Markos Moulitsas: War on labor will backfire

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/markos-moulitas/145581-war-on-labor-will-backfire

War on labor will backfire
By Markos Moulitsas - 02/22/11 06:00 PM ET

snip//

But as events in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are showing, these ham-fisted efforts to bust unions have awakened a sleeping giant. And as much as we talk about the long-term effects of the GOP’s alienation of the Latino vote, Latinos constituted just 9 percent of the electorate in 2008, compared to 21 percent from union households.

snip//

One Madison protester carried a sign reading, “Born-again, fundamental Baptist pro-lifer turned DEMOCRAT!!! Thanks Scott Walker!” There’s more where that came from. Like, for example, the leadership of the Wisconsin police and firefighters unions. “I specifically regret the endorsement of the Wisconsin Trooper’s Association for Governor Scott Walker,” wrote Tracey Fuller, president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association. That endorsement paid dividends — the union was exempted from the anti-organizing provisions of the governor’s budget. Rather than celebrate that exemption, the blatant kickback only sickened them further: “I regret being the recipient of any of the perceived benefits provided by the governor’s anointing.”

snip//

It isn’t just labor that’s energized. The protests in Wisconsin have lit a fire under the broader progressive movement. As of Tuesday morning, online activists had raised $350,000 for the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee — an unprecedented sum for a state-level political committee. Meanwhile, 60-70,000 protesters have camped out in Madison for days, while a Koch family effort to bus in counter-protesters for a single day fizzled at around 2,000.

Conservatives were energized in 2009 by the healthcare debate and rise of the Tea Party, and they rode that energy to big gains in 2010. Thanks to Walker and his cohorts, we’re seeing a reversal of those dynamics, while giving Republican-leaning union members an urgent reason to vote their economic self-interest.

Amazing. It's almost like Walker was a sleeper agent for our side.

But even if it is, kudos for him.