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Jesse Jackson comes to Wisconsin...

... and keeps the crowd waiting for a long, cold time, then delivers a generic speech including all sorts of inappropriate stuff about not giving in to violence ? hello! Wisconsin teachers are utterly nonviolent ? and how the government needs to create good jobs ? which of course, the people protesting are privileged to have already.



Really, why is this celebrity from another state grandstanding here? This is truly not about him. Yet he made today, in a state that is not his state, revolve around him. It was quite selfish, especially when you contemplate the Wisconsin citizens the protesters are trying to influence. Why would Jesse Jackson's generically left-wing speech sway the people of Wisconsin to throw their support to the employees who have well-paid jobs with excellent benefits that they don't want to lose? If I had to pull a coherent thought out of Jackson's appearance, it would be self-interest. Jackson is a political speaker who plugged in to an event that he thought would boost his influence as a famous politico, and the state employees were demonstrating to preserve their power as especially fortunate participants in a struggling economy.

Full post as published by Althouse on February 18, 2011 (boomark / email).