While the 6.7% unemployment and 533,000 people who lost their jobs last month along is bad enough news, the numbers for previous months were also revised downward today. October shed 320,000, more than the 240,000 originally reported and September numbers revised downwards to 403,000 job losses from 159,000.

And just this morning, I heard one of the RWTR (right wing talk radio) hosts saying how the 6.7% unemployment rate “really wasn’t that bad”… What??! These are the same people though who continually have tried to make things seem like they’re really better than they are, a few months ago it was “well 5.4% isn’t really that bad”.

Why people from any particular side of the political fence would try to explain away the very serious issues we’re facing as something that’s “not that bad” or just something that’s going to blow over if we all just WENT TO THE MALL(!) is beyond me, but I can take a guess…

Maybe, just maybe, we’re finally seeing how eight years of a Republican administration, six of which they ran the entire Federal Government, and the conservative policies that benefited everyone but the middle class play out in the long term.

Loose regulation, privatization, productivity increases but no equal wage increases, a boondoggle of a war and a tax policy that benefits the rich and big business have all contributed.

Even here in Milwaukee County, you have a conservative County Executive who is only adding to the number of jobs lost this year. How many people have lost their jobs in Milwaukee County alone this year as a result of Scott Walker’s insistence on privatization? Policies have consequences folks.

In 2008 2,000,000 people have lost their jobs. While some conservatives in the media are doing their best to blame everyone but themselves, their leaders and most importantly their ideology, those 2,000,000 people deserve answers.

It really must stink for the County Executive to have his grand plans for privatization questioned by the local media at such a critical time in his campaign for Governor.

Sometimes privatization just isn’t the answer to every problem Government faces.

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I missed this column in the Freeman from right-wing radio talk show host Mark Belling about the impending Scott Walker Gubernatorial Campaign.

I’ve been hearing the same thing that Belling writes about with regard the Walker ramping up his campaign within the next 45 days. Not only is he trying to be the only one from the GOP side in the limelight in terms of fund raising and media attention – and yes, there will be attention for him – he’s obviously trying to bluff any other potential contenders into keeping their powder dry.

The one thing in Belling’s article that I will naturally disagree with are the chances Walker has at knocking off a two time incumbent Governor like Jim Doyle.

Heck, in the 2006 election, he wouldn’t have even gotten his own Party’s nomination, so assuming he makes it through that process to begin with, how does he think he’s going to fare any better against a Governor Doyle who handily beat the GOP candidate Scott Walker couldn’t even beat himself?

While conservatives here in Milwaukee like to hold up Walker as some sort of prototypical Republican candidate who is wildly popular in the rest of the State, I have my doubts about the degree to which that is true.

First off, “Republican” Scott Walker in Democratic Milwaukee County doesn’t run as a Republican. The County Executive position is non-partisan, so he’s never had to run for that position with an (R) next to his name. If he did, he would lose handily. So while it’s true that Walker is a Republican in a Democratic County, that in itself isn’t that amazing.

Secondly, while the “hold the line on taxes” spiel gets conservatives here all hot and bothered, the scorched earth that such a policy leaves behind is hard to ignore. There’s more to governance than putting your fingers in your earns and screaming, “no no no no no no no!!”. Scott Walker has been County Executive in Milwaukee County for six years now. The fact is that we’re worse off than when he took office in nearly every regard. His argument of, “Just look at what I did for Milwaukee County!” might resonate with the entire population of Wisconsin in a positive way if things here were going well. They’re not, and that will reflect poorly on him despite his almost guaranteed excuse that it’s not his fault. Again, good leaders take credit for the good and the bad.

Finally, his record. I touched a bit on this above, but seriously, what has he done for Milwaukee County other than say, “NO!” for six years?

The one positive I would like to see out of this, but doubtfully will, would be Scott Walker leaving his position as Milwaukee County Exec. to campaign full time. However, he’s been campaigning for the last three years anyways while totally ignoring the problems Milwaukee County faces, so maybe having him out of the office more often will actually clear the road for some progress around here.