Gableman, Ziegler Fiascos Ensure Abrahamson '09 Candidacy

Just an assumption on my part, but I think it's a lock that State Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson will run for re-election in 2008.

The court has taken two big hits in a year: Annette Ziegler winning, only to face discipline for ethics violations, and Mike Gableman's vile campaign this year, which 34 judges statewide called "a new low."

I can't imagine Abrahamson stepping aside at this point. She's well-positioned to win re-election because she has widespread, bi-partisan, even iconic name recognition and appeal.

And as long-time Chief Justice, she's the right person to keep the Court on an even keel and protect the institution from further degradation.

The same far-right outside groups that enabled both Ziegler and Gableman can throw the same millions at whomever they find to mouth those phony cliches about "activist judges," but that'll be money poorly spent.

And also by that time, perhaps more members of the unmasked Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce will come to their senses and step away from the group until it replaces the reactionary ideologues on the staff that have twisted the group into a corrosive anti-Wisconsin, anti-business front.

Helping convince the legendary Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson to run for another 10-year-term - - remember, she's the leader of the pack the Right loves to hate - - is for the WMC and all the other Righties their Well-Deserved, Self-Inflicted, Unintended Consequences Booby Prize of The Day.

And an April Fool's reality, a perfect fit.