Monday, August 17, 2015

Scott Walker's Cognitive Dissonance About Dissidence



A few weeks ago, Scott Walker's campaign manager, Rick Wiley, made one of the most laughable statements in the presidential campaign season when he said that Walker was "a uniter."

Hmm, Wiley must have somehow missed the above video where Walker brags to billionaire Dianne Hendricks, one of Walker's biggest campaign donors, about how he is going to "divide and conquer" the workers in Wisconsin.

On Saturday, while stumping in Iowa, The Donald also brought up Walker's divisiveness. Walker's campaign quickly tried to poo-poo the idea:
Trump, who has overtaken Walker as the front-runner in the crucial state in recent polls, slammed the Republican governor and his record in Wisconsin, saying "there's tremendous dissension all over the state."

The real estate mogul said that economic growth under Walker has been "terrible."

Trump's comments echoed attacks he has made against Walker in recent weeks.

Until recently, polls showed Walker as the front-runner in Iowa and several other crucial early primary states. But several polls released in the wake of the first GOP debate have shown Walker dropping and Trump surging into a strong lead.

"His growth is terrible in terms of the state," Trump said. "There's tremendous dissension all over the state."

Walker campaign spokeswoman AshLee Strong responded in a statement: "As Governor Walker has said, these are the same failed Democrat talking points that voters rejected by electing him three times in four years. Governor Walker's record speaks for itself... The governor will continue to focus on the real opponent in this race, Hillary Clinton, as he shares his message of reform and results with the people of America."
Ah, so, according to Team Walker, there is no dissidence and we all love Walker.

Yet this is the same campaign that brags about how facing 100,000 protesters made Walker ready to take on ISIS. They also seem to forget about the nearly one million citizens who risked Walker's version of McCarthyism by signing the recall petition.

But Walker is right about the dissension in a warped sort of way.

The dissension against Walker is not just in Wisconsin but all across the country. We see this almost every time Walker stops at a restaurant or other eatery. Even the Walker-friendly Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had to admit that Walker has been facing protesters everywhere in the country where he's been campaigning:
But on the campaign trial, the Walker protests have varied in size, tone, content and flair.

When the governor boarded a GOP dinner cruise on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee in late May, environmental activists trailed him in a motorboat tugging a mock iceberg, holding signs that said, "Even moose understand climate change better than Scott Walker."

At another New Hampshire event, a young man and woman got Walker to pose with them and their pro-Walker sign, only to flip the sign around to show a mock $900 million check from the Koch Brothers to Walker as their photo was snapped.

When Walker stopped in south Philadelphia for cheesesteak sandwiches late last month, two protesters held up off-color signs that showed up in media images of the event. A driver circled the restaurant, yelling, "Go back to Wisconsin, Scott Walker! We don't want your cheese. We got cheese whiz!"

The lightning-rod quality of Walker's candidacy also surfaces in more random encounters.

During Walker's July visit to the Delavan McDonald's where he worked as a teenager, he was embraced by hometown friends and colleagues while a passing driver shouted at him while driving through the lot, calling him a four-letter word and a homophobe.
Perhaps Wiley was correct after all - Walker is a uniter.

He's uniting people all across the country to stand against his extreme Kochiness.

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