March 23, 2018

An ear for Wisconsin Supreme Court politics.

Judicial elections are kind of ridiculous. What are candidates supposed to say other than: I'm dedicated to following the law or (a bit edgier) I share your values? If we show up to the polls at all, it's probably because we've figured out one is the conservative and one is the liberal and we've somehow arrived at the belief that conservative judges are better or liberal judges are better. It's a dreary business!

But the Wisconsin Supreme Court race just got way more amusing. David Blaska sets up the newly — comically — sharpened contrast:
At Pints and Politics on March 6, Supreme Court candidate Michael Screnock gave a nice talk and then strapped on his tuba and tooted On Wisconsin and the Bud Song with other UW-Madison marching band alumns.

When you play Wisconsin, that says it all. Contrast that bit of down home Badgering with Rebecca Dallet dancing for dollars in Nancy Pelosi’s high-toned Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco.

“Rebecca Dallet tells San Francisco she wishes Wisconsin shared their values.” (Story here) (Audio here.)

This is what is known as an unforced error. Michael Screnock thanks you very much.
I've listened to the Dallet-in-San-Francisco audio, and she portrays herself as needing to catch up with all the conservative money that's come in to support her opponent. The non-Wisconsin money people helping Screnock are what's propelled her from her Midwest home.

And she does try to portray herself as embodying Wisconsin values. If you look at her quotes, she's saying things like "I know that your values are our Wisconsin values that we’ve lost along the way" and "So we made a choice to move to Wisconsin because it had the progressive values, a lot of things you have here in your city still which we kind of lost." That is, the real Wisconsin values are progressive values. She's not out to import San Francisco values, but to restore true Wisconsin values, and people with San Francisco values should want to help her, because these are the same values. But that's just me calmly explaining a fine point of rhetoric.

Visual persuasion dominates, as Scott Adams loves to tell us. From his book, "Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter":
Our visual sense changes what we are hearing in real time, even when we know the illusion.... Humans are visual creatures. We believe our eyes before we believe whatever faulty opinions are coming from our other senses. So if you want to persuade, use visual language and visual imagery. The difference in effectiveness is enormous....
Much more in that book about how Trump used visual persuasion. I just want to express awe at the the side-by-side visuals that now crowd out the niceties of rhetoric in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. On the left, we see Rebecca Dallet out there in San Francisco, and on the right, we see Michael Screnock with a big old tuba strapped over his big belly.  What does it matter what anybody says?

35 comments:

Birkel said...

Wisconsin values are the same as San Francisco values? I did not know Wisconsin approved public, open air restrooms to be used by the homeless.

Or real estate that only the very rich can afford while pretending to be "for the people" while voting against any new building.

The things you lean from progressives!

Comanche Voter said...

A big beer belly and a tuba! On Wisconsin!

Bob Boyd said...

"strapped on his tuba and tooted On Wisconsin and the Bud Song with other UW-Madison marching band alumns."

Kinda cheesy.

robother said...

Sometimes a tuba is just a tuba.

traditionalguy said...

The Feds never should have let the Northwest Territory be split up into self governing states.Or at least the Feds should have kept ownership of 80% of the land like they did in Alaska and Nevada.Then the race would be for BLM Bureaucrat in charge.

Fernandinande said...

Wisconsin farmland values and GIS map
Avg AcreValue $6,356/ac
Avg NCCPI 40
Counties 72
Fields 1,516,062

Heartless Aztec said...

Wisconsin values are pretty wide ranging. I've spent time there and Green Bay values are different from Milwaukee values are different from Ashland values. Madison values are typical University town values.

Phil 314 said...

I like the ad.

He looks like he's from Wisconsin. Is itracist to say that?

stlcdr said...

Someone is selling you something: they will say anything to appeal to you, as an individual. Once you buy it, trying to claim on the warrant is very hard. And they know it.

Sebastian said...

"I'm dedicated to following the law or (a bit edgier) I share your values?"

Of course, progs need to lie about these things, at least for the time being, if they are going to be viable in purplish states that still have moderate retirees who show up to vote, but Dallet at least came close to the better version: "I'm a liberal Democrat who wants to use the law to pursue progressive values."

Temujin said...

I'm going to assume that by 'San Francisco values' she's referring to the amount of piss and human feces in the streets of that once glorious city. I'm assuming that because this is such an unforced error its as if she saw a steaming pile on the sidewalk and decided, 'hey...this looks interesting. I think I'll go step in it.'

Not sure either approach is good, but this one seems utterly tone deaf. I'd say that she's showing a lack of judgement at best. On the other hand, a tuba. Go Badgers.

Hagar said...

Try to remember what they said before they decided to run for the office.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

"It's a dreary business!"

I find it more disheartening than dreary.

Dreary definition:
dull, bleak, and lifeless; depressing.
synonyms: dull, drab, uninteresting, flat, tedious, wearisome, boring, unexciting, unstimulating, uninspiring, soul-destroying...

Something can be dull and drab but still be worthwhile to endure because the reward is worthwhile: i.e., get up at 4 am and head off to work, attach widgets for eight hours, etc etc.

dis·heart·en: cause (someone) to lose determination or confidence.
"the farmer was disheartened by the damage to his crops"
synonyms: discourage, dispirit, demoralize, cast down, depress, disappoint, dismay, dash someone's hopes...

The elements of justice, pre-determined and packaged and ready for your vote.

Discouraging, dispiriting, demoralizing, depressing, etc etc.

No doubt it has always been this way.

But as government and social media get bigger and bigger the intrusion of pre-packaged justice becomes more and more a part of our lives.

The government is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. The government will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

I see what I did there.

The Germans have a word for this.



320Busdriver said...

Ole Russturd tried plying his trade on the golden penninsula too.

How'd that work out for him?

tcrosse said...

The Germans have a word for this.

Fall down the mineshaft of the Volksgemeinschaft.

Ann Althouse said...

Remember how Bill Clinton got elected by playing the saxophone.

Mike Sylwester said...

What does Rebecca Dallet think about the John Doe investigation?

Titus said...

The conservative candidate has Wisconsin face.

Gahrie said...

Dallet is correct that both Wisconsin and San Francisco have historically been hotbeds of Progressive thought and the Progressive movement.

James Pawlak said...


Those elections represent the will of The People: By the constitutional provisions as set them; And, in each election, the justice places on the bench by our fellow citizens.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

What does Rebecca Dallet think about the John Doe investigation?

She's all for it. Thinks it didn't go far enough.

Caligula said...

"to restore true Wisconsin values" Yes, but, the high-water mark of Wisconsin Progressivism in Wisconsin was some time ago, wasn't it?

Although conjuring a now-past Golden Age might be just what it takes to motivate her political base, the rest of us will see this as a huge flag that just screams her intent to use the judiciary to usurp powers that constitutionally belong to the people of Wisconsin and their elected representatives.

Ralph L said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

That's a fun article. I wish Massachusetts politics were this fun.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

"Remember how Bill Clinton got elected by playing the saxophone."

Most politicians and judges get elected by dancing to the tune of the organ grinder.

From Wiki:

"In New York, where monkeys were commonly used by organ grinders, mayor Fiorello La Guardia banned the instruments from the streets in 1935, citing traffic congestion, the "begging" inherent in the profession, and organized crime's role in renting out the machines.[5][6] An unfortunate consequence was the destruction of hundreds of organs, the barrels of which contained a record of the popular music of the day. Before the invention of the cylinder record player, this was the only permanent recording of these tunes. The law that banned barrel organs in New York was repealed in 1975 but that mode of musical performance had become obsolete by then."

The Germans had a word for this.

Chuck said...

Paraphrasing Mr. Churchill; Popular elections are the worst way to select judges... Except for all the others.

Birches said...

That ad on Blaska's website is A+. Haha

How could you not vote for the guy playing the tuba?

Birches said...

Their rendition on On Wisconsin was really good. Way better than I expected.

rhhardin said...

As I recall, the tuba has the same length as the french horn. Just the mouthpiece size is different.

The tuba plays the fundamental note for the length, the trombone on harmonics, and the french horn on even higher harmonics.

JML said...

He is just tooting his own horn.

Tommy Duncan said...

Michael Screnock's tuba ad is delightful. Best of all, he looks like a cheese head.

Richard Dolan said...

"But that's just me calmly explaining a fine point of rhetoric."

LOL. That's the vortex having some fun, in a high-heels vs. tuba way. So many different ways to explain what she intended to communicate by what she chose to say.

Meade said...

Titus said...
"The conservative candidate has Wisconsin face."

Wiscophobia.

Martin said...

Proper response: "At least Wisconsin has SOME values."

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I want to vote for the tuba guy, and not just because I have half a dozen embarrassingly gaudy BAND MOM!! t-shirts.