Posted on 02/23/2015 6:49:26 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
My take on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as a presidential candidate is that he’s enviably capable of having it both ways: an acceptable-to-the-GOP-establishment figure who’s also exciting to the conservative base because (a) his blue-state context makes him look more radical than would similar positions and behaviors in a red state, and (b) his electoral record in Wisconsin gives him an electability argument based on confrontation rather than compromise or outreach.
But even before officially announcing a presidential run, Walker’s showing signs of stepping on his own image of relative ideological moderation (essential to his Establishment acceptability and MSM approbation) and of courageous if not hammer-headed convictions (essential to all Republicans). His habit of saying “I don’t know” to base-bait questions, whether it’s the theory of evolution, Barack Obama’s patriotism or Barack Obama’s Christianity, isn’t pleasing anybody.
And that’s why Brother Benen is right that the kind of questions Walker has been evading are indeed a test of his leadership ability—maybe not for all presidential candidates but definitely for this one. A wishy-washy Scott Walker isn’t what any of his admirers is bargaining for. Such perceptions undermine all the credit he’s been given by all kinds of Republicans for fixing his sights on unions and public spending as the key reasons for Wisconsin’s allegedly sluggish economy, and letting nothing stand in his way in going after them. I mean, really: could it be that the guy who’s endured death threats for standing up for his principles can’t answer simple questions?
My guess is that the evolution and Is-Obama-a-Christian vacillations are particularly damaging to his Establishment street cred, since one of the reason corporate types like him is that while he’s a conservative evangelical who talks regularly with God about his political objectives, he’s mostly focused on the pan-Republican goal of clearing away obstacles to “job creators.” The news about Walker ought to be that he’s on the brink of double-crossing 2014 voters by pushing through a right-to-work statute in Wisconsin, further aligning his state with those job-creating paradises of the Deep South. Instead we’re wondering if Walker thinks dinosaurs walked the earth not too long ago or if he subscribes to Pope Erick Erickson’s anathemas against anyone who doesn’t believe in scriptural inerrancy.
If Walker doesn’t get his act together those earlier comparisons to him as a nastier version of Tim Pawlenty could come back.
Smart very Smart, and Honest at the same time
He doesn’t know, so he says so
I’ve watched him under fire for the past 4 years, and this is how he operates. Very strategic, picks his battles, stays focused. Wins. Tangible results are what sets Gov. Walker apart from senators whose main accomplishments have been speeches.
WANNABE HILLARY LET AMERCANS KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT HER POLITICAL AGENDA As she hopscotched around the country to the tune of $300,000 per hop---Hillary craftily held back her political game-plan to her audiences.......to avoid scrutiny.
BUT THIS WE KNOW FOR SURE---A HILLARY PRESIDENCY WILL PERMIT UNLIMITED ACCESS TO UNBORN BABIES RESIDING IN WOMEN'S VAGINAS
In her cunning little fem-lib brain Hillary will exploit the "women's vote"----launching new initiatives to promote late-term abortions. Hillary might even announce a high-sounding "Woman's Equality Caucus"-----merely a subterfuge for late- term abortion expansion programs designed to further the Democrats' national “war on women” campaign theme.
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The Abortion Worshipping Clintons have a Master Plan---everybody knows in politics, to burnish one's bona fides in order to get higher office, a pol has to spoon-feed the snarling "choice" crowds more and more red meat.
Will Hillary demand medical reports and checkoffs for newborns w/ diseases----toddlers who have bow legs, 3-4 year olds who won't put away their toys, the ones who won't toilet-train? Will a Hillary presidency troll kindergartens for kids who don't color within the lines---all of them marked for post-birth abortions.
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BACKSTORY Opportunistic Billy-boy Clinton hoped "stupid Americans" would ignore the details when he pontificated to an appreciative audience during the cocktail hour hosted by POLITICO: "We had 100 times as many people move from poverty into the middle class. This shows the importance of policy."
Pumping 2016 Hillary, he added: "We can do this again.”
OOPS---Billy Boy plumb "forgot" infamous MIT Professor -Jonathan Gruber crunched those numbers for the ever-ambitious Clintons....basing the numbers on the Clintons' knee-bending abortion worship. Read on.
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World Net Daily reported November 14, 2014
BY Jerome R. Corsi / FR Posted by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK – Obamacare architect, Jonathan Gruber, (exposed for his frank admissions that passing Obama's signature legislation required lying to "stupid" Americans)......published a paper during the Clinton administration observing that legalizing abortion saved the government $14B in assistance to economically disadvantaged mothers, including African Americans.....and lowered crime.
MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber argued in his Clinton paper that without the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, “marginal children” would have been born to many poor mothers. Gruber said statistics show these aborted children would have been 70 percent more likely to live in a single-parent family, 40 percent more likely to live in poverty, 50 percent more likely to receive welfare and 35 percent more likely to die as an infant.
Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner in their bestselling 2005 book, “Freakonomics,” relied on MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber’s work to argue that legalizing abortion was responsible for an approximately 50 percent reduction of crime in major urban centers in the early 1990s. more at wnd.com ==
I’m not a bandwagoneer as you can tell.
I like Walker, but am suspicious of all GOP since most of them have betrayed the citizens when it comes to the invasion.
The last 4 Presidential elections have been amnesty vs amnesty.
I’d like to vote for something else this time.
Your sole purpose here seems to be to bash Walker, who do you work for noob?
Will somebody pay me to do this?
How do I apply for that?
My sole purpose is to get a candidate to vote for that won’t betray the citizens.
Haven’t had that opportunity since Reagan.
Your Amnesty mantra is lame. SW will be the nominee and the next President.
If he did not want the attention, he should not have made the speech in Iowa which signaled his interest in running for president.
Whom do you recommend should be elevated as a target - you mean like a decoy? No other person running for president would raise their hand to become a target, so I assume you mean like a decoy. You mean like Giuliani should purposely make a speech and statements to take the attention away from Walker. Ok..what about the second week and then the third week. Who is going to make a controversial speech the second week, etc.
This is worth repeating.
Can you name one single thing Walker has done in WI to support illegals? What action has he taken to do that?
Since when is “I don’t know the answer” a “vacillation?”
What Walker REALLY is doing is frustrating the left “media’s” attempts to divide and conquer, and he just won’t allow himself to be pulled in that direction.
And that... pisses... them.... off.
Exactly. The GOP candidate needs to ignore the press questions and stick to specific key points. Instead of answering if Obama’s patriotic or Christian, just say something like, let’s just say I wouldn’t put him in the same class of patriots like Ronald Reagan, Ben Franklin or George Washington. Patriotic is a relative term. I look at actions, history....not slogans and buzz words. He should take that poor old woman florist (being destroyed by the rainbow mafia) on tour with him. Does anyone even know what she looks like? Well, Americans need to see her face every day and be forced to wonder why she is being persecuted by the democrat party. Demand that Obama answer questions about whether individuals - including business owners- still have religious liberty in this country.
Excellent answer.
And yet they accepted the "don't know" answer when Obama said he didn't know about Jeremiah Wright's sermons after sitting in his church for 20 years.
-PJ
You are way too emotionally invested in Walker this early.
He hasn’t even formally announced he’s running yet.
If he has the same position as Jeb, Rubio, McCain, Graham, and most of the GOP that have sold their souls to The Cheap Labor Express on the invasion, will you be as enthusiastic to give away your country?
I am confident and enthusiastic about the Man and the Candidate. Ideological purity is not my goal. SW is a Traditional Values American, a Fighter and a Winner. For the time being that is good enough for me.
I don't mind being challenged on my choice, but the single issue obsessiveness and Ideological Purity Standards used to attack SW are growing tedious.
Compromise early and often.
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