Ever since I joined the fabulous crew at Crooks & Liars and started sharing the inanity, insanity evilness and downright stupidity of Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans, there has been a common theme from many commenters, questioning how the hell they got elected much less reelected.
Now, I could point out that Wisconsin is hardly the only state with a large amount of idiots or corporate sockpuppets. There is also Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Texas, just to name a few.
Or I could go on about iffy voting machines, the flood of dark money into the state, the incompetence of the Democratic Party leadership at the time or a number of other reasons, all of which would be true.
But I think these two stories go a long way to helping explaining it too.
Over the weekend, despite an unusually mild winter with many days above freezing, people attending Winterfest in Lake Geneva, WI, thought it would be a good idea to park on the ice above the lake. I think the gentle reader can see what came next. Yup, about a dozen vehicles went through the ice:
About 15 cars fell into the waters of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin Saturday afternoon after a barely-frozen lake was used as a parking lot.
Temperatures were just above freezing in Lake Geneva Saturday, but Wisconsin has seen a fairly mild winter.
More than a dozen cars were parked on the lake as patrons went to view an ice sculpture competition nearby. The first cars started sinking around 2 p.m.
Natural Resources officials say many lakes in southern Wisconsin have poor ice conditions.
Laurie Oberhelman was one of the drivers who parked on the ice. Saturday evening, she watched as crews pulled her SUV to shore.
"As we came down, we saw that people were parked on the ice so we said, 'Heck yeah, let's park on the ice!'" said Oberhelman.
She came to regret the decision when she noticed her car in the water.
"I think it's stupid to park on ice now," she said.
Umm, yeah. When it's been as warm as it has been, I wouldn't want to walk on the ice much less park several tons of metal on it.
But there's more. In Wisconsin, there's always more.
I will present this copy of an unidentified newspaper's police report without further comment:
