The Lawyer Is Teh Funny

Rick Esenberg has been riding Paul Soglin pretty hard for the last week or so because of the Mayor's work on behalf of WMC Watch. The Rickster, who if memory serves has cashed at least one WMC check for his own self, wants Soglin to share the names of his clients.

In his latest howler, Goose and gander: WMC and Soglin, Esenberg makes a funny. Although speaking of a generic candidate he inadvertantly reminds us of the foibles of Michael Gableman, WMC's latest, greatest patsy.

Although there is arguably not as great a possibility for quid pro quo type
corruption, i.e., a candidate deciding that she owes a funder favors

In Gableman's case, of course, this worked both ways. Not only is Gableman beholden to his benefactors but he owes his career to his fundraising work on behalf of others.

I'll let you go now. I just wanted to let Rick know that I got his little wink at reality there. Carry on.

Explanation for Two Ambitious Men

I didn't have to wait long. Even Xoff was put off by the juxtapositioning of the pictures of Scott Walker and Adolph Hitler. Unsettling, huh?

Of course I was not really comparing the two. For as much as I dislike Scott Walker's politics, I suspect down deep he is a decent person, loves his family, etc. But the reaction was interesting. Nothing was said. I merely stated that both men were ambitious. What is not true about that statement?

And yet, the contrast of the two pictures elicited in a very short time visceral reactions. Tell me that the Gableman campaign did not know exactly what they were doing when they juxtaposed a picture of Justice Butler next to that of a sex offender who also happened to be the same race as Butler?

Apologies to anyone offended. However, apologies from every single conservative blogger, lawmakers and quasi-journalists who ignored the real fact that race did play a role in that ad should be forthcoming as well.

Gableman and the Enablers

And all the conservative bloggers danced and sang, and not a one said a thang.

The Gableman Gut Check

Pity the poor squawkers. After being turned down time after time by competent judges and incompetent former DAs, they had to settle for Gableman to run against Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler.

Even with the bankrolling of WMC, it will be an uphill battle for them. Why?

Look at what they have to work with. JSOnline has a report about Gableman's latest smear tactic against Butler (emphasis mine):

For instance, Butler pointed to Gableman's statements that Butler has sided with criminals 60% of the time. Butler said he had reviewed all the cases since he joined the bench, and found he upheld criminal convictions 75% of the time.

He positioned himself as a free thinker, one who follows the law and seeks justice. Gableman did the same, but sought to draw contrasts: "I'm a longtime prosecutor, he's a longtime criminal defense attorney."

Gableman said the 60% figure came from a study by an outside group.

"I don't know if the number is 30%, 60%, 80% or 90%," he said, before adding. "I'm unaware of any study that contradicts those numbers."

The Illusory One has more.

And for the record, I am putting the Royal Patent on "The Gableman Gut Check."

Wait A Cherry Picking Minute!

Sykes was kind enough to find a site of a right wing special interest group that did manage to do something honorable. Due to a lapse of judgment, a member of the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee (WJCIC) who used an university system computer to do some emailing regarding Judge Gableman's refusal to sign on to a campaign pledge to have a clean campaign, as he tries, with the help of the WMC among others, to oust Justice Louis Butler.

However, fellow righty, and sometime guest pundit, Owen Robinson, lets slip that Sykes was "kind enough to excerpt some of the more troubling bits." In other words, Sykes cherry-picked the parts he wanted to make it seem as damning as possible. It does make one take pause to wonder, just what did Charlie leave out of his diatribe.

Our Royal Barrister, Illusory Tenant, in a rather unfair move, puts his keen mind and acumen against the relatively unarmed Sykes:

Some of the more entertaining portions of the e-mails concern Sykes himself. The committee briefly discusses, for example, an earlier Sykes cut-and-paste job from the Club For Growth's website alleging the committee's supposed "direct ties" to Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and wonders whether it should formulate a response. Committee member Bill Kraus observes, "Replying to Charlie is the equivalent of getting into a pissing contest with a skunk."

Interestingly, in the same Sykes blog entry of January 3, which described the WJCIC as "a scam," longtime Republican Kraus is portrayed as the only committee member without a tie to Doyle.

You can read the how iT shreds the rest of their arguments here.