Team Walker's Ongoing PR Problem

Three weeks to the day that the concrete facade panel fell off the O'Donnell Park, killing a boy and injuring two others, and on the same day another panel had to be removed from the parking structure, Team Walker shows, once again, that they have no empathy towards people and no public relations skills whatsoever.

In touting the results of a poll that even conservatives question, Team Walker uses a very poor choice of words to celebrate the result, as evidenced in this tweet:


How tactless can these people get?

Earlier: When logistical aides go bad

H/T Cindy Kilkenny

Well, It Looks Like I'm Out Of A Job Anyway

Just not the job some people wish I was out of.

As many of you were aware, I am the Wisconsin Editor of BlogNetNews.com. Or should I say, I was the editor.

It appears that BNN is no more, at least according to the Chief Editor of BNN, David Mastio:


Oh, well. It wasn't a very time consuming thing anyway, but it is still a shame that a tool that many people used to read the blogs is now kaput.

At least now I won't have to hear people complaining that BNN is stealing their stuff or whining about not being number one in the influence rating.

But I have to agree with Kate on her point. It would have been nice to have been told.

H/T Ol' Broad via Cindy Kilkenny

Art Imitates Life, Cartoons Imitate Walker

Source

Ryan, Sensenbrenner Get Free Passes From Democrats

Republicans Paul Ryan and James Sensenbrenner each are going to have free passes to keep their seats this year.

Both of their Democratic opponents, John Heckenlively and Todd Kossolo, respectively, failed to get enough signatures to be on the ballot this fall. GAB counts can be found here.

It should be noted that Ryan will still have to face a Libertarian and an Independent, and Sensenbrenner will still have to face an Independent.

Duckhorn Blunders On First Day of Campaign For Sheriff

Steven Duckhorn is the sole Republican candidate running for Milwaukee County Sheriff.

Or perhaps I should say, the sole Republican candidate stumbling out of the gate for Milwaukee County Sheriff.

He has launched his website for his candidacy, and there is already a couple of problems with it.

One, there is no "authorized and paid for" notation on the site:

Then to add to the fun, on this site that is proudly designed and hosted by Mr. Duckhorn, is his contact page:

Why would someone who is running for Milwaukee County Sheriff have his office in Menlo Park, California?

My, how the race has quickly narrowed down to one candidate that is worthy: Chris Moews.

Will Ron Johnson Put His BP Money Where His Mouth Isn't?

A couple of days ago, I told you of Ron Johnson and the way he was hiding the BP stock he owned while he was defending the oil giant against being held responsible for the mess they have caused.

Among some of the inane comments that he made was that he would support drilling for oil in the Great Lakes, even though his campaign is now trying to say he didn't say what he said.

Senator Russ Feingold took opportunity of RoJo's BP-friendly attitude with this clever ad:



But RoJo's problems don't and won't end there.

In a Cog Dis exclusive, I have learned that the DPW is about to launch an online petition drive calling for Ron Johnson to put his BP money where is mouth isn't. They will be calling for him to divest from his Big Oil interests and put that money into the BP Victims Compensation Fund.

To help get their point across, they have this slide show of some of RoJo's comments showing how environmentally and socially irresponsible he really is:

You can click here to gain access to the website. Don't forget to sign the petition and let RoJo know that he needs to put his BP money where his mouth isn't, and to help the BP Victims instead of insulting them.

Walker Should Promote Her To Spokeswoman

Logistic aide for Team Walker, Ashlee Moore (aka Ashleestarin) really knows how to make friends and influence people.

Emily Mills shows what a classy young lady Ashlee is with just one tweet (scroll down to the bottom).

Illy-T finds that a big jerk forgets Ashlee only wants us to believe in elitism Wisconsin.

Also: Ashlee: The disinformative, commenting era

Bonus tweet: She loves haters

(Although I can relate to the "haters make me famous" line.)

The Human Weather Vane

I have often railed against the hypocrisy and the flip flops that Scott Walker routinely exhibits. The man issues positions on subjects depending on which way the wind happens to be blowing at that particular moment. Then he doesn't even blink an eye when he reverses himself, sometimes even within only days or hours. A short laundry list of the more wel-known flip flops/acts of hypocrisy would include:

• Most recently, his flip flop on smoking. Despite the fact that years ago, he ordered no smoking in or around county buildings, and the fact that just days ago, he said that it was too soon to look at repealing the recently enacted smoking ban, he is now for repealing it, after his primary opponent, Mark Neumann, stated that he would repeal it, if he could.
• Regarding the Second Amendment, Walker now claims to be for concealed carry, even though as a state legislator, he continuously voted against it.
• Walker "had concerns" about Arizona's immigration law, that is until he received a lot of flak about it from other conservatives. Then, within twenty-four hours, during what was supposedly a non-campaign related bike ride, he decided he liked the Arizona law.
• Candidate Walker said that he thought late night sessions in the state legislature was a bad idea, even though state legislator Walker actually voted to approve the late night sessions.
• Then there is most famous flip flopping track record, where he has taken, at the time of this writing, approximately 681,243.7 different positions on the use of stimulus dollars, depending on what day of the week it was, if there was and "R" in the month, and who he happened to be talking to at that particular moment.

I don't always agree with any candidate, even the ones that I like. But how can Walker's supporters argue in his favor, when no one can be sure exactly where he is coming from or what his stance will be on any given day on any given topic.

Maybe it his flexibility on issues that they really appreciate, since it gives them the perception that they have more input on things:

As for me, I'd prefer some consistency. Even if I don't agree with what they are saying, I respect a person if they keep it real.

Political Retorts: The Do's and Don't's

As the summer starts its slow slide into fall (although you can't tell it by the weather lately), people are starting to pay more attention to politics in preparation for September's primary and November's general election.

With that attention, comes more and more statements from politicians, with their opponents often offering a retort of sorts. Some are more effective than others in doing this. The politicians that are good at political retorts tend to keep them short (to make a nice sound bite) and on topic.

An example of a good and a bad retort, deals with the recently enacted smoking ban.

Mark Neumann was the first to comment on it, saying that he would act to repeal it.

Scott Walker, who first said it was too early to consider repealing it, came out four days later and said that he was against the ban and also would try to repeal it.

Tom Barrett scored big with his retort to Walker's newly found position:

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat in the race, is not seeking to repeal the ban.

"It's clear Walker will say and do anything in this campaign, even if it means blatantly contradicting himself within just a few days or hours," Barrett said in a statement Saturday. "Wisconsin needs a governor the people can trust, not someone who will change their positions at the drop of a hat."

Now that was a good retort. Short, sweet and to the point, and also able to get a good shot in at one of his potential opponents.

On the other hand, some retorts are not so good.

For example, on Monday, Tom Barrett announced a proposal regarding how redistricting is done:

Milwaukee mayor and Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett said Monday that redrawing legislative and congressional lines should be put in the hands of a nonpartisan board.

Barrett's plan also hinges on changing state law so that as many districts as possible are highly competitive, with half the voters Democratic and half Republican in each district.

"This takes the sharp partisanship out of the drawing of the plans," Barrett said at a news conference.

Team Walker came up with a long, rambling and whiny response to Barrett's proposal, which can be boiled down to "Oh yeah, well, Barrett's a Democrat." They talk about the high speed rail, President Obama, global warming, Governor Jim Doyle and a number of other things, but they never address the issue of redistricting.

In other words, it is a very bad and completely ineffective retort.

But that is the kind of empty rhetoric that we have become used to from his campaign, no matter what the topic.

Especially True On The First Monday Back To Work After A Vacation

Wish me luck.

Source

Best Post Title of the Week

Michele Bachmann Probably isn't an Insane Cannibal Serial Killer -- But Shouldn't We Be Sure?

A Conservative Geeks Worst Nightmare

Senor Vader finds your stance regarding aliens to be...disturbing.

Yeah, it's rather stereotypical, but still, kind of funny.

It Really Was a Sermon She Needed to Hear

Last week, Krysta Sutterfield decided to go to the Unitarian church in Brookfield. However, unlike every other churchgoer that day, she decided to attend the service while having a loaded 9mm Glock on her side.

I wonder if that was her Sunday-going-to-church Glock.

Parishioners were understandably shook up by the stunt and called police. By the time the police arrived, she was already leaving, but police caught up to her and gave her a citation for illegally transporting the weapon.

There are more than a few oddities and ironies regarding the story:

• The article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel names the gun woman, but the TV report from the sister TV station, TMJ4, refused to name the woman.
• In the TV report, she said she simply wanted to hear the sermon, and maybe generate some discussion. In the paper, the woman referred the reporter to her lawyer, who would not comment on motive.
• The service was about "civil rights and civility." If there was ever a sermon she needed to hear, this was it. It's a shame that she apparently didn't internalize anything from that sermon.

H/T Illy-T

It's a Matter of Take and Take

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported that one of the 400 teachers to receive a pink slip was Kris Barrett, wife of Mayor Tom Barrett, who is the presumed Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

It's never a good thing when people get laid off, whether it is in the private or public sector. However, as disappointed as the Barrett's might be in this turn of events, the hit probably won't affect them as much as it would most families.

But as one of the commenters at the JSOnline site put it:

It is sad to see anyone lose their job,in this difficult economy. It is refreshing to see though that Tom Barrett and his wife, Kris, did not ask for or receive any special favors. I wish her well in her job search.

In other words, the Barretts took it on the chin, without pulling the "do you know who I am" card, or trying to rig the system to how her special favors, just because she is the mayor's wife.

Compare and contrast that to one of the two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Scott Walker.

Walker decided he couldn't make it on a $80,000 a year and decided to renege on another one of this campaign promises, effectively helping himself to another $50,000 of tax payer money each year, so that he could buy a McMansion with a huge swimming pool.

While the Barretts took it on the chin, without complaint, the Walkers just took it from the tax payers.

Who do you want leading the state?

Does Ron Johnson Consider Us To Be "Small People?"

Last month, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg showed his compassion by complaining about the "small people" that live on the Gulf. This was following BP CEO Tony Hayward whining about wanting his life back.

Ron Johnson, who bought his way to be the leading Republican candidate for the privilege to lose to Senator Russ Feingold, came out with a number of comments defending BP, and criticizing a fund that BP is paying into to help those whose livelihoods have been destroyed with the ecosystem as their well keeps pouring out oil.

But it turned out not to be just a conservative talking point after all. It is really because RoJo owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of BP stock. With all the bad rep that BP is getting, that could affect the stock's worth, and then what would the poor multimillionaire do?

I'd rather have a senator doing what he thought was right for the people in Wisconsin and in America over one that was more concerned over his stock portfolio.

For your viewing pleasure: BP fixed the leak.