Paddy Rewrites Recent History

Patrick McIlheran somehow manages to write that voter ID did not hamper the voter turnout during November's historic election. It is not know if he actually typed this with a straight face or not.

And here I thought that the large amount of turnout among Democrats and African Americans had something to do with the opportunity to vote for a man that was going to offer a chance to correct the errors for the past eight years.

Another thing that Paddy fails to mention was that the turnout was also higher in states that don't try to disenfranchise voters.

Good for the gander, good for the goose

Patrick McIlheran is shocked, shocked! that Sheldon Wasserman doesn't wear a big D on his chest as he goes door to door in his North Shore State Senate district, looking for votes.

Paddy Mac makes it sound like there's something unusual about that.

But if Paddy would take his head out of wherever he's had it lately, he'd discover that just about no candidates -- even for President -- advertise their political affiliation, unless they're running in a primary.

If you're someone who's going to vote for an R or a D because the candidate is an R or a D, you'll find their parties conveniently on the ballot on Election Day.

Meanwhile, one has to wonder whether Paddy has subjected Alberta Darling, Wasserman's opponent, to the same scrutiny.

In a year where Democrats seem poised to ride Obama's coattails, many Republicans running for the legislature are managing to mention even (gasp!) Gov. Jim Doyle in a positive way and brag about working with Democrats. A case in point, from the Capital Times:

REPUBLICAN RUNS ON DOYLE'S COATTAILS:
Assemblyman Brett Davis touts work with Democratic governor

New radio advertisements for Republican Assemblyman Brett Davis, who is in a tight race for re-election in a Madison area district that is likely to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic presidential nominee Obama, attempt to dull the edges of his party affiliation. How so? They repeatedly mention how Davis has worked with Gov. Jim Doyle, the Democrat Republicans love to hate.

The town of Oregon legislator, who represents the 80th Assembly District (His website), has scrubbed references to his Republican roots from his campaign against Democrat John Waelti, a retired agricultural economics professor with a Swiss name in a district where a lot of the swing voters live in and around New Glarus. From here on out for Davis, it's all "independence," "independent" and "working with Doyle."

The Davis strategy is a smart one, as he will need ticket splitting to win a substantial number of voters who have cast ballots for Obama and popular Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to switch over the Republican side of the ballot when they get to the Assembly contest.

Watch for more Republicans to be singing the praises of Obama and Doyle if McCain stops campaigning in the state.

Davis, by the way, votes the party line in the Assembly 97% of the time.

Wanna bet whether you'll find the word Republican on any Darling signs, literature or TV spots?

James T. Harris begs McCain to get in the gutter—Sykes sheds tears of unrepentant joy

Right now, the brilliant minds at the 620-WTMJ promotions department must be operating on all cylinders to suck as much cheap publicity out of James T. Harris’15 seconds in the national spotlight as they possibly can.

They’ve already managed to squeeze another day out of it by implying that Harris is a victim of an orchestrated “hate campaign” from the left. There hasn’t been a bandwagon yet that Charlie Sykes wouldn’t pounce on, so he musters up even more rhetorical excess than usual in asking, “What Was James T. Harris's Crime?”

Well, since you asked, how about insisting that we elect a president based on a campaign of cheap shots, innuendo, distortions, and lies? How about demanding that political campaigns pander even more to the country’s lowest common denominator? How about contributing to an increasingly violent atmosphere at GOP rallies?

It’s safe to assume that Sykes, our resident highwayman of the low political road, probably doesn’t consider any of the above to be a crime.

What’s rather remarkable about all this bluster from Harris, Sykes, and the increasingly unhinged GOP base is that John McCain seems to be rejecting their begging to “hit Obama where it hits.” In their rush to crow about Harris’ performance, they seem to have completely overlooked McCain’s response. In the video clip, McCain makes it quite clear that he’d rather talk about the sorry state of the American economy. The audience, who cheered for Harris, barely peeps when their candidate for president finishes.

Watch it:

This pent-up yearning for more aggressive attacks, fanned by radio squawkers like Harris and Sykes, is starting to result in the McCain campaign losing any semblance of control over their audiences. At a town hall meeting in Minnesota today, McCain was booed after referring to Obama as a “decent person.”

Harris and Sykes must be so proud.

***

As a postscript, how exactly did James T. Harris get his place at the front of the stage? Was he planted there by the McCain campaign?

Freedom Eden reprinted a transcript from today’s Charlie Sykes show:

SYKES: Were you [an audience plant]?

HARRIS: No.

SYKES: I know that. I just want to give you a chance...

HARRIS: You know, I talked to, I think it's Cameron at FOX. And he really grilled me on this because he said he didn't want any blowback. And I can understand where people are coming from. There were only like about 3 or 4 Americans of African descent in the audience. What people don't know is that I have done presentations for the Republican Party in Waukesha. I have a lot of friends in the party there and politicians and I called the office and asked for tickets.

So... And I knew that, you know, that I was, you know, a minority. And I am in the camp but I am a conservative so they would give, I'd be put in a prominent position. I had no idea I'd be that close to the stage.

And since I was there, I decided, 'You know what? I am going to ask this question,' because this really is on my heart and on my mind, and I want to at least put it out there that I'm fighting like he asked and I want him to fight to. And that's how it came about. There was no... I wasn't plucked by the McCain campaign. I've been accused of that. Lord have mercy, I've... people are saying that I got paid by the John..., by the McCain... I wish! I would love...!

Uh, huh. Okay. Anyway, just yesterday, before Harris went all viral, Freedom Eden reported:

James T. Harris, 620 WTMJ talk radio host, was in line a few hundred people behind me.

He wasn't there for long. James was picked out of the line and ushered to another entrance and given a great seat in the hall.

He even got the opportunity to ask a question at the town hall meeting.

Some guys have all the luck.

All the luck, eh? Well, I guess that’s one way to describe it.

Cross posted at Pundit Nation.

It's Primary Day

Today is Primary Day. Go out and vote, and when you vote, vote smart.

Like for Marge Krupp, for example:

We need Krupp

Marge Krupp, the most hard-working and qualified candidate for the 1st Congressional District, gets my vote on Tuesday.

When I look at my food, water and air, I want to know there is someone protecting me in Congress that has a chemical engineering degree — Marge has it with honors. No staffer will to do her homework for her. She won’t be fooled by lobbyists or cronies working for chemical companies.

Marge’s MBA from Northwestern will be needed as the debate turns to businesses we need to attract and how to do that. She won’t be forced to rely on staffers to explain things to her.

Marge still made time to serve her church as a president, dug up vegetables for the needy, gave time to the Shalom Center. She worked hard with her husband making a home and raising their son. Now, that’s a hard worker dedicated to improving the lives of people around her.

Marge wants access to decent heath care for every American, she wants a decent education for every child, she knows that without a college degree you don’t have a bright future in the workplace. She wants to make higher education achievable for all students.

Marge Krupp, the only serious candidate for these serious times. We need Marge Krupp to represent us.

Kay Collins-Schulz

Waterford

Something For Everyone

This should actually unite the right, the left and the libertarians in one fell swoop:

Kevin Barrett, the former University of Wisconsin-Madison instructor on Islam whose views on the September 2001 terrorists attacks on America created a firestorm of controversy, plans to run as a Libertarian candidate for Wisconsin's 3rd District seat in the U.S. House.

Barrett, of Lone Rock, created a national controversy in 2006 by saying that some U.S. government officials orchestrated the 2001 attacks. He has set up an Internet campaign site.

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) was elected to the 3rd District seat in Congress in 1996.

The right hate him, the left scoff at him, and I'm sure the libertarians don't want him identifying himself with them.

Heck, this might even be enough to bring McBride out of her hiatus.

Anyone But McCain

Even Sykes is starting to see the light:

Free Speech

Ah, is a King's work never done?

After returning from a lovely weekend in the countryside, I come back to find a plea for help. It seems that at issue is the issue of free speech, as protected by the First Amendment.

McBride, in her weekly space-filler at the Waukesha Freeman, takes state Representative Don Pridemore to task for suggesting a bill that would require third party groups running ads in elections to name the people that donate to their cause. As usual, McBride's argument is convoluted and circular. She tries to make a point, but offers no rationale behind her point. For a more clear and well written piece on this issue, I found Owen Robinson, in on of his rare posts of more than a few words, to be much clearer in presenting the issues.

Now, obviously, I don't have a problem with anonymity, as that neither capper, nor King of the Left Hate, are the names that my parents gave to me. Nor is my real name Liz Woodhouse. However, I am also a mere blogger. I am but a single voice among the thousands on the Internet. My influence on any given election is negligible, as evidenced by Walker's re-election. Oh sure, sometimes a blogger will strike gold and find a piece of information that could change an election drastically, but those times are rare.

The same can't be said for the third party ads. Their influence on elections are undeniable. Every election cycle, our TVs, our radios and even some web pages, like the JSOnline, are inundated in political ads. Many, if not most, of these ads are produced and paid for by these third parties. They have also become increasingly negative and vulgar, and often play very loosely with the facts. All one has to do is look at the latest kerfuffle regarding All Children Matter to see some of the problems with these groups.

In his post, Owen argues that naming the people that contribute to these organizations could have some real, and some very negative, impact on the people that donate, without really affecting the outcomes of the elections. I respectfully disagree with him.

While Owen's scenarios could hold true, that is only if the person continues to donate to these groups. The person also has a right to contribute to any group or movement that is more responsible on how they get their message out. There may still be repercussions, but that is much less likely if there are no slanderous statements made in the first place.

I don't know if there is a solution that everyone could be happy with, but I personally believe that there is some sort of compromise possible. Something to the effect that anyone donating less than a set amount, say $100 to a movement, can remain private. This way, most average individuals would have their privacy remain intact, but the people that would be more of an impact player would be named, so that people can see who's really behind a group. This way, the average citizen could still support whatever cause they wish to without fear of repercussion, but those with greater sway and swag would be identified, and their real intents may become clearer.

One other issue that demonstrates McBride's poor journalistic skill is her use of attributions, or lack thereof. McBride writes:

The speculation derived from a blogger who admits she was completely making it up. The best line came from Freeman columnist James Wigderson, who opined that he’d like to see my husband in the state Assembly because "after the first meeting he’d probably demand mandatory Breathalyzer checks for his colleagues."

Now, I am sure James is pleased to see his name in print again, being the publicity hound that he is. But why wouldn't she name the other blogger, who actually helped to inspire at least this paragraph, and several posts? Is it jealousy? Or is there some other reason, like maybe Paul is really toying with an idea of running?

Who knows? But for those of you who might have missed it, as I wrote last week, the blogger is Cindy Kilkenny, and this is her post.

And on an ending note, it is no wonder that McBride would be against this sort of bill. She is probably afraid that if it was noted that, say she or her husband, had donated to one of these sliming agencies, she might receive the same treatment that she gives to other people who chose to cast aside their cloak of anonymity.

Lots Of Sour Grapes To Go Around

A concerned reader emailed his King and asked for a boon. Said reader pled for Whallah! to point out some of the hypocrisy of the right.

Sykes, Belling, and the rest of the right wing echo chamber, after the election a couple weeks ago, have been all over the left with cries of "sour grapes", which was fueled by some in the state legislature calling for a change in how justices are placed on the bench of the Supreme Court, and talking about appointing them, as opposed to general elections.

Our faithful reader points out, with keen accuracy, that it was just a couple of years ago that the right was gnashing their teeth and complaining about the state ethics board, that wouldn't let Green just transfer money around willy-nilly. There they go again throwing their rocks throw the walls of their glass houses.

I also recollect that early in the year 2001, the right didn't have a problem at all with what was supposed to be an elected official being appointed. In that case, it happened to be SCOTUS appointing a president. It would appear that there is some sort of precedent for that sort of thing.

Bloodied, But Not Bowed

Before I start, I want to make sure that I want to commend Illusory Tenant and Jay Bullock on their good work on the Butler/Gableman race. They worked damn hard and did a lot to get the truth out there.

I also want to thank my brothers in arms, the Brawler and Sir Zachary the Blue Knight and the Lady Gretchen for trying to show the poor choice Walker was. A special shout out for Ma Brawler, who was right all along--Walker is a weasel.

I know a lot of you, my dear people, are upset, angry and disappointed at the losses suffered to the dishonest campaigns of Walker and Gableman. That is a normal reaction. I fear too, that I felt despair. Not for me, but for all the good people that will suffer from these choices.

But, with the thanks of a good friend, I realized that this was but a minor skirmish in the grand scheme of things. It truly does make our quest more difficult, and much more labor intensive, but it comes nowhere near being impossible. We must simply carry on, and keep striving to bring justice, peace and liberty back to the country and to the world. One step at a time, good people, one step at a time.

Let the right caw like a bunch of carrion-eating crows. We are not dead, not even defeated. Tuesday was just a set back. Something that happens to people every day. There are still many good justices on the Supreme Court. There are many fine legislators in the state government. The County Board is still relatively intact. I had overheard that one supervisor just sighed, and said that it just means that have to keep working to prevent further damage to the County.

I agree. We just have to keep them honest (they hate that) and try to prevent any and all harm that they would otherwise try to wreak upon us. And upon those that depend on us.

I will leave off with a quote from a wise man, a good man. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

Who could argue with that?

Now, let's pick up the pieces and get ready. November's chill winds are already coming.

Royal Edict

Even if thou is not wise enough to recognize sagacious advice when it is offered, thou should, nay, thou must go out and VOTE!




The King has spoken. So shall it be.

The Royal Recommendations

Forsooth, Tuesday is Election Day. Therefore, it falls upon me to provide wise and sage advice for my people to select those who would not do them harm, but would lift them up to the best lives they may possibly have. So, without further delay, here are the Royal Recommendations:

JUDICIAL:

There are only three races really worth mentioning. The first would be the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Royal Nod goes to the Louis Butler, who has Illusory Tenant has shown us in his prolific, yet detailed work, that Justice Butler is a honorable and sagacious man, who only wants to make sure all of the citizens are protected from those who would do us harm. And which would any thinking person rather believe: A detailed, exhaustive plethora of research done by a real attorney, or McBride and her "judgment calls?"

The second race is between Bill Gleisner and Lisa Neubauer. This race should go to Neubauer. Gleisner has shown himself to be opportunistic and dishonest, and cannot be relied upon to render decisions that would be strictly in accordance to the law.

The last race is for Milwaukee Circuit Court, Branch 40. The candidates are Rebecca Dallet and Jeffrey Norman. While Mr. Norman appears to be a competent and nice person, I recommend Ms. Dallet. She has the experience and the balanced insight that a judge should have.

COUNTY:

The race for County Executive is the easiest one of all to call. The Royal Endorsement is for Senator Lena Taylor. Walker has shown himself to be incompetent and only interested in using the position has a launching pad for another position, like governor or U.S. Senator. In the interim, he has willfully failed to maintain even the most minimal standards for the parks, the courts, the House of Correction, mental health services, transit or any other area of the county's responsibilities. Walker's record is so abysmal that he has resorted to a Karl Rovian type of campaigning of "fear and smear."

On the other hand, Senator Taylor remembers the gem that Milwaukee County once was, and would return it to its days of splendor and a leader not only in the state, but in the nation.

If the reader needs references, I would suggest the work of yours truly and Jay Bullock at folkbum's, the biting insight of Brawler, and the Nation of Pundits. In Walker's camp, he has the likes of Sykes, Belling and McIlheran.

Need I say more?

In some of the races for the County Board, I would recommend Marina Dimitrijevic, Elizabeth Coggs-Jones, Christopher Larson, Lynne DeBruin and John Wieshan.

MUNICIPAL:

For mayor, the race obviously should go to Tom Barrett.

The city attorney should remain Grant Langley.



The King has spoken. So shall it be.

Schizoid Thinking From the MJS Editorial Staff

So I come back from touring the damage that has inflicted on my holdings in the northern regions of my kingdom, and am greatly pleased by the progress that is finally occurring, and in about 10 minutes lose my sense of bonhomie towards my fellow man when I read this piece of gutter tripe.

Now, I have to say first, that I was not surprised that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came out to endorse Scott Walker. The paper is not nearly as liberal as Sykes, McIlheran, McBride or the rest would have us believe.

But when one reads the editorial, it is hard to fathom how they came to recommend Walker. They point out, correctly, that Walker has ruined the parks, but transit on the road to its demise, made a mockery of the court system, and has jeopardized our safety by his bumbling regarding the House of Correction and the mental health system. They even point out that Walker is promising only more of the same mismanagement that has brought Milwaukee County to its knees. Yet they go on to recommend him. It simply boggles the mind.

At first I wondered if Sykes was a guest writer, but I quickly realized that it couldn't have been him. There was no self-aggrandizement and it was way too long for him to write without copying and pasting something.

I was also able to quickly determine that it wasn't McIlheran, as that it didn't include a lot of superfluous words, nor did it cite any factual errors by McBride or Esenberg.

I am apparently not the only one that found their endorsement perplexing. Mike Mathias points out that even Walker is apparently feeling desperate enough to attack Taylor on any conceivable tangent, whether or not it has to do with the position, he too feels that their endorsement is due to not wanting to jeopardize alienating their suburban base of readers.

James Rowen says it correctly and dead on, in plain English:

So failure is an option after all.

Too strong for some of you?

Look no farther than the ongoing breakdowns at the jail and House of Correction, in the parks, the pension system, and the transit system.

All failures, and getting worse.

Walker is not a visionary, or a leader, or a problem solver.

He's an unimaginative one-note (tax freeze) tactical politico, a willing tool of talk radio, a place-holder waiting his turn to run for F. James Sensenbrenner's Congressional seat.

He got elected in 2002, despite an undistinguished career as an anonymous GOP Assemblyman from Wauwatosa, because the Ament administration corrupted itself out of office.

But Walker has not been the breath of fresh air he promised he'd be, and basic county services, like the parks and the transit system, are worse than they were when Walker took over.

And continuing pension system malfeasance is simply unacceptable.

Little wonder that county government is living on credit, and teeters towards financial bankruptcy.

Lena Taylor is an attorney and State Senator. Her credentials are more substantial than Walker's.

She would have been a breath of fresh air, and a fresh start for the county and local politics.

The paper got this one wrong.

The thing that makes their endorsement of Walker even more baffling is the fact that they got it right on the Supreme Court race.

At least Stuart Carlson gets it:

They're Barking Up The Wrong Tree

The squawkers, every last one of them, is rabid in their desperation to get at Justice Louis Butler. They really, really, really want Gableman in the supreme court. Gableman is the best candidate that WMC money can buy.

But, as I have been reading the tireless Illusory Tenant parse, fisk, debunk, expose, lampoon, and otherwise disprove the faulty arguments presented by those who are desperate to take control from the people in favor of Big Business and the uber-rich, a trend came to my attention.

While the right consistently squawk that Butler is a "liberal activist judge" or being "pro-criminal", it is that they just don't like his rulings. His rulings only follow the law as it is written. That is when it occurred to me that they don't really think that Butler is the problem, they think that the law, as it is written, is the real problem.

Instead of fixing the law, they would rather attack Butler, and try to get their hand-chosen, groomed and controlled activist judge on the Supreme Court, like they did with Ziegler, so that they can just ignore the law.

Then another thought occurred to me. The penal code was revamped in the not so distant past. Back in the latter parts of the 1990s. Unfortunately, when the laws were revamped, the work was not finished. This lack of follow through has contributed to the high incarceration rate in Wisconsin, and can be directly related to the higher taxes we are paying to house the criminals.

And who takes the most pride in this incomplete job of reconstruction, thereby increasing incarceration, and jacking up our taxes? Yup, Scott Walker.

Seeing this line of thought, it would only be proper for the right wing to stop attacking Butler on baseless allegations, and go after the guy who did cause the problem. Please excuse me for not holding my breath while the waiting for the right wing squawkers to do the right thing.

ADDENDUM: For more on Gableman, and his questionable background, I would refer the gentle reader to this fine piece of research by Clyde Winter.

The Importance Of Being Literate

McIlheran thinks he scoring a point in favor of his hero, Scott "The Weasel" Walker, by pointing out that Senator Lena Taylor points out that Walker never finished school. McIlheran doesn't talk about why Walker quit school. (Some have said he was kicked out, but my information indicates he quit. After losing a school election. To a write-in candidate.)

He does reluctantly admit that education is important. He even more reluctantly admits that finishing what one starts is also important.

What he doesn't do is tell the whole truth. From Senator Taylor's online chat at JSOnline:

Q: Bill of Wauwatosa - Do you believe that a college degree is a requirement to be a county executive?

A: Lena Taylor - Bill, thanks for your interest in this election. A college degree may not be a requirement for county executive, but I have pointed this difference out between my opponent and myself because I believe that it speaks volumes about our ability to get the job done. My life experiences show a drive and sense of commitment which I believe is lacking in my opponent. When I set my mind on a goal, I stick with it until it is completed. Our education is but one example of our commitment and ability to the get the job done. My opponent was elected county executive and almost immediately began his campaign for governor. He abandoned the job we elected him to do because of personal ambition. For almost two years, while he campaigned for governor he was absent. During this time when the county was without the services of a full-time county exec, the problems multiplied. We now have $300 million in deferred Parks maintenance alone, the pension problems which happened on his watch continue to multiply, county health insurance is out of control, and the county lacks a coherent strategy to promote and develop economic growth. At the same time, my opponent continues to be the poster child for bad relationships with others to get the job done for Milwaukee county whether it's within our county, our region, state or federal levels. A college degree may not be a requirement for being the county executive, but in a county where less than 20% of individuals have a higher degree - we need a leader that will lead by example so we can encourage growth in this area. My opponent's lack of college degree speaks volumes regarding his priorities and his ability to complete what he starts. Moreover, would his credentials warrant his salary in the corporate arena, or an increase in pay by $50K when his management has cost us millions of dollars at the HOC, jail, courts, Huber, mental health, etc.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm sure McIlheran went to school and got a degree. But I think we all know whose school of thought he takes after.

McBride Promotes Judicial Activism

Every time a seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court comes up, or any other judicial seat for that matter, the right often latches on to the person they hate and label that person as an "activist judge" and accusing them of "legislating from the bench." Usually this means that the judge in question has upheld the law, and that they disagree with the law (more on this later).

However, when their candidate advocates a position that is against the law, well, that's different. That's just good old conservative and/or family values.

McBride displays this in her most recent post. Since even Sykes bashed Bill Gleisner, and Paul Bucher for shilling for him, McBride must have felt an irresistible urge to defend her man. She emailed the Gleisner camp and received a letter from them. The letter is from a Catholic priest that vouches for Gleisner's pro-life stance.

The question McBride doesn't, and probably won't ever, answer is: So what?

The freedom for women to control their bodies is still legal. This was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which trumps the state's Supreme Court. At best, his stance is irrelevant. At worst, she is promoting an activist judge, which makes her a hypocrite (again).

And she hasn't answered all of the other allegations of liberalism that have been shown regarding Gleisner.

Perhaps, McBride's support of Gleisner goes deeper than just because her husband is a tool for him. Perhaps she appreciates him as being another trial lawyer, just like Paul, and filing frivolous lawsuits. Perhaps there is some other, deeper connection, that we're just not aware of.

Statistics And Stooges

We have already seen that Illusory Tenant has been doing the intellectual work of any ten men during the past week or so. He has been deftly thwarting the lies and misrepresentations being slung around by squawkers like McBride and McIlheran, and has single-handedly been taking on the falsehoods being presented by WMC (Wisconsin's Most Corrupt).

He hasn't slowed down yet. The illustrious and indefatigable one takes on both McBride and the CFAF, showing how both of them use the same faulty data, and gets the same faulty conclusions, in their desperate efforts to promote the same faulty judicial candidate, Gableman.

iT's work is ponderous that it took up not one, but two, different posts. Here's a sample to whet your appetite:

She could have asked, I suppose, but since when were investigative reporters in the business of asking questions? That's just crazy talk! Who knows or cares what in the world these numbers mean, the main thing is, they're WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!1Whatever they are.

McBride then goes on to ramble pointlessly about a number of cases that aren't on the list of 62, despite the fact that, in the meantime, the Butler campaign had released the revised list of 70 cases, which contains all the cases McBride is wondering about (and, natch, taking advantage of the occasion to call Justice Butler a liar, and so forth).

Even when McBride did get her mitts on the revised list, she still has no clue what all the little (0:1)'s mean. What are they?! Oh never mind. Butler's a liar!

They Never Stood A Chance, Part Deux

We told you last week about how Illusory Tenant was most kind in granting us a boon by parsing some of the silliness that emanates from McBride's newest blogsite, Election Warp Wisconsin.

Now observe how his kindness and diligence towards the causes of truth and justice know no bounds.

First he observes that McIlheran starts to parrot McBride's ill-informed and even more poorly interpreted post. iT takes it upon himself, again without recommended protective gear, to take on the task of correcting the record.

Then McBride comes out with new and not improved facts (as she perceives them). iT again corrects her in this post.

McIlheran again parrots McBrides inaccurate allegations, and sets the record straight. Not only does he posts on it, but then submits it to McIlheran's site as a rebuttal.

McIlheran, in what we hope is play-acting at being obtuse (if he is genuinely this obtuse, he would need a picture book instruction manual on how to breathe), takes artificial outrage in an effort to distract from the fact that he can't argue against the facts. iT again patiently points out that this time McIlheran is intentionally lying, instead of just parroting lies. (On a side note, Other Side also enters the fray on McIlheran's site. But you can't teach an old brick new tricks.)

So, the illustrious one spends a greater part of his weekend to do an independent analysis of the data and finds that the facts gasp Justice Butler's original assertions, and that the McGoof twins are full of fecal matter.

Not only did the Tenant find that McIlheran willingly fail to do the minimal in basic journalism, but he also found out that McIlheran was actually present during an interview with the good Justice, and yet willfully fails to tell the truth on the matter. iT leaves off with a very good question for McIlheran, one that I'm afraid I already know the answer to:

eta: This comment was left on McIlheran's blog Sunday evening (containing no HTML commands):

I played your numbers game for you, Mr. McIlheran. It also turns out that Justice Butler had previously explained the basis for the percentage in advance to you, when you were literally sitting across a table from im.

It's all on my blog. Go have a look.

My only question at this point, Mr. McIlheran, is: Are you going to give your apology to Justice Butler at least the same prominence that you gave McBride's hatchet job?

It's Time For Sykes To Stand Up For What's Right

Sykes brags about how he stands up for what's right, or in his case, what's Right-wing.

He went on and on and on about the non-issue if Obama committed plagiarism for using the same ideological rhetoric that another politician, who happened to be close to Obama, had used. Now imagine the frothing at the mouth we would have seen if Obama also lied about people that appeared in one of his commercials. Clean up in Aisle 62o, please.

Well, Sykes has his chance to do the right thing now. Scott Walker has been busted using a previously used theme in political ads, in his latest commercial, the "I believe in Milwaukee" shtick.

Not only that, but as Xoff points out, Walker has lied about the people appearing in the commercial. They're not real taxpayers, in the local sense, but paid actors, who I am sure probably paid taxes on the money they were paid to shill for Walker.

And has icing for the cake, yours truly has taken Xoff's points, and added that Walker is a big old hypocrite when it comes to his whole "I won't raise taxes" malarkey.

If I were a betting man, I would put my whole kingdom that Sykes is going to be as big of a hypocrite as Walker, showing that they both share something besides receding hairlines.

They Never Stood A Chance

The Illusory Tenant, who did a preliminary fisking of McBride's first warping of the facts regarding the Supreme Court race, continues on a tear, this time taking on both McIlheran and McBride, neither of which stood a chance:

As a journalist, McBride likely wouldn't appreciate the working draft of a project similarly critiqued prior to its completion. But this is unsurprising, since she has something of a history of jumping the factual gun in favor of expressing zealous ideology.

Patrick McIlheran, on the other hand, can be less easily forgiven. As a prominent columnist at Milwaukee's only daily newspaper and haranguing from the pulpit it provides, he has a far greater responsibility for circumspection and skepticism.

Yet here he is, assisting in more widely disseminating accusations of "outright lying" on the part of Justice Butler. That is remarkably irresponsible for a so-called journalist, by anyone's standards.

I'm willing to bet he didn't spend one minute checking into any of McBride's claims. There's certainly no evidence that he did in his little piece of right-wing puffery. Needless to say, it's also a very poor reflection on the Journal-Sentinel itself.

iT also adds another post showing that Gableman better get his eraser out when it comes to his list of endorsements.

Racism And Politics

Over the past few days, Sykes has been besides himself. First, he shows his hypocrisy by condemning former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer for his extramarital dalliance. As if Sykes would have the right to criticize anyone on that account.

Yesterday, on his show, he continued his diatribe against Senator Barack Obama. First he condemns Obama for not distancing himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, for what some on the right are trying to say is racist and anti-American speech. He seems to forget that the right have more than their fair share of crackpot religious leaders.

Then, when Obama did criticize the "hate speech", and removed the Reverend from his campaign committee. Sykes criticized him for throwing the Reverend "under the bus." Sykes is so vain that you know he's just has to have a mirror near him at all times, but does he ever really look at himself?

The local right wing media has more than their fair share of racism as well. Sykes' own brand of racism has been noted when he compared Jews to Nazis, and how he railed against people that asked him to remove his offensive post. Who can forget Belling's comment that got him suspended only after a hard long fight by community activists, as well as his racist smears against McGee and Lena Taylor? And there was McBride who was released from her radio show just after mocking the death of little girl, and after she made some offensive statements based on racial stereotyping after the death of a up-and-coming R & B star.

Given this repeated pattern of racist and hateful statements and attitudes of the local media, I demand and expect that Scott Walker, Michael Gableman and Bill Gleisner would condemn and distance themselves from these people immediately and their attitudes.