Thursday, September 16, 2010

Who Is Tom Barrett's Opponent Again?

After last night's election results were becoming more apparent, the winning candidates made their statements.

Tom Barrett's message was short and to the point:
"The choice before voters this November is crystal clear. I am running for Wisconsin governor to fight for jobs, put state government on a diet, and bring adult leadership to the capitol focused on getting things done. Scott Walker has never showed any interest in growing our economy. And time and time again, Walker has shown he will say or do anything to try to get elected. Wisconsin families need a governor they can trust to create jobs and get Madison’s fiscal house in order. They can’t trust a record of massive borrowing and chronic flip-flops for political gain."
His speech, which can be seen here, was also very clear and positive.

The statement from his opponent wasn't so clear.

In Scott Walker's prepared statement, it left people wondering if Barrett would be running against Walker or someone else.

First, one would think that the Republican nominee was a magician:
We have a real plan to get this state working again. Our plan to create 250,000 new jobs helps employers by lowering taxes, cutting through red tape and stopping lawsuit abuse. It also improves our workforce through reforms in education, lowers the cost of health care and invests in our infrastructure. Our plan is a blue print for economic prosperity.
Again with this pie-in-the-sky promise with no actual plan behind it. It's even more ironic when one takes into account that Walker lost control of the Private Industry Council, which is supposed to help people get jobs, because he wasn't producing any progress in the area. It was given to Tom Barrett and the City of Milwaukee due to their much better track record of actually getting people working again.

After this, Walker starts morphing his identity:
Our county airport is now the fastest growing airport in America, attracting nearly a thousand new jobs.
The improvements at the airport that allowed it to grow was created by the millions of dollars coming in from President Obama's stimulus funds, which the County Board pursued over Walker's resistance. By taking credit for this, apparently he thinks he's Obama and/or the County Board.

But it goes on with Walker mistaking himself for a former governor:
And before I took office, there was a waiting list of 3,000 older adults needing help with long term care. Today, not one senior is on a waiting list.
He did do that, through the state's Family Care Program. Of course, it was then Governor Tommy Thompson that ordered it in 1998, four years before Walker was ever elected as county executive. Even when he took over, he laid off the accountants, and the program quickly ran into a huge deficit.

Bill Christofferson notes that the tag line at the end of Walker's statement, "Help is on the way," is one he took from Governor Jim Doyle.

It may stem from all the flip flops and acts of hypocrisy that Walker is famous for, but I would find it hard to throw my support behind someone who doesn't even know who he is anymore because of them.

4 comments:

  1. He doesn't have an "opponenet"...he does have an opponent though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought Walker backed away from the promise of 250,000 new jobs months ago because that was based on incorrect information?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Walker's never backed away from incorrect information. He just flip flops.

    ReplyDelete
  4. flip-flop or side-step, whats the difference...all the same.

    ReplyDelete