So the Supreme Court rules against the bipartisan decision by the Legislature to protect Wisconsin’s critical priorities and use funds from the patient compensation pool. That makes it even more important the state focuses on what’s important when it comes to responsible budgeting. Conservatives are already trying to rewrite history on the issue and blame everyone but themselves. But the facts are what they are: Wisconsin can’t afford recklessness in its state finances and we have to invest in our people and their needs – that’s what makes Wisconsin work.

Nice dodge. I know the Doyle/Barrett team is attempting to do the same. But let's examine what the ruling said: Doyle and his legislative allies illegally took property (funds) to paper over irresponsible budgeting. Doyle wanted to do this in 2003; the Republicans blocked him. He tried to do this in 2005, and the Republicans blocked him. In 2007, with the Democrats in control of the Senate and the GOP clinging to a slim majority in the Assembly, Doyle finally got his hands on that money and spent it all. Now Wisconsin taxpayers see their structural deficit increase from $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion and even liberal Democrats like Tom Barrett are attempting to discuss fiscal responsibility.

I’m sure our readers are amused with your convoluted defense of Republican support for this plan, particularly given the reticence the right has had in accusing progressive elected officials as “flip-floppers.” Speaking of nuance, Scott Walker’s team had to retract its original early-morning statement after Walker sent out a release saying he would “sign” a constitutional amendment to prevent fund transfers in the future. Guess he got the memo that the governor doesn’t “sign” constitutional amendments. If we’re going to talk transfers, then I’d offer you the opportunity to let us know what Walker is going to slash to pay for the more than $1 billion “transfer” into the transportation fund that he’s been offering up as part of his unfinanced $3 billion tax cut, tax loophole and tax shift plan that helps the rich and the businesses that are financing his campaign.

Quick everyone. Don't look at the Supreme Court ruling that served as a denouncement of Governor Doyle's fiscal mismanagement. Look at the fuzzy bunny over in the corner! Or that shiny object over there! Your debate tactics mirror the Doyle/Barrett campaign plan. And I don't think it will work. To somehow spin this ruling into a negative for Walker? No one is buying it, Scot.

Walker wants this story to go away A-S-A-P. If the media begin to focus on fiscal management, the right’s standard bearer will quickly have all the credibility of Breitbart. Walker’s plan for dealing with the deficit is ... drum roll ... $3 billion in more lost revenue. And from whom? The yummy income tax hike for just the richest top 1 percent. The delicious reopening of the Las Vegas corporate tax dodge loophole. The savory handover of capital gains tax cuts -- 70 percent of which go to those makin’ more than $200K. What Walker refuses to put on the menu is how he’s gonna pay for it. Because he can’t. Not without destroying education, health care and police and fire protection. If the $200 mil Patient Compensation Fund transfer makes the right crazy, you should be apoplectic over this ridiculous fiscal irresponsibility. (And hey, how about a tip of the hat to the first billionaire who was able to pass along his wealth with zero taxes? Glad the middle class is paying for that one.)

No, I am sure Walker is happy to have the campaign become a discussion of budgeting processes and priorities. Even Barrett knows the "Like Jim Doyle, Only Worse" tag is sticking. Hence his weird, sorta-kinda no tax increase pledge for his next city budget (for a comparison of Walker and Barrett's 2010 budget proposals, click here). Barrett likes to talk about the need for ''adult supervision'' in Madison. Well here's a newsflash for him. It wasn't kids who spent us into a $2.7 billion structural deficit. It was Democrat adults like Jim Doyle, Russ Decker, Mark Pocan and Julie Lassa. Bottom line: Doyle & Co. got smacked down by a rare 5-2 Supreme Court decision this week, and that's bad news for free-spending liberal office holders and candidates across Wisconsin.