May I suggest then, that as you claim to have been to Madison many times, and to be familiar with the local landscape, that you are overlooking two issues:
1) the concerns of a governor usually don’t touch on national issues, or if they *do*, his take more closely reflects either the effects of that issue LOCALLY, or the opinions of that state’s voters (Wisconsin borders Canada, not Mexico, so Walker’s feedback on illegal immigration might not be the same as it would be from voters in Dallas or Albequerque)
2) “You dance with the ones who brung you” — most governors have their own political team...I read that Walker had worked with Liz Mair before; can you confirm?
If not, he did a rookie mistake during the vetting; if he had, he threw her under the bus quickly: whether for a tin ear, offending Iowans, or for being pro-amnesty while he was trying to go secure-borders.
(Yes, it might happen to be a flip-flop, but :
1) if he’s throwing campaign workers under the bus for contradicting the message, that’s more than most flip-floppers do, which is either change the subject, or attack the person pointing out their hypocrisy)...
2) at least he’s flopping to the more conservative direction on this one...
Back to you.
(What was your daughter’s PhD in? Mine is in molecular physics...)
Cheers!
” the concerns of a governor usually don’t touch on national issues”
Not always however that doesn’t mean that the governor doesn’t have an opinion. I’m sure he did as he certainly had one when he signed an immigration resolution as county executive of Milwaukee. He also has been speaking about his opinions on amnesty at least since 2013 in interviews.
While immigration issues were not in the forefront of his campaigns for governor and of course not the recall election Walker is more than aware of farmer’s concerns in WI for cheap labor. WI farms higher a lot of immigrants.
Common Core and gay marriage are national issues and they certainly were being discussed as issues in WI. I think the Act 10 issue was so huge that little else was being discussed except for maybe jobs at the time.
“If not, he did a rookie mistake during the vetting”
I can’t remember if I made any comment in this thread about that issue. You’ll have to refresh my memory but I also read that she had worked for him before and considered her a friend. It was a bad choice that is for sure. A rookie mistake? I don’t consider Walker a rookie. He has been politically active since his college years.
How long does it take for one of his staff to look up her on facebook or twitter? Sloppy work. Perhaps they didn’t think it would be an issue. Perhaps it wasn’t when he was running for gov. but they probably learned the hard way that it sure would be now.
I’ve read Walker’s book and I get the impression that he is a lot like GW Bush in that respect. He likes to hire friends and considers his employees like family. That’s not always the best way to run a tight ship. It makes it difficult to fire someone when they are a friend.
Walker has had problems with staff in the past. My impression is that hiring is not his strong suit.
“(What was your daughter’s PhD in? Mine is in molecular physics...)”
Music Theory. She started at UW Whitewater, got her masters at Florida State and finished in Madison.
Oh the stories she told about living there and the things that went on at the University. It’s not easy to be a conservative and go to school there. She was afraid she wouldn’t make it unless she pretended to be a democrat. So she did. It’s a nasty place but I think DC is probably a lot worse in many ways. They just may be a bit more sophisticated about it but I can’t say I’ve spent much time in DC. Just a family sight-seeing trip when I was a kid.
Wisconsin doesn't border on Canada, next-door neighbors Minnesota and Michigan do.
But Texas sure as hell borders on Mexico! They used to overlap .... we got a war out of that one, and now the Messkins are trying to overlap us again.
Pardon our tetchiness on the subject of whether someone is trying to finesse that issue by talking around it, while his K Street buddies put the finishing touches on legislation that will dig the GOP's grave.