Jay Weber Show transcript 7-28-22 8:30am
Well-was I right?
My source in the 7am hour yesterday (Wednesday) was correct: Alex Lasry was going to drop out of the senate race, handing it over to Mandela Barnes nearly two weeks before the actual primary date.
And yes, the voting will occur, and Sarah Godlewski will keep campaigning, I assume, but for all intents and purposes-that senate primary is over: Lasry was running a strong second, and yet, he dropped out-clearing the way for Mandela Barnes.
And Lasry’s reasoning is simple: after tom nelson, the fourth-place candidate dropped out and tossed his supporters to Barnes, even that smaller, additional percentage of voters made it clear to Lasry’s team that he wasn’t going to close the gap in the waning weeks.
And yes- he could have chosen to go negative, but it probably would have backfired on him, because the move was so transparent....and oh...by the way...it would have been a rich white guy who-defines- privilege and entitlement- beating up on a middle-class black guy who loves to use the race card when he can.
How do you think that would have gone over with democrat voters in Madison and Milwaukee-who are hyper-focused on wokism, privilege, identity politics, and race ...? these days?
Instead-he pulled a ‘Kevin Nicholson’, and it was the far smarter move: if Alex Lasry wants to be a liberal in ‘good standing’ here in Wisconsin, and have some reserve of ‘good will’ with Wisconsin’s voters, he needs to play nice. He cannot be some rich, white, carpetbagger candidate who sweeps into Wisconsin and tries to take over one of the top elected positions in the party, can he?
Instead-
He’s smarter to back out. Keep a reserve of good will. Endorse Mandela. And live to campaign another day. Even if Lasry wasted 12-million dollars of his own money on this venture.
I suppose that-if he ever wants to see some return on it- he’s got to at least ‘bank’ the reserve of good will and positive name recognition that it bought him.
I still don’t know if that’ll make him, or his wife sleep better at night. They blew 12-million dollars on this.
Mandela Barnes is on record as supporting all those foolish ‘woke socialist’ policies. He was cheering AOC and Rashida Talib when they were saying ‘abolish ice’ and ‘defund the police’.
Mandela Barnes-does- support ‘no cash bail’, which is the so-called ‘reform’ that has led to the revolving door policies at the das offices and in the courts-that dump hardened criminals back out onto the street within hours.
Barnes has started to deny he ever supported ‘defund the police’ but I believe he still admits he’s a fan of ‘no cash bail’.
Barnes-has been-changing all his long-time positions on this stuff, in an attempt to trick Wisconsin democrats into believing he’s a moderate.
I guess I should say ‘out-state’ democrats, because the leftists who dominate Madison and Milwaukee now also love and support those positions, and will vote for him, either way.
Do you think that the average Wisconsin voter- white or black-looks at Mandela Barnes and thinks, this guy has lived my experience? This guy gets me. Not a chance.
He’s spent his entire political career talking about himself, focusing on himself, trying to boost himself, as taxpayers pay for his BadgerCare and the abuse of the state’s motor pool, which he uses as his own private taxi service.
This is a guy who ran for Lt. Governor, a position that has nearly zero duties, and unlike Rebecca Kleefisch, who asked to be included in the Walker administration, and given useful tasks, so she could learn and grow and draw new businesses into Wisconsin...etc.
Mandela Barnes, instead, decided to redefine a ‘do nothing position’ the other way-and literally- aside from an early, bogus, task force on climate change- has done nothing as Lt governor. Instead, he has spent nearly the entire time setting up his senate campaign-and then campaigning on state taxpayer time.
Does that sound like someone who ‘shares’ your experience?
photo credit: Fox 6 News Milwaukee