Christian Schneider argues that it's time for Scott Walker to put the gloves on.. or take the gloves off, depending on which analogy works for you.
As an old campaign guru once said, “nobody ever successfully defended anything; there is only attack, attack, and more attack.” Walker is fighting the battle for his political life with a shield and not a sword; every dollar he wastes trying to explain his policy to the voters of Wisconsin, who have been saturated with stories about his policy for almost a year now, is a dollar he can’t spend aggressively moving votes in his direction.
Walker can no longer run against a concept, such as public sector collective bargaining. He needs to run against a bad guy — and the nomination for Wisconsin’s most obnoxious union loyalist currently stands as a 1,000-person tie.
Hours of footage exists of protesters screaming and being dragged feet-first from committee hearings. One young woman chained her head to a railing in the Assembly chambers while floor session was going on. Walker has received death threats and his children have been targeted on Facebook. Rabid union demonstrators have been arrested for pouring beer on lawmakers. Organized labor loyalists have disrupted Special Olympics award ceremonies and booed Walker at the state’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Union misanthropes are free to scream expletives at 14-year old girls.
Wisconsin has become a place where public vulgarity is not only tolerated, but expected (here’s a compendium of people online inviting Walker to engage in intercourse with himself. Language warning, of course).
The message is simple: If Walker is recalled, these people win. Their grotesque tactics will be vindicated, further ripping the state apart. Wisconsin will cease being the state its residents love; it will instead be a place where threats and intimidation reign.
Wisconsinites get this. ...
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