Repubs continue to roast, eat their own

You gotta love it. Wisconsin Republicans, in a time of political prosperity for their party, can't stop bashing one another.

When you read this piece trashing State Sen. Robert Cowles, bear in mind that it appears on the website of the Coalition for America's Families, the wingnut group that ran the anti-Doyle ads bashing gays and immigrants. And ask yourself (a) what could provoke this kind of personal attack, and (b) whether a recall or primary challenge could be in the works.

Cowles' sin was to vote against the budget that came out of Joint Finance and offer some criticism. In terms of Capitol rhetoric, it was in the moderate range.

"They got quite a game going on,"Cowles said of his committee colleagues, referring to the major spending motions rushed through during the last budget meeting that ended shortly before 7 a.m. on June 10. "We needed to stop and not be acting in the middle of the night, get all the data and make decisions."

"I was under enormous pressure," Cowles told WisPolitics, saying it was possibly the most partisan pressure he's ever felt. He said he was being urged by majority Republican members to "just go along with it." But Cowles was having none of it, and joined the committee's four Democratic members in opposition. "I wasn't just going to suck this in,"he said. "If I voted yes, that would have been the end of it. The budget would have had no substantial discussion in our caucus," he said. "This way, the fiscal conservatives will have another opportunity."

So Cowles finds himself under fire for being TOO fiscally conservative, from the same group attacking Doyle for being too liberal. No pleasing some people.

In a lighter vein, GOP Chair Rick Graber also gets a going-over in this amusing post on BuckyReport.com. Graber should be able to beat this governor, Bucky says, since he beat the last one, Republican Scott McCallum.