Scanning the blogosphere, it seems that many conservative
Republicans are giddier about the angst at MSNBC than the actual blowout win in the Wisconsin recall
election win by Gov. Scott Walker. Several commentators reveled in the Tuesday night drama
over at MSNBC, which has promoted the recall on a par with the presidential
election.
Here’s Eric Erickson over at RedState:
“MSNBC is consistently the most entertaining news network
in America when things go badly for the left. They may think Fox is in the tank
for the GOP, but Fox anchors don’t cry when the GOP loses. I was actually
concerned that Ed Schultz might have a medical episode on live television last
night. It was … surreal. Now I know what MSNBC means by lean forward. I leaned
forward as I was viewing, watching for signs of possible coronaries live on TV.”
The Daily Caller is chuckling and
hissing at the cable news channel's desperate attempt to spin the recall story:
“Tonight, the really big winner in
the Wisconsin recall election is President Obama,” MSNBC host Lawrence
O’Donnell said at the top of his Tuesday program after parent network NBC
called the race for Gov. Scott Walker over Democrat Tom Barrett.
“Over the past several months, the
left-leaning hosts at MSNBC have put a lot of emphasis on the Wisconsin recall,
saying it was important for … Walker to be defeated in order to maintain the
American middle class.
“’… I said at the top of the show
that President Obama (is the) big winner tonight because in the exit polls we
saw today that, they were asked, ‘Who would you for president today?’”
O’Donnell explained. “Fifty-three percent in Wisconsin, 53 percent, say
President Obama. Only 42 percent say Mitt Romney. That is -- if not the recall
outcome -- that outcome for President Obama has to be very encouraging.”
O’Donnell said
he was basing his declaration on the exit polling in Wisconsin, which left much to be desired.
The conservatives apparently found
Ed Schultz the most entertaining – in a right-wing kind of way. MSNBC’s 8 p.m.
slot man, Schultz, who used the anti-Walker protests to make
a name for himself, was absolutely despondent on Tuesday night, according to
the blogs.
Realclearpolitics took note of a teary-eyed Schultz, an ardent
union backer, trying to downplay the results as the numbers began to show a
runaway win for Walker.
"In many respects it's to be
expected, considering how much money was thrown at this race. You know, NBC is
calling it for Walker. Okay, I think it's awful close and there's a lot of
absentee ballots yet that are still out and it's going to be very, very close
down to the wire" Schultz said.
"Certainly it is not the end
and it's going to be an opportunity for the progressive movement to regroup
nationally and understand exactly what they are up against," he lamented.
Over at The Daily Beast, which
features a mix of centrist and liberal writers, one of the lefty commentators
sniffed: “Very little about Wisconsin suggests a GOP win there (in
November).”
On the other side of the spectrum,
Erickson’s conclusions may have gone too far:
“The first thing we can conclude is that defense of
public sector unions is now a non-starter, even in the birthplace of American
progressive politics. Union voters voted for Scott Walker. Republicans have a
new battle-tested issue that sells well even in Blue States.”
David Frum, a moderate Republican, was probably closer to
the mark than anyone on the left or the right:
“Wisconsin has definitively exposed the failure of the
American left to build an effective populist movement, despite the worst
economic crisis since the 1930s. The Wisconsin recall vote was a battle at a
time and place of the unions' own choosing. They still lost, and in one of the
bluest states of non-coastal America. Who'll fear them now? Say what you will
about the Tea Party, it collected scalps. The unions plus Occupy plus the
remnants of the '08 Obama campaign have not. Perhaps that will change if a
Republican wins the White House -- but until and unless the left loses that
fight too, we won't know.”
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