Randi Rhodes: State House Threats

Hour Two Guest: John Nichols, journalist and Wisconsin native on Gov. Walker and the on-going standoff in Madison

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker went on TV last night to talk to the people of Wisconsin. The speech boiled down to “Do what I say, and nobody gets hurt.” Walker said that if the union busting bill isn’t passed the way he wants it, he will lay off 1,500 state workers by July and another 6,000 over the next two years. I don’t want to say the speech was a threat, but Walker might as well have instructed that the bill be delivered in a plain brown envelope. All that was missing was Walker demanding a getaway vehicle. And maybe a sex-change operation for his lover.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers in Indiana had to flee the state to avoid giving a union-busting bill a quorum, just like the Wisconsin Democrats. These states literally have a running budget battle. The Indiana Democrats and the Wisconsin Democrats both fled to Illinois. Illinois is going to find itself on a Republican list of state sponsors of Democratic politics. The next step will be for Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin and Indiana to call for an invasion of Illinois. They’re probably fixing the intelligence now. I wonder if Scott Walker’s plans for the Wisconsin National Guard includes extended deployments in Illinois. Get ready, Wisconsin National Guardsmen—you might be shipping out soon to Peoria.

Fox News broadcasts from the scene of the union demonstrations have been unable to avoid protesters chanting “Fox lies!” The chants were so loud that it became difficult to hear Fox’s lies. Not that the lies aren’t predictable. Now Fox News is telling its viewers that liberals are Gadhafi supporters. If you believe that one, I have a whole conspiracy theory about communists and Islamists that I’d like to sell you. In reality, George Bush restored full diplomatic relations with Libya. In 2008, George Bush became the only US President to ever speak to Muammar Gadhafi on the phone. Of course, since this is George Bush we’re talking about, there’s always the chance it was a wrong number. Why was Bush willing to speak with an autocrat who was responsible for so many human rights abuses? Maybe because that describes George Bush as well as it describes Muammar Gadhafi. At least they had things in common.

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker fell for a prank call yesterday from BuffaloBeast editor Ian Murphy pretending to be David Koch…