The legislative show WI Republicans put on Friday by instantly killing two popular gun safety bills was a tragedy inside a farce.
Because dismissing the proposals and adjourning a special legislative session in seconds and without any debate would be mere clownish buffoonery if the issues at hand were not matters of life and death.
As gun suicides and homicides march on, citizens should remind GOP legislators that "No" is only a syllable and not a public service strategy, though more and more along with Speaker Vos's equally vapid "#Never" it's the WI GOP's most important playbook.
Perhaps the most ludicrous excuse GOP State Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald hid behind Friday was that intellectually-dishonest fallback frequently hauled out by weak politicians caught on the wrong side of the facts; trash the pollsters.
Fitzgerald cast doubt on non-partisan, scientific polling which has shown 80% or better support in Wisconsin for universal gun-buyers' background checks and for the so-called 'red-flag warning' bill - - both of which he kept off the Senate floor to make sure his members would never have to take special-interest-bucking votes.
About polling, Fitzgerald and his chicken-sh*t caucus know better. They live-and-die by polling which tells them when to run, when to flip and when to retire. And they know that denying polling at the 80% level is beyond stupidity.
He might as well tell the game warden if caught with clearly undersized walleye; 'Yes, your tape measure shows my 16-inch walleye are only 10-inches long, but let's get into the details: have you actually measured that tape measure to prove that what you say is an inch is really an inch?'
Or imagine an NFL referee telling the Lambeau Field crowd after the crucial 4th-down-and-goal winning scoring play near the end of the game; 'The Green Bay runner advanced the ball beyond the length of the chain into the end zone, but the Bears have challenged the ruling because I can't certify that the ten-yard chair is a true ten yards. So, Chicago ball. And I'm going home.'
Then imagine that ref having a solid chance to be elected to Congress.
And when that's backed up by polling, do you think Fitzgerald will attack the results?
Because dismissing the proposals and adjourning a special legislative session in seconds and without any debate would be mere clownish buffoonery if the issues at hand were not matters of life and death.
As gun suicides and homicides march on, citizens should remind GOP legislators that "No" is only a syllable and not a public service strategy, though more and more along with Speaker Vos's equally vapid "#Never" it's the WI GOP's most important playbook.
Perhaps the most ludicrous excuse GOP State Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald hid behind Friday was that intellectually-dishonest fallback frequently hauled out by weak politicians caught on the wrong side of the facts; trash the pollsters.
Fitzgerald questioned the accuracy of the polls.
“Polling is one thing,” he said. “I think if you get into the details, because some of these bills are so technical, you may get a different response.”
About polling, Fitzgerald and his chicken-sh*t caucus know better. They live-and-die by polling which tells them when to run, when to flip and when to retire. And they know that denying polling at the 80% level is beyond stupidity.
He might as well tell the game warden if caught with clearly undersized walleye; 'Yes, your tape measure shows my 16-inch walleye are only 10-inches long, but let's get into the details: have you actually measured that tape measure to prove that what you say is an inch is really an inch?'
Or imagine an NFL referee telling the Lambeau Field crowd after the crucial 4th-down-and-goal winning scoring play near the end of the game; 'The Green Bay runner advanced the ball beyond the length of the chain into the end zone, but the Bears have challenged the ruling because I can't certify that the ten-yard chair is a true ten yards. So, Chicago ball. And I'm going home.'
Then imagine that ref having a solid chance to be elected to Congress.
And when that's backed up by polling, do you think Fitzgerald will attack the results?
