Wisconsin: The "Liberal Media" strikes again (and again).
http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/unlike-burke-media-gives-ron-johnsons-business-finance-claims-fr
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and Mary Burke had similar resumes when they ran for statewide office: Both had business backgrounds, and both had the primary qualification of being wealthy enough to self-finance their own campaigns. Both also owe their business backgrounds to being hired by the family business, and both got their wealth the old fashioned way... they inherited it. Burke, through her father (bicycle magnate Richard Burke), and Johnson through his father-in-law (plastics magnate Howard Curler).
Yet, when you read about Mary Burke, nearly every article makes some mention of the fact that she got wealthy because of her father, while there is not a single article that even mentions, in any material way, that Ron Johnson owes 99% of his wealth and fortune to his father-in-law. In fact, Johnson even inferred (repeatedly) that it was he-- not his father-in-law-- who built his plastics business from the ground up by making subtle claims like, "I built it from the ground-up." And Johnson's surrogates at the NRSC even claimed that Johnson was a"self-made man."
The media's reaction? Crickets, baby. In fact, Roll Call's David Hawking recently wrote a long love letter column to "self-made multi-millionaires" like... Ron Johnson? According to Hawking, through Johnson's grit and determination, he, "made a killing in plastics." Humorously, the whole point of the article is that "self-made" rich guys like Ron Johnson have replaced the old guard of rich guys whose whose wealth was "principally because of their inheritance."
But Mary Burke? Ohhhhhh... with Burke, the media not only referenced her father in every single story, but also made her account for every month she worked for Trek, her exact position each month, and even went so far as to run a poorly-sourced smear story just days before the election saying she was fired from Trek (even though she continued to work there for nine years after her alleged firing).
I guess when he says he "built it from the ground up" Johnson really means "I married the daughter of a rich man who hired me." More in the article about Johnson's business "acumen".
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