BARABOO — U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore held a thermos and figuratively poured what she called lies — proposed tax cuts, efforts to repeal health care reform, the “need to take back our country” — into a glass of “poison tea” decorated with a skull.
“Don’t drink the tea, people,” the Democrat from Milwaukee told the crowd Saturday at the ninth annual Fighting Bob Fest. “Remember the Kool-Aid (from the Jonestown massacre in 1978)? This tea is just as lethal.”
Moore’s speech echoed the sentiments of many who came to the Sauk County Fairgrounds for a gathering of progressives. The event also served as a rally against the tea party movement that gained momentum this year around the country.
The festival, named after Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette, the late firebrand Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator, is sponsored by The Capital Times and FightingBob.com.
U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, who is retiring after 41 years in Congress, said an attack on working families by the “economic elites” could grow if Republicans win big in November.
“The danger is that progressive forces will allow their unhappiness with the economy and with the Washington situation to keep them away from the polls,” he said. “We cannot let that happen.”
Angelita Renteria was trying to get people to take action. A volunteer with South Central Wisconsin Move to Amend, she was collecting signatures to put a resolution on the ballot in Madison in April against a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January.
The court struck down laws that banned political spending by corporations. The resolution asks the city of Madison to support amending the Constitution to say campaign contributions aren’t protected free speech.
“My $30 is not the same as a company’s $30 million in a campaign,” Renteria said.
Laura Olah’s cause — Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger — harkened back to the issue that led activists to create Fighting Bob Fest in 2002: groundwater protection.
The activists who started the festival fought Perrier-Nestle’s proposed bottled water plant in central Wisconsin. Olah advocates for a thorough cleanup at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Baraboo, where munitions were manufactured from World War II through the Vietnam War. The land is being transferred to the state of Wisconsin.
“We want a level of cleanup that will support future use,” said Olah, executive director of the citizens’ group.
With breakout sessions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, safe food and health care, and a lifetime achievement award given to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the festival touched on many parts of the progressive platform.
Some attendees, such as Craig Brandfass of Viroqua, shared mixed thoughts about President Barack Obama. Obama should move more quickly to get American troops out of
Afghanistan and Iraq, Brandfass said, and he should have pressed harder for universal health care.
“He’s dipping his toes in the water instead of diving in,” Brandfass said. “But he was handed a lot of problems.”