… who might not otherwise vote Republican!
(The Head Groundskeeper broke into two blogges what we posted Sunday because the original was too long. But we added some stuff so it’s still too long. We can do that, you know.)
Seeing Tommy Thompson is always a treat. Remember the governor asking us on our first day writing his speeches, “You know what I need more than anything?” Blaska answered something inane like “world peace.” No, Tommy corrected, “I need jokes.”
Tommy was the only speaker at last weekend’s WI Republican state convention who flat-out told a joke. Republicans CAN laugh! Tommy saw Intelligent Design in the coincidences that he is Tommy T. and the next governor is Tom T as in Tom Tiffany. That he’s from Elroy and Tiffany is from Elmwood. That he succeeded Tony the Taxer and so will Tiffany. That both live on County P., albeit different counties. Kismet!
Extolled the working people who have a little dirt under their fingernails. Tommy reached out to the pickup drivers, Harley riders, and short-order cooks long before Donald Trump. Tommy picked up on a convention theme — hellz bellz, it’s an unavoidable fact — when he shouted:
“The Democrat party is WHACK-O!” — Tommy Thompson
This from a legend whose most biting dig we can remember was when he called 1994 opponent Ed Garvey “a strange individual.”
“They didn’t return the [surplus] money so they could spend it on their [new] programs,” Tommy said of the current bunch. Recalled that the Democrats he encountered in his day were not crazy. Even put some of them in his cabinet. Closed with that old Irish blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you … May God hold you in the palm of His hand.” Corny, but so generous!
Fear and anger move the electoral needle but anyone else think we could use a little sunshine? Speaking of which, maybe the best delivered speech award goes to Scott Walker. Yeah, Scott Walker! Began by recounting the smiley face on the barn along Interstate 94 that Walker traversed on his way from Delafield to the Dells. We’ve all seen it. Says Wisconsin makes him smile.
“But when you promise free beer to assassinate the President, that’s just evil and we have to defeat evil.” — Gov. Scott Walker
Tommy shows he’s as fit as Jack Palance at the Academy award ceremony
‘We don’t win by shouting louder’
That was Washington County Exec Josh Schoemann’s message. He’s something of a Republican hero for backing out of his own campaign for governor to support Tiffany. He is the party’s future. Resembles Virginia’s Senator Mark Warner; always wears a baseball cap with well rounded brim but this time his black cap read “Tiffany.” Encouraged reaching out to the persuadable with a distinctly un-Trumpian message: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less.”
“We’re not going to reclaim Wisconsin by tearing down our opponents. Undecided voters are looking for an alternative to the socialist left. Don’t go to win an argument, go to make a friend.” — Josh Schoemann
Visits Democrat(ic) booths at county fairs.
So Republicans have a man of the North Woods and a Milwaukee ethnic. Chairman Schimming is serious about making inroads to the black and Hispanic communities.
“The win is out there,” chairman Schimming said. Not in the convention hall, but out on the streets and farms of Wisconsin.
We have a photograph of Tommy T in his first run for governor in 1986. Cupped my father’s weather-worn face and asked, “Jerome, what more do I have to do to get your vote?” Dad had been a four-term Democrat in the Assembly in the Nelson/Reynolds years. HIS father served as an Assembly Democrat, too.
“Not much more, Tommy,” Jerome Blaska answered.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Tommy Thompson is more than nostalgia. He’s like that old firehouse dog: when he hear’s the bell, he comes alive. Tommy is EN-ER-GIZED! Going to travel the state doing what no one does better — converting voters to the side of choice and freedom with good cheer and common sense. Scott Walker, in his role with Young America’s Freedom, will hit the college campuses with a morer intellectual approach. Will Martin will preach the gospel of opportunity in Milwaukee and Racine.
We think voters will also come to recognize an impression that this bloggeur came away with: Tom Tiffany is legitimately just a nice guy, husband and father of a daughter, small business person, lover of the outdoors — and less pretentious than a breadstick at the supper club salad bar.
That’s what wins elections — reaching out, inspiring the best in us, not purging for purity.
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