Monday, May 22, 2006
Dimwit Jamboree
Time for another installment of Those Wacky Republicans, our intermittent look at how Wisconsin's wingnuts are entertaining the whole state by being themselves.
Item: The governor has until the end of the month to sign a stack of bills passed by the legislature. One of them would mandate abstinence education as the best choice for sex education in schools.
Comment: State Senator Mary Lazich, last seen at this blog co-sponsoring a bill that would forbid school districts from adopting textbooks that referred to dates with C.E. and B.C.E instead of A.D. and B.C, gave our local NBC affiliate a lovely quote: "I think the bill, at the end of the day, what it does is require that students be armed with more information, information that they are not being armed with now." That's as neat an example of conservative doublespeak as you're ever likely to hear--because to people like Lazich, "more information" about sex, as provided by abstinence education, equals "no information" about sex.
Item: Tommy Thompson isn't going to run for governor this fall.
Comment: Tommy gave a good old political stemwinder at the state Repug convention this weekend, but ultimately for other people. It's not a surprise he passed on the governor's race. Congressman Mark Green has had the money locked up for months, which is why Scott Walker got out of the race earlier in the spring. But Thompson didn't say anything about running for the Senate against Herb Kohl. His speech would have been the place to do it--it would have brought the house down and energized the party faithful so much that they'd glow in the dark. But he said nothing about the Senate, and he ducked questions afterward.
The Repugs didn't run a serious candidate against Kohl in 2000, and they've got nobody this time, either. They've stacked the November ballot with a same-sex Constitutional amendment and an advisory referendum on the death penalty, so you'd think that even a rich dimwit with nothing to offer (like Tim Michels, who got stomped by Russ Feingold in 2004 and who is considering another run if somebody else would pay for it) would be competitive. With a big-name candidate like Thompson running against Kohl, it would be hard for them to lose. Perhaps if He Who Shall Not Be Named didn't have an approval rating in the same range with brussels sprouts and diarrhea, he might call on Thompson to run for the good of the party. As it is, the decision is entirely up to Tommy, and he will supposedly make it this week. I won't be surprised no matter what he decides.
Time for another installment of Those Wacky Republicans, our intermittent look at how Wisconsin's wingnuts are entertaining the whole state by being themselves.
Item: The governor has until the end of the month to sign a stack of bills passed by the legislature. One of them would mandate abstinence education as the best choice for sex education in schools.
Comment: State Senator Mary Lazich, last seen at this blog co-sponsoring a bill that would forbid school districts from adopting textbooks that referred to dates with C.E. and B.C.E instead of A.D. and B.C, gave our local NBC affiliate a lovely quote: "I think the bill, at the end of the day, what it does is require that students be armed with more information, information that they are not being armed with now." That's as neat an example of conservative doublespeak as you're ever likely to hear--because to people like Lazich, "more information" about sex, as provided by abstinence education, equals "no information" about sex.
Item: Tommy Thompson isn't going to run for governor this fall.
Comment: Tommy gave a good old political stemwinder at the state Repug convention this weekend, but ultimately for other people. It's not a surprise he passed on the governor's race. Congressman Mark Green has had the money locked up for months, which is why Scott Walker got out of the race earlier in the spring. But Thompson didn't say anything about running for the Senate against Herb Kohl. His speech would have been the place to do it--it would have brought the house down and energized the party faithful so much that they'd glow in the dark. But he said nothing about the Senate, and he ducked questions afterward.
The Repugs didn't run a serious candidate against Kohl in 2000, and they've got nobody this time, either. They've stacked the November ballot with a same-sex Constitutional amendment and an advisory referendum on the death penalty, so you'd think that even a rich dimwit with nothing to offer (like Tim Michels, who got stomped by Russ Feingold in 2004 and who is considering another run if somebody else would pay for it) would be competitive. With a big-name candidate like Thompson running against Kohl, it would be hard for them to lose. Perhaps if He Who Shall Not Be Named didn't have an approval rating in the same range with brussels sprouts and diarrhea, he might call on Thompson to run for the good of the party. As it is, the decision is entirely up to Tommy, and he will supposedly make it this week. I won't be surprised no matter what he decides.
