The standoff in Wisconsin continues.  Into the third week, the Democrat state senators are still outside of Wisconsin. Protesters are still in front of the capital.  And Governor Scott Walker still insists he is right.  Even though the Republicans’ widely unpopular idea of limiting collective bargaining rights has, shockingly, become even more unpopular—there is no signs of backing down from the state lawmakers.

However, Walker is getting some support from other Republicans.  In a press conference on Tuesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) not only defended Walker, he used some pretty strong words to make his defense.

“It’s not just Wisconsin. It’s Ohio. It’s Indiana. You’re going to see these types of actions taken in a lot of states because the states are broke and over the last couple of years the Obama administration, the Democrat controlled Congress bailed out the states where they could avoid making the tough decisions. Well, there are no more bailouts coming from Washington. We’re broke. We’re broke! We don’t have money to dish out to the states so all these Governors are trying to find ways to balance their budgets, which they’re required to do. In some of these states you’ve got collective bargaining laws that are so weighted in favor of the public employees that there’s almost no bargaining. We’ve given them a machine gun and put it right at the heads of the local officials and they really have their hands tied. And I think what you’re seeing in these states is they’re trying to bring some balance to these negotiations that when you look at the pay of public employees today and you look at their retirement benefits they are way out of line with many other working Americans.”

Really?  Only six months after the shooting that left six people dead in Tucson, Arizona and critically injured U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Boehner is going to use that analogy. Boehner’s spokesman insists that the speaker’s violent comparison was just part of the political language.   “It’s a common metaphor, similar to when Sen. [Chuck] Schumer refers to a ‘dagger’ or when Sen. [Dick] Durbin said last week that ending the Washington spending binge would be ‘job-killing,’” said Michael Steel.

Maybe that is true.  But, it seemed particularly violent and specific.  And I don’t understand why any politician with any sense would back the lunatic Scott Walker and his really failing attempt at union busting.  No matter what poll you look at, a large majority of Americans support unions and are against what Walker is trying to do.

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About the author

Claudia Sondergaard
Specialised in American foreign policy media discourse, I have a real passion for media and writing and feel comfortable in subjects such as human rights, politics, environment, social issues, movies, TV and books. Reporting from Denmark. Follow me @swirlgirlversus

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