The Price Is Right!

If you only get your information from Charlie Sykes, Patrick McIlheran, Mark Belling or any of the other asocial types, then you probably believe the high speed rail that will be built will cost a bazillion, gazillion dollars to operate EVERY, SINGLE SECOND!

But the truth is a bit different:

"Operating costs are projected at $7.5 million a year, not counting the part covered by fares. But Renlund said the state is already using federal funds to cover 90% of the Hiawatha's $5.2 million annual operating cost - leaving $520,000 a year for state taxpayers to pick up - and hopes to do the same with the new line. That would mean state taxpayers would be paying $750,000 a year for the service to Madison."

So Wisconsin would get the train line construction fully-paid by stimulus funds, with an annual state tab for some operating expenses amounting to less than one-tenth of 1% of the construction cost.

And less than 8% of the size of the operating cost that GOP candidate Scott Walker has been claiming all campaign season.

Don't you hate it when wingers get hit by reality like a fast speed train?

The Influence, Or Lack Thereof, Of Squawk Radio

From the incomparable xoff:

The same is true of talk radio, which will be quick to take credit for any electoral success on Tuesday, with Ron Johnson the first to say that's how he won (if he wins). He kissed Charlie Sykes's ring (and who knows what else) before deciding to run, to make sure he's have his blessing.

Sykes was the emcee at a Johnson weekend rally in Oshkosh, and will play the same role at Scott Walker's closing rally in Wauwatosa.

But here's the thing: Most Wisconsinites don't listen to or pay attention to talk radio, either. Sykes's audience is about 2 per cent of the adult households in the Milwaukee metro area, perhaps 20,000 people on average. Mark Belling has similar numbers in the afternoon. It's a very limited listenership, and most of them are already convinced; they are not undecideds tuning in to be persuaded.

As much as we like to demonize them, their role is limited. They have more clout with conservative activists and Republicans who hang on their every word -- and with the editors and publishers at their sister publication, the Journal Sentinel. But the impact on the general public is miniscule, and Dems and progressives do ourselves a disservice by blaming Sykes, Belling & Co. for the ills of the world. They simply aren't that important, and we should not elevate them by acting like they are.

They may be riding the runaway Tea Party train and hanging on for dear life, but they are not steering.

Happy Election Day

If having a say in the future of the state and the country is not enough inspiration to make you get out to vote, remember, Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling, and the rest of them don't want you to.



If you don't know where you're supposed to vote, you can find out here.

George Mitchell Shorter

"Bruce Murphy and Milwaukee Magazine is full of crap because they use real numbers and facts and stuff instead of just relying on my opinion. How dare they!"

Can We Do That Too?

A conservative radio squawker in Alaska has gotten himself in a bit of hot water and off the air.

Just like our local hosts of hate radio, the Alaskan squawker, Dan Fagan, spent most of his time bashing the liberal candidate, in this case, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, and singing paeans to his preferred candidate. But then he got carried away:

About halfway through Fagan's show Thursday afternoon a caller phoned in to say he had just registered as a write-in candidate in the Senate race, which includes Miller, Murkowski, and Democrat Scott McAdams. The caller's provocation -- and the reason Fagan liked the idea -- was the Division of Elections' decision to provide voters who ask with a list of the write-in candidates. The Alaska Supreme Court is currently looking at the legality of that decision. Flooding that list with 150 names ranging from Michael Ames to Kathy Jo Zurek, Fagan figured, would mean fewer votes for Murkowski.

Fagan gave the addresses of the Anchorage and Wasilla offices of the Division of Elections and urged his listeners to drive over and register as write-in candidates.

Branch Haymans, an Anchorage financial advisor, was angered by Fagan's show Thursday afternoon. Haymans is a close friend of Murkowski's and has volunteered for her campaign, but is not part of her paid campaign staff.

On Friday morning, Haymans called KFQD and spoke with Joe Campbell, KFQD's program director. Haymans said he told Campbell that he thought Fagan's on-air behavior bordered on election tampering, but didn't threaten legal action or ask for Fagan to be taken off the air.

Campbell did not return a message requesting comment for this story.

"To send people with no legitimate reason other than to create confusion and chaos in an election seemed, to me, to be over the line," Haymans said. "He was no longer a talk show host. He was just a mouthpiece for Joe Miller."

Given that at least Charlie Sykes was using his Journal Broadcast sponsored show to do fund raising for Ron Johnson and Leah Vukmir, couldn't that be considered a violation of election laws? (Yeah, we already know it's unethical, but since when have the squawkers worried about ethics unless they could use it against a political rival of their buddies?)

H/T Las Vegas Badger

Hey, You Two! Get A Room!

The public displays of affection between Sykes and RoJo is just getting a little too much.

Kane Trumps McIlheran

On October 26, Patrick McIlheran posted on his blog that Council President Willie Hines was ready to run for mayor, regardless of whether Barrett wins or not on Tuesday.

Only thing is, it's not true.

Eugene Kane does what McIlheran only wishes he could do, which is practice actual journalism. Kane actually spoke to Hines to see what's up. He learned this:

It was reassuring to learn Hines isn't planning to announce a new campaign just as most voters are suffering fatigue from the latest round of political warfare. But the fact Hines plans to run for mayor of Milwaukee - whether Barrett wins Tuesday or not - is probably the worst-kept secret in political circles in Milwaukee.

In true conservative fashion, McIlheran deleted his post, without as much as a mea culpa or an "Oopsie, I screwed up again."

Perhaps if the powers that be at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel weren't so busy trying to help run Scott Walker's campaign, they could get around to replacing McIlheran with a real journalist, or at least offer Kane a bonus to tutor the poor man on how to be what he claims to be.

Tip of the crown to James Rowen.

The Latest Right Wing Meme: Blame The Victim

I've noticed over the last couple of days that the true nature of the right wing is starting to show themselves, even before they won a single election.

Zach at Blogging Blue picked up on the first one when he noted that Fred Dooley of Real Dimwits of Wisconsin said that a woman deserved to have her head stomped on for exercising her First Amendment right:

I’m not exactly sure what Lauren Valle did that merited being pushed to the ground and having her head stomped on by several men, but it’s curious to me that Fred Dooley is defending the actions of a bunch of overzealous thugs who resorted to physical violence against a woman because she dared to exercise her First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Likewise, Peter DiGuadio doesn't disappoint in the ignorance department. Peter's first points out a story of a man who was sexually molested as a child by a priest and had snapped and attacked the priest decades later. Peter is correct in the sense that the man had no excuse to physically attack his molester this much later in time. However, Peter couldn't leave well enough alone. First he blames the left, especially Bill Maher.

Then, after a short rant about his favorite boogeyman, the Muslims, Peter shows how deranged he can be (emphasis mine):

I hope the guy who did this gets the max. And yes, to be equitable, he should be charged with a hate crime, since he targeted his victim based on his religion. Oh yeah, that’s right. Whites, males, Christians (especially Catholics) don’t count. Now if the victim had been a Moooslim …

Is DiGuadio really saying the sexual molestation of children is part of the Catholic philosophy? Sure seems like it to me.

Rounding off the trifecta of twits is James T. Harris. Harris is apparently upset about a story that broke, in which Republican Secretary of State candidate Apostle David King is the defendant in a lawsuit claiming that a woman was raped and impregnated by King:

Charlette Harris, 31, said King hired her to work at BuySeasons Inc., a New Berlin firm. During a lunch with him in August, her suit contends, he bought her several mixed drinks and later took her to his apartment. She says she passed out but in September learned she was pregnant. She says she is a lesbian and has not been with any other men.

So how does Harris handle the situation? He calls the rape victim a "crack ho":


If these idiots are like this now, can you imagine what things would be like if the Republicans win in the upcoming election?

Now That's NOT Entertainment

In this week's issue of Pressroom Buzz, Erik Gunn takes a look at the Juan Williams controversy.

In the article, he discusses the affect of opinions of new reporters on how they report the news.

He also hits on some old news facts, but in a way making it worth the read:

And talk radio hosts at WTMJ-AM and WISN-AM evidently suffer from no limitations. Last week, Charlie Sykes was heard openly plumping for a fundraiser for Leah Vukmir in her state Senate bid.

Of course, Sykes et al and their bosses will readily disavow the "journalist" label, at least when it becomes inconvenient, and hold themselves out as "entertainers" or "commentators." But are such distinctions really that clear to the public who views TMJ as the Journal Sentinel's radio station?

And then there's the constant refrain that the media are collectively biased anyway - to the left, if you're conservative, and to the corporate/conservative interests if you're liberal. In the aftermath of the Williams firing, Chris Wallace at Fox trotted out a series of instances that suggested other NPR employees had expressed strong opinions in other contexts.

There's no question that journalists have opinions, and that to some degree, those opinions are going to frame not only what stories they cover, but also how they cover them.

But I have a hunch that sometimes, maybe even often, journalists, aware of their opinions - and perhaps a bit defensive about them - either pull punches on stories that go after people or institutions of which they're actually critical - or pump up negative stories about people or institutions they actually agree with.

Fox News No Match For Milwaukee Dems

Fox News, who has donated one million dollars to the sleazemeisters of the Republican Governors Association, tried to crash Monday night's meeting of the Democratic Party for Milwaukee County.

It appears that Fox bit off more than could chew this time:



The sad news is now Faux News will do what they usually do, and just go ahead and make stuff up.

Wise Judgement

Patrick McIlheran pontificates on some of the editorials in Sunday's paper.

He proudly crows about the paper's endorsement of Scott Walker. I've already pointed out that what they consider to be Walker's strengths are actually failures.

Also, Paddy touts his buddy's, Rick Esenberg's, opinion piece on why RoJo would make a better choice. Paddy selects this phrase "a gem":

“It is the peculiar conceit of the chattering classes (of which I am certainly a member) that an unintelligent person can build a successful business. That sounds wrong, and it is. Johnson's development of his family business reflects a capacity for astute analysis, an ability to assess and react to changing circumstances and a capability for wise judgment."

Obviously, all that astute analysis, ability to assess and wise judgment was finding the right girl whose family could give him first a job, and then the whole company.

How Squawk Radio Wil Handle Their Cognitive Dissonance

The local squawkers will be needing to do some mental gymnastics this week after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came out and endorsed both Russ Feingold (damn liberal media) and Scott Walker (damn liber- who? wha?).

The erudite James Rowen explains how Sykes, Belling and company will spin this into a way that looks rational to the irrational mind of your average talk radio adherent.

Father Hypocrite

On Friday morning, Charlie Sykes was squawking about Tom Barrett and his stance for women's rights. Sykes went to so far as to question Barrett's Christianity and Catholicism.

That is a rather bold move given that Sykes has broken at least two of the ten commandments: The one about not committing adultery and the one about not bearing false witness.

In fact, I don't think he's made it a day without breaking the commandment to not bear false witness. I don't really want to know how long he can make it without breaking the other.

Piss Off A Squawker And Vote!

From One Wisconsin Now:



Charlie Sykes spent an untold amount of time whining about this video today. The funny thing is he kept saying that it should how much the left hates his listeners. Odd thing is, the video never said one peep about hate. In fact, the only hate was coming from the right. They just hate the left (probably for being correct all the time) and they hate that us lower class of folks have the right to vote as well.

But It's OK If He Does It

Charlie Sykes has a follow up to a story he's been carping about a lot. The story deals with state unions using state email for political purposes. He is correct in saying it's wrong.

But the question is: What right does he have to judge, given that he gives so much free air time to Republican candidates, especially Scott Walker, during work hours? Nor has Chuckles ever once condemned Walker for his political bike ride on tax payers money. Or for Darlene Wink. Or for Tim Russell.

There is a word for people like Sykes when he does that. Actually, there are several words. The polite one is hypocrite.