know, it is nice to think—well, you know, I have this really awesome PTA group. Bake sales. I‘ve got a meet-up liberally drinking book club, “honk for peace” things that I do on Wednesdays. We could probably raise some money.

It is true that those are good things. It does all matter. But nothing matters as much as this.

I realize it is not romantic-sounding, but this is really how it works in politics. This decides who wins elections and who loses them. And if Republicans can use public policy to destroy their only competition for big political money, if they can use public policy to destroy the only major institutions that help Democratic causes at election time, then Republicans can run the table.

Beyond just the money, though, a move like this also destroys the get-out-the-vote and organizational capacity of union, which makes a huge difference on Election Day.

You may remember we went to Nevada to cover the Harry Reid/Sharron Angle Senate race right before the elections in November. Essentially, every poll in the state said Sharron Angle was going to win that race. But you know who was working their butts off for their chosen candidate who was Harry Reid? These guys were. The Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas.

This is what we saw. We shot this footage ourselves. We got on the ground in Nevada just days before the election. Culinary union working around the clock, going door to door to round up votes for Harry Reid, to get people to the polls on Election Day and to get them there for early voting.

Confused About How Rachel Backs Your Point - mbmt

point - icedT

Tense - anon

You have no point, but be honest. You are unwilling - to address the issue at hand.

Let me speak from experience - anon

$70,000 in retirement for teachers...funny - mbmt

pension? - anon

Let me introduce you to a useful tool. - sm

ray - anon

Jokes that require explanation - ray

Maybe she just added an itsy bitsy extra zero to - test our powers of observation.

Who gets $7000 a year in pension - hmmmm

depends on they choices... - dnh

Honestly - mbmt