Scott Walker's Inability to Think on His Feet May Doom Presidential Run

Scott Walker: Wait, wasn't protesting families, April rain caused job loss

I asked Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel political columnist Daniel Bice in an online Q and A in mid-April what he thinks about a Scott Walker run for president, in the face of a national press that likes to feast on dumb hicks from Wisconsin.

Replied Bice in part:

Gov. Walker is not an ideas guy like Mitch Daniels. You saw that during his recent Sunday morning TV appearance discussing gay marriage. Walker trotted out the idea of having [government] get out of the marriage business and leaving that to religions. Not a great idea for any number of reasons. A couple of errors like that during a presidential debate could earn him the distinction of being the Gov. Perry of the 2016 campaign.

Ideas are not Walker's strong suit. And answering straight questions with a straight answers would be a first for Walker who is overestimated as a communicator.

Walker often makes inexplicable, uninformed and baffling statements, and he hasn't yet been called on it with what political experts refer to as 'follow-up questions.' Hence, Walker's refusal to appear outside of GOP radio and the like.

In front of the national media,Walker may look like a buffoonish, clumsy con man.

Frankly, Walker has been an embarrassment for the state of Wisconsin and you can almost hear the groans across the nation when he stumbles in the GOP primary debates.

He will not be looked upon with the suppressed smiles directed at a somewhat endearing foe's misspeaking—like with what happened with Rick Perry's "oops" moment when Perry forgot what three cabinet departments he so needed to cut—which could be looked at as stemming from the fatigue resulting from the many GOP debates.

Walker is not benign, nor will he provoke smiles from opponents.

I think the national political press is getting tired of the over-heated Walker, Ryan, Priebus Wisconsin-Koch show.

This is not to suggest that Republican presidential primary campaigns are phenomena intended to provoke thought from the candidates and the electorate. Quite the opposite.

But the 2012 GOP primary did demonstrate that coherent lies applied to policy, and appeals to racism and nativism are required in this neo-fascist fest, and I just don't think Walker has the chops to do that on a national stage.

I mean how does Walker handle the first question about his top aide and confidante, Tim Russell, who stands convicted of stealing from veterans used as props by Walker?

Let's see what comes out of Des Moines this-coming week.

Walker Statement Blaiming Citizens for Wisconsin's Jobs Failure Should Be Challenged

Scott Walker blames Wisconsin citizens opposing him
as cause of job losses and Wisconsin's economic downturn

Scott Walker has made many outrageous statements while serving as governor of Wisconsin.

One statement perfectly symbolizes the bizarre and troubling politics of Walker, about whom John Dean wrote: Walker is a "vengeful, pitiless, exploitative, manipulative, and dishonest ... conservative without a conscience."

Scott Walker on March 28, 2013 said citizens' protesting his policies caused Wisconsin to fall to 44th in the nation in job losses. Blameless are Walker's extremist, anti-working families' policies that he touts before his visit to Iowa this week, (and that has observers predicting a Walker presidential run).

"The first year we had a lot of protests in the state," Walker said, during an appearance in Milwaukee to promote business growth in the city. "We had two years', almost, worth of recalls. A lot of employers here I think can relate to the fact (that) uncertainty is one of the biggest challenges for employers big or small or anywhere in between. There was a lot of uncertainty. The good news is that's passed." (Gilbert and Romell. March 28, 2013; Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

The Walker assertion that working families opposing Walker are the cause of Walker's failing on his 250,000 new jobs pledge didn't draw the criticism that this anti-American sentiment warranted.

But the desperation behind the statement is obvious.

As of May 2013, Wisconsin has seen only 36,300 new jobs, or just 14  percent of Walker's unqualified promise of 250,000 new jobs.

These dismal jobs numbers will not be cited when Walker speaks to the Polk County, Iowa GOP fundraising dinner in Des Moines on May 23rd (Thursday).

Walker's idea that citizens—voting their preference at the polls and petitioning their elected representatives when politicians are judged to be acting corruptly and dishonestly—are the cause of Walker's record on jobs tells much about the man and his extremist conception of representative democracy.

Walker does not believe in a representative democracy.

This is seen in Walker and the GOP's secretly crafted gerrymandering, and the GOP's unprecedented vow to stop open displays of anti-Walker sentiment at the People's House, our state capitol, among many other secretly-formulated actions. Walker does not go in for listening sessions and questions-and-answer sessions with the people.

As Walker continues to avoid facing the people of Wisconsin, in favor of visits to out-of-state GOP functions and fundraisers, it would be wonderful if someone were to pose the following question to Walker this-coming Thursday at the Polk County, Iowa GOP fundraising dinner:

Gov. Walker, do you stand by your statement that Wisconsin families opposing you are responsible for Wisconsin's dismal jobs performance during your tenure as governor?

Walker's visit to Iowa this Thursday comes as Rand Paul and Rick Santorum are also drawing predictions of a run for the GOP nomination for the presidency, the Des Moines Register reports.

GOP-Tea Party Extemists on Display

Tea Party Rally in Madison, Wisconsin
Photo by Jesse Russell

Update:  Ron Brownstein writes, "polarization is even worse now, owing to Obama derangement syndrome and tea party hubris," that may backfire on the GOP.

From a purely political perspective, the Democratic Party is salivating at the prospect that House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp (R-Michigan) and some Tea Party company are charging the White House as guilty of a "culture of cover-ups and political intimidation" in the GOP hearings.

The IRS checking into billionaire-funded AstroTurf schemes using 501(c)(4) status to further electoral objectives feeds into the crazed, rightwing fantasies about President Obama.

And Repubs like Rep. Camp just need to keep on talking, spouting every loony theory of which they are capable.

Scott Walker's Dismal Failure on Jobs

Lie, lie and deny.

Some call it spinning.

Scott Walker's continuing failure on jobs is met with celebration by Republicans and Tea Baggers.

Reports Rick Romell:

'These are exciting times in Wisconsin,' Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said in a statement. 'Our economy is back on track and jobs are being created across the state.'

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) and other Democrats pointed to Wisconsin's job-creating record compared against other states - 44th by the most recent data available.

'If Republicans spent half as much time creating jobs as they do spinning lackluster job numbers, Wisconsin might not be falling so far behind in job creation,' Barca said in a statement.

Wisconsin's economy is back on track?

Right, and Scott Walker's friend, Tim Russell, is an avid veterans' advocate.

Cognitive Dissidence has the story, and it's not so "exciting," if a healthy economy is considered stimulating.

The following two graphs illustrate Scott Walker and the Republicans' dismal jobs reality—reality, that liberal, empirical world so frightening to the minds of the GOP.

The Real IRS Scandal—AstroTurf Schemes Using 501(c)(4) Foul-up

Astroturf front, Americans for Prosperity

Clare Kim and Lawrence O'Donnell have the story on what's up with the IRS.

And it's not persecuted Tea Baggers.

It's the AstroTurf schemes using 501(c)(4) status resulting from a 1959 screw-up that lets the Koch brothers and Karl Rove funnel money ripping off taxpayers.

From The Last Word:

Internal Revenue Service agents have been struggling to do their jobs–which have been made essentially impossible by an incorrect interpretation of the law that the IRS made in 1959. It was then that the IRS changed the language of the law without any authority to do so. Here is how the tax law was written in its latest update in 1954 on 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. The 501(c)(4) designation was to apply only to: “Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.”

But a 1959 interpretation guideline written by the IRS says that: ”To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare…”

With absolutely no legal oversight, the IRS changed the world “exclusively” to mean “primarily” and then the IRS never defined what it meant by primarily. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains that the tax code must be enforced with the word “exclusively” so that no political organizations would ever be able to get 501(c)(4) status. “No Tea Party organizations, no Democratic party organizations, no Republican party organizations, no Libertarian party organizations, no party organizations of any kind should ever get 501(c)(4) status and that is exactly what the law already says,” O’Donnell said Wednesday night.

On a related note, see Hey, Mitch McConnell. Let me see if I got this right: "When the IRS hassles Tea Party groups, it's wrong. When they hassle the NAACP and environmental groups, it's OK."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Scott Walker's Broken Promises

Not working

"[E]very initiative that's undertaken and every program that's administered will be examined for its effect on jobs. Every decision must be considered in the context of what it means for job creation and economic recovery."
- Scott Walker's 2010 Campaign Site

A reformist Wisconsin press committed to good government, holding politicians accountable, and reporting the truth would be giving Scott Walker failing grades in fulfilling campaign promises, accusing him of deceit or incompetence on a massive scale.

But don't look at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's PolitiFact's "Walk-O-Meter: Tracking the promises of Scott Walker" for such a scale.

Politifact is a scam, a newspaper gimmick flacking for Walker's most important promise: 250,000 new jobs, rated by Politifact as "in the works."

Walker's 250,000 is constantly spun by this dishonest administration, and Walker's performance is found wanting.

Here's the Capital Times database keeping track of the 250,000 jobs mark. Wisconsin is bringing up the rear among our neighboring states.

Such data should be kept by every media outlet.

In fact Wisconsin has dropped down to 44th in the nation in creating private-sector jobs.

Walker also made a promise to "(s)trip policy and pork projects from the state budget," another broken promise that even some Republicans are calling Walker on, as noted by Bill Lueders in Isthmus.

Consider taxes. Walker hiked taxes on seniors and working families by nearly $70 million, as noted by Melissa Baldauff.

Education, check out Walker's 2010 site; in fact pick any issue and Walker has failed miserably.

But the jobs promise is the most egregious of Walker's broken promises, aka lies:

Presenting Scott Walker's 68 Page Plan to Create 250,000 Jobs

After Scott's big primary victory, he has been traveling the state to spread the word about his plan to get government out of the way to allow the private sector to create 250,000 jobs during his first term. ...

One could talk about Walker's secret agenda as well.

About that "Cline Group’s Wisconsin-based subsidiary Gogebic Taconite’s proposed $1.5 billion open pit iron mine in the Penokee Range south of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin’s Ashland and Iron counties."

That's one hell of bomb to drop on the Wisconsin people.

Rep. Mark Pocan Calls for Right to Vote for all Americans

Rep. Mark Pocan and text of the
Right to Vote proposed Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution

From Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison):

"Just dropped my bill that would amend the Constitution to guarantee a Right to Vote for all Americans. As the world’s leading democracy, the United States much demand of ourselves what we demand of others—a guaranteed, affirmative, right to vote for all."

The text of the proposed amendment reads:

SECTION 1: Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides.

SECTION 2: Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.

Who could possibly be against this?

Republicans and Tea Baggers.

People start voting en masse, and Republicans see their political fortunes, in their foolish view, as declining.

Though not widely known, voting is not that well protected in the U.S. Constitution. That's why Republican attacks against voting remain.

And that's why the "party on the brink of destroying the Voting Rights Act" (Rich) fears voting by Americans, and representative democracy.

Instead, Republicans privately brag of dropping bombs on the American people in an effort to consolidate power. Will Republicans walk the walk on American democracy and support this bill?

"The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy,” said Rob Richie, Executive Director of FairVote. “Adding an affirmative right to vote to the U.S. Constitution is the best way to guarantee that the government, whether at the federal, state, or local level, cannot infringe upon our individual right to vote. Building support for this amendment offers an opportunity to inspire a 21st century suffrage movement where Americans come together to protect voting rights, promote voter participation and debate suffrage expansion."

White House Did Not Know of DoJ Secret Seizure of Associated Press Records

Attorney General John Mitchell [Correction: That's Eric Holder]

Update III: The attorney general seems to be proud of how little he knows about the AP and IRS scandals (though the IRS affair is no scandal), writes Milbank.

Update II: Holder says he recused himself from phone records seizure, begging the question who is running the U.S. DoJ. Greenwald calls the Justice Department's pursuit of AP's phone records both extreme and dangerous. Civil liberties groups and journalists blast the action.

Update: See Turley's Nixonian or Obamaesque? Obama Administration Spied on Associated Press Editors and Reporters

There came a man who did not know.

When President Obama nominated Eric Holder to serve as the 82nd attorney general of the United States in 2009, voters had every right to expect a jurist committed to the rule of law and protecting the liberties of American citizens.

As each story of DoJ prosecutorial misconduct appears amid the near abandonment of an activist U.S. Dept of Justice, Civil Rights division seeking out bad political players in protection of civil liberties, the latest revelation that the U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of the Associated Press reporters and editors is more than troubling.

Wow, secretly obtaining records. How did the DoJ do that, one might wonder. Secret warrants?

As Buzzfeed's Ben Smith writes, "Less than four months into President Barack Obama’s second term, the hazy perception of a government reaching further and further into individuals’ lives in an era of broad new technological surveillance and power has turned into what may be the defining critique of his Administration."

Here's the Monday evening statement from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (from The Atlantic, and not to be found on the White House site) explaining:

Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP. We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department. Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.

Who knew defending the Fourth Amendment and being President was so difficult?

As noted in The Hill, not our president and not our attorney general.

"The AP believes the records seizure was related to a leak investigation regarding a 2012 story about the CIA foiling a bomb plot in Yemen. The Obama administration has aggressively investigated the disclosure of classified anti-terror information in recent years, subpoenaing journalists from the New York Times and Washington Post."

A leak? So, the DoJ is like plumbers ... fixing the leaks.

Notes Philip Bump: "In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President Gary Pruitt said there could be 'no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications.'"

Well, the Obama U.S. DoJ is better than a Romney-Ryan DoJ would be, I think.

Justice Ginsberg Way-off on Roe v. Wade

Time for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to get off the Court

What ahistorical spasms have taken ahold of Justice Ginsberg?

"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993-present) told an audience at the University of Chicago Law School on Saturday night that a lack of 'judicial restraint' in the court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade gave abortion opponents a 'clear target' that continues to fuel anti-choice activism 40 years later," notes Katie McDonough this morning in Salon.

A clear target?

Women have been the clear target of the Catholic Church hierarchy and free roaming misogyny since the inception of the United States of America.

Roe stopped the enforcement of anti-choice state laws outlawing abortion.

Salon's McDonough also references similar comments that Ginsberg made in April:

As noted by the New York Times editorial board and Yale Law School professors Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegel, Ginsburg’s previously-asserted idea that the court got 'ahead of public opinion' on abortion and 'short-circuited' an evolving political process at the state level is deeply problematic.

If one follows Ginsberg's logic, the Court should never protect the constitutional rights of minorities in the face of majority opinion because that would make political targets of minorities by assorted majority bigots and oppressive, tyrannical law of which America has a long, shameful tradition.

Ginsberg goes on pursuing several lines of thought, all of which do not demonstrate a clear hold of any conception of the civil rights of Americans, and certainly not specifically the constitutional imperative to protect free choice, an issue that props up the GOP and Tea Party as major political forces.

Ginsberg's public forays into political strategy are ill-conceived and foolish for a sitting justice of the Court, and her constitutional jurisprudence is suspect.

Ginsberg is 80-year-old.

And she is no William O. Douglas or Robert Jackson. Ginsberg should resign at the end of term in June.

The stakes are way too high with this reckless, statist Roberts-Scalia court and the forces of authoritarianism that hold sway in the majority of states.

Scott Walker's Bombs Include Obliterating Community Control

Christopher Cline's Mega Mansion in North Palm Beach
Mining mogul Cline has his eyes set on northern Wisconsin's iron ore,
but Cline will not appear in person before community boards
concerned about environmental disasters and massive pollution.
The trip to Wisconsin from Palm Beach might interfere with Cline's life.
Cline is an avid mega yacht enthusiast - northern Wisconsin is not his place.
Cline famously sold his $27-million yacht, the 161-foot Mine Games,
because Cline had a larger boat on order, so don't expect Cline to
come up before some County Board and community panels to justify
his company coming in and destroying a near-pristine environment.
The man's too busy for Wisconsin.

Scott Walker never campaigned on taking away the liberty of workers to organise.

Walker never campaigned on taking away local control of communities to set policies protecting citizens, protecting its schools, and local environments.

Walker never campaigned on taking away a women's right to choose, or closing Planned Parenthood centers serving women's health care.

But only two years into Walker's administration, these rights and many others lie in ruin, as if hit by a depleted uranium shell air strike from a corrupt administration literally targeting its own citizens in service to huge-moneyed interests.

It would be nice to hear to voices of opposition on every medium, every street corner. But the guns of opposition have gone virtually silent. For now. Citizen action is gathering and war plans are being made.

Walker won't back down—because he's so brave (ask him)—from taking away the power of communities enacting residency requirements for their local employees.

Walker and the GOP are sneaking the anti-residency provision into the state budget, against almost unanimous opposition from community mayors, village presidents, town managers and other elected municipal representatives.

As more extreme, severe-weather events occur, Walker's usurpation could have another unforeseen effect, at least an uncared-about effect.

Said Larry Arft, City Manager in Beloit, Wisconsin: "Don’t forget, public works employees are also first responders. Winter storm events, summer rain storms, wind storms, we have people on call for our utilities. 24/7 somebody has to be on call and they need to be there in a few minutes."

Not Walker's concern.

If communities start passing laws protecting their land in any capacity, how can out-of-state billionaires strip the land? What would be next, stopping fracking?

Walker is getting set to cash in on his work for billionaires and out-of-state interests who could not care less if Wisconsin tips over and falls into Lake Michigan, as long as the Christopher Clines (a pure bastard of a man hooked up with the Carlyle Group) and the Koch brothers get their hands on our resources, the Wisconsin people and our public land and waters be damned.

Obama Will Stop Keystone XL Pipeline, Says Climate Change Godfather

Oglala Sioux Tribal President Bryan Brewer joined about 300 people
in a nonviolent direct-action training called Moccasins on the Ground
held recently in preparation for stopping the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.

Update: Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Surpass 400 PPM Milestone, for the first time in human history, reports NOAA.

James Hansen, known as the "Godfather of Climate Change," writes in a new commentary on his Columbia University Web site that he believes President Obama will stop the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is opposed by environmentalists, climate scientists, and many Native American activists because the emissions from energy products produced from the tar sands "gook," as accurately described by Dr. Hansen, would inject into the atmosphere "more than twice the carbon from all of the oil burned in human history."

Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the
Coming Climate Catastrophe and
Our Last Chance to Save Humanity

Hansen compares the production and burning of energy products from tar sands as "equivalent to burning coal to power your automobile. . . ."

Concludes Hansen: "The common presumption that President Obama is going to approve the Keystone XL pipeline is wrong, in my opinion. The State Department must provide an assessment to President Obama. Secretary of State John Kerry is expert on the climate issue and has long been one of the most thoughtful members of our government. I cannot believe that Secretary Kerry would let his and President Obama's legacies go down the tar sands drain."

Carl Sagan once said of protecting our climate from nuclear catastrophe: "We can safeguard the planetary civilization and the human family if we so choose."

I wonder how firmly such sentiment resides in President Obama. The answer is not clear at this point. Tell the president that the XL pipeline needs to be stopped.

Read the Oglala Sioux news and understand that the fate of our planet, literally, rests in the actions of our president and what we, as citizens of the world, do to protect our planet for the sake of all of our grandchildren. You better believe the energy extraction industry and the Republican Party don't care, and are intent on destruction on a planetary scale.

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes of the politics of Big Oil and the Republican Party: "[T]here is nothing patriotic, moral or religious about Big Oil. A storied history of perfidy and greed has distinguished these companies among the most treasonous and piratical of all American business enterprises."

It’s Time to Out Sen. Lindsey Graham, says John Aravosis

Lindsey Graham celebrating the anti-gay
Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day

John Aravosis has the story:

"It’s time to finally out Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham has had it coming for a while now."

Not because he’s a Republican. But because he’s an anti-gay Republican. And while it’s one thing to be gay and a closet case, it’s quite another to be a hypocrite, an anti-gay gay, someone who uses his power to harm others in the name of 'morality,' all the while knowing secretly that he is one of the others."

Good for Aravosis.

Self-loathing Repulsivecans like Graham have to be called on their craziness when they take aim and harm others to sustain their political power in the sick collection of assorted whacks who comprise most of today's Republican Party.

Roofers and Home Improvement Can Sustain Economy

Roofing season begins

Update II: In this week’s address, President Obama said seven years after the real estate bubble burst, our housing market is healing. 

Update: Local home builders say they are looking for workers

As politicians do their thing, early-in-the-season Wisconsin roofers and contractors are out doing their thing, as spring showers permit.

A recovering housing market and a recovering economy result in many homeowners making improvements to their current housing by replacing or repairing their homes' roofs.

A higher incidence of intense storm events, as our country is experiencing as the climate changes, amplifies this dynamic.

Talk to any large insurance executive, and they'll tell you a series of hail storms can inflict some serious damage to Americans' homes.

But damage and economic instability result in economic activity in other realms such as the roofing industry.

A positive aspect of the economic malaise is small to medium-sized roofers—often self-made men and women—still believe very long hours and extremely hard work generate the fulfillment of the American Dream.

One such self-made man is Derek Myhand, owner of a roofing business in Monticello, Wisconsin.

Myhand can be found this mid-May in Fitchburg, Baraboo, and anywhere in Wisconsin where homeowners want work on their homes -- including roofs, home siding, gutters, almost anything.

Working first light until dawn, Myhand was asked this week how he manages to haul around 80-pound squares of shingles, roof a house, and pay exacting attention to detail.

"It's what I do," said Myhand. "I was raised on a farm; been in the business since I was a kid. It's early for roofing, but that why I get the work."

Residents and joggers in the Jamestown neighborhood of Fitchburg watching Myhand do a three-day job on a roof this week never saw him eat, or take a break and several neighbors talking have collectively named him, "the Terminator" after watching him strip a roof last Monday.

Citizens are convinced this guy is human; and if anyone wants to talk to him for business (recommended highly), Myhand can be reached at (608) 214-5802 or ultimateexteriorsllc@gmail.com.