Top Stories Milwaukee

I’m not going to be too hard on Joanne Kloppenburg for requesting a recount. It’s hard to give up something that you have wanted badly, worked hard for and came so close to having – even thinking, albeit rashly and incorrectly, that you had, in fact obtained.

Letting go required facing a very unpleasant reality. It appears she was not up to that. The result will be an expensive tilt at a windmill for the taxpayers (and her donors) and her choice suggests that she may not have the judgment required for the Court. Her references to “suspect” results and the need to restore public integrity were disappointing and her suggestion that there was some need for hand recounts that GAB would request was bizarre. But, then again, we’re all human.

I’m not upset about it. It’s a colossal waste of money but, in the grand scheme of things, just one more example of that. In fact, recounting Waukesha is probably worth it to shut up the tin foil crowd and the irresponsible politicos among us.

I have less sympathy for those who put her up to it because this is, ultimately, a political act. Democrats are concerned that they will be unable to sustain the anger through the recalls. They believe – probably incorrectly – that this is a way to do it going. Keep the Supreme Court election that proved so useful going and maybe kick up some dust over nothing at all. I have yet to talk to anyone who knows much about these things who thinks that a recount is remotely likely to change the outcome. The reason to ask for one is to not to alter or even confirm the result, but to sustain momentum.

I’m not sure that it works. If it turns out to be the nothing burger than I suspect it will be, it just underscores what is already a bitter defeat. It soaks up money that could presumably have been directed to recalls. It will put the lie – finally – to the Nickolaus conspiracy theories.

On the other hand, I am not a political operative and I assume that some fairly sharp ones on the other side decided that this was worth doing.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.