Pathetic RW Memes That Didn’t Fly No. 2: Wisconsin State Capitol Kotexgate

My BFF Jim Hoft and assorted allies (I’m looking at you, Rush Limbaugh, though now I wish I hadn’t; groo) have done their best over the past couple of weeks to paint a picture of the American left that belies the customary image of liberals as pathetic pantywaists, and render a public image that resembles a cross between Attila the Hun’s marauding hordes and the chorus line from Springtime for Hitler. I don’t know what it’s done to his commenters and readers, but it’s filled me with admiration for their fire, determination, inventiveness, and grit in the face of The Man. More of this please, Jim.

One favorite myth to add to the corpus was the widely bruited claim that those Screaming Union Thugs/Goons™ had so soiled the Madison Capitol that it would cost millions of dollars to return it to a state befitting those who want to grind the remnants of the working middle class into the dirt. To be fair beyond reason, there was some testimony to bear this out:

State officials said Thursday that damage to the marble inside and out the State Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million.

Cari Anne Renlund, chief legal counsel for the state Department of Administration, said in Dane County court that estimates of damage to marble includes $6 million to repair damaged marble inside the Capitol, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for costs to supervise the damage.

And yes, you know damn well that right now I’m going to dip right in to Gateway Pundit’s oeuvre and pull out a plum, because (a) that’s the way I roll, and (b) there ain’t a finer example of wingnut idiocy out there, and a Hoft post paints a thousand wingnut links—mainly because they’re all so frikkin mindless and lazy that they all shamelessly crib off him anyway.

Here, have another link for your trophy cabinet, Jim:

Wisconsin Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman is not the only one concerned about the “smelly” leftist “slobs” who are turning the state capitol into a “pig sty.”

State officials today announced that it could cost up to $7.5 to clean up after the leftist protesters in Madison.
FOX6 Now reported:

It could cost as much as $7.5 million to repair damage protesters have done to the Capitol Building marble say officials in Madison. Fixing posters to the marble with tape and glue appears to have done the bulk of the damage.

During testimony Thursday, a representative from the Attorney General’s office said a contractor estimated it would cost $500,000 to remove all of the posters and garbage. He says it would cost $6 million to restore the marble inside of the Capitol building and another $1 million to touch up the marble outside of the building.

Officials with the Department of Administration say the marble must be restored immediately. They say normally, tape isn’t used on the walls of the Capitol by rule because of the historic nature of the building. Easels are normally used for signs.

They’re definitely NOT tea partiers.

Well, no. No, they’re not. Well observed. And guess what?—The story’s unraveling quicker than Jim Hoft’s grasp on sanity. Over to Eric Kleefeld at Talking Points Memo, after the fold.

In an amusing footnote to the Wisconsin protests, a Walker administration official is now backing away from another official’s dire warning that millions and millions of dollars in damage had been done to the Capitol over weeks of protests. Furthermore, it appears that no professional estimate has actually been done.

On Thursday, as part of the litigation over the state’s attempts to restrict public access to the Capitol, the Department of Administration’s legal counsel claimed that repairing the damage done to the building—mainly from adhesive tape used to affix posters to the marble walls—would add up to $7.5 million. However, it was not clear how these estimates were made.

On Thursday night, Dane County Judge John Albert ruled that the daytime restrictions on Capitol access must be lifted, while also ordering protesters to leave when the building closes at night. And now, the state’s facilities administrator—a former moderate Dem state senator who joined the Walker administration—is backing away from those high cost estimates.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

“I think that’s more of a worst-case scenario,” said Jeff Plale, the former Democratic state senator who is now the state facilities administrator. “There are othere stimates.”

Touring the Capitol Friday morning with state architect Dan Stephans, Plale said he had not immediately observed any damage from demonstrations over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, though the pair was just starting their tour. Plale said that he didn’t believe the state had had any experienced contractor provide the quote on the damages.

Envoi: And yes, as so often, our pal SteveM called it.

Posted by YAFB on 03/04/11 at 04:34 PM • Permalink

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