Walker's Third Commercial = Walker's Third Strike

Scott Walker, feeling the pressure from Mark Neumann's running of commercials and passing him up in the polls in most parts of the state, starting running his own series of commercials, with little benefit to his campaign thus far.

Neumann running these commercials, by the way, was a brilliant move. It helped get his name out there even though the Republican machine was trying to keep him out of the gubernatorial race. It not only got his name out there, but also helped him take the lead over Walker in the entire state outside of the Milwaukee area. It is also causing Walker to spend his money running his own ads now, which is severely depleting his war chest, judging from the flier we received today.

All of Walker's commercials are based on a scheme that he bought, at a fairly steep price, off an advertising firm that first used it for a gubernatorial race in Ohio in the 1990s. This gimmick, using a brown lunch bag as its symbol, is supposed to convince people of his frugality and fiscal responsibility. So far, the only people I've seen really buying into it are the ones that he pays.

In Walker's first commercial, he told people that he cut his pay because he felt his salary was too high. Well, given the amount of time he has actually spent working instead of campaigning, I guess I would have to agree with that. Even when he was here, all Walker could manage to do was muck things up time and time again.

The problem with Walker's first commercial was that he was lying. While he did give back part of his pay, he never did cut his salary. Not only that, but the AP did a story showing that he was quite the spendthrift with his campaign dollars, going to some very expensive restaurants and running up tabs in the thousands of dollars.

Walker's second commercial was also a whiff of the bat. In that commercial, he tried to convince the listener that he is so frugal that he packs his own bag lunch to save money. That might have sold a little better if he was standing in what appeared to be a newly-remodeled kitchen that was huge, bigger than many apartments. Also note that he is not so frugal that he won't buy real butter or leave all the food just laying out on the counter.

His third commercial is his third strike at the frugality charade. In this commercial, he tells us that he is still driving a 1998 Saturn which has over 100,000 miles on it. At first glance, one might say, "Wow!" But when you think about it, it's not all that honest or awesome.

First of all, he is in the middle of his second statewide campaign and was a state legislator for ten years. There is no way he used that car during all this time and only put on 8,000 miles a year. The Walker's obviously own at least one other car, and there is no telling what kind that is or how new it is, or how often they replace it. Then their is his infamous Harley that he uses for his campaign tourism rides around the state each year. And let us not forget the two or three county cars that are always at his beck and call, and the staffer that drives him around.

Then there are the plane rides that he gets, even though his campaign doesn't apparently feel they need to pay full price for the rides.

This commercial was such a swing and miss that the DPW was able to already get their counter-commercial out that nails him on his expensive dining habits:



But all of Walker's act of pretending that he is frugal while he actually spends like there is no tomorrow starting to trigger a memory for me. I knew I saw something like this before. Then it dawned on me. I do believe I know where he is getting his "frugality" talking points from:



Yeah, that does sound a lot like Walker, doesn't it?