Thugs (Updated)

That's the only word that fits. Take a look at this post from Josh Marshall about the newest tactic of the Wisconsin state Republican Party.

Bill Cronon -- or William Cronon, as I think of him -- is a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin. A few days ago he wrote an oped in the Times critical of Gov. Walker and his push to abolish collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin. About a week before that, he wrote a blog post -- the first in a new blog called Scholar as Citizen -- examining just who's behind this big anti-union push. He focused on a group called ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council).

Now, so far, nothing particularly controversial about any of this. But then it took a dark turn. Or perhaps better to say, then the story got into gear with everything else we've seen out of the Walker administration over the last three months.

Less than two days after Cronon published the blog post, the Wisconsin Republican Party filed a state open records request to gain access to Cronon's personal emails to get a look at what communications or discussions or sources or anything else went into writing it.

This is quite obviously an attempt at intimidation, with the hoped-for bonus of being able to make reprisals. This is the way the darling of the Teabaggers -- Scott Walker and his Republican henchmen -- choose to operate. It's like the Nixon days, with "enemies lists" and the whole shebang. Read Marshall's whole post, and Cronon's response.

Isn't it interesting that the right is more than willing to make use of laws it hates -- perverted use, to be sure -- when it suits their thuggery? It's a pattern: they pay attention to the laws that suit their purposes.

It's not just the Wisconsin Republican party. Think about Maggie Gallagher's respect for the law, or the Catholic hierarchy's.

That's contemporary conservatism.

Upate:

Reprisal seem to be the name of the game. Catch this post from Terrance Heath at Bilerico.

Tula Connell notes the GOP’s latest strike at unionized workers: You strike, you starve.

How low can Republicans go in their attacks on working families and their unions?

Think Progress reports today that "a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers" by prohibiting the family of a worker on strike from receiving food stamps.

And there's also the rights long-running campaign against the the judiciary. Remember Iowa?