Monday, July 1, 2013

Smalley's Tell



By Jeff Simpson

A tell in poker is a change in a player's behavior or demeanor that is claimed by some to give clues to that player's assessment of their hand. A player gains an advantage if they observe and understand the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. Sometimes a player may fake a tell, hoping to induce their opponents to make poor judgments in response to the false tell. More often, people try to avoid giving out a tell, by maintaining a poker face regardless of how strong or weak their hand is.

John Smalley is the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal and he likes to appear objective.  Yesterday he wrote an article where he equatedthe ridiculousness of the whole budget process as equal to both parties.  While on its face it is a claim that is laughable enough, then he gives his right wing tell(see if you can spot it):


Well, in reality, it was four actual cooks (Republican leaders who control the budget process) and two cooks-in-waiting (the Democrats who were shut out of the process).


All four of the Republicans who visited — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling — and both of the Democrats — Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca and Rep. Sandy Pasch — are smart, compassionate, dedicated public servants.

Which, given the decent, well-meaning people running both parties, makes it all the more maddening that the creation of the state budget is an ugly mess of partisanship at its worst.
As an editorial board, we like a lot of what’s in the budget. And we scratch our heads and wonder about plenty of other parts of the budget.

In essentially back-to-back visits with the top minds and leadership of both parties, our editorial board was left with one lingering question: What the heck is going on up there?
The Republicans tout tax relief for everyone and increased spending in K-12 education. Those both seem like good ideas.

The Democrats counter that the tax relief is rigged to help only the wealthy (not exactly true) and the school funding increases are paltry crumbs compared to the big cuts two years ago (mostly true).

 While some would think it is this: 

Which, given the decent, well-meaning people running both parties, makes it all the more maddening that the creation of the state budget is an ugly mess of partisanship at its worst.
While it is immensely inaccurate because everyone in the state knows that the dems did not have a say, beyond the kringle, in the whole budget.  This "partisanship at its worse" can be layed at the feet of one and only one party!   However this is not it - it is right here where he shows his immense bias:



In essentially back-to-back visits with the top minds and leadership of both parties, our editorial board was left with one lingering question: What the heck is going on up there?
The Republicans tout tax relief for everyone and increased spending in K-12 education. Those both seem like good ideas.

The Democrats counter that the tax relief is rigged to help only the wealthy (not exactly true) and the school funding increases are paltry crumbs compared to the big cuts two years ago (mostly true).

Yes the supposed fact checking, only seems to follow democrat claims.  I wonder why that is?

Let me help Mr. Smalley balance his article out, because maybe, as a member of the media, he realizes that any claim a member of the republican party in Wisconsin makes is blatantly false!  

 Republicans tout tax relief for everyone - (mostly false) and increased spending in K-12 education(false - really false - pants on fire false)!  










1 comment:

  1. Don't forget the structural budget deficit that the Republicans created with the tax cut. That is no small matter.

    ReplyDelete