RoJo Calls Gov Haley An Immigrant And Says Other Dumb Things

Ron Johnson, Our Dumb Senator from Wisconsin, lived up to this moniker during a radio interview on WSAU, a radio station in Wausau, when he called South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley an immigrant:

Asked about the possibility of Haley getting a backlash from supporters of Donald Trump for her jab at the GOP presidential candidate during the response, Johnson said Wednesday, “That may be, but let’s face it. No two people agree on everything. And Governor Haley is an immigrant. She has powerful stories of being an immigrant. And experiencing discrimination herself. And so she’s obviously gonna react different to somebody who’s never experienced that. I tend to align myself more with Governor Haley’s comments on the issue.”

Haley, whose parents are Indian immigrants, was born in South Carolina.

But have no fears, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came to his rescue, giving RoJo the chance to call it a "honest mistake" and that he "just misspoke." The paper is very good at minimizing the gaffes and mistakes made by Republicans.

However, this was one of the times that they should have just stopped there. But they didn't and let RoJo come up with a couple more head-scratchers.

One is this:

Johnson was in Milwaukee on Friday to discuss health care during a meeting with members of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Assocation of Commerce. Johnson favors the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, in favor of a health care system that injects more "free-market discipline."

"I'm not saying every word of Obamacare is awful," Johnson said.

BTW, the MMAC is the Milwaukee's local right wing money bank that has been supporting the likes of RoJo and Scott Walker. I'm sure RoJo saying anything remotely nice about Obamacare didn't fly well with them.

Another dumb thing from Our Dumb Senator is when he tried to explain away the fact that many Wisconsinites still don't know who he is, even after being in office for over five years:

"Why does a pretty good chunk of Wisconsin not know enough about me to have an opinion? I view it as an opportunity but it's also easily explainable," Johnson said. He indicated voters have paid intense attention to other political figures, including Gov. Scott Walker, who won a recall election and then re-election to a second term, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Janesville congressman who was the GOP vice presidential candidate in 2012.

Johnson said he has worked hard to get around the state to talk with constituents and explain his positions.

"I've put myself out there," he said. "I've certainly honored the two promises I've made: always tell you the truth: never vote with my re-election in mind."

It's Scott Walker's fault that no one knows RoJoWho? One would think that if anything, Walker would help lift his fellow Republicans. That it didn't work for RoJoWho tells us that either RoJo was distancing himself from Walker or vice versa. Either way, I can't say that I blame them.

Finally, as a double bonus, if RoJo was indeed telling the truth - at least how he sees it - he truly is dumb and/or slightly insane. Also, if voting as your pay masters tell you how to vote isn't voting for your next reelection, I don't know what is.

Maybe that's why Russ Feingold has been maintaining a double point lead over RoJoWho in the polls all this time.

Walker Says "See My Policies", Forgets He Has None

From TPM:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Monday directed Fox News viewers to his campaign website to see where he stands on certain issues, yet his website appears to lack a clear landing page where supporters can read about the presidential candidate's policy stances and proposals.

While discussing the media's focus on Donald Trump on Fox News' "America's Newsroom," Walker said that people should focus on the details of the candidates' policy ideas.

"The overall media frenzy across this country, from one network to the next, is focusing on one person when we really should be talking about what we’re for and what plans we have to make this country great again. I hope people join us at ScottWalker.com and see the details, not about what we think about another candidate, but what we think about making this country great again," Walker said.

The article points out that Politico found Walker's website to be wanting:

Scott Walker
Issue page? No
What's online: There's a chance to "Meet Scott" via a bio page subtitled: "Humble Beginnings. Bold Ideas." On his news page are links to campaign statements slamming President Obama's climate change regulations and Hillary Clinton's Cuba policy. Visitors can also pick up a $299 personalized autographed copy of Walker's latest book. But what they can't find is anything definitive or substantive about what the Wisconsin governor would do in the White House.

Apparently, his webmaster couldn't figure out how to post flip-flopping and punting as policies.

But being the helpful kind of guy that I am, here is a link to Walker's actual policies page.

Walker Clarifies Foreign Policy With Double Speak, Gaffes

Scott Walker has been traveling the country, trying to convince people that a couple of sight seeing tours in Europe and boldly running away from protesters armed with signs makes him a foreign policy wonk.

And as a self-proclaimed foreign policy expert, Walker has been echoing George Bush by saying we need to take the fight to the bad guys, preferably in some oil-rich country like Iran, no doubt.

This past weekend, while campaigning in New Hampshire, Walker started to back pedal from the hawkish rhetoric by using double speak, citing Saint Ronnie and another one of his growing lists of gaffes:

Tough talk about taking on America's foes has been a staple of Gov. Scott Walker's rhetoric in the run-up to his likely presidential bid.

But on a weekend swing here, he mixed his fighting words with some qualifiers.

He's not for "open-ended excursions," he told GOP activists on a cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee.

"We don't need to get into open-ended, endless engagements," he said at a banquet speech in Manchester.

"I don't think we should be the world's policeman," he told his audience at the Snowshoe Club in Concord. "I don't think we should go in everywhere."

Those caveats seemed designed to assure voters that, amid the hawkish talk about facing down Vladimir Putin and eradicating the Islamic State, Walker, a foreign policy novice, isn't overeager to use military force.

Asked by a reporter about those statements, Walker cited his political hero, Ronald Reagan, arguing Reagan was able to use U.S. troops with restraint because he built up the military and "people knew that he would use force if needed."

He told reporters Saturday: "Now we face a different foe today than we faced then, and I think we're going to need to use multiple ways. But I just want people to know that while I'm ready to be firm, my first intention, my first instinct, isn't to send in military forces. But I'm certainly not going to rule it out."

Wait! Wut? "Open-ended excursions?"

Either Walker meant to say incursions or he was comparing going to war to a pleasure cruise. Either way, that should make anyone nervous at the thought of him leading the world's most powerful military.

Even though Walker is unable and/or unwilling to give a straight answer, we can make a pretty safe prediction based on Walker's past behaviors.

At the beginning of Walker's first term as governor, said he was willing to bargain with public sector workers. Then he dropped the Act 10 bomb on the state, taking away the unions' bargaining rights.

Likewise, while campaigning for his second term, Walker dismissed the notion that he'd sign off on Right to Work. He signed the Wage Theft bill at the first opportunity.

Walker also said that abortion should be a decision between a woman and her doctor but has since pushed for and signed some of the most restrictive anti-choice laws in the country.

In other words, if Walker says he's against something, the safe bet is that he'll go with it as soon as he can.

So when it comes to putting boots on the ground in another country, even though he says it's not "his first instinct," he'll have troops invading Iran before he finishes with his inauguration.

H/T to James Rowen for the gaffe catch.

Scott Walker - Rather Intimidated Actually

While Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and then as Governor of Wisconsin, he has enjoyed the privilege of being treated with kid gloves by the corporate media. Even as he was the subject of two separate John Doe investigations into various scandalous activities, the media would often minimize or even ignore his involvement into the skulduggery.

It was only when he left this bubble to run for president that Walker started to be challenged on things. Showing that he is not ready for prime time, Walker has been quite the gaffe machine, including things like:

• Getting called out by other right wingers on his lousy job numbers
• Punting on a question about evolution
• Being unable and/or unwilling to discuss foreign policy
• Refusing to say that President Obama loves America
• Refusing to say that President Obama is a Christian
• Comparing Wisconsin protesters to ISIS terrorists and claiming that this made him qualified to deal with the terrorists

Walker has become quite flustered with the realization that he is going to have to know things, be able to answer questions that don't necessarily follow his script and - worst of all - tell the truth (or a reasonable facsimile thereof).

Apparently, Walker does not feel he is up to that challenge and so has taken on a different type of punting - by running away from those awful "gotcha" media types:

At his first public event in Wisconsin six days after that, a speech to hundreds at a state chamber of commerce event in Madison, Walker didn't take questions. His spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said that he was sick, and Walker referenced having "a little bit of a cold" before delivering a 25-minute speech.

Reporters were kept at a distance on Monday when Walker signed a right-to-work bill into law at an invite-only event outside of Milwaukee. Patrick said Tuesday that his comments at the event spoke for themselves.

The governor also left an Ag Summit in Iowa on Saturday without taking reporters' questions. A spokeswoman for Walker's Our American Revival committee said he was too busy "running from event to event."

Walker has never shown any fear in standing before the press, even under very uncomfortable circumstances.

I wonder if he has resorted to again retreating to his bunker under the state capitol so that he can rule remotely.

Ironically, Walker had written a piece of fiction, er, autobiography, called "Unintimidated." It turns out that he is anything but that.

Sadly, none of this will slow down Walker much. If he is good at anything, it is knowing how to monetize his incompetence.

Another Day Another Religious Gaffe By Scott Walker

Just a couple of days ago, Scott Walker became a national laughingstock when it was reported that he signed a letter to a constituent with "Thanks again and Molotov."

Now, another religious gaffe by Walker has surfaced.

Last month, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Walker tried to justify his refusal to expand Medicaid in Wisconsin by saying:

“It’s probably not fair to ask the son of a preacher to use biblical metaphors,” Walker said. “My reading of the Bible finds plenty of reminders that it’s better to teach someone to fish than to give them fish if they’re able. . . . Caring for the poor isn’t the same as taking money from the federal government to lock more people into Medicaid.”

Blogger Chris Walker (no relation to the governor) caught the gaffe and pointed out that Walker was actually citing a Chinese proverb and not a Bible verse.

Walker (the blogger, not the despot) goes on to point out that Bible actually contradicts what Walker (the despot, not the blogger) is trying to argue.

That's gotta be rather embarrassing to the preacher's son.

But there's more.

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finally got around to reporting on this gaffe and contacted Team Walker who had a curious response:

Team Walker disagrees.

"The governor specifically says it’s in his reading of the Bible," said Laurel Patrick, press secretary for Walker. "He’s not quoting scripture."

Well, doesn't that clear nothing up? He's citing the Bible but not the Bible? Huh?

The one thing we do know is that not only did Scott Walker drop out of college, he apparently dropped out of Sunday School too.

Cross posted at Crooks and Liars

Corporate Media Tries To Cover Up Walker's Molotov Gaffe

By now, the gentle reader has probably heard about the gaffe by Scott Walker, found by the good folks at One Wisconsin Now, in which he signed a letter "Thank you again and Molotov."  The story has pretty much gone viral across the nation, including Jeff Simpson's coverage of the story at this here blog.

Unsurprisingly, the corporate media once again steps in to minimize the bad news for Walker.

First look at the coverage by Jessie Opoien from the Cap Times:

Presumably, Walker meant to write "mazel tov" and didn't intend to wish good tidings of incendiary weapons. Perhaps it was a case of AutoCorrect or that pesky Microsoft Word paperclip causing shenanigans.

Opoien then goes on to list other gaffes to show this one wasn't so bad on the grand scheme of things.

Things get ridiculous when one looks at the story by Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Walker, however, downplayed the mistake on Wednesday. He said that the letter probably dated back a decade and said he couldn’t remember if it went out in that form.

“My guess is it was a typo,” Walker said. “I figured nationally my thumb has healed up and my bald spot is boring now, so they’re going to talk about things like that.”

[...]

Walker's mistake could have been the result of Auto Correct, the program that offers sometimes not-so-helpful edits to misspelled words, even though the note to Gimbel appears to be a formal letter.

Microsoft Word doesn't have an automatic correction function. But if you type mozoltov -- a phonetic spelling of mazel tov -- Microsoft will suggest "molotov" as an alternative spelling.

The truth is that Walker really is that spelling-impaired.

As evidence, I would remind the gentle reader of Walker's tribute to Abraham Lincoln that was so strewn with spelling errors that it would give an English teacher a migraine:

Walker the historian gives us a comment on Lincoln's most famous speech, and misspells a great man's name twice in the process:

"At (sic) his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln famously said, 'Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal' This was not just lip service, as evidenced from the words of contemporaries like Frederick Douglas (sic), former slave and early civil rights leader. Douglas (sic) said Lincoln was 'the first great man that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color.'"

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Walker's screed against the Democrats, disguised as a tribute to Lincoln, goes on to say, "This sediment (sic) that all men are is equal is evidenced in the Republican Party's current platform of equal taxes on all, and opportunity for all regardless of race, gender, or age ... Contrast that with the tenants (sic) of the (sic) Barack Obama and the Democrat (sic) party ... "

Obviously, Walker isn't the brightest flame on the Menorah.  This wasn't a typo or an errant spell check.  It was just more evidence that Walker's poor cognitive skills.

Sadly, this isn't the first time Bice has done something like this.

Bice also wanted people to think that the reason he had fired Taylor Palmisano wasn't because of the infamous Black Friday fundraising email but because of some racist tweets she had made three years before, but just happened to coincidentally surface at the same time as the story about the email.

Walker's Two Employment Gaffes

In Friday night's debate between Scott Walker and Mary Burke, Walker had two major gaffes when it comes to his dismal record regarding jobs and workers.

The first gaffe, as my friend karoli points out, came when Walker said that we don't have a job a work problem."  In other words, there's plenty of jobs out there, it's just that we Sconnies are too stupid, too lazy and/or are all druggies and can't fill those jobs.
problem, we have "

Fortunately, someone at Team Burke was actually on the ball and jumped on this gaffe:

On Saturday, Burke pounced on the comment during an appearance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"I don't know how many of you watched the debate last night, but Governor Walker said in the debate that he didn't think Wisconsin had a jobs problem. Right?" Burke said. "Well, I want to be a governor who acknowledges the challenges that we have and is going to focus on the ideas that are going to move us ahead and will make sure that Wisconsin has a vibrant, growing, thriving economy so that when you graduate from college, there are going to be job opportunities for you to be able to stay in this state."

Democrats appeared eager to provide their own spin on Walker's statement, suggesting that the governor was somehow saying that anyone who really wants to work could find a job in Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, they miss the fact that the real problem isn't a skills gap, but a pay gap. We have a lot of skilled workers, but the companies don't want to pay the workers a fair wage. Therein is the real problem. If the companies would show a little respect and pay a fair wage, they would have more applicants than what they know what to do with.

The other gaffe, as I pointed out at Crooks and Liars, came during Walker's closing statement, when he said:

"You know, a lot has changed over the past four years. Think about it, we have the lowest employment rate we've had, well, since almost six years ago."

How about that?! Walker finally admitted that his agenda is not working - for us anyway.

Oh, I know that his apologists will point to the state having a supposed 5.8% unemployment record, but I addressed that issue as well:

Along with his other ALEC-driven policies, Walker and his Teapublican allies in the state legislature set about to screw with the unemployed.

Even though new unemployment claims were at an all time high, Walker understaffed the call center for unemployment compensation. Hey, if people can't get through, they can't file claims and thus they can't be counted as unemployed.

Then Walker and friends put an even tighter squeeze on the unemployed. They passed changes to the rules to make it harder to get unemployment compensation, wait up to six weeks for the first check if one was approved and made it harder to keep receiving benefits. Showing what cowards they are, they made these changes without so much as a public hearing.

Nothing like kicking people when they're down.

Now it's time for Wisconsin voters to kick him down and out.*

*Geez, I hope I don't get accuse of plagiarism now!

Paul Ryan's Definition of Gun Control

It's funny because it's true:

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXII

Gee, who didn't see this one coming?

First, Scott Walker takes gives every public sector worker in the state a massive pay cut, thereby reducing their income and hence the amount they pay in income tax.  

On top of that, the public sector workers have their personal budgets cut to the breaking point, meaning they have a lot less buying power and thus are not spending as much.  This leads to a predictable cut in sales tax revenue for the state.

This then leads to ripple effects, where local businesses that depend on people's discretionary spending start feeling the pinch and end up laying off people or closing up shop, leaving everyone out of work.

And if that wasn't enough, Walker's "pro-business climate" is turning out to be anything but that, and the state loses nearly 50,000 jobs in the first six months that Walker's budget has been in effect.  What is obvious to everyone but Walker and his apologists is that all of these laid off people also aren't going to be paying as much in income tax or sales tax, thereby keeping the downward spiral continuing.

Eventually all of that money that's no longer being spent, since he gave it all to big corporations that only use it to enhance their profit margin, will come back to have a very bad effect on the state budget.

That day of reckoning came today.

The State Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that this loss of revenue is causing the state to lose $216 million dollars when compared to previous projections.  That means that Walker's "balanced budget" is facing a deficit of $143 million.

And amazingly, Walker continues on with the same worn out cliche that "Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."  

When I heard that line, the first thought that I had, and still have, is that of when John McCain, running for the President of the United States, said that the "economy is fundamentally sound" as the Lehman Brothers went belly up, the stock market started to crash and the full impact of the Great Recession was being felt.

I hope Walker has the same success with his gaffe as McCain did with his.

Then once Walker is ousted, maybe the real healing could begin.