Sunday, September 23, 2012

Walker/Doe 2016

Image courtesy of
Rock Netroots
In case you haven't been aware of it, the Republicans have been turning on Mitt Romney, savaging him almost as well as a liberal blogger could.

After the numerous blunders coming from Team Romney, most notably the infamous 47% video, Romney's been losing ground all around the country. To distance themselves from the sinking Romney election yacht but to maintain the message of hate, bigotry and fiscal oppression fiscal responsibility, they have been taking the particular and odd tactic of calling for more of Lyin' Ryan in the campaign.

Calling for more Ryan is odd because Ryan has no experience running a state wide campaign, much less a national one. Heck, one might even argue that Ryan hasn't even ran a real campaign in his own district for years. It is also odd that they are calling for this despite Ryan's difficulty with telling the truth, or at least lying effectively. It's also rather odd that they would start this push on the day that Lyin' Ryan got booed off the stage by a bunch of senior citizens.

Leading this charge for a more prominent role for Lyin' Ryan is the man who knows how to lie better than anyone - Scott Walker.

On Friday, Walker ran to his favorite refuge against the real world, Charlie Sykes, to push for more of Ryan's lyin'. Politico, probably fed the story by Walker, Sykes and/or other members of WISGOP, ran with the story:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told radio host Charlie Sykes on Friday that he is bewildered by the way things have gone since Ryan was picked.

“I thought [picking Ryan] was a signal that this guy [Romney] was getting serious, he’s getting bold; it’s not necessarily even a frustration over the way Paul Ryan’s been used but rather in the larger context. I just haven’t seen that kind of passion I know Paul has transferred over to our nominee, and I think it’s a little bit of pushback from the folks in the national campaign. But I think for him to win, he’s gotta [do] that.”

Walker added, “They not only need to use [Ryan] out on the trail more effectively, they need to have more of him rub off on Mitt because I think Mitt thinks that way but he’s gotta be able to articulate that. … I think too many people are restraining him from telling [his vision].”
Walker kept at it on Sunday, per the Washington Post:
Echoing his sentiment from a Friday interview, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Sunday he wants to see “more passion” from Mitt Romney and more of the enthusiasm he witnessed when Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was first tapped by the former governor to be his running mate.

“I want to see fire in the belly,” Walker said of Romney on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that he wants to see the Republican nominee “lit up and ready to go.”

“I think you’ve got to get off the heels and get out and charge forward,” the Wisconsin governor also said.
On the surface, it seems that Walker is merely trying to light a fire under Romney's ass to get him moving. After all, the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson and the other billionaires have invested big money to see their agenda carried through. It just wouldn't do to have Romney blow it now after all their hard work. Romney's not as an effective tool as Ryan is, apparently.

But one has to stop and wonder exactly what Walker's motivation is behind this. Is it simply trying to spur the team on to victory or is there something else that Walker is thinking about, like maybe a run for the presidency himself in 2016?

Don't think for a second that Walker hasn't considered this himself. Hell, he's probably been planning out his campaign since November 4, 2011.

After all, he did the same thing as Milwaukee County Executive. From the day he won the election for that office, Walker's every move wasn't calculated in what was the best for the county, but what was best for his eventual gubernatorial campaign.

There are a few examples to support what I am saying.

Leading up to his first gubernatorial run in 2005, Walker refused to negotiate a new contract with the unions. But he sure did squawk about those evil, greedy, no good union workers on the campaign trail and to whomever would listen. But once Walker got bumped out of the race by the party bosses in favor of Mark Green, Walker came scurrying back to Milwaukee to sign a contract with the unions. In fact, he felt such urgency to get it done that he gave the workers a $250 signing bonus to get it done.

Likewise, in his second run for governor, Walker again attacked the unions. This time, he forced them to take up to 26 days of furlough, claiming that it was the only way to balance the budget since the unions would not give him the concessions he wanted. The only thing is, he never, ever, sat down at the negotiating table to ask for those concessions. This way he got to present the image that he was tough on those mean old union workers and fiscally responsible. Turns out that he was doing things illegally and has set up Milwaukee County taxpayers up for a multimillion dollar bill as they have to pay back the workers the money that Walker took from them for no purpose than to use it as campaign fodder.

And who could forget his infamous Harley Davidson rides, which he took each year, in order to promote "tourism" for Milwaukee County, but was shown to be nothing more than a way to promote himself and his campaign.

Now compare those behaviors to the ones we have seen from Walker during the past 20 months.

He's been waging the ultimate war against the unions with his first strike - dropping the Act 10 bomb. That gained him a certain following of faithful Kool Aid drinkers from around the country. That with the recall and he had the opportunity to fly around the country and make various appearances, sometimes under the guise of fundraising for the recall and sometimes just to do the teahadist hero routine.

Of course, being the Kochs' puppet made it so much easier for all this to happen. As did the fact that most of the mainstream media hasn't been paying attention, much less reporting, about Walkergate. From the reports I heard from the Democratic National Convention, not even most Dems from around the country are aware of the investigation.

So now he has the name recognition and quite the list of big time, and I do mean big time, donors. He's also got a plan for the next few years to keep his name in the news and win the heart of more of the big donors with things like right-to-work-but-not-get-paid-for-it legislation, a new attempt to sell out the Northwoods to the mining companies and more tax breaks for the rich which will be paid for by the poor and the working class.

So, when Walker is "cheering on" the home team, one must wonder if he is really meaning it. It looks a lot like he is hoping that Romney/Ryan crash and burn so he can run for POTUS in 2016. Remember, he's only been hitting Romney, not Ryan nor the message. And the way in which Walker has been slamming Romney, both in intensity on on specific topics, it's more than a wee bit reminiscent of two contenders in the same race than two party members pulling together.

Oh, I know, you're thinking that there is no way that Walker would even consider running for national office with the John Doe hanging over his head. Well, as I mentioned earlier, the national media, or even the local media for that matter, hasn't exactly been following the story as closely as we have. On top of that, Walker is such a megalomaniac that he probably truly cannot conceive that he did anything wrong.

I didn't think Walker could possibly win in 2010, given the way he drove the county into the ground and the illegal activities he and his staff were participating in. But he was able to put enough lipstick on that pig and was able to keep enough people to taking a close look at it to pull off his charade. And win it he did.

Then I thought surely the state learned his lesson by the recall. But not enough people were actually paying attention to what was going on and weren't outraged enough for their self-preservation instincts to kick in.

In sum, I really do think that Walker is angling up for a 2016 campaign for the presidency. And given that he has already won two races he shouldn't have, I'm not willing to rely solely on the better judgement of people. Remember, they are the same ones that elected George W. Bush twice too!

I know. The entire concept of President Scott K. Walker is enough to keep one up nights, and it's not even Halloween yet.

But there is still hope. There are still two ways to save the country from the pain we suffer through now. One we can control, one we can't.

The one we can't control is the Walkergate investigation. Unlike Walker minions, we realize that we cannot petition justice. It will happen when it happens. And you know where to go to get the story.

The other hope we have is if we can knock Walker out of office in 2014 and send him scrounging around with Sarah Palin. We might want to start thinking about a strong, progressive candidate soon though. There will be a lot of groundwork to do to try to make up for the megabucks and utter corrupted control Walker will have.

But first, let's make sure that Barack Obama stays in the White House and Tammy Baldwin goes to the Senate.

11 comments:

  1. DEAD ON.

    Much easier to get elected President as a Governor. You don't have a national record.

    Even better for the GOP, Walker doesn't have all Romney's Wall Street baggage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Or...think like Ryan does. From today's New York Times: Conservatives Want to ‘Let Ryan Be Ryan’ on Campaign Trail.

    "A Congressional official with ties to the Ryan camp said the congressman, who is also running for re-election, has a Plan B: Return to Congress, use his positions on both the Budget and the Ways and Means Committees to seize a prominent role in a sweeping overhaul of the tax code, and use that as a springboard back into presidential politics on his own record."

    Which will also address any weaknesses in his campaigning skills. This will also help make a more extensive record for his opponents to use against him. Then there will be the "stench of Romney."


    If the Republican ticket loses in November, the rush by Mr. Ryan and other 2016 hopefuls to position themselves for the Iowa caucuses “is going to look like Best Buy the night after Thanksgiving,” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa. “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him.”

    That might be a little harder to do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And by 2016, the GOP will have hacked into enough voting machines nationwide to elect ANY candidate of their choosing...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I am afraid this is what our future will be.
      In the short run of this 2012 election, electronic tabulation manipulation, voter suppression and Waukasha-style scavenger hunts in districts throughout the nation will deny President Obama a governing mandate, and an intelligent Senate and House.
      This year Election Fraud will endanger the down ballot Democratic candidates. Pundits will disguise the criminal acts by saying "Voters like President Obama but they want balance among the three branches".
      ...and nothing will come of investigations of ROVIAN REPUBLICAN ELECTION FRAUD.

      Delete
  4. The Republicans are going for broke to try to divide and conquer the union movement and collective bargaining. Huge amounts of money are being spent nationally by the likes of the Kochs and Bradleys to try to do this.
    Divide the unions by taking collective bargaining rights away from public sector unionists and private sector unionists. Dividing those factions is a strong blow to unionism in general.
    I last heard union workers comprise about 14% of the total U.S. workforce, a big chunk of those being public sector.
    Wisconsin is pretty much the kingpin state for public sector unionism. If they can beat it there, then the other states will follow.
    This is a hard task for them to accomplish, and have to try to do it cloaked in secrecy, using any means (legal or otherwise) necesssary to accomplish their goal.
    As for 2016, I think your projection is right (Walker has made his name being anti-union). Politics has gotten so bad in recent years that the Republicans figure all they need to come up with as a viable candidate is they're photogenic (Ryan, Walker, Kleefish, Sean Duffy, etc.) or have name recognition (Thompson, etc.). They don't have to be intelligent or principled, just something to sell to voters using all their money to buy their election.
    Ryan now says he's the hometown boy wonder, and people know him.
    Yes they do--as a Beltway insider politician who lies and distorts everything he says.
    Scott's a great idea man. Deep down I think he realises his ship is sinking, and he's starting to get desperate, go for broke.
    I hope the GOP follows Walker's advice--he's such a great leader at going backwards down the drain.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Feingold 2014? He'll be rested and ready to go.

    By then Walker will have either been indicted or set a modern record for the most times a sitting Governor of any state has invoked the Fifth Amendment.

    School systems statewide will be in a shambles due to Republican aid cuts and our economy will still be lagging the national one significantly. Walker will be toast due his own policies and incompetence.

    Walker may dream of running for President in 2016 but two-ton Chris Christie already is. Walker may be a rock star with a few billionaires but compared to Christie he is a lightweight.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good call on Christie.

    ReplyDelete
  7. And the Democrats are clean and have done such an awesome job of giving us the change the voters wanted. Welcome to the United Socialist States!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, they're creating jobs where Republicans are losing them. The Dems are promoting justice while Repugs are pushing for suppression.

      In sum, while not perfect, the Dems are a hellsight better than the Repugs.

      Delete
    2. Lisa, I assume you tossed out the word 'socialism' because you have no idea how to formulate your own ideas. Regurgitating Fox News talking points much be a lot easier than thinking for yourself.

      Delete
  8. Yes the people who perpetually use the word socialism do not understand what it even means....

    ReplyDelete