Pop Goes The Weasel!

As the gentle reader knows, unless they just woke up from a coma, Scott Walker has ended his campaign. On Monday evening, he boldly gave his preemptive concession speech. (BTW, am I the only one that just died laughing when someone broke out in applause when he said he was quitting?)

When Walker formally announced his campaign a scant ten weeks ago, he said that God told him to run. Now he is saying God is telling him to quit in order to lead the other Republican candidates to also quit so that they can unite behind one "positive" Republican who isn't Donald Trump:

"I was sitting in church yesterday, the pastor's words reminded me that the Bible is full of stories about people who were called to be leaders in unusual ways. Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately.

"I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same, so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner.

"This is fundamentally important to the future of the party, and more importantly to the future of our country.

And yes, the crazies and the postmortem analyses are already coming out of the woodwork.

Some of Walker's cult-like followers are suggesting that Walker is playing rope-a-dope, either angling for a brokered convention or just to come back into the field of play after enough people dropped out.

Liz Mair, who worked for Walker for less than 24 hours, came out firing even before he made the formal announcement, blaming Walker's advisors and a poor campaign strategy. She also alluded to a "big story" that Walker would be tied to that was about to break. One can only guess what this "big story" is, but a good guess would be that rumor about Walker's campaign manager, Rick Wiley, and allegations of his lewd and lascivious behavior.

While all of this is going on, the Koch Boyz have got to be wondering how do they go about getting back all of the money they had invested in Walker. They must be feeling really bitter that all of the Kochs' money and the Kochs' men couldn't put the weaselly Walker campaign back together again.

Now, like the gentle reader, I'm as happy as can be to see Walker fall flat on his weasel face. But I have to keep my joy tempered for a couple of reasons.

One, while the rest of the nation is off the hook for now, we still have to deal with Walker. And he's going to be extra ornery due to his national embarrassment.

Secondly, history has a tendency to repeat itself if we choose to ignore it.

I've mentioned before that Walker had made a run for governor in 2006 because God told him to. Walker pulled out early on in that race because he was getting no support and was getting no traction. Walker then continued to campaign for the next four years, making all his decision based not on what was good for Milwaukee County or anything else but on what would be the most politically advantageous for him. He then went on to win in 2010, with a little help from the Koch Boyz and a secret router.

So, celebrate for now, but hang on because we haven't yet seen the last of Richard Milhouse Walker to kick around any more.

Scott Walker*

As the gentle reader already knew, Scott Walker turned in another unimpressive performance at last week's GOP debate on CNN.

That poor showing, combined with all of his gaffes, blunders and boneheaded comments has led Walker to drop drastically in the polls. Walker was the driver of the GOP clown car just two months ago with a poll rating of 29 percent. Now, in the first poll since last week's debate, Walker has dropped all the way to less than one half of one percent:



Go ahead and savor that for a moment. I definitely am.

Even though Walker is somehow trying to claim that he actually won the debate, he had already scheduled a meeting with his major fundraisers and donors to calm their fears and try to get them to give even more.

Apparently the meeting didn't go very well. Walker's donors have decided to take matters in their own hands and are trying to push Walker's campaign manager, Rick Wiley, out the door:

Well, it appears as though Walker’s donors are unwilling to wait-and-see from the sidelines and have taken matters into their own hands in an effort to rescue the campaign from ending like one-time competitor Rick Perry’s.

According to Buzzfeed, “a number of Walker’s donors and supporters have been circulating a rumor about Wiley in recent days, apparently aimed at discrediting him and bringing about a shakeup in the organization … They also said an anonymous letter about Wiley is circulating in political and donor circles, though it is unclear where it originated.”

Walker spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski acknowledged the rumors but would not confirm any details. Kukowski said the rumor was false and insisted that the campaign would not be distracted by what she called a “sideshow.”

It is said that the rumor being spread involves some sort of lewd and lascivious behavior from Wiley. What has been confirmed is that Walker's donors and supporters are concerned that Wiley has been expanding the campaign faster than they have been bringing in money. Sources have said that there has been massive layoffs of Walker's campaign staff across the country because their money flow has dried up to a trickle.

Likewise, Walker continues to cancel events around the nation as he focuses on just Iowa and South Carolina, like that will help him in the long run.

All of this has left Walker with a nasty problem.

If he keeps Wiley on staff, he will lose a lot of his donors, some of whom are said to already been looking at other candidates to donate to, in order to hedge their bets.

If Walker gets rid of Wiley, or if Wiley "resigns," Walker's campaign will be viewed as being in disarray and he will lose donors and the confidence - and money - of the few supporters he still has.

Personally, I can't think of a better person for this to happen to.

Do not be surprised if Walker soon has a similar experience as when he pulled out of the 2006 gubernatorial race, when God spoke to him and told him to pull out of the race. God being, of course, the dark money backers that had been supporting him up to now.

The Walker Implosion

By Jeff Simpson


We know that Walker cancelled from being the keynote speaker at the California convention to spend time in Iowa.   Cancelling so late in the game, really left the California GOP in a lurch(they had to resort to getting crazy John Bolton) but we know from past history, that the only thing Scott Walker cares about is Scott Walker.

However, the California Republicans do not necessarily feel the same:

“Nothing says your campaign is in a downward spiral like when you skip literally hundreds of activists across the state who have bought tickets to see you speak,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director and former vice chair of the California Republican Party.
“Generally, people are understanding,” Fleischman added wryly, “that the guy’s campaign is imploding.”

We really have seen the end of Scott Walker's viability as a Presidential candidate, right now he is just milking our tax dollars, while he vacations around the country!

Let's hope when Scott Walker finally throws in the towel, his campaign manager Rick Wiley hitches up with another Republican quickly.



He has a few more crash and burns in him the way he helped bring down Scott Walker!

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.

The Scott Walker Degree

BY Jeff Simpson 

Scott Walker, who likes to campaign Al Dente, has changed his line about not having a college degree once again.   

What about not having a college degree?"I say I’m like the majority of people in America. I’m someone who went to college, had the opportunity in my senior year to go and take a job full-time, which was not the only reason I went to college, but one of the biggest reasons was to get a job. And the American Red Cross offered me a job my senior year, and I took it, thinking someday, maybe, I’d go back. But a few years later, I met my wonderful wife, Tonette, a year after that, we had Matthew, the year after that, we had Alex. And now like a lot of folks in America, you know, your family and your job take the time away from you from finishing it up. But I don’t think anybody -- and I’ve got a master’s degree in taking on the big-government special interests, and I think that is worth more than anything else that anybody can point to."

Once you get past the fact that he changes his life story more than Robert Van Winkle ever did, one interesting line stands out.  

and I’ve got a master’s degree in taking on the big-government special interests - Scott Walker

Well we at CogDis did some digging and we found a partial course listing of classes that Mr. Walker Had to take to earn his imaginary Master's degree.  

 How to please your boss, yet look independent 202:  This course we will teach you how to say one thing to the general public while spilling your true strategy to people who pay for that privilege. By the end of this class, you will learn how to soak millions out of rich widows.  

Kiss the right rings(there is lots of money in Las Vegas) 300:  This course will show you, how to fund raise nationally while traveling secretly.  The more advanced learners in this class, will learn how you can phone reporters in your home state, while traveling, to complain about "out of state special interests".



You have access to unlimited money, use it 220:   This class will show you how to do whatever you want in office because you have unlimited access to taxpayer money to hire lawyers.  If time allows, the student will also learn how to hire consultants to keep from having to make a decision on your own.



Meet the right people - 100:  This is a refresher course to help the student understand that the person you are nice to today, could grow up to become a Supreme Court Justice, who will not only suspend ethics rules to do your bidding but be willing to choke anyone who gets in the way!



You are always, always, always on - no one is bigger than your ambition 400 :  This is an upper level graduate course for those who are willing to do anything to become President of the United States.   This course will teach you to hire felons, snakes, and loons.  You will also learn the importance of hiring your donors to major positions within the Government and the equal importance of throwing them to the wolves the second you need a scapegoat.  Students will also learn that the more taxpayer money you can give to your friends, the more money they will give you.  



You can see with five classes last semester, Mr. Walker had a full course load but it allowed him to attain his imaginary masters degree.

Congrats to you Scott Walker,

Let's hope the walk you take to get this degree involves handcuffs and disgrace!