Wisconsin Dems About to Cave?

Mickey Kaus Columnist
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Wisconsin’s Scenic Caves: Chuck Lane catches his WaPo colleague Ezra Klein in a moment of intellectual honesty and makes sure he pays for it:

 Who cares if the walkout flies in the face of the usual progressive opposition to filibusters and other minoritarian obstruction? Ezra Klein deserves some credit for owning up to the contradiction on this point and has even suggested that the Wisconsin Democratic senators should come back after a “couple of days” worth of debate and protest. He wrote that two weeks ago. Time’s up?

Maybe it is. … P.S.: I was about to go to work on an item that tried to figure out which anti-union provisions Gov. Walker might jettison and still reach a deal with Democrats that wasn’t really a defeat for him. But if that WSJ piece is true, there’s no need. The Wisconsin Dems are conceding defeat across the board while seeking consolation in polls showing that their position is popular.  …  P.P.S.: To the extent a liberal MSM conspiracy helped produce and publicize those polls–and it can only be a limited extent since one of the polls is Rasmussen’s– did they inadvertently do Gov. Walker a favor by giving the Dems the PR cover they need to save face while they lose the actual legislative battle? ….

Pssst! Update: Actually if you’d keep that “defeat across the board” business to yourselves for a few days … Wouldn’t want the runaway Dems to get cold feet. … What I meant to say is: “Having achieved a dramatic pr triumph in several polls, which we all know reflect the permanent alignment of public opinion, Wisconsin’s Democrats are now in a strong position to return to Madison and lose declare victory!–even if that may require a  temporary retreat when it comes to the actual details of the, um, er, legislation.” …