Today, my own Congresscritter and persistent pain in the ass belched a speech at CPAC where he touted FitzWalkerStan as a model for conservatives.
Look to Wisconsin.
That was part of the message U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Menomonee Falls Republican, brought Thursday to the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference, a gathering of thousands of grass-roots activists eager to reclaim the national debate and retake the White House.
"In Wisconsin, we have elected (Gov.) Scott Walker twice, (Congressmen) Paul Ryan and Sean Duffy," Sensenbrenner said in an interview. "This shows that conservatives are electable."
You betcha. You can learn to lie, buy elections, take piles of outside money, gerrymander, and then gerrymander some more. You can learn to use Republican-friendly corporate media to catapult your propaganda and then treat them like crap by interviewing only with local RW radio on a weekly basis and national RW media on a regular basis, but not reporters from traditional media in your state or local area without any journalistic repercussions. In fact, in those rare instances where they might catch you after a speech somewhere, they'll reward you for treating them like crap by asking even more favorable questions and then write down and dutifully report what you say no matter howmuch of a bald-faced lie it is.
You can learn to wear the Republican costume of casual pants, a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm, and put a great big smile on your face as you promise to be moderate and sane and concerned only about your constituents all the while knowing that the only people you serve will be your campaign donors. You can step aside, look friendly and let your pals in those RW astroturfed organizations lie about your opponents to make them look like the devil incarnate.
They can learn to ignore laws they don't like, hide or destroy evidence of wrongdoing, appoint cronies to every position imaginable and ensure that your pals get nice civil service jobs with big raises over the previous employee. Yup, surround yourself with buddies and people who will protect you.
And be sure you incite your faithful supporters to aggressively confront citizens who don't support your re-election or try to recall you. Limit their ability to canvass or recall by forcing them to go out in groups for self-protection against RW bullies and then make sure to create horrible sounding incidents for the media where you claim to have been victimized.
Yup. They can learn a lot about shady and slimy Republican tactics.
But to say that Wisconsin "proves" that Conservatives are electable as though none of the serious money, election shenanigans the GOP and RW organizations used mercillessly, and the compliance of a lazy, corporate media had a huge impact? You have to be an idiot.
Wisconsin didn't "elect" these guys. Far too many people were scared (the other candidate was seriously demonized) or propagandized into voting for them
He bloviates on:
Sensenbrenner recounted the pivotal 1964 campaign of Barry Goldwater, who lost the presidential battle against Lyndon B. Johnson but helped set the stage for a conservative resurgence.
"I was a veteran of the Barry Goldwater movement in 1964, where conservatives went to the grass roots, talked the language people understood, took over the Republican Party in the primaries," he said. "The fruition was the election of Ronald Reagan 16 years after that. We have to do that again."
I remember Goldwater losing. Badly. A whole heap of electoral whoop ass. And Reagan winning because of negotiations with Iranian leaders to ensure that the American hostages were kept until Reagans inaguration. I also remember Reagans campaign BS, too. Yeah, that's the Republican Way of getting elected.
I remember the Iran-Contra affair because, you know, Reagan had to pay back the Iranians for all their cooperation in keeping the Iran Hostage Crisis in the news because of all the votes he'd get. I also remember a brand new shiny President letting them off the hook for that, too, by "looking forward and not backward (hmmmm, where have I heard that recently?).
Senslessbrenner is an idiot who remains in office only because his district has been gerrymandered for decades. And for a guy who started in our State Legislature and has been living on the Gubmint Teat in elected office while decrying those who are hungry, poor, disabled or want an opportunity for a job or education, he's got a serious conflict.
No, he hasn't become more Conservative since the Tea Party emerged. He's always been like this. Waukesha County just loves him.
I wish we could get rid of him, but he's far too entrenched.
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