Sunday, March 15, 2015

Scott Walker and the Gridiron Club Dinner

On Saturday night, Scott Walker made a stop during his non-campaign presidential campaign tour at the Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, an event where corporate politicians and corporate media get together for an evening of zinging themselves and each other.

Even before Walker got there, he got his chops busted on his inability to answer even the simplest of questions:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a 2016 GOP presidential hopeful who has bemoaned media coverage of the race, was also attending.

“We had to make some concessions to get Gov. Scott Walker to appear,” Page said. “His people asked us to avoid gotcha questions—meaning no questions that end with a question mark.”
At the dinner, Walker tried out his brand of humor:
"I want to get this out of the way once and for all," Walker said at the outset of his remarks. "I believe President Obama loves America and every single American in it. Except for Rudy Giuliani."

That was a reference to Giuliani's comment at a Walker reception that he didn't think Obama loved America, and the way Walker handled questions about the incident.
Well, that was rather lame. Obama was much better in his response to that gibe when he said that of course he loved America - that's why he moved here from Kenya.

But Walker did get better when it came to himself:
The governor also touched more than once on his failure to graduate from college.

"My goal tonight is to speak for 10 minutes. But don't worry. Once I get three quarters of the way through, I'll drop out," he said.
Sadly, Walker then dropped the ball again when he went after Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton:
Walker poked fun at both Republicans and Democrats, joking about Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

"Jeb Bush isn't here (tonight)," Walker told dinner guests. "Although I see that his campaign Brinks Truck is parked outside. Hillary Clinton isn't here tonight. When I asked why, I was told you couldn't afford her."
Instead of being funny, Walker revealed his deep-seated hypocrisy.

It's hard for Walker to be taken seriously when he's complaining about other candidates' campaign finances. During the recall of 2012, Walker raised $30.5 million, most of that coming from out of state donors like the Koch Brothers. One donor, Diane Hendricks, the woman seen in the video pushing Walker to make Wisconsin a right to work state, gave Walker more than a half million dollars alone.

During the 2014 election, Walker was able to raise more than $8 million in just the first half of the year, an was well over $10 million by election day.

None of that money includes the money he had channeled to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, with whom he collaborated and used as another arm of his campaign.

Even now, Walker continues to skirt campaign election laws by using a 527 group to run his presidential campaign.

The best line of the night came from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe:
“I’m sure Governor Walker has some really neat accomplishments,” said Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. “I mean, it’s literally been years since his own constituents tried to recall him.”

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