Let Them Eat Cheese: Media Weigh in on Wisconsin’s Labor War

News media in Wisconsin take for granted that the state capital city of Madison will be the site of medium-sized protests, late-night legislative antics and accusations of gubernatorial power grabs. While many of those fights over the last few decades were over substantive issues, it was still not the type of doings that energizes large crowds.

The dynamic and sometimes tragic Vietnam War protests in Madison that many older reporters had covered early in their career – and middle-aged reporters studied in school – had a “remember when” air to them. Hearing about the Vietnam era in 2010 was like hearing about the Great Depression in 1970. You got the importance, but looked for current relevance.