Gov. Tony Evers’ Call For ‘Civility’ Tall Order For Uncivil Left

This is what civility looks like? Over the past eight years, the left has described Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican majority as racists, fascists, thieves and murderers. Walker has been called everything from Stalin to Satan.… Click To Tweet

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MacIver News Service | Jan. 11, 2018

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON — In his inauguration speech this week, Gov. Tony Evers called for a new birth of civility in Wisconsin politics. 

“We’ve become paralyzed by polarity and we’ve become content with division,” the new governor said. “We’ve been indifferent to resentment and governing by retribution.” 

The former flak for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin once compared Walker to mass murder and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer.

The implication, of course, is that this “people before politics” Democrat will bind up Wisconsin’s partisan wounds inflicted by the Republican-controlled Legislature and, particularly, conservative Gov. Scott Walker. 

To be sure, there’s enough ill will in Wisconsin politics to simultaneously choke a donkey and an elephant. (AP reporter Scott Bauer recently tweeted the contents of an obscene, hate-filled email he received from an apparent Trump supporter.)

But the new governor seems to discount the seeds of all that nastiness: The left’s unhinged hatred for Walker and anyone who would dare help him deliver conservative reforms to state government. Republicans called it “Walker Derangement Syndrome” for good reason. 

Over the past eight years, the left has described Walker and the Republican majority as racists, fascists, thieves and murderers. Walker has been called everything from Stalin to Satan. The former flak for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin once compared Walker to mass murder and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. 

There’s some deep, entrenched hate there. 

“If you are a Democrat, you have had hatred for Scott Walker since the Budget Repair (Bill) that was introduced eight years ago,” said state Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green). 

The bill, also known as Act 10, curbed the collective-bargaining power of the state’s public sector employees and spurred the wrath of their powerful unions — and Big Labor’s Democratic Party friends. Tens of thousands of union-led protestors packed the state Capitol in opposition to the legislation, which the Republican-controlled Legislature passed and Walker signed into law. Opposition turned into hostility and hatred for Walker in particular, conservatives in general. 

“(The Democrats) have finally succeeded in replacing the person on their mantel that they have most despised,” said Marklein, who has received his share of vile hate mail, even death threats, over the past eight years. 

And the beat goes on, the senator said. 

As Evers calls for a return to “respect and dignity” in Wisconsin politics, some of his supporters are ratcheting up the most uncivil “Resistance” rhetoric.

As Evers calls for a return to “respect and dignity” in Wisconsin politics, some of his supporters are ratcheting up the most uncivil “Resistance” rhetoric.  

“This statement was total horseshit every single time Scott Walker uttered it in defense of he and the Republicans completely racist attacks on voter rights for people of color in Wisconsin,” the ever-apoplectic Scot Ross, executive director of far left mouthpiece One Wisconsin Now, tweeted before the inauguration. 

Ross was responding to Walker’s tweet declaring that the state’s voter ID laws have made it “easy to vote but hard to cheat with our simple photo ID to vote requirements.” 

Earlier this week, Ross, the mainstream media’s go-to guy for Walker-loathing comments, tweeted this gem of civility about Walker and President Donald Trump:

“Any guesses what stupid fucking racist thing stupid fucking racist Scott Walker is gonna tweet to support the stupid fucking racist shit stupid fucking racist Trump says tonite?”

“So Scott Walker is planning to live in a downtown Milwaukee condo. Sounds good to me. Really good!,” wrote Chris “Capper” Liebenthal, a Milwaukee County government worker and former executive board member of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, in a Facebook post. Beneath the message is a photo of an orange jumpsuit-clad Walker in a prison cell. 

Sasha Alessa Troha of Madison posted this civil message next to a link to Walker’s photo on her Twitter account:

“Bye, bye to this enormous pile of shit! May you rot, like you tried to kill everything good Wisconsin stands for. Fucccccccccccck you, Scotty! Time to clean up the enormous mess you left us with. This is a reminder to everyone to never, ever give up on what you believe in and stand for. Keep fighting the good fight, my friends!”

Hashtags included #wisconsinunion, #wisconsinuprising, and #fuckyouwalker. 

On Christmas Day, Walker, who last year lost his father, a longtime pastor in the Baptist Church, wished his Twitter followers a Merry Christmas. He said he and his family were grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ with the people of Wisconsin. 

“We are counting our many blessings and looking forward to the new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” the Republican governor wrote. 

“Yeah….pretty sure even Jesus won’t be able to wash away your sins,” responded @Jessica91860177. 

Someone with the Twitter slug, “Trump sucks Pence swallows,” greeted the governor with a middle finger salute icon, next to the words, “Nasty traitor.” 

Evers says it’s long past due to “return Wisconsin to a place where we treat each other with respect and dignity.” If he’s serious about bringing back civility, the new governor need only look to his immediate left to call out egregious examples of incivility.