"Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" Not Just A Meatloaf Hit ... But It's So Gary Cooper!

Wisconsin's recall election results posits the same challenge President Obama made to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont: That us progressive "guys" keep looking at the glass as half-full. While we're at it with the dueling metaphors, we're still "Waiting For Godot."

On the positive side, Democrats poached TWO state senate seats in HISTORIC Republican districts. That's two less wingnuts to advance Governor Walker's RADICAL RIGHT AGENDA in a senate that now has a razor-thin Republican majority of one. And with one moderate senate Republican who has opposed Walker's destructive policies, Democrats are well positioned to put the brakes on Walker. The political system regained SOME of its balance — but not ALL. WALKER'S RECALL IS NEXT.

Considering the shady outside groups fronted by the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove's group, and astroturf Tea Party ZOMBIES poured some 40 million into the state, against which the Democrats, labor unions, progressives and citizens movements were not even close to being competitive in funding, taking two out of three senate seats was no small feat. BUT BY RIGHTS THE DEMOCRATS SHOULD HAVE RUN THE TABLE, AND WOULD HAVE, IF ONLY THEY HAD THE MILLIONS TO FUND THEIR CANDIDATES THAT RIGHT WING OLIGARCHS POURED INTO WISCONSIN TO DEFEND THEIR TURF AND ECONOMIC INTERESTS.

In the end, the battle between PEOPLE POWER on the citizens side and the CORPORATE OLIGARCHS' Citizens United campaign to BUY ELECTIONS AND DEFEAT THE PEOPLE can be called a DRAW, with a slight advantage, perhaps, redounding to the criminal oligarchs. Some progressives like Thom Hartmann have posited that Wisconsin was the laboratory for the post-Citizens United campaign for TOTAL corporate takeover of government by the Oligarchy, which already runs much of this country.

We may be like Gary Cooper in For Whom The Bell Tolls fighting the good fight against Franco's Fascists and his Fascist proxies, Hitler and Mussolini, who poured all of their sophisticated machinery of war into the Spanish Civil War on Generalissimo Franco's side to test tactics and strategy in advance of the world war, ultimately crushing the freedom fighters. Gary Cooper was cool and brave, but his character DIED and the gallant Lincoln Brigade was defeated. In short, we progressives LOST the first fight against transnational fascism. It would take a wider WORLD WAR, at the cost of millions of lives, to finally defeat fascism.

So if Wisconsin is like Spain in 1937, and the OLIGARCHS, the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Fox-Limbaugh-Beck et al, their political arm — the Republican/Tea Party— are the POLITICAL manifestation of pure, EVIL FASCISM, we progressives had better brace for a long, hard fight. So let us celebrate this PEOPLE POWER victory against overwhelming odds, understanding it's going to be a really REALLY tough fight unless we even the playing field and find a way to neutralize their bottomless money pit.

But when our FINAL VICTORY comes, AND IT WILL, history teaches us their collapse will be swift. The misery they inflicted on us will be OVER in a matter of days. Let's keep fighting the good fight. Just like Gary Cooper in For Whom The Bell Tolls. It tolls for thee.

HIGH NOON is up next!