JONAH GOLDBERG: The Payroll Tax Mess

Quote Of The Day, May 25, 2012

“What happened here was the accumulated karmic backlash of forty years’ worth of Establishment Democrats telling the Activist Left that they were the vanguard of, and spokesmen for, a broad American populist movement. For the longest time, such lies were simply an accepted part of the public policy debate; mostly because the country had no yardstick by which to judge the Left’s turnout and activities.

“But then came the Tea Parties — which showed people what a real American populist movement looks like, and what it can do — and its success stung the Activist Left at the exact moment that Scott Walker came along and not unreasonably decided that if he was elected on a platform of doing certain things, he had best start doing them. This infuriated the Left, but not as much as the refusal of Walker and the WI GOP to go weak-kneed at the first sign of push-back. So… the recall movement was born!

“And… fizzled. The Left should have cut their losses when Prosser demonstrated that drum circles and illegal indoor camping in the Rotunda didn’t translate into votes… and they definitely should have cut their losses when the first wave of recalls didn’t live up to the hype. But they didn’t, and now the people of Wisconsin are increasingly demonstrating that they’re tired of all of this – and they’re not blaming the Republicans, either. Such a shame, but that’s what you get whe- hey! The bacon’s fully cooked.”

- Moe Lane