Monday, September 21, 2015

Bashing Unions Didn't Help Scott Walker This Time

It was just one week ago that Scott Walker released his "I will destroy unions" plan to little fanfare and mostly yawns.

Since then he had another lackluster debate performance, the latest national poll showed him getting one half of one percent support in a Republican primary, and his fundraisers were calling for him to shake up his campaign.

Today he announced he was dropping out of the race for president.

So much for the union bashing card, eh?

No one is happier than organized labor to see Scott Walker drop out of the 2016 contest.
In July, when the Wisconsin governor announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka issued a one-sentence statement: "Scott Walker is a national disgrace." On Monday, after hearing that Walker's candidacy had ended, Trumka said in a written statement: "Scott Walker is still a disgrace, just no longer national."

For labor, Walker's failure as a presidential candidate is especially sweet given the twin humiliations it's suffered from Walker in Wisconsin. A labor-backed effort to recall Walker failed in 2012 after Walker pushed through a bill drastically reducing public employees' bargaining rights. Then, in 2014, Walker won re-election after Trumka declared Walker's defeat organized labor's top priority. Earlier this year, Walker had made Wisconsin the country's 25th right-to-work state, freeing public and private workers from any legal requirement to pay dues or their equivalent to a union that bargains collectively on their behalf.

But Walker was never able to gain traction with his anti-union message in the pre-primary contest for the White House — in part, possibly, because unions have been gaining greater public approval in recent years, even among Republicans. Since 2009, Gallup found, union approval has risen from 48 percent to 58 percent for all voters, and from 29 percent to 42 percent for Republican voters.

There have been a lot of surprises in the presidential race already, but this may be the biggest one.

Scott Walker, once the frontrunner for Iowa, is out four months before the caucus is held.

Buh-bye, Scott.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving demagogue.

8 comments:

  1. Walker backing out is great news. However lets be sure to keep sharp.

    - Walker backing out is not because of his anti-labor views. In fact, being anti-labor is still a great way to rise in politics in the United States. His campaign failed because his inability to have a personality was overwhelmed by pure personalities. Very fast it became clear that he wasn't going to be able to sustain a personality long enough to start getting the big donor money. THIS WAS NOT A REFERENDUM ON THE POLITICAL VIABILITY OF ANTI-LABOR VIEWS. I'd argue that the Obama/Emmanuel/Clinton/Cuomo side of the Democratic party will win and their neo-liberal, anti-labor positions will be even further entrenched.

    - The damage Walker did to labor in Wisconsin is still very much there, deep, and not going anywhere. His anti-labor policies are now law in Wisconsin. His backing out of the race did nothing about that. Teachers in Wisconsin, our brothers and sisters, will continue to live with cropped career and financial prospects for decades. Also, lets not forget that folks like Cuomo still look to Walker's dealings with teachers and everything else in Wisconsin with admiration and envy. Walker remains a problem for us all.

    - There is nothing...NOTHING...stopping Walker from marching ever forward within Wisconsin. He is almost as harmful there as he would be in the White House. He is setting a standard for combat against unions that people like Cuomo are taking note of. He remains and will remain a governor others look to. This is dangerous. Also, never underestimate the thought of him getting re-elected (unless there are term limits in WI, and there may be....I'm not sure).

    Walker is not off the field of play for us as organized teachers. He has done deep and lasting harm to our union brothers and sisters and will endeavor to continue that. Him dropping out of his presidential run, while wonderful to see and hear, was not about his anti-labor stuff....it was in spite of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never said he dropped out because of the anti-labor stuff.

      Said going back to the union bashing well didn't help him at all.

      One week ago, he pulled the anti-union proposals out of his hat.

      A week later, he's gone.

      Clearly he thought it would help him survive to go to the anti-union bashing well, but it didn't at all.

      Delete
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  2. Scott Walker is Quid Pro Quomo's long lost twin. Not a bit of difference between the two--both owned and directed by big money interests.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to see him go. How the heck did he get away with all that crap in Wisconsin?

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  4. Who ever voted for walker in Wisconsin need to have their heads examined. Walker is some plain jane moron who's claim to fame is to destroy union protections for hard working people. This is very sad in that the cheese heads over there are eating too much cheese as it is distorting their brains. Thank God this twerp is gone and we can thank Donald Trump for knocking his ass out

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