and we see the governor trying to balance the budget, his state budget on the backs of every single person who takes advantage of our wonderful public education system, whether k-12, technical schools or the university system, it is a mistake. he is going after not only collective bargaining but things we value. he s going after our kids education. if anything, it really strength ens our resolve. i have two kids at middleton high school. they have wonderful opportunities, i wish they would take advantage of them, but have wonderful opportunities because of the staff there. he is going after their education, going after the future of wisconsin, and it is just not the right thing to do on either side of the aisle. this is a really touchy subject. wisconsin state senator, democrat jon erpenbach, thank you for your time. nice to see you. thanks, rachel. hostile corporate takeover of the state of wisconsin. it is a rare moment in politics and in life when someone can use the phrase
effort to re-invent itself post bush and post mccain, who will be the leader, who will be the face of the party. what will the republican stand for, what will they prioritize when they wield power. before they forge answers to those big questions, they have meanwhile been winning lots of elections, and that has brought to the floor some tensions, some central debates in the republican party. they are working it out amongst themselves while they are in power. it is undercover, i think it is fascinating. at the national level, republican parties decided a national message that they re all about jobs. then voted for a budget plan, estimated by a bunch of credible economic analyses to cost the country thousands of jobs. at the federal level, there s a beltway myth they decided not to work on social conservative issues, what are sometimes called culture war issues. but the members keep promoting
president against barack obama yet. newt gingrich is forming an exploratory committee. that said, he has been thinking of running for president the last decade or so, as far as i can tell as a means to make money. also herman cain who one a tea party straw poll, maybe it will be gingrich versus herman. today, 28 months after barack obama beat john mccain in the last presidential election, the most interesting story in american politics is still the republican party. still, the republican party s effort to re-invent itself post bush and post mccain, who will be the leader, who will be the face of the party. what will the republican stand for, what will they prioritize when they wield power. before they forge answers to
what it does is lays out a blueprint that attacks pretty much everything wisconsin is. it goes after the public services that our dedicated employees provide to wisconsinites. goes towards the education system we invested in for years and something we have been proud of. attacks the uw system and school system. if anything, it lays out what governor walker plans on doing. something we ve been saying all along, and that is to systematically dismantle public service in the state of wisconsin and bring contractors in to do the job that needs to be done. senator erpenbach, the republican senate leader says he met with some of your fellow senate democrats. does this mean that some democrats are thinking about caving here, about going back and letting republicans have their quorum to strip the unions and do the other things? no, no, it doesn t. hopefully they had a conversation about which republicans might be backing off their positions and actually supporting us in attempts to get
and the rest of the country trying to convince you that this is not a pipe. this is not at all about trying to strip unions. this is about something else. with apologies to mr. mcgreet, that is actually a pipe. and what is happening in wisconsin is very much about the unions. republicans and scott walker denying that is clever. it is maybe even post modern. but it is not true, and it is not working. a judge in wisconsin today decided to issue a restraining order to force governor walker to let the protesters back into the state capitol building so they can continue their protests for a 16th straight day. state senator jon erpenbach joins us, one of wisconsin s 14 state senators that remain outside of wisconsin to deny republicans the quorum they need to pass governor walker s union stripping bill. senator erpenbach, thank you for joining us again. hi, rachel. does governor walker s big budget speech today change anything in terms of your strategy, in terms of how this is likely to