From the Associated Press:
Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore urged Wisconsin residents Saturday to fight Republican-backed efforts to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, telling thousands of protesters that “Madison is only the beginning.”
The crowd roared in approval as Moore implored demonstrators to keep up their struggle against Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s legislation, comparing their fight to Egypt’s revolt. He also thanked the 14 state Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to block a vote on the bill, saying they’ll go down in history books.
“We’re going to do this together. Don’t give up. Please don’t give up,” Moore told the protesters, who have held steady at the Capitol for nearly three weeks. Police have said a crowd of about 70,000 showed up on Feb. 19, and an even larger crowd rallied Feb. 26.
Moore said the wealthy have overreached, first taking the working class’ money and then taking their souls by shutting them up at the bargaining table. The crowd yelled “thank you” before Moore began to speak, and he responded: “All of America thanks you, Wisconsin.”
Walker has said the legislation is needed to help ease a state deficit projected to hit $3.6 billion by mid-2013, though opponents see it as an effort to weaken unions.
Negotiations between Democrats and Republican broke down Thursday, though communication lines remain open, said Sen. Tim Cullen, one of the Democrats who fled the state. Cullen said it’s difficult for either side to compromise, since Democrats don’t want to lose support from their base and Walker doesn’t want to appear weak by backing down.
Walker’s spokesman didn’t return a message Saturday, though the governor has said that he won’t compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.
Two other Democratic senators joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago to urge Walker to negotiate with workers. Sen. Lena Taylor said Democrats left because they “needed to slow the bill down” after it was approved unchanged in the state Assembly.
“I ask the governor, ‘Do your job. Come to the table and speak to Wisconsin workers,'” Taylor said. “We agree that fiscally we need to do things differently. We even agree that there are some places where we need to talk about how we negotiate. … However we refuse to accept in America that we don’t believe that a voice at the table is an option. It is not an option of a leader and it surely is not the Wisconsin way.”
Read the whole thing here. Do keep in mind that when Sen. Taylor admonished the Governor to “do your job”, she was in Illinois. You know, avoiding her job. In poker, the person with the winning hand is generally quiet…the person with the losing hand will get more vocal, in an attempt to bluff. The fleebaggers are bluffing.