RoJo Is Unsure Whether He'll Keep Campaign Promise

Politico is reporting that our dumb senator, RoJo, is unsure if he'll seek a third term or not:

Ron Johnson is embracing President Donald Trump as tightly as possible as he decides whether to run for reelection to a must-win Senate seat for Republicans.

Johnson, a steadfast Trump ally who has endeared himself to the president with his various investigative pursuits, is defending his approach, even as he faces a possible reelection campaign in a state that President-elect Joe Biden won in November. And Democrats are taking notice.

The Wisconsin Republican, who says he has not yet decided whether to seek a third term in 2022, has used his perch as the chairman of the Senate’s chief oversight body to investigate Trump’s political foes — from Hunter Biden to Hillary Clinton and the slew of Obama administration officials who launched the Russia probe — and is set to hold a hearing Wednesday on alleged “irregularities” in the election even as he recognizes Biden as the president-elect.

The fact that RoJo is even considering another run is not surprising in itself.  I mean, after all, he only pledged to retire in 2022.  In the ten years that RoJo has been in the Senate, I'm still waiting for him to keep  one promise or even show a minutiae of scruples and integrity.

To be honest, who knows why he is even considering another run.  He's not done anything to endear him to the voters.  He is part of the Trump syndicate as well as a Russian asset.  He's repeatedly abused his authority by conducting political witch huts against Trump's opponents.  Most egregiously, he actively participated in the biggest lie of the year by denying and minimizing the dangers of COVID-19.

It should also be noted that it has been rumored that RoJo has been contemplating a possible gubernatorial bid. I doubt that his chances would be as good as getting reelected to the Senate, which is not saying a lot.

Even though RoJo might not be aware of how vulnerable he is, the Democrats sure do.  In fact, one Democrat, Tom Nelson, has already announced he's exploring a run for RoJo's seat, even though there's still two years to go. 

Watch As Walker Has A Meltdown About Ryancare

On Friday morning, Scott Walker said he would give strong consideration to allowing the Big Insurance vultures to feed on Wisconsinites who have pre-existing conditions. He later flip flopped, or at least pretended to, due to "public outcry."

We now know what that public outcry looked like. Later on Friday, Walker jetted up to Appleton, Wisconsin, for a campaign stop to talk about tourism (because polluted water, toxic soil and roadkills as far as the eye can see are real tourism draws!)

While there, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson approached him and started to speak quietly to him about that statement. Walker, obviously caught off guard, had a major meltdown, throwing a tantrum that would make any two year old jealous:

Video shows Nelson raised the issue while shaking hands with the governor, and began by speaking into the governor's ear.

The governor replies, "If you want to have a press conference, go ahead. He'll have a press conference. No, no. If the county executive wants to have a press conference on something else, you can talk to him later, but if you want to steal away from tourism you can do that."

Nelson interjects, "No, no. This is a big deal. Three-hundred thousand people in Northeast Wisconsin."

Wow! That escalated quickly!

Unable to defend his indefensible stance, Walker went on the offensive, trying to bully and bluster Nelson into submission:

"If you want to run for Congress, you had your chance," the governor replies, repeating it seven times during their exchange.

Nelson ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year. He lost to Republican Mike Gallagher.

Rep. Gallagher voted in favor of the American Health Care Act, which passed by four votes Thursday, 217-213.

Talk about going off topic! I suppose Republicans do consider personal attacks to be a sign of strength instead of immaturity, like most adults do.

Walker then keeps the blustering and bloviating going on by trying to change subjects and flat out lying:

Nelson continues, "Just to be clear, 300,000."

"Just so we're clear folks," the governor says to the surrounding media, "just to be clear, the county executive wants to take away from tourism right now and play a political stunt."

"No."

"About a topic that has nothing to do with what we're talking about today. It's on an issue that was voted on in front of the House of Representatives, but is not even going forward in the Senate right now. We'll take a look at it when it goes through the United States Senate. We're going to lobby in a way that allows us to do the things we've done here in the state of Wisconsin for the first time in the history of the state we cover everyone I think in Medicaid. It's something we didn't do Tom when you served in the Legislature."

"Nope, nope. So you don't support the legislation?" Nelson asks.

"There was a waiting list -- a waiting list for people living in poverty when you served in the state Legislature. I removed that waiting list so that no one living -- you can make up the facts," the governor says.

"You have sent to other states hundreds of millions of dollars for the Medicaid expansion, taking care of everything from the opioid crisis you're dealing with, for health insurance for those individuals. We're not," Nelson said.

Ah, so the campaign stop telling Appleton residents to tour Appleton is much more important that the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Gotcha.

But about Walker's claim. It is true that he added everyone under the poverty threshold to Badgercare. What he doesn't include is that he also kicked nearly 100,000 people out of the program at the same time. Only about a third of those people were able to get on Obamacare, which leaves about 66,000 people without coverage at all. I'm sure that number is even higher now as Walker continues to tank the state economy.

Overall, it's a sad display from Walker but an important lesson for Democrats. If they are able to find a halfway decent candidate who can keep Walker off his speaking points and off balance, he will continue to have these meltdowns and will continue to look more like the fool he really is.

Mike Gallagher's Foreign Policy Fail

By Jeff Simpson

One of the biggest national races this November is the 8th congressional District in Wisconsin.  Far right Freedom Caucus member Reid Ribble, has decided not to run for re-election so  it is a wide open race.  

The Republican nominee, who won a primary handily, is Mike Gallagher. The New York born Gallagher joined the Marines after college and has also earned his Doctorate.  

Very impressive individual, until(as Capper says, there is more, there is always more), and take a quick peak at his resume.   There is a huge gaping blemish on it.

Scott Walker's Foreign Policy Advisor - Mike Gallagher
(reported by Politico's Darren Samuelsohn on Feb. 18, 2015; start early March)Professional staff member at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from Aug. 2013.  Captain in the U.S. Marines Corps, June 2006-Aug. 2013.  M.A. in government (2013) and M.A. in security studies (2012) from Georgetown University; M.S. in strategic intelligence from National Intelligence University (2010); B.A. in international relations and affairs from Princeton University, 2006.

I know it was short moment in time, but a quick refresher, Scott Walker has been running for President his whole life and when he "officially" announced a run for President, he ended up officially running for President for approximately 3 months, where he spent over $7,000,000 and ended up with a whopping 0% approval from GOP primary voters.  

A big part of his epic crash and burn in the Presidential primary was his foreign policy stances.   The first was when asked about Syria, let everyone know he had no problem sending troops in.  Of course not his kids, but yours.  Most of us have seen that play out poorly before so we were left scratching our heads that Scott Walker has not learned any lessons from the past.  

The second was probably the most ridiculous thing said, in a season of ridiculousness, that made even the most die hard supporters surprised.   Donald Trump was gaining traction by telling everyone as President, he would build a wall on the Mexican border.  Ever the opportunist, Scott Walker was going to out wall The Donald and said he would be willing to wall off Mexico and (You can not make this stuff up) Canada.    

So the candidate, who was probably the biggest foreign policy failure and quite possibly the most ridiculous foreign policy proposal in the history of our great country, has sent his foreign policy adviser to run for Congress.    Bizarro land!  

Luckily, the people of the 8th Congressional District have a sound choice in Tom Nelson.   Nelson is former majority leader in Madison, and current Outagamie County Executive.   Nelson is running fr Congress trying to make sure the people of the 8th Congressional District get actual representation for a change.  

Now is the time to help Mr. Nelson out.  Head to his Facebook page and his website and send him a couple dollars or go volunteer some time knocking doors for him.   

Congressman Nelson has a very nice ring to it! 

Because The Revolution Was Only In Madison...

Scott Walker and his right winger apologists would have you think that the only reason that JoAnne Kloppenburg won Tuesday's election was because of those radicals in Madison.

Funny thing is, I always was led to believe that Madison was in Dane County.  Turns out, according to their skewed view of the world, Madison must really be in Outagamie County.

Congratulations to Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.

The First Lt. Governor Debate Results Are In

Much to everyone's surprise, Kleefisch performed much better than anyone expected. Here is an action shot from the debate:

Pundits report she could have ended up doing much worse if she actually showed up.

We Should Follow Scott Walker's Lead

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how WISGOP was keeping their candidates, especially the major ones, in hiding.

They are still keeping their candidates under wraps.

Ron Johnson has been missing from interviews and other similar appearances for months now. Things are so bad that they have started to put his picture on milk cartons. We'll have another example on why this is on Friday night when Johnson faces Feingold in a debate which will be broadcast statewide.

But the most remarkable disappearance is that of Rebecca Kleefisch. Kleefisch was a trooper during the primary appearing everywhere and anywhere even while she was battling cancer.

Suddenly, she just up and disappeared. She doesn't even tweet with any sort of regularity now, even though she used to be most responsive, even to liberals like myself.

She started to clam up about the time that her Democratic counterpart, Tom Nelson, started challenging her to debates. Pressure started to build on the Walker/Kleefisch campaign until today, when they finally responded to the calls with a flat out rejection:

Kleefisch spokeswoman Jill Bader said Tuesday that she won't debate Nelson because the Tom Barrett-Nelson ticket is only interested in running away from their records and using false television ads to distort Scott Walker's record.

First of all, let me say that has to be the most insipid and inane response that I have ever seen from any political campaign.

It seems to me that the one running away is Kleefisch. A possible explanation could come from a TV news report on Team Walker's refusal to let her debate. In said story, they did ask Kleefisch herself why she wouldn't debate. Kleefisch responded that this was the time to discuss the issues on not play political games.

Huh?

Isn't a debate the arena where two or more candidates talk about the issues, where they stand on them, and allow the voters to have a chance to make an honest, informed decision on who they wish to vote for?

Anyway, it might not be fair to say that Kleefisch is too scared to debate or that she is running away from the opportunity. After all, she did take on three or four other major contenders during the Republican primary, and obviously did well for herself, see how she won the nomination.

It is probably much more likely that Scott Walker has little or no confidence in his running mate. He could be afraid that she will again come off as being condescending and elitist as she did when she said that poor people shouldn't have the same access to the life-saving medical treatment she enjoyed. There is also the way she managed to alienate most of the LGBT group with her extremist views. And there was also her bigoted and mildly anti-Semitic statement that only Christians could be governor.

While many people describe the Lieutenant Governor as being a wasted office, the fact is that this person would need to step in and lead the state if the Governor was unable to perform his duties, either through illness or resignation or whatever.

If Walker has such little confidence that his running mate would be able to even present herself as being able to do perform the duties of this office, I say we should trust his judgment on this, and vote for the Barrett/Nelson ticket. It would make immeasurably much more sense to vote for the side that has two competent candidates than the side that can't muster even one trustworthy candidate.

Rebecca Kleefisch Disrespects Upstate Voters

Last night, I pointed out that the GOP is limiting the exposure of their candidates to a high level, allowing them to only appear in controlled environments with scripted lines.

Some candidates, like Rebecca Kleefisch, who is tying her self to Scott Walker's coat tails, won't even debate her Democratic counterpart, Tom Nelson.

She has run exactly one ad, but I don't even know if that was run statewide. If it was, it was a waste of money because she included this scene from the ad:

Being endorsed by Sykes, who is only doing so because he thinks she's pretty, and Belling might wow them in Waukesha and Washington Counties, but would be pretty meaningless anywhere else. (Not to mention that Sykes and Belling are both pretty meaningless here as well.)

The people in Southeastern Wisconsin are exposed daily to the miasma that spews out of talk radio, including the constant promotion of Kleefisch, as if their say so should be enough.

However, the people that live west of Waukesha County or north of Washington County, don't have the disadvantage of talk radio's incessant drumbeat and are actually able to decide on their own, relying on their local medias as well as debates to determine who they think would be the best person for any given elected office.

I asked Kleefisch on her Facebook page if she would debate Tom Nelson, but she has refused to answer that simple question. She is either afraid to debate him, or her handlers and/or Walker's campaign are afraid to allow her to debate him.

Either way, she is doing a great disservice to the voters of Wisconsin, especially those that live upstate and outstate of the Milwaukee area. If she shows such disdain for the people now, while she is merely a candidate, what kind of leader would she be? Her actions, or lack thereof, prove that she is not worthy of the position of Lieutenant Governor.

Why Is WISGOP Hiding Their Candidates?

Almost everyone, regardless of political views, agree that debates, real debates, between the candidates for any given office is important. The more debates, the better.

However, leading into this year's elections, the amount of debates are leaving a lot to be desired. This is not the fault of the Democrats. They have been asking for and challenging their Republican counterparts, but are being left without satisfaction.

In the U.S. Senate race, Feingold offered to debate six times, but Ron Johnson agreed to only three of them. Then again, the GOP has been very selective to what access they allow to their great hyped hope after he met with the TEA Party in Chippewa County and failed miserably. They are probably trying to avoid any further questions regarding RoJo about his defense of BP or his animosity towards sunspots.

In the race for Attorney General, Democrat Scott Hassett has been challenging J.B. Van Hollen to debates, but Van Hollen has refused all but one so far. Perhaps the GOP and Van Hollen aren't prepared to discuss why Van Hollen failed in collecting and keeping the DNA samples from Wisconsin's felons or why he thought it no big deal that Calumet County DA Kenneth Kratz was acting the sexual predator of women coming to him for help.

In the gubernatorial race, Tom Barrett challenged Scott Walker to seven debates. Walker accepted less than half of that. It's not like Walker hasn't debated before. He did a couple of dozen of them with Senator Lena Taylor when he was running for re-election in 2008 (even though he promised he wasn't going to). Then again, Walker, of all the candidates, has been the most active in avoiding answering questions or having to defend his record, either as county executive or state legislator. He could also be trying to avoid more devastation to his campaign like this clip from last Friday's debate.

Most noticeable by her absence is the GOP's nomination for Lt. Governor. I cannot find anything indicating that she has agreed to debate Tom Nelson in the few weeks remaining before the general election. Not only is she not debating, but she has a much diminished presence on Twitter, including a full two week gap between tweets. I know that she has been getting some flak for her controversial comments that her governor needs to be a "Christian man," apparently feeling that Jews or people of other religions or women are not qualified to be governor or for her extreme anti-homosexual posturing.

No one would buy a car without giving it at least a test drive. Most people even take any possible car to their mechanic for a good vetting and look up the cars history (if it's an used car) to make sure they aren't going to get stuck with a lemon. You also wouldn't agree to buy a car without seeing how it matches up to other cars. A person would compare prices, reliability and other concerns before making that decision.

Why does the GOP think that we would be less careful deciding who is going to represent us in Madison or Washington, D.C.? They are asking us to buy their candidates without seeing how they compare with other models or what their histories are. By the fact that they won't bring their candidates out to be compared and contrasted with their Democratic opponents, or when they do, it is very limited and controlled. Instead, the Republicans give us shiny pamphlets talking about all the nifty features they have, without letting you verify if any of it is true.

If a car salesman tried to pull that stunt with me, I would be walking off the lot without a car, in search of someone who treated me with more respect. I don't believe in buying cars, or voting for candidates, on an act of faith that they might be as good as the pamphlet says.

Reince Priebus needs to make his candidates available for debates, and lots of them, or we should steer clear of them.

Congratulations, Governor Barrett And Other Election News

The results of the races are still coming in at the time I write this, but several of the races, especially the bigger ones, have already been called.

For the race for governor, Tom Barrett was the first declared winner. In all likelihood, the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor will be Tom Nelson. (Any guesses on how long it is before some wag on the right side will say "We'll beat the Tom-Toms like a drum" or some such nonsense?)

On the Republican side, they nominated Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch for their ticket. Oh, this will be delicious.

On one hand, you have two moderate Democrats. Barrett has a balanced budget and the 2011 budget looks like it will be mostly harmless to his campaign. He also has a solid record on bringing jobs to the area and the ability to make tough decisions. The city is in pretty good shape and he is a genuinely likable person who actually listens to the people. Barrett also has a pretty decently sized war chest amassed.

I can't say I know much about Nelson, except that he is from the Fox Valley area and has held office for six years, working his way up to Majority Leader last year. For a Democrat to win so many elections in GOP country shows that there is a vulnerability for the Walker/Kleefisch ticket in their own heartland.

On the Republican side, you have Walker with enough baggage to fill every car on the high speed rail that is coming. There is the O'Donnell Park tragedy, the other county buildings crumbling, the horrors at the mental health complex, borrowing $400 million and still not fixing the pension problems, the gaping hole in this year's budget, a gaping hole in next year's budget, diminished transit services costing tens of thousands of jobs, losing control of the income maintenance program, losing control of the Private Industry Council (because he doesn't know how to create jobs), and that's just the stuff out there now. There are also investigations going on with at least two of his staffers and other stuff that he is trying to squelch until after the election, when it will be too late for the state.

On top of all that, Walker had to go through a boatload of cash to win the primary by a much narrower margin than he was hoping. And let's not forget his campaign staff, who is almost as damaging to his campaign as his track record.

To further bog Walker down, he gets saddled with Rebecca Kleefisch, Wisconsin's own Sarah Palin wannabe, as his Lt. Governor. She's the one that lives in a house worth a third of a million dollars, is married to a state legislator, and is claiming to be just like us. She also has said that she would go by her religious teaching as opposed to things like the Constitution or the law.

Like I said, this will be delicious. And you know I will be writing more on this race in the next six weeks.

Also, congratulations goes out to Senator Feingold for his re-election, since the Republicans have chosen to go with Ron "Sunspot" Johnson. I firmly believe the only reason he won is because his opponent, Dave Westlake, couldn't match RoJo's $15 milllion, and thus was drowned out by all the ads and other nonsense.

In other news, Chris Larson and his amazing staff has put an end to Plale's ineffectiveness in Madison. Although it will be a great blow for Milwaukee County, perhaps we can find another person who can step up to keep Walker from trashing it in his vainglorious pursuit of the governor's chair. I just wonder who it could be. Jason?

Also winning their primaries was Elizabeth Coggs and JoCasta Zamarripa. Congratulations to both of them.

On the down side, Chris Moews failed to oust David Clarke. Clarke had the edge with a much war chest 30 times the size of Moews' and the name recognition. It looks like I'll be voting for Steven Duckhorn. If I have to vote for a Republican, I'll vote for the honest one. I just hope he has his site fixed.

The other bad news is that Scot Dettman didn't oust the job-killing Peggy Krusick. Aw, well. I might just be skipping that one in November, or doing a write in.