Watching Wisconsin (updated)

By Thomas Lifson

As the nation watches, Wisconsin teachers and other government workers discredit themselves and indirectly make the case for GOP spending cuts at the national level. Coming in the wake of the left's civility tantrum following Tucson, demonstrations by teachers calling in sick and closing down the Madison schools do not go over well. The Wisconsin GOP produced a video that rakes the teachers and Democrats over the coals:

hat tip: iOwnTheWorld

Harry Reid and Barack Obama may think they can game the GOP into taking a hit for a government shutdown, but they are wrong. We are not in 1995, and the public understands we borrow 42 cents of every federal dollar being spent. So far, the GOP is playing a very smart game, and the Democrats a stupid one. First New Jersey and now Wisconsin governors are standing up for taxpayers, while government workers do their best to play Snidely Whiplash, out for themselves and screw the taxpayers. How times have changed.

Update: The govenrment workers show no respect for the Capitol grounds in Madison. Blogger Ann Althouse, who lives in Madison, publishes pictures of the mess left behind by union demonstrators. (hat tip: Instapundit). The contrast with the National Mall after conservative demonstrations, such as Glenn Beck's rally, could not be greater.

The unions are coming off very badly here. The MSM will try to suppress the infavorable news, but that game is over in the age of the internet and YouTube. Most ZAmericans are cynical about media bias, and their attention is focused on budget problems. It looks very bad for people who make m ore than the average worker behaving in vile ways when offered a deal much better than most taxpayers have.