Welcome to Cairo, Wisconsin!
Click here to view this media The video is actually a compilation of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) making the analogy of the recent unrest in Egypt with what is going on in Wisconsin. The links and quotes are from Heather’s earlier post on Ryan. Via TPM : Speaking on Morning Joe Thursday morning, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) compared the current situation in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker (R) has inspired days of protests by proposing a budget that would remove key bargaining powers for public employee unions, to the recent unrest in Egypt that toppled the 30-year authoritarian rule of Hosni Mubarak, saying it’s ” like Cairo has moved to Madison these days .” ..and another from NBC evening news where a protester in Madison makes the same comparison, albeit from the protesters point of view. Ryan seems to be equating Republicans austerity measures with the oppression of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. And pointed out by many, including Andrew Leonard at Salon.com : On Thursday morning Ryan topped that headscratcher with a real doozy: He compared the protests currently raging in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker’s plans to crush public sector unions to the upheaval that brought down President Mubarak in Egypt. But when a Republican legislator voluntarily places his own party in the position of Mubarak, you have to wonder what’s in the tea these people are drinking. Yes, yes, I know conservatives are worried that democracy in Egypt could lead to the Muslim Brotherhood taking power. But to the vast majority of people on this planet who paid attention to what happened in Egypt, the protesters were the good guys and Mubarak was the bad guy. The sight of people gathering peacefully in Tahrir Square was incredibly inspiring. Ryan sees riots and Cairo-style destabilization in the masses who have risen up in Wisconsin. But that’s not what Democrats and union members and Americans who don’t share the Tea Party ethos are seeing. They’re seeing the dramatic, exciting beginning of a pushback against Republican over-reach. If Paul Ryan thinks it looks like Cairo, well then, maybe he’s right. Harold Meyerson at the Washington Post quipped that Walker was the ” cheesehead pharaoh of Wisconsin .” Protesters have seized on the idea as well. enlarge enlarge enlarge
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on February 18, 2011. Filed under