The vast majority of Wisconsin citizens who did not vote for Scott Walker regarded him as one part corrupt, one part dishonest, one part dense and one part deluded.
Writers across the state bashed Walker for fun and profit since 2009.
The national political press is having some fun now with Walker as well.
From The Politico (Allen, Isenstadt):
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pulled the plug on a bloated campaign that was headed into debt and was being undermined by furious donors, a warring staff and — at the root of it all — a candidate who was badly out of his league.
From the New York Times (Bruni):
There’s so much we’ll never know [about Walker], such as how far he was willing to take his single issue. ... I feel certain that he was mere weeks away from a big speech advocating the deployment of ground troops to stamp out collective bargaining among the Sherpas in Nepal.
I feel certain, too, that his best gaffes were still to come, though he gave us several gems. In an era lacking visionary leadership, he envisioned a great wall along our northern border to keep out the tides of Canadians fleeing the tyranny of free health insurance. And we learned that years back, he mangled an intended 'mazel tov' in a letter to a Jewish constituent, instead writing: 'Thank you again and Molotov.'
And I wonder: Was it his shallowness that undid him? Just how little learning will Republican voters abide in a candidate? ...
Walker evaded foreign policy questions, apparently petrified of being tripped up. He bungled domestic policy questions, seemingly unable to cling to a sturdy position.
Wisconsin, the some 74 percent who didn't vote for Scott Walker can take it all in now, this pathological lightweight is exposed for what he is.
Perhaps those Wisconsin rural citizens who care about thriving school districts and livable wages can do a rethink on Scott Walker.
Walker's basic problem was that his Presidential campaign was very different from his original Gubernatorial campaign. In the latter he played it close to the vest claiming only that he was a fiscal conservative (e.g. his brown bag lunch meme) promising to negotiate with unions. But once elected he dropped "the bomb" and broke that promise and went after them hammer and tongs. He did it again in his second campaign over Right To Work and after the election promptly reversed course.
ReplyDeleteNow when running for national office the fleece was off and he had little choice but to make his anti labor positions the centerpiece rather than hiding them. Couple that with the realities of a faltering state economy, wage decline, spending INCREASES and mounting debt he had little to point to other than the talking about about "bold reforms".
The death blow came when Trump pointed out the obvious (he does his homework or at least has his minions do it for him). Walker couldnt even call it a lie becuase, well... there it was. And not from any Liberal, but from an even bigger boorish authoritarian con man than he is.
Whether this will stick to him back home remains to be seen.
Doubt Walker can reclaim the Wisconsin independents he lost during the presidential campaign.
ReplyDeleteWhat is stunning is the utter lack of history national pundits displayed RE the Walker-winning-in-a-blue-state nonsense. Walker won the white vote in Milwaukee County, and won midterm elections (so did Thompson who mistook winning in the midterms as a qualification for president and cabinet secretary material). In the recall, Walker had complete air dominance from November 2011-May 8, the later date being when the Dems actually elected a candidate in the primary. Then the Recall election on June 5. All the while Walker was illegally coordinating interdependent and campaign expenditures.
In a sense it's unfair running for president sticks to Walker as I believe it will. What is clear is that Walker is a lightweight and corrupt con man, some variation will stay with Walker and even some Republicans don't care for Walker so very much, no matter what god called Walker to do with his campaign for president.
There have already been calls for him to step aside on the next budget leaving it to Kleefisch. It seems that they already know that it will be similar to the state that Thompson left the State in after take the Bush appointment. If you think the 2.2 bn hole was big wait til half of the DOT budget is used to pay off accumulated debt. Watch them scheme to run away from that one.
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