The Wisconsin State Journal reports that anti-union tea party protesters were out-numbered today 30-to-1.
The crowd of protesters on the Capitol Square this afternoon has grown to as many as 60,000, according Joel DeSpain, a spokesman for the Madison Police Department.~SNIP~Early estimates of the pro-Walker crowd were around 2,000.
UPDATE: The Associated Press is reporting that the number of pro-union protesters at 70,000. That takes the ratio up to 35-to-1.
In case there is any question about whether or not this was a tea party gig:
They also report a very peaceful event. The only negative they really report is, naturally, a tea partier losing his shit:
One lively confrontation: A pro-Walker protester rushes a group of anti-Walker sign-wavers at the Col. Hegg statue at the top of King St. and begins ripping down signs.
All together now: CLASSY!
The so-called pro-Walker contingent was brought there by Koch brothers-funded astroturf project. Click on www.StandWithWalker and you get redirected to the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity site americansforprosperity.org/walker. This is not to be confused with the website shown in this graphic:
That one, IStandWithWalker.com, was the one promoted by Rush Limbaugh wannabe Vicki McKenna, a right wing radio blatherer.
At any rate, it appears that the tea partiers got pwned in Madison today. And that, as they say, is a Good Thing.
UPDATE: The Daily Page did some very fun reporting:
Gov. Scott Walker's shock troops came to the state Capitol today to rally in support of his budget repair bill, which would extract unilateral concessions from state workers while stripping almost all public employees in Wisconsin of their collective bargaining rights.The rally, organized by the Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity, was a bit underwhelming compared to the anti-Walker rallies this week, today included.~SNIP~Gregory, of Milwaukee (he declined to give his last name), took a somewhat broader analysis. "I'm for people, not the government," he said. "I think people should solve their own problems."What does this mean in the context of a dispute over union rights? "I think they should be treated like the private sector," Gregory explained. "The state is broke. We can't pay for pensions when the state is broke – the same thing Scott Walker says."Gregory added something about his fundamental beliefs: "I consider the Ten Commandments the definition and the responsibility of liberty," saying any great leader must take his direction from these. And, in a criticism inspired by Obama's health care reform bill, he offered a critique of legislation in general: "No law should have more words than the U.S. Constitution."I thanked Gregory and moved on. Later, it occurred to me to look something up. Ah, yes, here we go: According to an online resource, the un-amended U.S. Constitution has 4,543 words, including signatures. According to my computer's word count of a cut-and-paste file, Senate Bill 11, Walker's budget repair bill, has 48,966.
Oh, teabaggers, why are you so cute when you're stupid?
I'm just sayin'...
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