A Logical Conclusion

The fallout from last Tuesday's election, in which WMC was able to oust Justice Louis Butler and but in their bobble-headed puppet Gableman, continues. But there is an interesting pattern of thought among the right wingers.

Each and every one of the squawkers, from McBride to McIlheran to Sykes to Belling have all been crowing about Gableman's victory. (OK, Sykes doesn't actually write anything on his own. But he did put up several posts linking to other people writing the same point, over and over and over.)

Also, using eerily similar language, they all try to convince us that Gableman's winning the election had nothing to do with the huge amount of money spent by special interests, or Gableman's racist ad playing on the fear of people. No, my friends, they try to tell us that the only reason Gableman won is because Gableman was the conservative choice. For the sake of this discussion, let's use this as the first given: Gableman won because he is conservative.

Now, let us look at the allegations by the left. They claim Gableman's ad was racist and lacking in truth and integrity. James Rowen points out, in a post that criticizes McIlheran's incomplete essay on the matter, that no less than 30 state judges and one former Supreme Court justice found the ad had "exceeded the boundaries of fairness, honesty and integrity for candidates running for judicial office."

Clyde Winter again does his usual exemplary job of research and writing to show us a history of the whole scandalous election. He also provides us a couple of links to FactCheck.Org which tells us that the ads from CFAF were full of untruths, half-truths and unethical claims. FactCheck.Org also points out that the ad that came from Gableman himself is in the style of the Willie Horton ads, and that it would be generous to call it misleading (especially when it was blatantly fraudulent). Heck, even Sykes said that Gableman's ad was an embarrassment.

And let us not forget how our favorite barrister, in great pains-taking detail, itemized the incorrect allegations and assumptions of the likes of McBride, who couldn't even get the basic facts correct on which she launched her vitriolic eruptions of lies and hate. That's not the first, nor was it even the latest, time that she has gotten her facts completely wrong. But what do you expect. It takes a professional journalist to even know that they should start out with the complete and actual facts of the case. It is unfair to expect that level of journalism from McBride. (And to think, she is on the public dole for supposedly teaching journalism. Talk about wasting tax dollars...)

So, we see that, based on findings from lawyers, judges (including a former Supreme Court justice, and a fact checking organizations, the ads were racist, filled with lies, dishonest, unscrupulous and fear-mongering. Let that be our second given.

Following logic, given that Gableman won because he ran as the conservative, and given that the ads supporting Gableman were racist, misleading, dishonest, and unethical, one must presume, by their own admission, that these "conservatives" are racist, dishonest and unethical.

But we already knew that, didn't we?

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.