Posted on 02/17/2015 11:42:22 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"....This year, ahead of a competitive presidential primary, Walker is out to distinguish himself again, this time with an ambitious push against another pillar of liberal Wisconsin. According to the Washington Post,the Republican governor will slash $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system over the next two years,a 13 percent reduction in state funding.
Team Walker says it’s just bookkeeping, a simple cut that comes with an even exchange: a two-year tuition freeze and new flexibility for administrators who want to set pay scales and campus construction priorities. “These reforms will give the U.W. System the power to transform higher education in this state for the future by empowering leaders,protecting taxpayers,and promoting long-term stability,” said a spokeswoman for the administration in an email to the New York Times.......
...........That number is misleading. Sixty percent of U.W’s $6.1 billion budget is earmarked for research, athletics, and other purposes. Officials can’t move it or use it in place of state aid. When you count Walker’s cuts as a fraction of U.W’s discretionary budget, they jump from 2.5 percent of the whole to a full 6 percent, a small but substantial reduction......
.....Walker compared this push to his move against public-sector unions. “It’s very much like what we did four years ago,” he said. And he’s right. As policy and politics, this is a huge move. On the former, even a small cut means fewer faculty, larger classes, and fewer resources for the smaller satellites in the university system. And on the latter, Walker can stand as the fearless conservative warrior against a phalanx of liberal students, left-wing professors, and permissive bureaucrats. Every anti-Walker protest in Madison is another minute of b-roll for the governor’s primary ads, and every attack on his college record—or lack thereof—is just more anti-elitist fodder for debates and stump speeches...........
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
This columnist has already labeled Scott Walker a racially polarizing politician.
Divide and Conquer - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s divisive message for winning the White House
Ba Ba's sister ?
“$6.1 billion budget is earmarked for research, athletics, and other purposes. “
I don’t think Itemizing 2 and then a generality doesn’t do 6.1 billion justice.
Jamelle Bouie [I dropped the first letter of his first name]
My “Oops!” It’s Jamelle Bouie.
His punch line is that Walker is engaging in a “cultural war” and that by reacting the Left is giving Walker what he wants - “anti-elitist fodder” for his campaign, and that the Left hasn’t figured that out.
From that bit of analysis, I’d say Walker has them nicely boxed in.
"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has a double-digit lead over the rest of the GOP presidential field in early-voting Iowa in a new automated poll.
Walker pulls 24 percent[,] with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at 10 percent apiece, according to a new poll conducted by Gravis Marketing for the conservative website Town Hall.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) sits at 9 percent, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) at 7 percent, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) at 6 percent, Dr. Ben Carson at 5 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 4 percent and businesswoman Carly Fiorina at 3 percent.
In general election matchups, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to show strength in Iowa. She leads Walker 47 to 41 percent and has an edge against all of her other potential GOP foes.
The results are the latest to show Walker on the rise, though these are much better numbers for him than other recent surveys that have found no candidate higher than the mid-teens.
A recent NBC News/Marist poll found Walker at 15 percent, in third place behind Huckabee at 17 percent and Bush at 16 percent, while a late January Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll had him leading with 16 percent support and Paul at 15 percent.
The automated poll of 969 registered voters including 343 Republican primary voters used IVR phone software, was conducted Feb. 12-13, and has a 4 point margin of error for the overall poll."
It is very early, and Walker has a long way to fall.
If as a neighboring governor, Walker does not win Iowa in a landslide, it is hard to see how he could credibly continue as a supposed nation-wide conservative mantle bearer.
What are your predictions?
Who do you see winning a “landslide” in Iowa?
I am not sure anyone will win in a landslide. Ted has a great chance to do very well, and as an “outsider” in Iowa, and unlike Walker, that would be a huge accomplishment. That could very well springboard Ted nationwide very nicely. Of course, Ted will be facing the anti-conservative onslought from the GOPe.
Sen. Cruz is much better known to the electorate than Gov. Scott Walker, so the Left will be doing their best to define Walker. It will be interesting to watch these numbers as the primary gets closer.
I expect the Left will be going after both of them tooth and nail, non-stop.
And by doing so they, conservatives, incur the wrath of useless oxygen thieves like Bouie who demand that the gov. i.e. the American taxpayer subsidize their indolent ways. Simple as that.
The University system is so full of waste.
How much hidden cash was discovered last year?
Where professors are not seen and teach very little.
Where professors go off on their liberal progressive issues like minimum wage, etc.
Get real and teach real subjects with logical ideas.
It is about time to knock down the liberal elite and really teach for that students get a real education ( and not the liberal bias).
My fear is that conservatives will split their vote between Walker and Cruz in the Primary, while the GOPe organizes so that Bush wins.
Walker “cuts” U of Wis budget? Does that mean he is actually REDUCING the amount of money the university leeches are asking for in their budget request or, actually taking money out of the real budget? Is it a play on words?
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