Monday, May 28, 2012

Walker Plays The Anti-City Card

Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. wrote a strong defense of Milwaukee as a response to Scott Walker's overt, anti-Milwaukee campaigning.

I posted Hines remarks on this blog, and a separate posting at a blog on the Journal Sentinel's Purple Wisconsin platform. You might weigh in on the debate over there.

It's worth noting that Walker, from the beginning, implemented an anti-urban strategy:

*  Kill the Amtrak line, and the benefits that would have accrued to Milwaukee and Madison, since CityFail fits the Walker/far-right narrative best.

Strangle urban transit, too. Hey, suck it up and walk.

*  Suppress the traditionally heavy Democratic vote in cities through mandatory Voter ID and registration restrictions

*  Hammer middle-class city residents, principally in Madison, with collective bargaining restrictions and reductions in take home pay - - again, because that's where many Democratic voters live.

Walker's coded target in this election, using ginned-up stereotypes, is Milwaukee.

Had Kathleen Falk been the opponent, Walker would have edited the template a bit and run against Madison. Same goal, different red-herrings.

Walker wants to turn small-town and suburban Wisconsin against big cities and the people who live there.

It's cynical, divide and conquer, shamelessly partisanship, run amok, to embed the Republican Party in power for as long as it takes to give the Club For Growth its full, corporate agenda.


1 comment:

Gareth said...

Oddly enough the Guardian has nice things to say about Milwaukee. Obviously they haven't been talking to Walker.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/small-medium-cities-sustianability-milwaukee-columbus