Graeme Gone
Honestly, he’s said far worse than this. It seems to indicate that Tate was looking for an excuse to sack Zielinski.
Graeme Zielinski, the combative spokesman for the state Democratic Party, has been removed from that role after a Twitter rant Friday in which he compared Gov. Scott Walker to infamous Milwaukee serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer.
Party Chairman Mike Tate confirmed Monday that Zielinski was no longer serving as spokesman for Wisconsin Democrats and had been docked about $1,000, approximately a week’s pay, for his tweets in the wake of news Friday that the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office had closed a secret John Doe investigation into aides who worked for Walker while he served as Milwaukee County executive.
He’s not gone…he’s still getting paid.
The fact he is not fired is awful, just awful.
Had this been a Republican doing this, he would have been run out of town.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 04, 2013 at 1518 hrs
Zielinski looks like someone who got beat up as a kid on a daily basis, and is now channeling his pent up aggression towards Republicans. Too bad, though, he’s gold for the GOP.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 04, 2013 at 1633 hrs
According to the MJS, he is remaining as a ‘media advisor’:
One source close to the party said Zielinski, a former newspaper reporter, will stay on with the state Democratic Party as a “media adviser.” He will, however, no longer be permitted to post on Twitter, where he has been prolific in recent years. ...
Democrats did not immediately name a replacement for Zielinski, who will still be allowed to talk to reporters off the record for stories.
So it’s more of a reassignment. :rolleyes:
Posted by hsgbdmama on March 04, 2013 at 2056 hrs
When you’ve got national polls showing Hillary Clinton rolling Scott Walker and Paul Ryan by double digits, and when you’ve got a President who beat Romney by 7 in November, it should be fairly clear to state Democrats that what they’ve got on their hands is a state-level problem. And that state-level problem starts with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over at DPW, who epitomize a type of negative engagement with the public that hurts the party more than it helps it. Zielinski’s never figured out that the brand of humor he peddled at The Onion caters to a certain type of person, and there aren’t enough of those people to matter in elections.
To that end, Wisconsin Democrats at national Republicans have a whole lot in common. They both seem to think that success is simply a matter of being against things, ridiculing their political opponents, and waiting for voters to come around. Not coincidentally, both are achieving the same amount of success these days.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 04, 2013 at 2233 hrs
If he is a “media advisor”, where do I sign up to get that job?
I have a lot of unfettered, unsugarcoated, things to say about the meaness and enterprise murdering spirit of big government.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 04, 2013 at 2233 hrs
They both seem to think that success is simply a matter of being against things, ridiculing their political opponents, and waiting for voters to come around.
When did the Republicans in Wisconsin march around the capital building, shouting curses and using the “F word” on the floor of the legislature? I’m afraid you’ve wished the word “both” would apply equally in this inference, while it’s not even a close comparison.
The people in Wisconsin haven’t “come around” because of what the Republicans did; they “came around” to the Republicans in the last few elections (including the Walker recall) because of the childish behavior of people like Zelinski. The people of our state vote for the adults in the room, and that’s why Zelinski had to go. I give the Democrats credit for properly evaluating his contribution to their overall efforts.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 0650 hrs
Duke, he was referring to National Repubs, not state ones. To an extent, he’s right. The repubs this last election came off as inept dem lite. Who’d want to vote for that?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 0956 hrs
I really don’t see how the WI Dems and national GOP are comparable at all. Did Boehner and his pals flee the country? Did their supporters vandalize the Capitol?
There is an unhinged/crazy element to the WI Dems that trumps anything I’ve seen in politics.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 1045 hrs
“There is an unhinged/crazy element to the WI Dems that trumps anything I’ve seen in politics.”
Says a guy whose party fringe is busy stocking up on guns and ammo because they’re convinced the feds are going to take all their toys away.
Trust me, both sides have their crazies. Partisans are usually more sympathetic to their own, which tends to blind each side’s judgment. Although really, that wasn’t even my point. As Billiam referenced, I was speaking purely in terms of the political strategy of elected officials and their designated operatives.
Wisconsin Democrats have a long history of self indulgence, running Madison-oriented candidates in outstate districts and then wondering why they can’t win, and general disorganization that’s ill-equipped to holding any kind of legislative majority. The closest they’ve had in the last generation to the kind of structured leadership they need is Chuck Chvala, and we saw how that turned out.
We’re now seeing the same thing with the GOP at the Congressional level. It can’t get its members on the same page in terms of an agenda, so it spends most of its time fighting with itself. The party is routinely stuck running candidates that are too conservative in districts (and states) they can’t win. It has no coherent message other than “no taxes” and “no likey Obama.” The GOP in Washington is a train wreck, and the only thing that preserved its majority in the House was a lot of help from state-level redistricting. And to that end, the trend lines in a lot of traditional GOP states (e.g. Virginia, Florida, Texas, Arizona) are not good at all.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 05, 2013 at 1338 hrs
The GOP has a coherent message in limited government, the same message Wisconsin Republicans won with. The national GOP cannot get on an agenda because its’ establishment rejects that message.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 1419 hrs
And… we’ll put you right next to the delusional liberals who think that Mitt Romney’s awfulness contributed nothing to Obama’s easy win.
If the Democratic Party in Wisconsin wasn’t in general laughably disorganized, the playing field in Wisconsin would be a heck of a lot more even. As it is, the only time that blind squirrel is going to find a nut is in years like ‘06 and ‘08, when there’s so much wind in their sails that even those idiots can’t help but make it to the other side of the lake.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 05, 2013 at 1641 hrs
The Democratic party carried a senate race and the presidential race in Wisconsin, against the ultimate establishment candidates, only months after failing to defeat a governor who ran on a single issue; the size and scope of government. The Democrats didn’t get magically organized in 6 months, nor did voters become suddenly disenchanted with the GOP. The same voters who re-elected Walker voted against Thompson and Romney.
Sorry, but the big government Republican establishment no longer has a constituency, RS, and you are well aware that big government is the reason why.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 1730 hrs
“The same voters who re-elected Walker voted against Thompson and Romney.”
Only if you’re bad at math.
Turnout for the recall was 58% and turnout for the general was 72.5%. So the electorate in November was a full 25% larger than the one in June. Are you going to tell us you think that extra 25% is made up proportionately of the same people who voted in the recall? That Obama would’ve won that recall electorate by 7 as well?
I’ll bet my house that Obama won that extra 25% by a 2-to-1 margin, at least.
Give Tommy that June electorate against Baldwin and I’ll bet he wins, too. (Romney was probably hopeless though, I’ll give you that.)
Whatever flavor of movement conservatism you’re selling this week has even less of a constituency going forward, unless there’s a secret plan among white Christians to start having a lot more kids. That’s not a defense of big government conservatism, mind you. Whatever sissy slap fight you guys want to have over who is or isn’t cool enough to sit at your lunch table is for you to decide and for me to heckle derisively. It’s just a comment that it was the only style of conservatism that the GOP’s ever gotten to work on the big stage. Bush, old Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower - all big government conservatives.
The GOP’s message, at present, has zero traction among any sizable demographic group that’s growing: Hispanic, African-American, Asian, non-Christian, single people, on and on. I will pop some popcorn and sit back while watching the GOP try to find its way out of the corner into which it’s painted itself.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 05, 2013 at 1822 hrs
Has Graeme ever written something to support his party’s position or does he only write Republican hate pieces.
If you can only defend your position by propagandizing your opponent, your position must suck.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 1829 hrs
Baldwin beats Thompson and Obama beats Romney at any time in Wisconsin.
It’s not my lunch table to sit at.
Big government is dead because the money’s gone. That’s the reality going forward for everyone. Small government won a victory with the sequester. It remains to be seen if Boehner will give the victory back retroactively or allow it to be consolidated. It is, after all, a victory he did not want.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 05, 2013 at 1933 hrs
Once again, BV with his Kool-Aid: I will win because the money’s gone, blah blah blah blah blah. Have fun losing in the meantime.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 05, 2013 at 2107 hrs
TerryN, I think the thing with Graeme is that he wants to be Scot Ross - a guy who works for an interest group who really is free to be as snarky as he wants because he’s not speaking for anyone in elected office. Graeme’s never figured out how to be anything other than a bomb thrower, and even there he’s not always effective because he thinks that, like at The Onion, you’re allowed to say anything you want without consequence (unless it’s making fun of Quvenzhané Wallis). He’s been a poor choice for the Democrats in that regard. Like you said, at some point you have to sell an actual message.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 05, 2013 at 2113 hrs
I won’t win. No one will win. The money’s gone and now we move on.
The man who defends big government at any and all costs really shouldn’t be throwing stones.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 0614 hrs
He reminds me of Obama. All heat and no light.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 0911 hrs
Says a guy whose party fringe is busy stocking up on guns and ammo because they’re convinced the feds are going to take all their toys away.
I am a little surprised you got away with that one, RS. The gun toters may well be a fringe of Republicans, but it was mainstream Madison WI Dems having parties in Madison and their political leaders leaving the state. That said, I agreed with your actual point. While I am in BVBB’s corner on big Gov’t being the problem, it is still a fringe group either inside or outside the GOP that actually believe that.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 1123 hrs
Recess,
How can you compare citizens legally buying guns when one political party would like to ban guns, if possible, to mainstream Dems in Madison trashing the Capitol, threatening GOP lawmakers, whjle their leaders fled from the state? I can’t recall the last time there were GOP protesters storming and vandalizing a state capitol.
Did those GOP gun owners invade the Capitol and I missed it?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 1136 hrs
It’s the motivation behind both that’s totally irrational. If you think the average American reads stories about the fringe right racing out and hoarding guns and ammo and doesn’t think “Christ, those guys are nuts,” you need to take your blinders off.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 06, 2013 at 1553 hrs
Tuerqas, just to clarify, I think 99.9% of protesters on any issue are full of hot air, wasting their time, and largely looking for emotional catharsis more than tangible accomplishment. In short, I think they’re all a little nuts.
You have far better things to do than review my musings over the years, but you’d see that I bashed those dead end Tea Party gatherings, the free pizza and bronchitis loving hippies at Occupy Wall Street, the smelly hordes at the Capitol, Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war nuts, on and on.
What do they all have in common? They all represent minority positions. They protest in an attempt to puff their chests out and intimidate politicians into thinking that there’s more of them than they’re really are. Mob rule is the oldest trick in the book for when the numbers aren’t in your favor.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of my politics, if you want to rail on protesters, it’s almost certain that I’ll be on your side.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on March 06, 2013 at 1602 hrs
Oh, those horrible, awful, protesting plebs. What do they think? Do they think have natural rights? What do they believe? Do they believe that government belongs to them and not to politicians, political parties and the interests to which both are beholden? The horror, the horror ...
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 1728 hrs
BVBB,
I have to admit it, I’m with RS on this. Apply your comment to the Solidarity Singers. I’m an old hippy liberal Dem (politically), and I have to say after listening to them for TWO YEARS now, I’m sick of them. Yes they have the right to do what they do, but I consider it political masturbation: it may feel good, but it doesn’t accomplish much and it’s icky to be around; don’t subject others to it in public.
Yeesh.Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2013 at 1933 hrs
You have far better things to do than review my musings over the years, but you’d see that I bashed those dead end Tea Party gatherings, the free pizza and bronchitis loving hippies at Occupy Wall Street, the smelly hordes at the Capitol, Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war nuts, on and on.
Hey, I don’t think my view of your beliefs is distorted. I often support your musings. I think the national GOP and WI Dem comparison is perfectly apt, I just disagreed comparing the WI Dem party political activists and political leader actions with gun hoarders. They are a fringe in a real sense, as that may be the only reason they are ‘Republican’. You were comparing a legitimate single belief fringe with the face of the Dem party in WI. With all of the gun enthusiasts on this blog I thought someone would have taken umbrage before me.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 07, 2013 at 1016 hrs
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