Congratulations, Governor Kleefisch

Well, that's it folks. Tom Barrett just conceded the race, even while votes were still being tallied and barely 40 minutes after the last vote was even cast.

And yup, it's frustrating as hell.  The people of Wisconsin* will be doing navel-gazing for days and weeks, trying to figure what went wrong.  I'll touch on that in a later post.

And yup, it's frustrating as hell.  But there are some things you have to keep in mind and the sooner you see it, the sooner we can get back to working at setting things right and making the state whole again.

Remember, I've been a veteran of the war against Walker and his kind for ten years.  I've seen my share of battles lost.  But I also have seen apparent losses end up being victories.

First of all, this was nothing but a Pyrrhic victory for Scott Walker and his corporate backers.  They will find the sweet taste of victory soon turning sour and becoming ashes in their mouths.

Their star child will soon fall from his pedestal, dragged down by no one but himself.  How will the Republicans extol the "virtues" of their agenda and ideology when Walker is doing the perp walk into court to answer to his indictment?  You will see all, and I do mean all, of Walker's friends backpedaling so fast they will run the risk of falling on their own butts.

And as we have already seen, their agenda isn't working.  We're still hemorrhaging jobs as the rest of the country gains.  We're still losing businesses that can't survive without the money flow that Walker and company dried up and are keeping for their own.  Our state's economy is still the worst in the country.

And while Walker and company continues that path, there is no reason to expect things to get better.

In fact, things are likely to get worse.  But in a way, that's a good thing.

People will start waking up and coming back to their senses.  And as things keep blowing up on Walker, this will become only more true.  That is when we start getting our state back.

As an example of what I'm saying being the truth, look at Milwaukee County.  We Milwaukeeans know both Barrett and Walker very well.  In 2010, we voted in favor of Barrett 62-38.  This year, it is 63-37.  We know fully well that Walker is bad news and we continuously reject him outright.  The state will learn this lesson soon enough.

But as I mentioned, unfortunately, Walker won't be there to take the heat for his failure.  He'll be in prison by then, disgraced and humiliated as the truth comes out about him.

And yes, that will leave us with the vacuous-minded, homophobic, self-hating Rebecca Kleefisch as governor.  Her ineptness will soon become all too apparent and she will become nothing more than a laughable figurehead.  And because of her ineptitude and maliciousness, and her ties to the then-jailed Walker, she won't win her first election of governor.

So, you see, while it is extraordinarily frustrating right now, it is not without hope.  It's just setting us up for a better and bigger victory in two years.  And the amazing way the people of Wisconsin has come together, forming everlasting friendships, unity and solidarity, we have given ourselves the base we need to work from.

Sadly, we will see gloating and taunting from the right, most notably the politicians.  Again, that will be a blessing in disguise.  There's a saying you can only kick a dog so long before it bites you.  The same goes for badgers.  Take the anger you will feel and use it to help rebuild ourselves and the state.

And as a faithful reader told me tonight, as she was comforting her teenage grandson, who was very upset about the results of Tuesday's recall election, we should remember the old nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

The Republicans and the Kochs, but I repeat myself, have tied themselves permanently to Walker.  When he takes his great fall, he takes them with him.  Their agenda will fall apart and nothing  and no one will be able to put it back together.  What their touting as their greatest asset is, in reality, their greatest weakness.

In other words, while it looks like we took a grievous blow tonight, we will still fare much better than they will.

Until, I continue to stand with and fight for Wisconsin, and I hope you will join me in doing so.


*Yes, there is still in a Wisconsin and no matter what, Fitzwalkerstan won't be able to completely kill it off.  Walker and company tried that in Milwaukee and failed to snuff us out.