You gotta love the irony when one of the Wisconsin fleebaggers says something like this in response to the Wisconsin Senate passing a bill to strip collective bargaining from public employee unions:

What Republicans did was an affront to democracy. Never shall a voter doubt which party stands for the working class, and which for the rich

An affront to democracy? No. An affront to Democracy is the Democrats refusing to participate in that democracy and running to another state.

THAT’S an affront.

But this? No way. The fleebaggers basically made the case for the Wisconsin Republicans when one said:

Democrats said the fines would have no effect on bringing them back to the state.

“They’ve messed with our staffs,” said Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton). “They’ve taken away our parking spaces. They’ve extorted our paychecks. They’ve sent the State Patrol after us. And now they’ve fined us $100 a day.

“I don’t know what more they need to do to get the point that it’s not working.”

Walker and the Republicans now understood….the Democrats would continue to hide like little weasels.

This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take our counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.

With that letter, I realized that we’re dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn’t have a plan or an intention to return. His idea of compromise is “give me everything I want,” and the only negotiating he’s doing is through the media.

Enough is enough.

So they did what needed to be done….take collective bargaining off the table, and now they have no reason to hide anymore.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said they would be back by Thursday. They had been able to block a vote on the bill for three weeks because 20 senators had to be present to vote for it. Republicans control the house 19-14…

Democrats decried the move and warned it could end the political careers of some Republican senators who are under the threat of recall.

“I think it’s akin to political hara-kiri,” said Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar). “I think it’s political suicide.”…

State Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Wednesday night he attempted to drive back from Illinois to Madison to get to the Capitol before Republicans passed the measure.

Political hara-kiri? Hmmmm, we shall see. I know they have a LOT of supporters but if the recall effort, being driven by Obama, does succeed then at least they will go out with pride and many of this country cheering for them. They finally showed WHO in the Republican party had the balls to get what needed to be done.

Exit quote from Scott Walker:

While it might be a bold political move, the changes are modest. We ask government workers to make a 5.8% contribution to their pensions and a 12.6% contribution to their health-insurance premium, both of which are well below what other workers pay for benefits. Our plan calls for Wisconsin state workers to contribute half of what federal employees pay for their health-insurance premiums. (It’s also worth noting that most federal workers don’t have collective bargaining for wages and benefits.)

For example, my brother works as a banquet manager at a hotel and occasionally works as a bartender. My sister-in-law works at a department store. They have two beautiful kids. They are a typical middle-class Wisconsin family. At the start of this debate, David reminded me that he pays nearly $800 per month for his family’s health-insurance premium and a modest 401(k) contribution. He said most workers in Wisconsin would love a deal like the one we are proposing.

The unions say they are ready to accept concessions, yet their actions speak louder than words. Over the past three weeks, local unions across the state have pursued contracts without new pension or health-insurance contributions. Their rhetoric does not match their record on this issue.

Oh, btw….the assembly votes on the bill tomorrow and since the police have pathetically given ground, a mob of protesters were allowed to take over the capitol building. Can you believe that? They are staying the night and Thursday should be interesting:

Gear up for Thursday if you’re in the area, grab a camera and get some pictures of the dummies acting like idiots….example here:

And be assured, the left is gearing up for the fight:

• Legal challenges. There are going to be a number of legal challenges to this bill. It will not be implemented right away. There’s the near-term challenge of how the bill got passed tonight…

• Supreme Court fight. The matchup between David Prosser (R) and JoAnn Kloppenberg (D) for the state Supreme Court on April 5 just got very interesting. It’s a statewide vote, and the balance of power on the state Supreme Court is at stake…

• General strike. Union leaders are reportedly discussing a general strike…

• Recalls. This will only energize progressives and labor to get the required signatures for recalls….

• Scott Walker. If his approval ratings were slipping before, they may fall off a cliff now. Walker cannot be recalled until January 2012, and that’s a long way off. But depending on the momentum from the state Supreme Court election, recall elections, Assembly open seats, and legal fights, there could easily be enough support to recall Walker by then.

The legal fights won’t go anywhere but the Supreme Court issue and the recalls have to be a worry to Walker and the Republicans since you can bet your ass the special interest unions from all over will be sending them cash by the truckloads.