Victim Card Up-Date

When they aren't whining loudly that actual victims are "playing the victim card," you can bet they're whining about how they've been victimized. In a recent case, a Republican State Senator (Oh, alright, not him, his car, if we must be "accurate.") claimed to have been assaulted by a rock.

Contrary to Sen. Dan Kapanke's claim that his car windshield was vandalized the day he voted in favor of the controversial collective bargaining bill, a police report has determined the damage was caused by a stray rock.

Kapanke, R-La Crosse, informed Capitol Police his windshield was smashed March 9, the same day top Republican lawmakers surprised Democrats and the public by hastily calling a joint conference committee meeting to vote on a stripped down version of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.*

Not in any way an attempt to move media focus (Such as it is. Here's where "Why fucking bother?" comes in: We act/assume/pretend as if there were demand for media attention to be devoted to anything beyond rock-throwing, name-calling, hurt feelings, & other junior high activities. Abandon hope, all who enter.) from the hastily called joint meeting.

According to a March 22 report filed by an officer with the Capitol Police, however, Kapanke first noticed the crack in his windshield after an officer drove his car from a parking garage to the Capitol following the vote on the bill.

[...]

Kapanke defended his March 9 vote in favor of restricting collective bargaining in an interview with the La Crosse Tribune Friday, saying he would vote the same way again because of the $3.6 billion deficit facing the state.

"This certainly trumps any one person's ambitions or political career," Kapanke told the newspaper. "We are elected to put our fiscal house in order... You've got to do what's best in your heart - what you feel is best for the future of the state."

Elected to "put our fiscal house in order," whatever that may or may not mean or not mean? That's it? Accounting? Legislators are now glorified CPAs w/ Capitol Police officers as free valets? Interesting development. Did Sen. Kapanke run on the CPA platform. Or on the no-taxes-ever platform? (Again, not that it would make any difference what-so-fucking-ever, but we've been so amused by recent blatherings from reactionary elements that have included the "didn't-campaign-on-this" moan, as if someone once believed that campaign promises would come true, or were even intended to be trusted.)

A Sign Of Hope

Just kidding, naturally. Democracy is dead, even if the corpse is still twitching.

Kapanke is one of 16 lawmakers - eight Republicans and eight Democrats - facing recall efforts from voters in their districts.

On Friday, several hundred people gathered outside the La Crosse City Hall to celebrate the fact they had collected more than the necessary number of signatures to trigger a recall election against the senator.

*Can we nominate that for a Euphemism Award?