Yawn……………..

Another day, another hit piece by the Washington Post on Wisconsin\’s Republican Governor, Scott Walker.  And – no surprise – it is being given lead-story status.

This time the attack is on Governor Walker\’s terrible mistreatment of unions in Wisconsin.

It\’s headline:   Walker\’s anti-union law has labor reeling in Wisconsin

Is it just me, or does that headline look a tad negative toward Governor Walker?

Excerpted from Robert Samuels\’ article (which, in fairness to Mr. Samuels, does make at least somewhat of an effort to present both sides – and causes me to wonder how he feels about the obviously anti-Walker headline that was used for it):

KING,Wis. – At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, TerryMagnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. Amembers meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, butthe small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, waslonely and desolate.

“hereused to be a lot more people coming,”said Magnant, a 51-year-oldnursing assistant, sighing.

Theanti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. ScottWalker a national Republican star and a possible presidentialcandidate, has turned out to be even more transformative than manyhad predicted.

Walkerhad vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged ontheir merits, and local governments would save money. Unions hadwarned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take onsecond jobs or find new careers.

Manyof those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving ­public-sectorunions were not just shrunken – they were crippled.

Unionsrepresenting teachers, professors, trash collectors and othergovernment employees are struggling to stem plummeting membershiprolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start.

Herein King, Magnant and her fellow AFSCME members, workers at a localveterans home, have been knocking on doors on weekends to persuadeformer members to rejoin. Community college professors in MorainePark, home to a technical college, are reducing dues from $59 to $36each month. And those in Milwaukee are planing a campaign usingvideos and posters to highlight union principles. The theme:­”Remember.”

Thestate branch of the National Education Association, once 100,000strong, has seen its membership drop by a third. The AmericanFederation of Teachers, which organized in the college system, saw a50 percent decline. The 70,000-person membership in the stateemployees union has fallen by 70 percent.

So what do we have here? We have a headline – and, largely, an entire article – attempting to convince readers that Governor Walker is a union-buster whose agenda has terribly hurt union workers.

But if that is so, why aren\’t former union members flocking back to the fold?  Are they all so stupid that they can\’t see what they have lost?

And why are unions reducing dues something like 40%?  Does that mean those dues were ridiculously bloated in the first place?  Could that have something to do with so many former members bolting the unions the minute they had the chance?

And why have Wisconsinites, who are certainly no strangers to support of the union movement, elected him Governor three times over the past four years (two elections and a recall attempt).

See, a headline like the one used for this article does little other than stir up more antagonism and more anger.  What it does not do is encourage a serious dialogue which measures the plusses and minuses of what Mr. Walker\’s legislation.

I again remind you that Wisconsin voters have elected Scott Walker Governor three times in four years.  And it certainly is not because he has successfully hidden his stand on public sector unions; to the contrary, Mr. Walker has featured that stand in every one of the elections.  Would voters do that if they opposed his stand on this issue?

Put another way, do you think Scott Walker may be onto something here – something the folks over in Washingtonpostville do not want to acknowledge?

Is that why they (and a boatload of other Democrat-friendly media venues) appear to be so scared of him?

Keep watching for the next hit piece on Walker.  It\’s an excellent bet you won\’t have long to wait.