Milwaukee Post
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/996995
8 • Milwaukee County Post • June 22, 2018 Leah Vukmir's ad may be only 30 seconds long but she sure got everything in the air. Crazed leftist threats, pro-Scott Walker, pro- Act 10, ANTI-UNION, ANTI-Planned Parenthood, wearing a cross and, in the edgiest touch seen in many a Republican political ad, the gun. THE GUN. Let the discombobulation begin. This ad was designed to do a lot of things and one of them is to drive liberals nuts. On that point at least, the ad hits a home run. Vukmir torched every liberal sacred cow. She brought up Act 10, which liberals hate. She brought up Walker, who liberals hate. She referenced their general ugliness by using the threats, challenging their self-image of coexisting and reason. She bashed the dying unions, who liberals still cling to. She ripped Planned Parenthood, the new liberal religion. She wore a cross — A CROSS! — an image they have tried to banish from socie- ty. And she had the one thing that drives most liberals straight to the moon: the gun. The ad was clearly designed to get a reac- tion from two crowds. I'll deal with Republican voters in a moment. But the other reaction is the one we are getting. Vukmir and her handlers clearly wanted to get the state media and the left (one and the same) unhinged. Their hysteric reaction to the ad guarantees it gets maximum atten- tion. And, by having them go bonkers with hate, Vukmir positions herself as the candi- date the liberals really despise. That reaction is precisely part of the Vukmir plan to get reaction from the other target audience of the ad, GOP voters. There is no better way of buying credibility with Republicans right now than earning the enmity of the left. Conservatives are fed up with DeNiro going on the Tony Awards and yelling "F*** Trump." They are disgust- ed than Samantha Bee gets to call Ivanka Trump a "c***." They are appalled at the rude and obnoxious behavior of Jim Acosta and the White House press corps every time Sarah Sanders gives a briefing. They are appalled that the once proud FBI has been exposed as a bunch of political goons trying to manipulate an election. They realize the nonstop Mueller investigation is nothing more than a witch hunt. The overreaction to the Vukmir ad will fit right in. The second thing the ad attempts to do with Republican voters in the August pri- mary for the U.S. Senate seat is make it clear what kind of Republican Vukmir is. She screams out in this ad, without ever saying it, that she is not Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Lindsay Graham or any of the other Washington Republican wimps who won't back president Trump and won't fight liber- als. In this way, she makes it clear she isn't Paul Ryan, either. The vast majority of Republican voters are tired of GOP appeasers who get elected and refuse to fight. Vukmir makes it pretty clear that isn't her. The third aim of the ad is to take owner- ship of her own résumé. GOP opponent Kevin Nicholson has tried to portray Vukmir as a political lifer and an "insider." Vukmir can't run away from that. She's been in the Legislature for years. The ad's aim is to portray Vukmir as one of those Republicans who doesn't sell out and does- n't become part of a do-nothing establish- ment. The ad has the added benefit of being true. Vukmir is about the toughest member of the Legislature. She has been savaged not only by liberals but many in her own party for her hardball tactics inside both the Assembly and Senate Republican caucuses in Madison. The reason Vukmir has the sup- port of most activist conservatives in south- east Wisconsin is because she has proven she has our backs and will not cave when the pressure intensifies. The cross and the gun are shots across the bow. God has been purged from society by the liberals who control the media, the pop- ular culture and the schools. A top official of Twitter recently had to apologize for saying he ate at Chick-fil-A, which is known for its Christian values. Wearing the cross is a powerful statement. It reminds me of the brilliant ad Rebecca Kleefisch ran in 2010 when seeking the GOP nomination for lieu- tenant governor. "I am not ashamed," she stated in the ad. Republican voters, like me, loved it. And, finally, the gun. The gun may be the only thing liberals hate more right now than Donald Trump. Their answer to every ques- tion about crime is to blame guns. Yet, we live in a nation where tens of millions of people own guns and use them responsibly. These folks consider gun ownership to be the entire point of living in a country that guarantees liberty. Vukmir's placing of a handgun on the table in her ad is the least subtle political statement in this state in years. It is an in-your-face statement literal- ly screaming about what side of this debate Vukmir is on. So how will it play? Is the ad over the top? Well, it is certainly jarring. The Charlie Sykes/Christian Schneider/Bradley Foundation/John Torinus/Nervous Nellie/Madison wing of the party isn't going to like it. No doubt some Republicans will be pressured to repudiate the ad. But that's probably part of the point as well. Vukmir knew the ad would create a firestorm. There's no way she's going to back down. It would defeat the purpose of doing it in the first place. The more Vukmir gets ripped for the ad, and the more she stands by it in the process, the more the ad achieves the goal she is looking for. Kevin Nicholson is probably still leading the Republican Senate primary, what with all the ads being bought on his behalf by Richard Uihlein. Vukmir needed to do some- thing to get attention. The ad also puts Nicholson on the hot seat. If he criticizes the ad, he puts himself in the very crowd that Republican voters detest. A bigger issue is how all of this will play with the people who vote in the general elec- tion in November. The ad may be effective in targeting Republican voters but could turn off some of the swing voters who decide elections. My guess is that Vukmir figures she'll cross that bridge when she gets to it. She has to beat Nicholson first. Whether this ad helps her do it remains to be seen. But everybody in Wisconsin now knows exactly what Leah Vukmir stands for. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). Vukmir's 'gun' ad makes clear what side she's on OPINION Last week's question What are your thoughts on the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un? Or, what do you like or would like to change about Summerfest, which turns 51? (Choose one.) The recent North Korean summit was ludicrous! It started out to be hopeful. The end result was nothing more than a photo-op with President Trump brag- ging about what he just did in only 24 hours. Let's not forget Trump taunted and agitated Kim Jong-Un, bringing the nuclear threat to the forefront. He should have let sleeping dogs lie. This was all about him and not world peace. He gave too much to North Korea with no verifiable results. I don't sleep better as he suggests knowing that the North Korean snake will raise his ugly head and strike with- out warning. This is what you get with an inexperienced, incompetent, arro- gant leader, who doesn't even listen to his own advisers. I think Trump got played. — Louise Bozek West Allis *** Yeah, this North Korean leader is like Adolf Hitler and President Trump is no better than Fidel Castro. There's going to be a war, no doubt about it. — Tommy Sukkert South Milwaukee *** Our president seems to have a strange ability to make enemies of our allies and friends of our foes. — Sandy Sue Szanderek Bay View *** This week's question What do you think of comedi- an Samantha Bee calling Ivanka Trump "a feckless c---" and then comedian Kathy Griffin, who last year held a mock severed head of the president, saying in a message directed at First Lady Melania Trump: "F--- you, Melanie.You know damn well your husband can end this immediately ... you feck- less complicit piece of s---" in comments directed at the president's immigration policy and separation of children from their parents at the nation's southern border? Or, what does the Fourth of July mean to you? (Choose one.) Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Call 744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@ conleynet.com. Question of the week Liberal meltdown was part of the plan MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE