How in Earth did Wisconsin go from Russ Feingold to this miserable POS?

[CatWoman]

Sen. Ron Johnson Paints Key Impeachment Witness As Possibly Anti-Trump

Sen. Ron Johnson suggested on Monday that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council member who has provided crucial testimony in the House impeachment, could be biased against President Donald Trump.

Johnson mentioned his suspicions in a letter to House Intelligence Committee members Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), who had requested his account of Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine between April and September.

The Republican senator described a meeting he, Vindman, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, and then-Special Envoy Kurt Volker had with newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on May 20 on the day of Zelensky’s inauguration.

Johnson wrote that he was “surprised” during the meeting when Vindman said that the NSC’s position was that America’s relationship with Ukraine ought to be kept separate from the U.S.’ geopolitical competition with Russia.

In the letter, Johnson cast doubt over whether Vindman’s assertion was in line with Trump’s stance on U.S.-Ukraine relations.

“I raise this point because I believe that a significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and resent his unorthodox style and his intrusion onto their ‘turf,'” the Wisconsin Republican wrote. “They react by leaking to the press and participating in the ongoing effort to sabotage his policies and, if possible, remove him from office.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/sen-ron-johnson-paints-key-impeachment-witness-as-possibly-anti-trump

[hatrack]

1. Owning Teh Libtardz comes with a price tag . ..

That price tag's name is Ron Johnson.

[dem4decades]

2. The GOP attacked voters rights for years. Wisconsin is hardly a beacon of voting rights.

[bitterross]

3. Trump is not legitimate. We all know that.

Trump is not a legitimate President. He lost the popular vote and there is more than enough question about the vote in states where he allegedly won the electoral vote.

I've never accepted him and never will.

[onecaliberal]

4. These people are pro constitution

[MoonRiver]

5. Whole lotta cheatin' going on!

?t=32

[Botany]

6. "How on Earth did Wisconsin go from Russ Feingold to this miserable POS?"

Voter suppression
Russia (Feingold was at >90% of winning)
Dirty voting machines

[bluestarone]

8. I'm 100% sure you're right! My question would be

Has anything been done to investigate these machines before 2020? I'm very curious about these and OTHER machines in our voting system! Can it happen AGAIN?

[Bettie]

7. Voter Suppression

it really is that simple.

[Peregrine Took]

9. Everytime I see Johnson I say the SAME thing.

They could have had Feingold and they chose this total embarrassing loser??

[triron]

19. No Putin chose him.

[TheRealNorth]

10. Putin and the Russians own Johnson

When Russia hacked the RNC, I am sure they got all sort of juicy internal discussions, especially on the WI Republicans who were at the helm at that time.

[JHB]

11. Charlie Sykes

Ok, not all by himself, but the National Review thought credit was due (see excerpt below).

Sykes, now making the talking head show rounds as a Never Trumper, spent 23 years (1993-2016) as Wisconsin's own state-level Rush Limbaugh. Like most Never Trumpers, he was one of the people who spent their careers building and fostering what is now Trump's base.


https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/12/charlie-sykes-retires-after-promoting-conservatism-radio-tv/

How Charlie Sykes Helped Turn Wisconsin Red
by Mona Charen
Published in National Review Online on December 23, 2016

On December 19, radio host Charlie Sykes completed his last broadcast for WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His last hours on the air were adorned with encomia from some of the leading figures his show had helped to incubate: Reince Preibus, Scott Walker, Ron Johnson, and Paul Ryan, among many others. For three and a half hours every day for 23 years, Wisconsinites got the Charlie Sykes catechism: free markets, rule of law, school reform, free speech (and anti-PC), and strong families. The policy meal was substantial and nourishing, but that didn’t mean the taste was bland. Sykes delivered information with just the right soupcon of humor and entertainment, and, of course, a hearty serving of Green Bay Packers hits.

Along with five other conservative talk-radio hosts, and with the help of the Bradley Foundation (whose headquarters are in Milwaukee), Sykes helped to create a climate of opinion in Wisconsin that led to actual policy results. With the steady, smart, daily spadework of persuasion, Sykes opened his microphones to conservative reformers in politics, education, and the courts. Long before the “blue wall” crumbled in the 2016 electoral map, Charlie Sykes had been scaling the ramparts of Wisconsin’s entrenched liberal fortresses.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Sykes regrets the boost he gave to Sheriff David Clarke, calling him his “Frankenstein monster.” And there were election setbacks. “After 2008,” he recalled, “I told people that conservatives were going to be invisible for a while. But, with time, our ideas would be back.” It didn’t take long. In 2010, Republican Scott Walker won the governorship, and improbably enough, egghead Ron Johnson (heavily promoted by the Charlie Sykes radio show) defeated Russ Feingold for the U.S. Senate. Paul Ryan was a frequent guest on Sykes’s air as well as on a Sunday TV show Sykes hosted. Ryan honed his message on the Charlie Sykes show.

When many conservative talk-radio hosts were finding that denouncing Republicans got more purchase than conservative reform ideas, Sykes stuck with substance. He beat the drum for Act 10 in Wisconsin that limited collective bargaining by public employee unions and got state budget outlays under better control. A donnybrook followed. The 14 Democratic members of the state senate actually fled the state to Illinois to prevent the senate from voting, and the state capital was the scene of sit-ins and drum circles. Sykes provided pungent and lively analysis. He was there, manning the microphone, during Governor Scott Walker’s recall fight in 2012 as well, and drew attention to the abuse of power during the John Doe investigations — two other crucial victories for the Right.

[dalton99a]

13. +1. He got them brainwashed pretty good.

[pecosbob]

12. The Kochs

[Lindsay]

14. An on-line friend from Wisconsin

refers to him as Ron Johnson (R-Wife's Money).

That may have something to do with it.

[LakeArenal]

15. KochBrothers bought WI

They and the Russians bought the evangelical minds and gerrymandered the state to death.

Doyle the gov before Walker was very unpopular and they built on that to the poop pile we have today.

All of them... Walker, Ryan, Johnson, Duffy and the Koch’s all have/had presidential aspirations. The gerrymandering keeps them in power. State wide and national elections, Dems can win. Local elections not so much. Even County seats have to pretend they are Republican to even have a chance at getting it.

[triron]

16. Russian election engineering.

[dalton99a]

17. Big time.

[librechik]

20. yes indeed. Among several other states.

I hope somebody is keeping notes about this.

[Martin Eden]

18. Repukes can't argue the facts or the law, so they impugn the character of the witnesses

They aren't asking questions to get at the truth, because they lose when truth and public perception are aligned.