Charlie Sykes: Scott Walker's Attack Dog

Well, well, well. The day that I've been expecting for five months has finally arrived.

Charlie Sykes decided to launch a full attack on me. He's already sniped at me by using libel and untruths (which reminds me, gotta follow up with the lawyer tomorrow).

His attack was based on this post that I wrote over the weekend. Of course, he misconstrued by intent, but that is the norm for him as mentioned by a former WTMJ staffer, Dan Shelley, who had worked a lot with him, and knows of which he speaks.

But it got me wondering why Sykes waited a full 72 hours to attack me on that post. After all, it was not the first time I wrote something critical about Sarah Palin. So why this now? And Sykes isn't the master of chivalry himself.

UPDATE: Apparently, while Sykes has an issue with my Palin post, he has no problem if someone mocks the Palin family be saying they are incestuous. Can you say hypocrisy?

When I had a chance to listen to his podcast* this evening, it all became clear in five minutes.

Sykes started out his show building up the audience into a fervor. In doing so, he repeatedly emphasized that I am the Chair of Milwaukee County First, as well as that I hold a position with my union's local.

But then Sykes overplayed his hand. He also included snipes at my friend and fellow MCF board member, Keith Schmitz, and his involvement of MCF and Open Book, trying to allege some impropriety when there is none.

It was then that I realized that this had nothing to do with the Palin post I wrote. He was merely trying to discredit me and Keith in order to discredit MCF.

But why would he do that now? Simple. Yesterday, I spent the entire day and night at the courthouse, watching the County Board trying to fix Scott Walker's faulty budget. As other union members, I was wearing my "No More Cuts" shirt, but for some unknown reason, the media chose to focus on me, including an interview with Channel 12 and shots from the other stations' news shows. I was also featured, rather prominently, in this morning's edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

All of a sudden, my name was all over the place, and I was getting attention. (Although this wasn't the first time I was on TV. WTMJ - TV interviewed me on Labor Day while I was manning the MCF table at Laborfest.)

Apparently, this was seen by a threat by Team Walker.

As I pointed out last summer, some of Team Walker's key players include Michael Grebe and Steve Smith. Grebe is the chair of Walker's campaign, as well as CEO of Bradley Foundation. As the Foundation's CEO, he is the boss of Janet Riordan aka Liz Woodhouse aka Mrs. Sykes III.

On top of that, Smith is Sykes' boss. Between pressures from both his boss and his wife's boss, as well as just being the unofficial mouthpiece for Walker, it is only logical that Sykes would be Walker's attack dog, trying to discredit us.

I guess I shouldn't complain though. At least he didn't try to waterboard me.

But it does raise a couple of interesting questions. Why does Team Walker and Sykes see a small grassroots group that advocates for Milwaukee County, and has criticized various County Supervisors and Governor Doyle, as a threat? Is this there subconscious way of admitting Walker is not good for Milwaukee County?

*The podcast is fun to listen to. Two of his earlier callers actually point out that I was correct, even if I might have chosen my words more carefully. Of course, he trashed them too, as his norm, per Dan Shelley.

Cross posted at Cognitive Dissidence.