Hey Scott Walker, You're Lying Again—as Bad as Bush-Cheney

Scott Walker finds utility of neocon lies as he evades law
enforcement probe back home in Wisconsin, one of
numerous scandals and corruptions of Gov. Scott Walker

Updated - Fresh from his PR jaunt to Israel blacked-out from the press (Sommer, Hareetz, Schreckinger, the Politco), Scott Walker comes home and shoots out the story he would not have invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003 (Rubin, Washington Post, Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal) knowing what Bush and Cheney knew.

Walker's nonsense comes with a wink to the neocons in the U.S. and the even more war-mongering rightist and militaristic racists in Israel lusting for a US-led war with Iran (this time), should another Republican occupy the White House.

Of course Bush and Cheney knew. But the oh-we-didn't-know-there-were-no-WMDS is the neocon line of the day, and Scott Walker is ever the good solider for lies, no matter the consequences.

One tactical problem with Walker's latest lie is Bush-Cheney's White House Iraq Group's (the Iraq War propaganda group) 2002-03 mission to lie, spin and con America into war with Iraq, and the strutting Bush and assorted chickenhawks created a disaster, arguably the most atrocious human rights crime of the 21st century.

Another problem for Scott Walker is Walker is dumber (and less informed) than Bush, hence media blackouts and press rope lines that come with Walker's public appearances now-a-days, and still not one question-and-answer session with voters.

Walker's—more likely a different GOP nominee for the presidency—lies for an invasion with Iran this next time out won't wash with the American public still recovering from the Bush-Cheney disaster to the world economy, and not so hot on more neocon wars.

For those with short memories, perhaps the best text of Bush-Cheney-neocon lies selling the Iraq invasion is David Corn and Michael Isikoff's Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (Crown Publishers, 2006). (See review, (Heilbrunn, NYT)

Notes David Corn two years ago, "Our book ... was the first cut at an important topic: how a president had swindled the nation into war with a deliberate effort to hype the threat." (Corn, MotherJones)

For those contemplating what the neocons did and what the Republicans want to do again, see "Hubris" (Full Film) Iraq War Documentary - The Rachel Maddow Show (02-18-2013).

Scott Walker Calls Auto Industry Save a 'Past Hypothetical'

Scott Walker's campaign: No "hypothetical questions in the past"

Scott Walker declines to answer the question: Would you have supported the U.S. loans to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to get through the 2009 bankruptcies?

"That's a hypothetical question in the past. We're going to talk about the future," said Walker before rushing away from a group of reporters in Michigan. (Christoff, Bloomberg Politics News)

Typical Walker evasion: Incoherent and sleazy.

If we take seriously Walker's commitment to refuse comment about any "hypothetical question in the past" [whatever that means], Walker's position on any policy enacted by President Obama and President Bush cannot be discussed because this history is hypothetical.

The federal bailout of the auto industry saved "1.5 million U.S. jobs and preserved $105.3 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections," a study released in December 2013 concluded. (Reuters)

In Scott Walker's world, this is an event and policy that occurred in the past hence cannot be discussed because of Walker's abiding commitment to the future.

Would you have supported the Iraq War, the Fed's monetary policy, protecting Social Security and Medicare, the federal stimulus ... ?

Wait, these are past hypotheticals.

One could say Scott Walker is sleazy in declining comment on the bailout policy that staved off a depression. (Guida, New York Times)

As national political reporters already know, Walker's reluctance to answer policy questions exists because Scott Walker is a lightweight who has no business in government.

Wisconsin Says Thank You to Attorney General Eric Holder on Election Day

Feds Fighting Back Republican Voter Obstruction Effort

The Republican Party of Wisconsin, led by Scott Walker, has long worked to block black and brown people living in Milwaukee (among others) from voting.

The U.S. Dept of Justice announced yesterday federal monitors are being dispatched to Milwaukee voting locations, along with 27 other jurisdictions across the county.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the move to protect voting rights yesterday. (U.S. DoJ and BuzzFlash)

Holder, in the statement Monday, said, "Over the last few months, leaders from the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division have received information from a wide variety of citizens and groups. Based upon our independent and non-partisan consideration and expertise, we have dispatched federal monitors to polling places around the country — just as we do during every election season."

Now, more than ever in Wisconsin's history, we need the Voting Rights section of the Civil Rights division of the U.S. Dept of Justice to protect our sacred right to vote.

No Voter ID Needed, Just Vote

Update: The U.S. Dept of Justice will monitor Milwaukee, Wisconsin voting locations, along with 27 other jurisdictions across the county, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today. (U.S. DoJ and BuzzFlash)

Holder, in a statement Monday, said of the effort, "Over the last few months, leaders from the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division have received information from a wide variety of citizens and groups. Based upon our independent and non-partisan consideration and expertise, we have dispatched federal monitors to polling places around the country — just as we do during every election season."
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Republican efforts to block black and brown people living in Milwaukee from voting are a key element of Scott Walker's reelection campaign.

NO VOTER ID NEEDED to VOTE

Despite the worst efforts of Republicans to obstruct voters, no voter ID is needed this Election Day in Wisconsin.

If you are not registered to vote, you can register at the polls on Election Day.

Many voters still lack accurate knowledge that NO VOTER ID IS NEEDED to VOTE.

Skipped over in coverage in the late October Marquette University Law School poll (Question 44) is the fact that 29 percent of respondents believed erroneously there is no U.S. Supreme Court order preventing the GOP's voter ID law from going into effect on Election Day. Another 14 percent did not know.

No voter ID is needed to vote in Wisconsin.

Registering to vote

You do need to be registered to vote. To register at the polls on Election Day, bring proof of who you are, and where you live (proof of residence). Folks who need to register are those who have not voted in four years or have moved since the last election. Check if you are registered online.

If registration lines are too long, call the municipal clerk and demand more registration stations be set up. Long registration lines show the election clerk screwed up. Election clerks are public servants, with salary and benefits paid with public dollars. Remember that.

There is a voter bulletin board at election sites with phone numbers of municipal, state and federal officials.

"During major statewide elections, 10 – 15 percent of Wisconsin electors register to vote or update their voter registration on Election Day," notes the Wisconsin Governmental Accountability Board (GAB).

Republican criminal interference with voter

If you see Republicans interfering with a voter, call all municipal, state and federal officials and watchdog agencies like the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and inform you see a crime in progress.

Interfering with the process to vote is a criminal offense. Scott Walker is coming off a bad week and Republicans will try to stop voters from voting if they feel they can get away with it without being charged with a criminal offense.

So, advise jotting down the contact information on voter bulletin boards at election sites with the phone numbers of municipal, state and federal officials to protect voting rights.

If everyone who voted in 2012 votes on November 4, Scott Walker is a diminishing stain in Wisconsin history.

No one will ever confuse Wisconsin election bureaucrats with voting rights activists. Each voter needs to police Republicans.

As Joel Bleifuss writes today: "The results of the 2014 midterms—whether the Republicans take control of the Senate and whether GOP governors like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker win re-election—will tell us if Jim Crow is alive and well and helping the Right win its stealth war against democracy."

Thank you, Joel, and long live Wisconsin.

Wisconsin State Journal Endorses Mary Burke

The conservative Wisconsin State Journal daily endorsed Mary Burke this Sunday morning.

Never thought I would see the Wisconsin State Journal endorse anybody over Scott Walker. Congrats, editorial board.

The State Journal endorsement cited Mary Burke's pragmatism, and willingness to invest in biotechnology and education to counter Scott Walker and Walker's "divisive" political culture.

Editorial headline in Wisconsin State Journal Sunday hardcopy reads:

Burke best fit to re-energize state economy - OUR ENDORSEMENT: Pragmatic leader has global experience, can pull Wisconsin together

Wisconsin Media Absolves Itself for Running Falsehood from GOP Propaganda Organ

County Republican Party Chair,
Gary Ellerman, in Wisconsin
compared President Obama
to a NAZI in a Facebook post;
and a defamation of Mary Burke
by Ellerman was run across
Wisconsin as a legitimate news story.
No newspaper has retracted the story.

This morning an editorial in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel calls for Scott Walker to "cut ties with Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Gary Ellerman" in a milquetoast, everybody-does-it rebuke of the GOP.

Ellerman sent out defamations of Mary Burke last week, first inserted in the GOP propaganda organ, Wisconsin Reporter, and reported by Wisconsin media across the state as a legitimate news story.

The Ellerman story is a Republican Party last-minute propaganda operation, and any news editor of Gannett Co newspapers in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin State Journal or the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel could have discovered the GOP ruse with minimal investigation.

Checking facts, sources with ax to grind, credibility of Ellerman, running accusations by credible officials with Trek.

The Ellerman operation fails all these tests. Run the story, decided Wisconsin newspaper editors.

Maybe the fact that Ellerman used President Obama's campaign slogan and posted a Nazi swastika in a Facebook post might have raised a red flag. It didn't.

Consider "...Ellerman was the Republican plant who ran in the Democratic primary against Lori Compas in the 2012 Wisconsin State Senate recall election in the 13th District ... ." (Camp, The Badger Prairie) No matter.

Publishing facts is not the objective of many newspapers in Wisconsin; playing stenographer to Scott Walker and the latest Republican Party of Wisconsin lie is the objective, or Scott Walker would not be governor.

This is what passes for journalism today, and don't expect any retractions.

Scott Ross of One Wisconsin Now writes "The $500 million Bradley Foundation empire views promoting Scott Walker and his radical right wing agenda as central to its mission. From financing television ads to paying for junk science to sending lawyers into the courtrooms to suppressing the minority vote, Michael Grebe's right wing army stops at nothing to keep Scott Walker in power. The smear of Mary Burke is just the latest hit job by this well-funded, win at all costs campaign."

Ross' statement is supported by facts, of little apparent interest to most of the Wisconsin media.

Wisconsin should expect propaganda from the Republican Party and its allies, and just as apparent should expect Wisconsin newspapers across the state to run the GOP propaganda—no matter how repulsive the defamation and the source—and present it as news.