Below is Governor Scott Walker's recall election victory speech after last night's election winners and losers were declared. Under that video is some post election analysis from around the web.
[WATCH]
Politico has a piece titled "Wisconsin Recall: The Biggest Losers", on page three of that piece written by Jim Vandehei, Robin Bravender and David Catanese, they hit the very crux of why Scott Walker, his LT. Governor Kleefisch and three of the four WI Senate GOP members prevailed in last night's recall elections.
But the Republicans-are-all-nuts attack was a loser — just like it was when used against Johnson in 2010. This was the case in congressional elections in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the off-year elections — and it was certainly the case again Tuesday night.
If anything, the results will only inspire the Walker-Paul Ryan wing of the Republican Party to go big on spending cuts and entitlement changes.
The GOP win sends a message that “fiscal conservative reforms really work,” said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. “Things I’ve done in Virginia, Chris Christie has done in New Jersey and other governors around the country is what Scott Walker was doing, and that is, he balances the budget without raising taxes, eliminates $3.6 billion in deficits; he creates the environment for the first property tax cut in 30 years; he focused like a laser on job creation.”
Wisconsin endorsed a super-conservative governor — and arguably the most consequential leader in politics since the midterm elections. Unemployment is down and Walker’s team is projecting a budget surplus by 2013 — despite all the sky-is-falling warnings. Yes, there is a legitimate debate about Walker’s role in any improvements — and also about Wisconsin’s performance compared with its peers.
“You can like or dislike Scott Walker, but you cannot dispute the facts of what he has been able to achieve on the budget and the finances in the state of Wisconsin in some very rough times,” Wilson said. Of course, the facts can be disputed. But the outcome of Tuesday night — and the effect it will have on conservative moods and theology — cannot be.
Emphasis mine.
Liberals are bemoaning the money spent for Walker vs the money spent for Democrats as the only reason Walker won, but as of mid-May, Democratic officials in Wisconsin were complaining the DNC was not contributing enough. Barack Obama waited until the last minute, the day before the recall election to "tweet" his support for the Democratic candidate and it wasn't until after polling had consistently shown Walker with a a major lead that Bill Clinton rode in on his white horse and made a pitch for Tom Barrett, the Democratic challenger that had already lost and election to Walker.
What those same liberals completely ignore and refuse to acknowledge is the turnaround Wisconsin has seen since Walker took office, jobs have been created as has been confirmed by the Department of Labor, a $3 billion plus deficit was turned around and a surplus of over $1 million is expected as was emphasized above from Politico's piece, no taxes were raised to do these things.
What liberals also ignore is prior to the recall election, polling found that Wisconsin voters favored Walker's controversial reforms by an overwhelming amount. (Reason-Rupe poll survey embedded at link)
Molly Ball over at The Atlantic reminds readers of an interview she conducted with Walker where he pointed out that his type of reforms that saw such incredible results are not just conservative ideas:
It's not only Republican governors, Walker noted, who are pushing to reform the pension, benefit and pay privileges enjoyed by public workers. He pointed to the efforts of Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, Lincoln Chafee (a liberal independent) in Rhode Island, Andrew Cuomo in New York and Jerry Brown in California, all of whom have approached the issue of public sector pension reform, if in less inflammatory manner.
She also makes another point that is getting lost in the recriminations and excuses and justifications liberals are now tossing out:
It's important to remember, as Democrats cope with their failure to topple Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday's recall, that this was a fight they chose.
Unlike the vast majority of elections, which occur on a regular schedule, the recall was a fight the left picked on purpose. They picked it because they thought they could win. And they were wrong.
Wisconsin voters made their choice last night. Loud and clear and they spoke with their ballots.
Instead of understanding their choice and the message they sent to unions, liberals and Democrats, they are taking to social media and calling for the assassination of Scott Walker. The Milwaukee Police Department is taking those threats seriously and investigating them.
The silver lining for Wisconsin Democrats could be the possible win of one of the four Senate seats for District 21 where AP has not listed a projected winner but the tallies show the Democrats with 51 percent (36,255 votes) and the GOP with 49 percent (35,476 votes). No word yet if there will be a recount for that district and with that small of a lead, less than 1,000 votes, the results will probably have to be certified before a projected winner will be announced.
If the Democratic candidate is officially announced the winner, then that flips control of the Wisconsin Senate to Democrats, but the WI Senate is out of session until November, when Republicans will have the chance to take back control in the regularly scheduled elections.
Last but not least, and I saved the most entertaining bit of news for last, Barack Obama's campaign claims that Wisconsin has sent Walker a strong message, then they get the message wrong.
While tonight’s outcome was not what we had hoped for – no one can dispute the strong message sent to Governor Walker. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from all walks of life took a stand against the politics of division and against the flood of secret and corporate money spent on behalf of Scott Walker, which amounted to a massive spending gap of more than $31 million to $4 million," Tripp Wellde, campaign state director, said in a statement.
The real message from the majority, 53 percent of Wisconsin voters couldn't be clearer: "Keep up the good work Governor Walker, we have your back."
There is a ton of discussions and news articles over at Memeorandum, so head over and start clicking.
