John Nichols

Class warfareJohn Nichols, journalist with The Capital Times and The Nation magazine, said something in a column the other day that gets far too little attention:

National conservative groups and their Republican allies announced early on that they would go after the Democratic senators who had left the state to try to block Walker’s plan.

Unions and their Democratic allies then moved to recall Republican senators who had sided with Walker.

That's right. Despite comments by Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and edtorial writers that use of Wisconsin Constitution-based recalls ought to be scaled back, and despite historical revisionism about this year's recalls being an entirely Democratic Party confection, it was the Republicans and their allies who kick-started the Wisconsin recall elections.

As sure as the sun rises in the East, it was predictable that John Nichols, after last week's electoral carnage, would posit that if only his friend Barbara Lawton had been the Democratic candidate for governor, she and Russ Feingold both would have won.

I am not making this up. If you must, you can read it yourself.

Nichols blames the party bosses for her getting out of the race, but she's never said what caused her sudden and surprising decision. If there was ever a year to challenge the "bosses," whoever they are, this would have been it.

Maybe that's why people with Wisconsin connections keep writing about him.

The latest is Steven Hayes, a Wauwatosa native who writes for The Weekly Standard, one of the right wing's favorite rags. He's written a new Cheney bio, with a lot of access to Cheney's inner circle and the man himself. Craig Gilbert writes about it in the Journal Sentinel.

Cheney was pretty sure he'd like Hayes's book better than the one written by another Wisconsinite, John Nichols of the Capital Times and The Nation.

Nichols's book, as unauthorized as they come, is entitled, "Dick: The Man Who Is President."