BDN Editor Suggests Walker Provoke More Backlash

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There has been some false outrage planted by the local media monopoly, the Janesville Gazette, including an editorial by the Beloit Daily News in defense of a person (Mark Finnegan of Finnegan's RV in South Beloit) who claims he was abused by protesters when he attempted to escort a couple of elderly ladies to a local GOP party function and dinner event last weekend in Beloit.

I was not at the protest so I cannot speak firsthand. But judging from two videos and photos from the intertubes, the protest appeared to be a peaceful event with some theatrical flair (people laying down under a red carpet), bullhorns and vuvuzelas. Oh, and a gold colored commode to help make the rich and powerful feel right at home. It was a fun event. But let's put it this way, anyone attending the dinner and encountering the group outside with noisemakers should expect some noise. In case you didn't know, bullhorns and vuvuzelas tend to be loud.

Finnegan's big complaint from his perspective was that a "boisterous" protester shouted into a bullhorn within earshot while he was escorting a couple of 80-something women into the building. Possibly so. But there have been no photos or videos of this incident taking place as described despite cameras everywhere. On the other hand, I have to question the intentions and judgment of anyone who would subject an elderly senior or a very young child to any direct political protest activity without taking extra precautions. Sorry, but that doesn't wash.

From his writings and the BDN's indefensible editorial, they tried to paint this as a deliberate attack, that because Finnegan "dared show up at this gathering [...] he and his elderly guests were abused." Please, don't flatter yourselves. I can attest to the fact that whatever you perceive "our" cause to be - it's not about you personally. The only reason anyone would write such a stretch of self-importance and reality is to inflict damage on a cause you never could relate with. Let's be honest.

Finnegan also posed a couple questions: "Do you protesters truly believe these actions are still helping your message with the masses? Do you ever think that possibly you have gotten to the point that you are alienating the sympathy of 'center' folk like myself regarding your cause?"

Let's put it this way, the message isn't for the masses to digest. The message is from the masses. The second message here is; if protest action should be purposely designed and carried out to instill, attract or win sympathy, then we are on the wrong side of history.

The editor of the Beloit Daily News takes that theme to the next level when he suggests Scott Walker should take precisely that action by making himself more often available to the anger and angst of Wisconsinites in hopes of provoking some ill will in an effort to gain sympathy for his cause.

That's right. When you have really bad, bad public policy sure to make heads explode, the BDN editor suggests...

BDN Editorial Excerpt:
Backlash is all but assured. If I were advising the governor, I’d put him out there with this crowd early and often. Bad behavior drives votes to the other side.

That's good advice when you're on the wrong side of history and truth and you have nothing else left. You may as well plant some false flags and provocateurs too. That's the republican way. But let's be double clear here. The Governor, Scott Walker, was not the subject of this particular protest. Sell-out congressman Paul Ryan and the 1% were.

But I can't blame them for their confusion. The major story here is that the Koch-supported Republican Party has become such a hated group in Wisconsin that every protest action in the state is no longer only about Scott Walker. It has naturally morphed into a referendum on the arrogant right-wing class-war tax-shifting government-grabbing 1% and the Wall Street politicians they own. Walker of course is also part of that.

So I say yes to the Beloit Daily News editor and his suggestion to Scott Walker. Bring it on.