By TRB
Governor John Kasich (R) Ohio had this to say to a roomful of voters the other day. And I quote, "Have you ever been stopped by a policeman who is an idiot? This idiot pulled me over the other day. He says, ahh. You passed the emergency vehicle on the side of the road and you didn't yield."
Now Kasich raises his voice in mock anger and shouts "He is an idiot!!!"
And that was it. That was the sound of the Republicans losing badly in 2012. Why? Because somehow we never get around to talking about which party city workers vote for like clockwork every election cycle. The cops and the firemen usually vote overwhelmingly Republican. Just the cops alone account for 320,000 Republican votes. the firemen probably account for two-thirds as much more. So let's say the cops and the firemen mean half a million votes.
Take that half million, which the Republicans can kiss goodbye because of their desire to get rid of collective bargaining forever, and add to it all the nurses and teachers who work in this country. They are also not going to vote for Republicans. What Republicans don't seem to understand is that even non-union workers are on the union worker's side in this battle. Collective bargaining has resulted in, among other things, child labor laws, the 40-hour work week, workman's compensation, etc. It helps the cops partner up at night, two to a vehicle in bad areas. It improves safety standards for our firemen.
People know these things and they see the Republicans trying to tear them down. And why? So they have more money to dole out to their wealthy friends, that's why. They just tried to take it out of the wrong pocket this time.
Boy did they ever.
This is the kind of response received after the governor of Ohio's comments yesterday.
Chuck Canterbury, the national President of the Fraternal Order of Police, had this to say about Kasich's remarks, "Who are these evil teachers who teach your children, these evil police officers who protect your children and these evil firemen who save your children from burning buildings?
"When did we all become evil? There is going to be a backlash . . . we are going to hold them accountable."
Remember when the police officer and the college professor got a bit hot under the collar in Cambridge, MA in recent years, and Obama flew out to Cambridge to sit down and have a beer with them? Most Americans didn't like this professor who had the audacity to get upset with a policeman who would not let him enter his own house because he wasn't convinced he lived there.
The professor, an African American saw it as just another chapter in police racism. The cop saw it as his job to have proof the professor lived in the building before he let him in. At the time it was all over the airways. Both of them were right. And both of them were wrong.
Well what have we got here? We've got the Governor of Ohio, John Kasich telling a gathering hall of perhaps 400 people that the policeman who pulled him over the other day was an idiot. He described the police officer to the crowd as an "idiot" on three different occasions. Using the word "idiot."
Kasich is just playing his role in the Republican demonization of all public workers. Teachers are suddenly no good. Can't teach. Nurses expect too much in the way of benefits. Firemen get too much overtime. And cops don't really need all of those expensive bullet-proof vests. A lot of Republicans would like to take all of these public jobs and privatize them.
Give them to Halliburton to perform, for example. It would be terrible in a public service role because it has no meaningful public service tradition, but it sure would free up a lot of money for the Republican's rich buddies. Then those rich buddies could turn around and fork a good piece of these savings over to the Republican campaign machine.
See how it works?
Do your get the picture yet?
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