Brew City Brawler

WI GOP: A History of Voter Suppression

So how will Wisconsin Republicans try to rig the state electorate in their favor? Will they try to kill same-day registration, even though Gov. Scott Walker has sorta-kinda distanced himself from that? Will they up the ante on voter ID? Will the sabotage the GAB? Will they go for the cherry on top and rig the electoral college to reflect the vote in gerrymandered districts? Or do they have another secret bomb they want to drop?

Tough to say, but rest assured they'll try something. And odds are good that whatever they do will either make it harder for black people to vote or make their votes count for less. After all, it's been a dream of theirs for more than a decade.

Wisconsin Republicans insist that cracking down on voting, whether its voter ID or killing same-day registration, is all about ensuring integrity at the polls. They can't prove there's a problem substantial enough to justify these actions -- but trust them, there are problems out there! Glenn Grothman said just that. Fortunately, their voter suppressing compatriots in other states have been more candid: The laws are about suppressing turnout. Oh: and voter fraud is a myth.

Now one could be generous and say Republicans want to suppress the black vote because of the way they vote, not because of the color of their skin. However, there's no question this issue motivates the Republican base because, let's face it, the Republican base in Wisconsin -- many of them first or second generation white flighters from Milwaukee to Waukesha -- have less than complimentary views of black people. And I would suggest that believing, without evidence, that lots of black people vote illegally  (a view regularly promulgated by Charlie Sykes as he constantly complains about voter fraud in the "central city") is racist on its face.

This case of racial paranoia is nothing new among white people in Wisconsin. Back during the 50s, some white folks speculated that billboards were going up in the south directing black people to move to Milwaukee. During the 1960s and early 1970s white flight was rampant.

Tommy Thompson won his first gubernatorial election by insisting that Milwaukee was a welfare magnet for black people from Chicago who were apparently to shiftless to work but such shrewd economic actors that they would uproot their  lives and families to move north. Thompson's revolting claims were a longstanding urban legend among racist white folks and while many conservatives uphold the "welfare magnet" line to this day, all available research said it was not true.

Put in this light, the Wisconsin GOP's obsession with suppressing the black vote has a long-running and shameful pedigree.

The push to make it harder for black people to vote in Wisconsin has been going on for 12 years. As we wait for the catastrophe that will be the next session of the Wisconsin legislature, I thought it would make sense to provide a handy timeline.

Godspeed you, Right Wisconsin!

Like many freedom-loving leftists, I was appalled by the revelation that Journal Broadcast Group was going to expand the Charlie Sykes empire with the creation of a digital "community" called Right Wisconsin. The fact that a media group was brazenly trying to further Republican interests doesn't exactly square with the fact that they operate on the public airwaves and ostensibly in the public interest.

Never mind that Sykes' partner in crime was going to be Brian Fraley, who once enthused that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin needed to "slap down" Judge Maryann Sumi.

But I've changed my mind! If wingnuts really want to embrace epistemic disclosure and wrap themselves in a fact-free "community," who am I to complain. And if JRN wants to underwrite this exercise in reality unskewing, god bless 'em. Hopefully it will provide more comedy like that we saw Romney's HQ on Election Night.

David Frum has pointed out that the right wing media echo chamber did not exactly serve conservatives well during the latest election. 

Columnist David Frum last week slammed the “conservative entertainment complex” that had “fleeced, exploited and lied to” Republicans, ensuing doom on Election Day.

“These people have made politics a theater for identity politics for a segment of America, rather than a way to solve collective problems,” Frum told POLITICO, referring to conservative media commentators. “What is happening now, and it’s disturbing, is that this complex has sold the idea that conservatives are the real majority in America. That claim has been exposed as false. But they are turning on the country and leading their viewers toward alienation and rejection.”

Not surprisingly aforementioned genius Fraley, whose income depends on misinforming his herd, insists the way to victory is by burrowing deeper into the cocoon:

But one thing is certain: Our RightWisconsin project is more important than we even imagined it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Republicans lost solely because of the pathetic job done by the mainstream media in this country. But it's undeniable that Wisconsinites will benefit from our dynamic new project. They'll be better informed and better equipped to inform others.

 

 

We'll create a new distribution channel for conservative ideas. We'll find and amplify new conservative voices. We'll provide a 24/7 real time forum that will help our folks not only network socially, but rise above the mainstream media filter. RightWisconsin.com will be much more than just a website. We're developing an interactive digital community, a rallying point, a one-stop source for conservatives on the front lines here.

 

In other words, Republicans would have won if their bitter ender base had read three stories about how Obama personally directed the assault on Benghazi instead of one.

So, more power to you Right Wisconsin. Let me know if I can make a contribution.

Charlie Sykes, beclowned king of A Nation of Moochers

Getting in the head of Charlie "Moocher" Sykes

Here's the thing about Charlie Sykes. While he racebaits and demagogues for his rube audience, he deeply wants to be seen as some sort of public intellectual. And listening to him puff himself up, one senses he's deeply insecure about his bonafides (as one might suspect a thrice-married moralist would be). And, he checks out what people -- even smalltime bloggers like the Brawler -- say about him (noted here previously).

As was the case yesterday when Sykes mentioned this article. Why did he mention it? Because he was sad, in this perfunctory piece, that Abele's parking tickets, etc., were not mentioned. Whereas, he claimed, that if Abele was a conservative the story would have mentioned every skeleton in his closet because conservatives are held to a different standard.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact we noted here that Charlie Sykes, author of  "A Nation of Moochers," is a moocher himself.

 

 

Charlie Sykes, moocher

Charlie Sykes, Milwaukee's premier right-wing demagogue, is getting ready to inflict a new book upon the country, "A Nation of Moochers."

One must give Charlie credit for actually writing about what he knows. For once upon a time, Charlie himself was -- by his own definition -- a moocher.

This goes back to the late 1970s, when Sykes had just ended his first marriage. From Milwaukee Magazine's July 2000 profile of Charlie Sykes

Divorce records show that custody of the couple's 2 1/2 year old daughter went to the mother. Chris Sykes was working as a dental assistant, bringing home $120 every two weeks. Charlie made a biweekly salary of $404. When they divorced, Charlie was ordered to pay monthly child support payments of $303.

Sykes at times had difficulty making payments. Several times, he slipped into arrears; for three months in early 1980, his ex-wife went onf AFDC. Sykes eventually made payments directly to his former wife, according to court documents. He gained legal custody of his daughter when she was 17.

Now, how does Sykes define a moocher?

Someone who believes there is always a free lunch and that somebody else should pay for it.

Someone who expects others to pay to clean up their messes.

Someone who lays claim to something to which they are not rightfully due.

Someone who shifts the cost of their own irresponsibility onto others who have behaved responsibly; who, as a matter of choice, takes from or relies on the efforts and resources of others.

Someone who takes unfair advantage of others to enrich themselves or otherwise bail themselves out.

A recipient of the transfer of wealth created by others (without just cause) or who lives off of the productive efforts of others and appropriates the fruits of their enterprise without making a proportionate contribution.

Someone who voluntarily seeks to be dependent on others.

Let's face it: Sykes -- a child of Fox Point and upper middle class privilege, who had all sorts of educational and social capital that the "moochers" he demonizes every day can only dream of -- was a moocher. By his own definition. I'm suspecting Charlie doesn't talk about this in the book.

As always when put on the spot, Sykes got snippy and defensive in the Milwaukee Magazine article, saying he made up for those mistakes.

"There was a lot going on. I'm not going to talk about back then," Sykes says today. "But I have always supported my daughter. My daughter really spent a great deal of time with me, I paid a great number of her bills, I put her through college, I put her throught private high school, all the ballet lessons, clothes, a lot of things ... Of all the things that I am most proud of, it is the way that I have raised my children."

"A lot going on." What, is Charlie blaming the environment? Or claiming he wasn't responsible for his obligations? "A lot going on." There always is. 

He was taking pride in his parenting in this article, of course, not long after he ditched wife No. 2 for his current spouse.

 

 

Charlie Sykes, race baiter

Charlie took the to air this morning accusing the Dems of illegally getting minors to sign a recall petition. It came out over the course of the day that the two signers in question were in fact over 18 and their only crime was signing a recall petition while black. Does this lead Sykes to recant his libel? No.

"We eagerly await more credible documentation."

Here's your documentation.

Demonize black people, it's just what Charlie Sykes does.

True fact: Charlie's dad was a journalism professor.

 

Charlie Sykes really shouldn't go around libeling people

Just ask Robert Miranda.

Rather than apologize for lying, Charlie Sykes doubles down.

Yes, soak the rich

The Club for Growth, via Charlie "No Evidence" Sykes, says it's not fair to raise taxes on the rich because the poor dears already pay a high share of income taxes (though John L's remarks in comments at the site of Charlie "Thrice-Married" Sykes are illuminating). 

Left unsaid is that the rich are getting richer as income inequality has been increasing in Wisconsin, as demonstrated by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW-Madison.

Over the past two decades, the benefits of the state’s economic growth have been increasingly concentrated on our wealthiest residents. Our proud legacy of equality, and the joint commitment to building a strong state which that equality helped undergird, is in serious and troubling decline. Together, we need to pursue strategies to ensure that Wisconsin’s economic growth is more widely shared.

Meanwhile, most folks in Wisconsin want to raise taxes on the rich to help close the deficit.

 

WPRI: Obama is hella popular in Wisconsin

A PPP poll shows that Obama beats all Republican comers in Wisconsin in 2012 (Palin, Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich), but that's not a surprise to anyone who looked at the WPRI's post-election poll showing Obama had a 53% job approval rating.

Indeed, fully 18% of Republicans gave him a favorable rating.

Sykes et al like to talk about Obama's cratering popularity. In Wisconsin, maybe not so much. It's worth noting that Obama's much demagogued health care plan (Sykes was out early with the Death Panel charge) has only 40% approval, but, then again, that's only 5 points less than Walker's.

Latest evidence that toilet training traumatized Sykes

More than most adults, Charlie Sykes seems to be obsessed with things potty related. Toilets, toilet paper, constant use of the word crap and of course the Deep Tunnel awards. And now the latest sign of his obsession. The spectacle of Wisconsin wingnuts factchecking promises to be amusing. Will Patrick "hide the decline" McIlheran be among the ranks?