Scott Fitzgerald actually said this stuff.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald had a few things to say:

Today, the most shameful 14 people in the state of Wisconsin are going to pat themselves on the back and smile for the cameras.

I know the Bucks have wildly underperformed their expectations this season, but is that enough to call their players 'shameful'?  Shouldn't we — as fans, as people — withhold such rhetoric until a higher threshold of shame is crossed?  Hell, Andrew Bogut rushed back from a catastrophic elbow injury just for a fast-becoming apathetic fanbase.  Shameful is a low blow, Senator.  

Subtracting Redd from the usual 15-man roster, however, is hysterical.  Touché, salesman.

They're going to pretend they're heroes for taking a three week vacation.

Oh.  He's talking about the Senate Democrats who left the state in an attempt to stop a totalitarian regime from ramming a bill through.  Great.

It is an absolute insult to the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who are struggling to find a job, much less one they can run away from and go down to Illinois -- with pay.

Again with this?  As noted time and time again, the Senate Democrats leaving the state to halt totalitarian progress is anything but insulting.  Republicans continuing their attempts to pass this hackneyed, unreasoned fiction off as fact, though?  That's insulting.

Their appearance at the Capitol today is in direct violation of the contempt order issued by the state Senate earlier this month, and it proves their absolute disregard for the institution of the Senate and the constitution they took an oath of office to serve.

Here is the contempt order.  To say 'their appearance at the Capitol today is in direct violation of the contempt order' almost asks an acrobatic feat of mental exercise.  Fitzgerald, if one grants him facilities of average intelligence, must be referring to finding no. 4, which offers that any missing Senate Democrat 'has violated and continues to violate a plain and positive duty of attendance at sessions of the State Senate.' 

This rings hollow.  At any point after missing the call to quorum on 3 March, the Senate Democrats were already in direct violation of this fueled-by-a-lack-of-nuance contempt order.  To specifically state today's appearance and then qualify it as proof of 'their absolute disregard for the institution of the Senate and the constitution they took an oath of office to serve' reduces the aimed declaration to empty grandstanding needing a selective rendering for weight.

But the people of Wisconsin won't forget what they were really doing these past few weeks.

Opposing totalitarian rule?  Anyone want to guess that?  It's either that or Fitzgerald will regurgitate feckless talking points.  It's definitely one or the other.

Sen. Tim Cullen refused to come back to save 1,500 jobs.

 Feckless talking points it is.

Sen. Mark Miller refused to come back even to make sure his own staff were safe in the Capitol he abandoned.

Right, because the Capitol was such a dangerous place: military firing indiscriminately on citizens, fighter planes bombing groups of protesters, governments wanting to impose a no-fly zone overhead. Damn Mark Miller for refusing to come back to make sure his staff were safe.

Wait, that's Libya.  What the hell is Fitzgerald talking about?

Sen. Fred Risser refused to come back out of respect for the institution and dignity of the state Senate.

Is that better or worse than refusing to come back to see if his staff were still alive?

Sen. Bob Jauch refused to come back even though our side was negotiating in good faith to try to find a reasonable compromise.

In good faith?  Like the time you guys tried tricking Senate Democrats to come back?  In good faith like that?

Sens. Jon Erpenbach, Chris Larson and Lena Taylor were all too happy to pat themselves on the back and smile for the cameras in Illinois, never mind their constituents here in Wisconsin.

At least they weren't cowards like Mark Miller, am I right?!

And Sens. Dave Hansen, Kathleen Vinehout, Tim Carpenter, Spencer Coggs, Jim Holperin, and Julie Lassa refused to come back to actually do the job they were elected to do.

PROTIP: When attempting to denigrate a group of individuals, either blast them all for the same thing OR do more than just partition them off and rephrase one frayed argument for each grouping.  Because just separating a few of them with a recycled attack makes you look like a knob.

To the Senate Democrats: When you smile for the cameras today and pretend you're heroes, I hope you look at that beautiful Capitol building you insulted. And I hope you're embarrassed to call yourselves senators."

You want insulting?  If only there was a video of the makeshift committee which stripped the "budget-repair bill" of fiscal policy so the Senate Republicans could then shove it through without a quorum.  If only...