Randi Rhodes: Silver Linings & Dark Clouds

In Wisconsin, the news is that Democrats won two of the six Republican state senate seats in the recall election. But it’s hard not to feel that the news is actually that Democrats failed to win the three they needed to take control of the senate. The loss of two seats will be a wakeup call to the Republicans. But we wanted to give them more than a wakeup call. We wanted to give them an eviction notice. Baby steps. I know—it’s hard to take baby steps when the other side is stomping on everything you hold dear. In Wisconsin, Republicans hold a monopoly on state government. And monopoly is the key word, because that Republican control turns the state of Wisconsin into a game of greed and acquisition for Republicans.

HOUR ONE GUEST: John Nichols of The Nation live from Wisconsin.

It’s important not to think that we lost this fight, especially considering that the fight isn’t over. These recall elections were on Republican turf, but a recall election of Governor Scott Walker will take place state-wide. And the results of that recall will more or less determine if the whole of Wisconsin is Republican or Democratic turf. You can’t change everything with one vote. But you can begin to change everything with one vote.

Well, the GOP selections for the big Congressional “super committee” are in. They are not exactly super. All six of the Republican picks for the Super Committee have signed Grover Norquist’s pledge never to raise any tax in any way anywhere ever. Great. That’s like putting NRA officials in charge of a disarmament conference. The Republicans chose two freshman lawmakers for the super committee, Senators Rob Portman and Pat Toomey. I can’t tell if they were chosen for their lack of experience, or their lack of willingness to negotiate. Probably a combination of both. The Democrats appointed some elder statesmen. The picks for the Republicans are neither elders, nor statesmen.

Finally, on Fox News, Andrew Napolitano claimed that President Obama went to honor the slain Navy SEALS to distract from the bad economic news. Hey, if doing that could distract people from a bad economy, wouldn’t George Bush have gone to at least one military funeral?

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