Have You Ever Seen a Five Legged Dog?

“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling the tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.” This question, asked and answered by our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, has everything to do about plain talk. An honest, self-educated man, he was not given to lying, and was said to despise false or misleading statements.

So I wonder what “Honest Abe” would think about the recent comments by our state representative, Republican Robin Vos.

In a recent article by Denise Lockwood in the Caledonia Patch, followed by an appearance on Chris Mathews “Hardball” on MSNBC (Friday, February 18^th) Republican Vos made statements that possibly reveal him to be more of a lock-step, right-wing ideologue than a prudent, pragmatic, and tell the whole plain story kind of representative.

From the Lockwood article; “With Senate Democrats, who were expected to vote on the bill Thursday, still missing, Vos said the Democrats are “just upset that their guy lost.”  Yeah, that’s right. Ramming right-wing legislation down their throats has nothing to do with it. Being part of a Republican rubber-stamp Legislature has nothing to do with it. (Funny, I thought the Legislature was a deliberative body that is supposed to thoroughly vet legislation.)

Vos states that the Democrats are MIA and not representing the people of Wisconsin. If this is what he truly believes, it smacks of simplistic surface thinking. Isn’t it possible that a great deal of Wisconsin constituents agree with his Democratic brethren? Maybe he hasn’t seen them. Oh wait, he would have had to see them; he was standing outside in the middle of them when he was on MSNBC.

He said; “in the election, the people of Wisconsin have spoke loud and clear.” He repeated it several times. The tactic of repeating something over and over again doesn’t make it completely true. But if this is what he believes, then what about the 48% of the people of this state that didn’t vote Republican, what about them? Is it possible our Representative doesn’t care what nearly half of the voters of Wisconsin think or believe?

It is said that truth fears no questions, so maybe Representative Vos can answer these in a tell the whole plain story kind of way.

If the Budget Repair Bill is just about fixing the budget, then why strip away unions bargaining rights? Vos’ Republicans got elected promising jobs. Can he please explain to us Caledonians how this Bill is going to create jobs?

 Vos stated “When I was frustrated, I came and I argued, and often times I came, argued and lost. What I realized was that I had to work harder in the fall.” So, is this is about payback?

Vos said: “Anyone who says this is about collective bargaining rights and not the budget – that’s a bold face lie.” IF this is true, and the legislation is only about the budget, take out the piece stripping the unions right to collectively bargain. Mr. Vos, prove your point.

Or maybe you’ve seen that five legged dog.