Circus is back to town!

 And the fun begins again with a new session of the Legislature in Fitzwalkerstan. Pathetically, the media is trying to go along with Gov. Walker's claims of "moderation" and bipartsanship in a classic case of how our media helps to allow the  Overton Window gets moved to the right, where radical, failed policies gets to be considered the new "normal."

  Fortunately, real Dems and lefties aren't being fooled by this act, nor are they going to fall for the fake version of "bipartisanship," which is this day far too often means "give legitimacy to moronic ideas and accept 'both sides do it' false equivalences." With that in mind, I loved reading Assembly Dem leader Peter Barca's Inauguration Day Message.

Throughout the fall campaigns, citizens of Wisconsin repeatedly heard the word bipartisanship - spoken as a promise. And it is important that all of us here use and define that word the same way as all other Wisconsinites outside the Capitol.

Here is what bipartisanship is:

Bipartisanship is working together with one another and the public from the start – not just a final vote tally.

Bipartisanship is wide consensus – not picking up a stray vote or two from the other side.

Bipartisanship is cooperation on thorny problems – not just passing easy, ceremonial bills on a unanimous vote.

Bipartisanship is not one side going along with the other side’s extreme ideas. Limiting public input to simply tweaking extreme proposals is not bipartisanship. Today needs to mark the end of extremism dominating Wisconsin politics.

The people of Wisconsin have the right to expect they will get what they were promised by each of us as candidates at their door. 

This session we must bury the partisan hatchet that chopped away at our Wisconsin values and legislative traditions and poisoned Wisconsin politics. We must end the extremism that resulted in valuable legislation being ignored and rushed legislation tied up in court.

And given that the GOP leaders in both houses of the Legislature are promising to start the session by taking up the divisive, corporately-written mining bill, I'm not betting these guys are going to play fairly or decently, and they deserve no quarter from the Dems, and they should be given no cover.

  Scot Ross at One Wisconsin Now equally called out Walker, and also thinks that actions speak louder than empty words.

"Two years ago we got the same song and dance from Gov. Walker and the Republican legislative majorities, but they put raw politics and power grabs before all else at very step of the way." [Ross said] "Their actions offer precious little reason to believe them this time.”

Ross noted that in his inaugural address, Gov. Walker promised to be a leader for “all of the people in this state of Wisconsin” and vowed to focus on jobs, improve public education and protect the state’s natural resources.

Yet, mere days later, Walker was caught on tape revealing his political strategy to “divide and conquer” to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks as he and the GOP legislature stripped 175,000 state and local employees of their rights in the workplace. They followed up with enacting the largest cuts to public education in state history in his biennial budget and narrowly failing in efforts to rewrite state environmental regulations and clean air and water protections on behalf of an out-of-state mining company wanting to develop a pit mine in an environmentally sensitive area of Northern Wisconsin.

On his signature promise, creating 250,000 jobs over four years, Gov. Walker has made precious little progress. While the national economy staged a recovery, Wisconsin under Walker ranked as one of the worst states in the nation for new job creation adding a mere 37,000 (hey Scot, it's not even that good under most measures). In addition, Gov. Walker and Republican’s signature jobs initiative, creation of a quasi-private Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), has been mired in scandal and missteps, violating guidelines in issuing grants and loans, losing track of millions in state taxpayer funded loans and even failing to follow basic business practices like conducting a comprehensive audit...

"The record of the last two years clearly shows that Gov. Walker, his administration and lapdog legislative majorities are either not telling the truth or not competent enough to deliver on their promises. Neither alternative suggest their latest promises are anything but empty,” concluded Ross.

At some point, actions and results have to win out over spin, lies and propaganda, and it's our job to make sure that happens. And not to be nice about it.