Democrats in disarray? So says GOP website
State Republican officials are not being very subtle in their latest criticism of their political counterparts.
Just check out the new GOP website: Democrats InDisarray.com.
The interactive site chronicles the losses by Democrats around Wisconsin since 2010, takes shots at U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin for her handling of the opiate prescription scandal at the Tomah VA Medical Center and pokes fun at Dem lawmakers who played their version of political bingo during Gov. Scott Walker’s state of the state address this year.
As if that weren’t enough, the page — cast as a view from the state Democratic Party headquarters in Madison — also points out the handful of Democrats who have opted not to challenge Walker in his 2018 re-election bid.
“Democrats in Wisconsin are in disarray, offering only obstruction and the same, tired policies from yesterday that have resulted in this historic low point for Democrats,” said Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the state Republican Party.
Brandon Weathersby of the state Democrats was dismissive of the website, saying it wouldn’t help Republicans find a candidate to oppose Baldwin, a Democrat up for re-election next year.
“This reeks of Wisconsin Republicans’ need to distract from their clown car of disastrous candidates to run for U.S. Senate,” Weathersby said via email. “After Rep. Sean Duffy proved to be too scared to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin, all the Republican Party is left with are three billionaires, two political opportunists, and one sore loser.”
Snappy quote, one that Democrats recently posted on Twitter, but who is Weathersby referring to?
The sore loser has to be Madison businessman Eric Hovde, who finished second in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in 2012. The two political opportunists? Might be state Sen. Leah Vukmir and state Rep. Dale Kooyenga, both of Brookfield. Or they could be U.S. Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson —a former Democrat— and Nicole Schneider, who has posted some leftleaning stuff on Twitter.
But there aren’t any billionaires planning to challenge Baldwin. Schneider and Hovde are certainly worth millions. And Nicholson has a political sugar daddy in Richard Uihlein, the founder of the Pleasant Prairie-based Uline company who has been listed as a billionaire in some publications.
It looks like the line about the “billionaire candidates” may have come from a recent column by conservative talker Mark Belling.
“Wisconsin Democrats are in such disarray, their own employees aren’t sure how to interpret their message as they scramble to prop up Senator Tammy Baldwin,” GOP spokesman Zimmerman said.