Scott Walker loves Freedom and Ronald Reagan so much...

[scott]

...that he was apparently willing to commit voter fraud to vote for him.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/02/10/walker_claims_he_voted_for_reagan.html


Walker Claims He Voted for Reagan
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) talked to Right Wing News about voting for Ronald Reagan:

"I remember, I was a teenager, had just become a teenager and voted for Ronald Reagan -- limited government, you know, smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense. You knew what you were getting. You knew how a Reagan administration, a Reagan presidency was going to be better for you."

One problem: Blogging Blue notes Walker wasn't old enough to vote in either 1980 or 1984 when Reagan ran for president.

[boutons_deux]

7 Things Republicans Would Be Shocked To Learn About Ronald Reagan (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/02/06/3258121/reasons-tea-party-hated-ronald-reagan/)

“Happy birthday to Ronald Reagan!” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) tweeted (https://twitter.com/SenRandPaul/status/431444493531766785) on Thursday, swiftly followed (https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/431464315389243392) by his Tea Party compatriot Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). While praise from this sort of Republican on what would have been President Reagan’s 103rd birthday isn’t surprising, it is somewhat ironic. Though Reagan was extremely conservative (often terribly so (http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/06/3029871/wing-timeline-mandela/)), he bucked the sort of hardline conservative line the Tea Party has become synonymous with repeatedly throughout his career in politics. Here are 7 Reagan moves that may well have led to his excommunication from today’s Republican Party if he were alive today:

1. Paved the way for Obamacare

Reagan’s health policy previewed Obamacare in three major ways. First, Reagan signed (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/06/03/2093891/gop-governor-medicaid-ronald-reagan/) Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), the law barring hospitals from turning away patients on grounds of their insurance or citizenship — a preview of Obamacare’s ban on insurance discrimination against individuals with preexisting conditions. Second, Reagan doubled (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/06/03/2093891/gop-governor-medicaid-ronald-reagan/) the size of Medicaid over the course of his presidency to pay for all of those new uninsured patients — a huge Obamacare-style Medicaid expansion. Third, Reagan pushed (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/09/06/311937/romney-claims-obama-was-the-only-president-to-cut-medicare-ignoring-reagans-reductions-to-the-program/) something called Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), which essentially had the government set the prices Medicare was willing to pay for each Medicare admission rather than pay for reimburse doctors per cost. DRGs cut Medicare costs by $49 billion (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/09/06/311937/romney-claims-obama-was-the-only-president-to-cut-medicare-ignoring-reagans-reductions-to-the-program/) by 1986, proving a promising trial for the sorts of Medicare payment reform policies you can find in Obamacare.

2. Amnesty for undocumented immigrants

In 1986, Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill that created (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/washington/12immig.html) a pathway to citizenship for 3 million undocumented immigrants. Simpson-Mazzoli is now referred to by some conservatives as the “Reagan amnesty (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/steve-king-ronald-reagan_n_3329484.html),” and came up during both the 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/washington/12immig.html) and 2013 (http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Simpson-Mazzoli) immigration reform debates.

3. Successfully pushed for an assault weapons ban

Before the National Rifle Association became what it was today, Reagan worked with them to ban guns (http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/01/18/169526687/the-decades-old-gun-ban-thats-still-on-the-books). Specifically, automatic weapons: civilians were legally allowed to own fully automatic rifles until 1986, when Reagan signed the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act banning them. After his Presidency, Reagan backed (http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-joshpe-ronald-reagan-supported-gun-restricti-20130111,0,2161117.story) the Brady gun law establishing many of the major restrictions on gun purchases today. His support for the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban pushed the ban to its two vote margin of victory — according to two of the Congressmen who made the difference (http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/how-ronald-reagan-passed-the-assault-weapon-ban).

4. Grew the federal government, big time

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/obama-reagan-spending-e1391703830828.jpgCREDIT: Ezra Klein

Reagan’s record belies his reputation as a huge foe of government. Reagan built (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/) a progressive tax system to fund Social Security, and funded the creation of a new federal department (the Department of Veterans’ Affairs). Much of Reagan’s spending, including his defense buildup, was funded by deficit spending (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/opinion/krugman-reagan-was-a-keynesian.html). If Obama spent like Reagan, the deficit would be much, much higher (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/31/charts-what-if-obama-spent-like-reagan/).

5. Dealt with Russia to build a world free of nuclear weapons

Back when there was an actual Soviet Union, Reagan kicked off negotiations (http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/50982a.htm) aimed at reducing the nuclear threat — negotiations that eventually morphed into the START treaty. In his memoir, Reagan wrote that (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/) “[m]y dream…became a world free of nuclear weapons.” After START expired in 2009, its replacement (NEW START) was ratified over the bitter objections (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-wellen/opposition-to-new-start-p_b_790902.html) of a majority of Senate Republicans.

6. Wanted to make millionaires pay more in taxes

Reagan despised tax loopholes that allowed millionaires to skate around their tax obligations. “Tax loopholes,” according to the Gipper (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/03/333912/reagan-tax-loopholes-crazy/), “sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary, and that’s crazy.” It’s crazy, he said, because the “truly wealthy” were avoiding “paying their fair share.”

7. Passed environmental regulations that are now being used to fight climate change

Make no mistake — Reagan bears significant responsibility (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2008/07/08/202854/who-got-us-in-this-energy-mess-start-with-ronald-reagan/) for the climate emergency. But he also negotiated the Montreal Protocol (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/04/05/205756/what-would-reagan-do-about-climate-change-republicans-for-environmental-protection-radio-ads/), an international agreement got the whole world to clamp down on pollution that was tearing holes in the ozone layer. Today, the Montreal Protocol is being used (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/08/2125531/breaking-news-us-and-china-aim-to-phase-down-use-of-potent-greenhouse-gases-known-as-hfcs/) to clamp down on the technology that replaced the ozone-depleting kind, which turned out to be a fairly significant contributor to climate change.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/02/06/3258121/reasons-tea-party-hated-ronald-reagan/

[boutons_deux]

There’s been talk that George W. Bush was so inept that he should trademark the phrase “Worst President Ever,” though some historians would bestow that title on pre-Civil War President James Buchanan. Still, a case could be made for putting Ronald Reagan in the competition.

Granted, the very idea of rating Reagan as one of the worst presidents ever will infuriate his many right-wing acolytes and offend Washington insiders who have made a cottage industry out of buying some protection from Republicans by lauding the 40th President.


But there’s a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan’s presidency. There’s also a grudging reassessment that the “failed” presidents of the 1970s – Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter – may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country, despite their other shortcomings as leaders.

Nixon, Ford and Carter won scant praise for addressing the systemic challenges of America’s oil dependence, environmental degradation, the arms race, and nuclear proliferation – all issues that Reagan essentially ignored and that now threaten America’s future.

By 1980, Reagan had become a pied piper luring the American people away from the tough choices that Nixon, Ford and Carter had defined.

Cruelty with a Smile

With his superficially sunny disposition – and a ruthless political strategy of exploiting white-male resentments – Reagan convinced millions of Americans that the threats they faced were: African-American welfare queens, Central American leftists, a rapidly expanding Evil Empire based in Moscow, and the do-good federal government.
In his First Inaugural Address in 1981, Reagan declared that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

When it came to cutting back on America’s energy use, Reagan’s message could be boiled down to the old reggae lyric, “Don’t worry, be happy.” Rather than pressing Detroit to build smaller, fuel-efficient cars, Reagan made clear that the auto industry could manufacture gas-guzzlers without much nagging from Washington.

The same with the environment. Reagan intentionally staffed the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department with officials who were hostile toward regulation aimed at protecting the environment. George W. Bush didn’t invent Republican hostility toward scientific warnings of environmental calamities; he was just picking up where Reagan left off.

Reagan pushed for deregulation of industries, including banking; he slashed income taxes for the wealthiest Americans in an experiment known as “supply side” economics, which held falsely that cutting rates for the rich would increase revenues and eliminate the federal deficit.

Over the years, “supply side” would evolve into a secular religion for many on the Right, but Reagan’s budget director David Stockman once blurted out the truth, that it would lead to red ink “as far as the eye could see.”

While conceding that some of Reagan’s economic plans did not work out as intended, his defenders – including many mainstream journalists – still argue that Reagan should be hailed as a great President because he “won the Cold War,” a short-hand phrase that they like to attach to his historical biography.

However, a strong case can be made that the Cold War was won well before Reagan arrived in the White House. Indeed, in the 1970s, it was a common perception in the U.S. intelligence community that the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was winding down, in large part because the Soviet economic model had failed in the technological race with the West.

That was the view of many Kremlinologists in the CIA’s analytical division. Also, I was told by a senior CIA’s operations official that some of the CIA’s best spies inside the Soviet hierarchy supported the view that the Soviet Union was headed toward collapse, not surging toward world supremacy, as Reagan and his foreign policy team insisted in the early 1980s.

The CIA analysis was the basis for the détente that was launched by Nixon and Ford, essentially seeking a negotiated solution to the most dangerous remaining aspects of the Cold War.

The Afghan Debacle

In that view, Soviet military operations, including sending troops into Afghanistan in 1979, were mostly defensive in nature. In Afghanistan, the Soviets hoped to prop up a pro-communist government that was seeking to modernize the country but was beset by opposition from Islamic fundamentalists who were getting covert support from the U.S. government.

Though the Afghan covert operation originated with Cold Warriors in the Carter administration, especially National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, the war was dramatically ramped up under Reagan, who traded U.S. acquiescence toward Pakistan’s nuclear bomb for its help in shipping sophisticated weapons to the Afghan jihadists (including a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden).

While Reagan’s acolytes cite the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan as decisive in “winning the Cold War,” the counter-argument is that Moscow was already in disarray – and while failure in Afghanistan may have sped the Soviet Union’s final collapse – it also created twin dangers for the future of the world: the rise of al-Qaeda terrorism and the nuclear bomb in the hands of Pakistan’s unstable Islamic Republic.

Trade-offs elsewhere in the world also damaged long-term U.S. interests. In Latin America, for instance, Reagan’s brutal strategy of arming right-wing militaries to crush peasant, student and labor uprisings left the region with a legacy of anti-Americanism that is now resurfacing in the emergence of populist leftist governments.

In Nicaragua, for instance, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega (whom Reagan once denounced as a “dictator in designer glasses”) is now back in power. In El Salvador, the leftist FMLN won the last national election (and led the first round of balloting in the 2014 election). Indeed, across the region, hostility to Washington is now the rule, creating openings for China, Iran, Cuba and other American rivals.

In the early 1980s, Reagan also credentialed a young generation of neocon intellectuals, who pioneered a concept called “perception management,” the shaping of how Americans saw, understood and were frightened by threats from abroad.

Many honest reporters saw their careers damaged when they resisted the lies and distortions of the Reagan administration. Likewise, U.S. intelligence analysts were purged when they refused to bend to the propaganda demands from above.

To marginalize dissent, Reagan and his subordinates stoked anger toward anyone who challenged the era’s feel-good optimism. Skeptics were not just honorable critics, they were un-American defeatists or – in Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick’s memorable attack line – they would “blame America first.”

Under Reagan, a right-wing infrastructure also took shape, linking media outlets (magazines, newspapers, books, etc.) with well-financed think tanks that churned out endless op-eds and research papers. Plus, there were attack groups that went after mainstream journalists who dared disclose information that poked holes in Reagan’s propaganda themes.

In effect, Reagan’s team created a faux reality for the American public. Civil wars in Central America between impoverished peasants and wealthy oligarchs became East-West showdowns. U.S.-backed insurgents in Nicaragua, Angola and Afghanistan were transformed from corrupt, brutal (often drug-tainted) thugs into noble “freedom-fighters.”

With the Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan also revived Richard Nixon’s theory of an imperial presidency that could ignore the nation’s laws and evade accountability through criminal cover-ups. That behavior also would rear its head again in the war crimes of George W. Bush. [For details on Reagan’s abuses, see Robert Parry’s Lost History (https://org.salsalabs.com/o/1868/t/12126/shop/shop.jsp?storefront_KEY=1037) and Secrecy & Privilege (https://org.salsalabs.com/o/1868/t/12126/shop/shop.jsp?storefront_KEY=1037).]

Wall Street Greed

The American Dream also dimmed during Reagan’s tenure. While he played the role of the nation’s kindly grandfather, his operatives divided the American people, using “wedge issues” to deepen grievances especially of white men who were encouraged to see themselves as victims of “reverse discrimination” and “political correctness.”

Yet even as working-class white men were rallying to the Republican banner (as so-called “Reagan Democrats”), their economic interests were being savaged. Unions were broken and marginalized; “free trade” policies shipped manufacturing jobs abroad; old neighborhoods were decaying; drug use among the young was soaring.

Meanwhile, unprecedented greed was unleashed on Wall Street, fraying old-fashioned bonds between company owners and employees. Before Reagan, corporate CEOs earned less than 50 times the salary of an average worker. By the end of the Reagan-Bush-I administrations in 1993, the average CEO salary was more than 100 times that of a typical worker. (At the end of the Bush-II administration, that CEO-salary figure was more than 250 times that of an average worker.)

Many other trends set during the Reagan era continued to corrode the U.S. political process in the years after Reagan left office. After 9/11, for instance, the neocons reemerged as a dominant force, reprising their “perception management” tactics, depicting the “war on terror” – like the last days of the Cold War – as a terrifying conflict between good and evil.

The hyping of the Islamic threat mirrored the neocons’ exaggerated depiction of the Soviet menace in the 1980s – and again the propaganda strategy worked. Many Americans let their emotions run wild, from the hunger for revenge after 9/11 to the war fever over invading Iraq.

Arguably, the descent into this dark fantasyland – that Ronald Reagan began in the early 1980s – reached its nadir in the flag-waving early days of the Iraq War. Only gradually did reality begin to reassert itself as the death toll mounted in Iraq and the Katrina disaster in 2005 reminded Americans why they needed an effective government.

Still, the disasters – set in motion by Ronald Reagan – continued to roll in. Bush’s Reagan-esque tax cuts for the rich blew another huge hole in the federal budget and the Reagan-esque anti-regulatory fervor led to a massive financial meltdown that threw the nation into economic chaos.

Love Reagan; Hate Bush

Ironically, George W. Bush has come in for savage criticism (much of it deserved), but the Republican leader who inspired Bush’s presidency – Ronald Reagan – remained an honored figure, his name attached to scores of national landmarks including Washington’s National Airport.

Even leading Democrats genuflect to Reagan. Early in Campaign 2008, when Barack Obama was positioning himself as a bipartisan political figure who could appeal to Republicans, he bowed to the Reagan mystique, hailing the GOP icon as a leader who “changed the trajectory of America.”

Though Obama’s chief point was that Reagan in 1980 “put us on a fundamentally different path” – a point which may be historically undeniable – Obama went further, justifying Reagan’s course correction because of “all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s, and government had grown and grown, but there wasn’t much sense of accountability.”

While Obama later clarified his point to say he didn’t mean to endorse Reagan’s conservative policies, Obama seemed to suggest that Reagan’s 1980 election administered a needed dose of accountability to the United States when Reagan actually did the opposite. Reagan’s presidency represented a dangerous escape from accountability – and reality.

Still, Obama and congressional Democrats continue to pander to the Reagan myth. In 2009, as the nation approached the fifth anniversary of Reagan’s death, Obama welcomed Nancy Reagan to the White House and signed a law creating a panel to plan and carry out events to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday in 2011.

Obama hailed the right-wing icon. “President Reagan helped as much as any President to restore a sense of optimism in our country, a spirit that transcended politics — that transcended even the most heated arguments of the day,” Obama said. [For more on Obama’s earlier pandering about Reagan, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Obama’s Dubious Praise for Reagan (http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/011908.html).”]

Despite the grievous harm that Reagan’s presidency inflicted on the American Republic and the American people, it may take many more years before a historian has the guts to put this deformed era into a truthful perspective and rate Reagan where he belongs — near the bottom of the presidential list.

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/02/06/ronald-reagan-worst-president-ever-2/

[Wild Cobra]

...that he was apparently willing to commit voter fraud to vote for him.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/02/10/walker_claims_he_voted_for_reagan.html

LOL..

Didn't you ever have mock elections in school?

[spursncowboys]

Seems like a trivial comment that only extreme wing people would find informative and/or entertaining. I guess if that's all libs have on walker, he's doing pretty good.

[boutons_deux]

"he's doing pretty good."

evidence?

[RandomGuy]

...that he was apparently willing to commit voter fraud to vote for him.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/02/10/walker_claims_he_voted_for_reagan.html

The amount of irrational hero worship around Saint Reagan is amusing. Republicans fall all over themselves to lionize him, and appeared to have added this to the accepted GOP canon, and woe to the heretic that deviates from this accepted schtick.

[Th'Pusher]

Seems like a trivial comment that only extreme wing people would find informative and/or entertaining. I guess if that's all libs have on walker, he's doing pretty good.
A trival comment or a lie? The guy is either a liar or a felon.

[Wild Cobra]

A trival comment or a lie? The guy is either a liar or a felon.
Or...

It was a mock school election. I remember voting for Nixon when I was in school.

[Th'Pusher]

Or...

It was a mock school election. I remember voting for Nixon when I was in school.

I'll wait for Walker to clarify his lie/felony instead of relying on what wild speculator - the internet sensation who fills the need to jump to the aid of any republican and/or corporation when he feels they are being besmirched. Thanks tho..

[Wild Cobra]

I'll wait for Walker to clarify his lie/felony instead of relying on what wild speculator - the internet sensation who fills the need to jump to the aid of any republican and/or corporation when he feels they are being besmirched. Thanks tho..
Seems to me you are relying on wild speculation already.

As for aiding a republican? I don't have a position on him at all. I simply think it is stupid to jump to conclusion like that, and have pointed out the probable truth.

It is people like you, who show their highly prejudicial colors regular, by championing such ideas as the OP with no evidence of fact.

[Nbadan]

Walker will be indicted soon enough..

Who's Buying Gov. Scott Walker?

Since becoming governor, Gov. Scott Walker has raked in millions of dollars in political campaign donations from millionaires and billionaires across the nation.

http://www.pinterest.com/onewisconsinnow/who-s-buying-gov-scott-walker/

[Th'Pusher]

Seems to me you are relying on wild speculation already.

As for aiding a republican? I don't have a position on him at all. I simply think it is stupid to jump to conclusion like that, and have pointed out the probable truth.

It is people like you, who show their highly prejudicial colors regular, by championing such ideas as the OP with no evidence of fact.

How am I relying on speculation? He said he voted for Reagan. If it was a mock election, he should have specified that since his vote for Reagan didn't mean jack shit.

And don't be silly, you are the definition of a corporate/republican shill. Just accept that reality and move on man.

[Nbadan]

From the outset, the probe focused on possible “illegal campaign coordination between (name redacted), a campaign committee, and certain special interest groups,” according to a filing signed by the five district attorneys in the case.
The campaign committee under the microscope?

Almost certainly it’s the Friends of Scott Walker, the governor’s campaign committee.
“Good guess,” said one source familiar with the probe. “That’s it.”

Several others, however, were reluctant to identify the governor’s campaign, noting the secrecy order remains in place. A John Doe probe is similar to a grand jury in that it allows prosecutors to collect evidence and gather testimony in secret.

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/unsealed-john-doe-filings-reveal-roots-of-recall-probe-b99195982z1-243271991.html

In an earlier Journal Sentinel article by Patrick Marley, Jason Stein and Daniel Bice, it was pointed out that Walker’s campaign also paid $86,000 to defense lawyers at a legal firm one would hire if they were being probed. Of the five suspects, we have tax exempt 501©4 “social welfare” nonprofit the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which outed itself as one of the groups under investigation. Source Watch details, “Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG) is a state arm of the national Club for Growth, and one of the top political spenders in Wisconsin. WCFG spent $9.1 million during the Wisconsin recall elections, and has reportedly received a subpoena in a John Doe probe into possible campaign finance violations during those races.” Naturally the Kochs are involved because wherever you see Governor Walker, a Koch brother is not far behind:

[Wild Cobra]

LOL...

You lefties are so easily manipulated.

link: Correction: Scott Walker Didn’t Say He Voted For Reagan (http://www.rightwingnews.com/misc/correction-scott-walker-didnt-say-he-voted-for-reagan/)

Audio included.

[Nbadan]

...what is going on here is an example of why the Republicans made a big deal out of a fake IRS scandal. They ginned up that scandal to tire the public of the subject, because the truth is that they are abusing the Citizens United ruling. Scott Walker’s campaign’s intimate ties with Club for Growth are the perfect example of how they are doing this...."

http://mrtnn.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/puppet-flat2.jpg

[Th'Pusher]

LOL...

You lefties are so easily manipulated.

link: Correction: Scott Walker Didn’t Say He Voted For Reagan (http://www.rightwingnews.com/misc/correction-scott-walker-didnt-say-he-voted-for-reagan/)

Audio included.

Nice work doing a little digging in an effort to defend the republican you have no position on one way or another.

[Wild Cobra]

I didn't do it for Walker. I did it to show how fucking stupid you always are.

[Th'Pusher]

I didn't do it for Walker. I did it to show how fucking stupid you always are.

This doesn't show how stupid I am. It simply shows I took the op at face value and didn't care enough to ferret out the truth. You did though...because a republican was being besmirched and that bothers you. A lot.

[Wild Cobra]

This doesn't show how stupid I am. It simply shows I took the op at face value and didn't care enough to ferret out the truth. You did though...because a republican was being besmirched and that bothers you. A lot.
Yep...

Stupidity at it's finest. Go along with you biased beliefs, and support them without fact.

[ElNono]

...that he was apparently willing to commit voter fraud to vote for him.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/02/10/walker_claims_he_voted_for_reagan.html

Not really worried, he voted Republican, tbh

[TeyshaBlue]

This doesn't show how stupid I am. It simply shows I took the op at face value and didn't care enough to ferret out the truth. You did though...because a republican was being besmirched and that bothers you. A lot.

Why bother with something as trivial as the truth when the ox being gored has an R by his name, right?

[TeyshaBlue]

The amount of irrational hero worship around Saint Reagan is amusing. Republicans fall all over themselves to lionize him, and appeared to have added this to the accepted GOP canon, and woe to the heretic that deviates from this accepted schtick.

Almost as amusing as the enlightened progressives tripping all over themselves when a bogus factoid ripples the pond.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Almost as amusing as the enlightened progressives tripping all over themselves when a bogus factoid ripples the pond.

sup tb. havent seen you around much. hope things are well for you and yours.

[TeyshaBlue]

Thx Fuzzy. Job keeps me pretty busy. Been in Connecticut for the last week. Nashville today but home tomorrow. Been dodging snow storms all week. :D

[TeyshaBlue]

BTW......El Nono....the 80's called. They want their speed limits back.
55-65?...Meh.

[ElNono]

BTW......El Nono....the 80's called. They want their speed limits back.
55-65?...Meh.

It's more like a knee jerk reaction to the fact that everybody speeds, have a radar and are in a rush, tbh... every time I head to the Rio Grande Valley, the highway says 70, but the cars move at 40... I wanna choke somebody...

[Bill_Brasky]

Seems like a trivial comment that only extreme wing people would find informative and/or entertaining. I guess if that's all libs have on walker, he's doing pretty good.

Hilarious considering some of the incredibly stupid, asinine lengths you will go to in order to attempt to 'discredit' any people you deem as 'stupid libs'. Partisan hack. You've no room.

[spursncowboys]

Hilarious considering some of the incredibly stupid, asinine lengths you will go to in order to attempt to 'discredit' any people you deem as 'stupid libs'. Partisan hack. You've no room.
Do you have an example?

Of my 'stupid asinine' length? Or of me trying to discredit someone deemed a 'stupid lib'?

[spursncowboys]

A trival comment or a lie? The guy is either a liar or a felon.
If it's a lie, then it's still trivial.

[RandomGuy]

Seems like a trivial comment that only extreme wing people would find informative and/or entertaining. I guess if that's all libs have on walker, he's doing pretty good.

Oh the Irony....

Now you know how I feel most of the time, when I thumb through the hysterical anti-Obama blizzard of copypasta.

That is pretty much the modus operandi of almost all the "conservative" posters on this, and just about any other, board.

Every day the wonks at Fox "news" sit around deciding what the Outrage of the Day is, then that story gets pushed and the faithful dutifully repeat it ad infinitum, without the slightest fact checking or critical thinking about whether what is being pushed is really a big deal.

That said, this was not really that big a deal, I would agree. Very slightly funny, but not a big deal at all.

That it turns out to be a minor transcription error is not altogether surprising, as that is a much more likely explanation than voter fraud.

[RandomGuy]

If it's a lie, then it's still trivial.

http://www.rightwingnews.com/misc/correction-scott-walker-didnt-say-he-voted-for-reagan/

Not a lie, merely a transcription error. Link above has original audio, and an explanation.

[RandomGuy]

Do you have an example?

Of my 'stupid asinine' length? Or of me trying to discredit someone deemed a 'stupid lib'?

I could go to town on examples. You really want to go there?

[RandomGuy]

Almost as amusing as the enlightened progressives tripping all over themselves when a bogus factoid ripples the pond.

I might find that biting if I had thought the bogus factoid important enough to comment on. I didn't. :D

[spursncowboys]

I could go to town on examples. You really want to go there?
I would love to see... Thank you in advance. FTR My post had nothing to do with the person, but the content. So for someone to attack me with a statement that I attack the messenger is ironic and wrong. I think I do pretty well avoiding attacking the messanger.
In regards to your previous response to me: I agree almost entirely with your view. Except for your fox attack. Seems silly to attack the entire network. People lose credibility when they do this IMO of course.

[boutons_deux]

he's doing pretty good.

Wisconsin Republicans Want To Prohibit Local Minimum Wage Laws (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/12/3286321/wisconsin-ban-local-minimum-wage/)


http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/12/3286321/wisconsin-ban-local-minimum-wage/

[Winehole23]

for many, that's to Scott Walker's credit. it's on you to explain why being for or against the minimum wage is credit/blameworthy.

[boutons_deux]

for many, that's to Scott Walker's credit. it's on you to explain why being for or against the minimum wage is credit/blameworthy.

In red-states fighting for states rights (typically to discriminate, or nullify federal/Constitutional law), we see the power is hypocritically reserved to/stopped at state level, trumping, preempting "city rights", eg, to set their own city-wide minimum wage, etc.

As always, the Repug strategy is to screw (esp poor) citizens (eg, out of higher wages) in order to protect business profits and thereby themselves.

Walker is a Kock Bros puppet, Wisconsin govt is a Kock Bros subsidiary, so Walkers hews to the VRWC/ALEC screw-the-poor/protect business party line.

Walker is an ogre, epitomizing everything horrible about governance by corporotacracy.

[Winehole23]

thanks for saying that in your own words.

this is a quibble, but cities are subsidiary sovereigns like states, are they not?

[boutons_deux]

thanks for saying that in your own words.

this is a quibble, but cities are subsidiary sovereigns like states, are they not?

IDK. city, county charters, forms of govt very probably vary enormously from state to state.

[pgardn]

http://www.rightwingnews.com/misc/correction-scott-walker-didnt-say-he-voted-for-reagan/

Not a lie, merely a transcription error. Link above has original audio, and an explanation.

In the context of the discussion Walker clearly did not say he voted for RR.

Im sure Boutons can/has found so much more on Walker. Both parties are prone to petty mistakes or outright fabrications. And in the context of the discussion, it was not a mock kiddy election either.

Thanks for for finding the audio RG.

[Winehole23]

IDK. city, county charters, forms of govt very probably vary enormously from state to state.they are. cities are subsidiary to the state, the states subsidiary to the federal government.

when there is a conflict, the law of the superior sovereign generally governs.

[boutons_deux]

In red-states fighting for states rights (typically to discriminate, or nullify federal/Constitutional law), we see the power is hypocritically reserved to/stopped at state level, trumping, preempting "city rights", eg, to set their own city-wide minimum wage, etc.

As always, the Repug strategy is to screw (esp poor) citizens (eg, out of higher wages) in order to protect business profits and thereby themselves.

Walker is a Kock Bros puppet, Wisconsin govt is a Kock Bros subsidiary, so Walkers hews to the VRWC/ALEC screw-the-poor/protect business party line.

Walker is an ogre, epitomizing everything horrible about governance by corporotacracy.

Another example is red state (NC?) forbidding municipalities from building their own municipal, taxpayer-funded broadband networks, so for-profit cable monopolies can suck wealth free of competition.

Happy coincidence, TWC HQ is in Charlotte NC. :lol

[Winehole23]

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004176-has-scott-walker-really-turned-around-wisconsin

[boutons_deux]

Report: Scott Walker’s Jobs Agency Pouring Money Into Red Districts, Neglecting Others

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has long been criticized for his state’s poor jobs numbers — but now the potential 2016 presidential candidate is under fire for the locations of the jobs that havebeen created.

In 2011, under Walker, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was established as the state’s largest private-sector jobs agency. The WEDC’s purpose is to develop and facilitate economic programs that create new jobs or subsidize already existing ones. Using taxpayer money, the WEDC awards, grants, and loans money to businesses across the state.
According to a Citizen Action of Wisconsin report (https://app.box.com/s/q9ltvpmongmo2pd4cocm) released in February, however, data reported by the WEDC shows “[jobs] impact concentrated in a handful of legislative districts” – specifically, districts represented by Republicans.

Furthermore, because red districts in the state are benefiting more from the WEDC than other districts are, members of the Republican Assembly who are in leadership positions benefit from a disproportionately increased number of jobs in their districts.

Using numbers reported by the WEDC, the report finds that Republican assembly districts have approximately 86 percent more jobs projected in the first quarter of the 2014 fiscal year than Democratic districts. While there are 453 jobs projected per Democratic district, an overwhelming 842 jobs are projected per Republican district.

Additionally, while over 6,000 jobs are projected to be created in just one GOP assembly district alone, 14 districts have zero jobs projected, which calls the WEDC’s methods of distributing funds and impacting job creation into question.

“There’s a real question about what’s actually being done with public money, and whether or not the resources are being distributed fairly across the state,” says (http://www.wrn.com/2014/02/study-claims-wedc-favors-gop-districts/) Robert Kraig, the executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/report-scott-walkers-job-agency-pouring-money-red-districts-neglecting-districts/

Looks like Walker is not Governor of Wisconsin, but Governor of/for Wisconsin Repugs

[boutons_deux]

Governor Walker's Train Gaffe Costing Wisconsin Big Time


It didn't get a lot of press — two Milwaukee bloggers noted it — but Talgo, the Spain- and U.S.-based train manufacturer, closed its factory on Milwaukee's north side last week and moved the last of its train sets out of town. They will probably be sold to Michigan.

The irony is that here was a manufacturing company that was enticed to Wisconsin thanks to a bundle of federal dollars but was chased away by a new governor who professed his main interest was creating jobs and making Wisconsin friendly to business. Yes, go figure.

Instead, he kissed goodbye several hundred jobs that would have been created in one of Milwaukee's poorer neighborhoods and gave the federal government back $810 million that was to pay for expanding passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison and create roughly 4,000 construction jobs to boot.
It is not only one of the biggest financial blunders in the state's history, but ranks high for its utter cluelessness. And its says volumes about the governor's judgment.

Talgo is now suing the state for $65 million for the state's reneging on its Talgo contract, and

Wisconsin has to foot the bill for a multimillion-dollar maintenance facility and handicap accessibility upgrade at the Milwaukee station, all of which would have been covered by the $810 million federal grant.

These expenditures would have covered dozens of years of the supposed $6 million annual maintenance cost Gov. Scott Walker used as an excuse to scuttle the rail upgrade. As is the case for so many of his claims, that $6 million was inflated by a factor of 10. The actual cost to the state would have been more like $600,000.But there's a reason Walker routinely gets "pants on fire" ratings from the fact-checking PolitiFact.

So here we are with a robust passenger rail service restricted between Milwaukee and Chicago and a one-train-a-day Amtrak whose only big-city stops in Wisconsin are in Milwaukee and La Crosse.

Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the trends that are taking hold in the country, apparently unbeknown to those who run our state.

Newspapers around the country devoted nearly a full page to the topic last Sunday under a headline that read: "A love affair on fumes?" The Associated Press story was referring to the fact that America is driving a lot less these days, and where once 16-year-olds couldn't wait to get their hands on the family car, less than 70 percent of 19-year-olds now have a driver's license.

Some of the decline — 10 percent since 2004 — is attributed to greater reliance on bicycles, but there's been an enormous increase in the use of commuter and passenger rail as an alternative to owning cars.

Further, according to the research group WISPIRG, many young people are opting to find jobs where they can get to work without owning a car.

But, no, we'd rather build more highways, spend a billion bucks on Milwaukee's zoo interchange, and borrow money to pay for it.

That, folks, is a pretty poor plan.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/08-2

Walker is Kock Bros puppet, a proxy for Kocks' dark shenanigans.

The VRWC strategy?

Block any attempts by govt to improve life for Human-Americans, while emasculating govt as source of power so that only private capital has ALL the power.

[Winehole23]

...that he was apparently willing to commit voter fraud to vote for him.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/02/10/walker_claims_he_voted_for_reagan.htmlmotif?



Robert Monroe, a 50-year-old Shorewood health insurance executive, was charged Friday with 13 felonies related to his voting a dozen times in five elections between 2011 and 2012 using his own name as well as that of his son and his girlfriend's son.

"During 2011 and 2012, the defendant, Robert Monroe, became especially focused upon political issues and causes, including especially the recall elections," the complaint asserts in its introduction.http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=325853

[Winehole23]

According to those records, Monroe was considered by investigators to be the most prolific multiple voter in memory. He was a supporter of Gov. Scott Walker and state Sen. Alberta Darling, both Republicans, and allegedly cast five ballots in the June 2012 election in which Walker survived a recall challenge.

[Winehole23]

voter impersonation fraud is exceedingly rare; the irony, accordingly delicious.

[boutons_deux]

Wisconsin to Skip Debt Payments to Make Up for Walker’s Tax Cuts

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, facing a $283 million deficit that needs to be closed by the end of June, will skip more than $100 million in debt payments to balance the books thrown into disarray by his tax cuts.

The move comes as Walker, 47, mounts a 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and while his state is under stress from a projected shortfall that could exceed $2 billion in the two-year budget beginning in July.

Delaying the $108 million principal payment due in May on short-term debt would free funds. The move doesn’t require legislative approval, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said in a Feb. 13 memorandum. The terms of the debt sale allow Wisconsin to defer the payment in any given year, a procedure known as a restructuring, without defaulting.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-18/wisconsin-to-skip-debt-payments-to-make-up-for-walker-s-tax-cuts?cmpid=yhoo

Americans TRUST the Repugs more on the economy! :lol

[angrydude]

Walker will be indicted soon enough..

Who's Buying Gov. Scott Walker?

Since becoming governor, Gov. Scott Walker has raked in millions of dollars in political campaign donations from millionaires and billionaires across the nation.

http://www.pinterest.com/onewisconsinnow/who-s-buying-gov-scott-walker/

He fund raises all over the place. It's because his Wisconsin teachers union busting....which is EXTREMELY popular in Wisconsin BTW, made him a big public figure with a national machine.

Libs are just super mad that all the money and effort they put in trying to make him lose in elections, recall elections, state house races etc. all failed miserably....because his reforms were SO POPULAR in an otherwise solidly liberal state.

[boutons_deux]

He fund raises all over the place. It's because his Wisconsin teachers union busting....which is EXTREMELY popular in Wisconsin BTW, made him a big public figure with a national machine.

Libs are just super mad that all the money and effort they put in trying to make him lose in elections, recall elections, state house races etc. all failed miserably....because his reforms were SO POPULAR in an otherwise solidly liberal state.

bullshit

Kock Bros and affiliates dumped a blizzard of money to beat the recall.

[Th'Pusher]

http://i.imgur.com/AsJ3N7x.jpg

:lol

[DMX7]

What are the odds Scott Walker and Sarah Palin are actually related?

[hitmanyr2k]

Walker Claims He Voted for Reagan
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) talked to Right Wing News about voting for Ronald Reagan:

"I remember, I was a teenager, had just become a teenager and voted for Ronald Reagan -- limited government, you know, smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense. You knew what you were getting. You knew how a Reagan administration, a Reagan presidency was going to be better for you."

One problem: Blogging Blue notes Walker wasn't old enough to vote in either 1980 or 1984 when Reagan ran for president.

I hope Walker got educated and isn't still saying this shit. I don't know what's up with Republicans and their Reagan myths but he's the complete opposite of what they like to portray him as. Limited government is bullshit, it grew under Reagan. Yeah, he cut taxes but then he had to raise them like it was going out of style. And national defense? I laugh when Republicans try to use Reagan as some beacon of light when it comes to foreign policy. They all ignore what this man got away with. He's just lucky his presidency wasn't in a 24/7 news cycle back in the 80's because if the same things that happened during his administration were going on in this era Reagan would be in a political dead man today, maybe even worse than Bush. We've had to endure Benghazi ad nauseam but the '83 American embassy bombing in Lebanon that killed about 20 Americans and the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut which killed 200+ marines are completely forgotten. And those two incidents happened months apart. Reagan would get the "feckless" treatment today tenfold. And before Saddam became Lex Luthor to America he was all friendly with the Reagan administration. Ron took them off the state sponsors of terrorism list so they could sell and aid Saddam's regime with all kind of goodies during the Iran/Iraq war...weapons, chemicals, intelligence and training. And then on top of that Reagan turned a blind eye when Saddam used chemical warfare on Iran and civilians. We reaped the whirlwind of Reagan's idiocy compounded with Bush's idiocy in starting the Iraq war in 2003. People wonder why Bush and his administration were so convinced Saddam had WMDs and was continuing his program. Well, we still had the receipts of everything we supplied him with throughout the 80's :lol

And Iran was on the state sponsors of terrorism list as well but that didn't stop Ron from selling them weapons and thousands of missiles illegally using Israel as a proxy. This was done while Iranian affiliates were holding American hostages in Lebanon and he figured negotiating with these guys (or "naively appeasing" as Republicans would call it today) would get Iran to use their influence to have the hostages released. Can you imagine the sh**storm that would have come down on his head if this story broke in this day and age? Never mind Reagan's administration destroying documents of Ron authorizing this shit and on top of that sponsoring terrorism in Nicaragua by funding the Contras with the money coming in from Iran's illegal arms sales. But yeah, when it comes to Reagan all of his shit is buried by right wing amnesiacs and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these hypocrites mention Reagan in glowing terms in this week's Republican debate.

[DMX7]

I hope Walker got educated and isn't still saying this shit. I don't know what's up with Republicans and their Reagan myths but he's the complete opposite of what they like to portray him as. Limited government is bullshit, it grew under Reagan. Yeah, he cut taxes but then he had to raise them like it was going out of style. And national defense? I laugh when Republicans try to use Reagan as some beacon of light when it comes to foreign policy. They all ignore what this man got away with. He's just lucky his presidency wasn't in a 24/7 news cycle back in the 80's because if the same things that happened during his administration were going on in this era Reagan would be in a political dead man today, maybe even worse than Bush. We've had to endure Benghazi ad nauseam but the '83 American embassy bombing in Lebanon that killed about 20 Americans and the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut which killed 200+ marines are completely forgotten. And those two incidents happened months apart. Reagan would get the "feckless" treatment today tenfold. And before Saddam became Lex Luthor to America he was all friendly with the Reagan administration. Ron took them off the state sponsors of terrorism list so they could sell and aid Saddam's regime with all kind of goodies during the Iran/Iraq war...weapons, chemicals, intelligence and training. And then on top of that Reagan turned a blind eye when Saddam used chemical warfare on Iran and civilians. We reaped the whirlwind of Reagan's idiocy compounded with Bush's idiocy in starting the Iraq war in 2003. People wonder why Bush and his administration were so convinced Saddam had WMDs and was continuing his program. Well, we still had the receipts of everything we supplied him with throughout the 80's :lol

And Iran was on the state sponsors of terrorism list as well but that didn't stop Ron from selling them weapons and thousands of missiles illegally using Israel as a proxy. This was done while Iranian affiliates were holding American hostages in Lebanon and he figured negotiating with these guys (or "naively appeasing" as Republicans would call it today) would get Iran to use their influence to have the hostages released. Can you imagine the sh**storm that would have come down on his head if this story broke in this day and age? Never mind Reagan's administration destroying documents of Ron authorizing this shit and on top of that sponsoring terrorism in Nicaragua by funding the Contras with the money coming in from Iran's illegal arms sales. But yeah, when it comes to Reagan all of his shit is buried by right wing amnesiacs and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these hypocrites mention Reagan in glowing terms in this week's Republican debate.

This is why we NEED voter ID. Because people like young Scott Walker can vote illegally. It is a problem. This is proof of it.

[boutons_deux]

This is why we NEED voter ID. Because people like young Scott Walker can vote illegally. It is a problem. This is proof of it.

:lol WTF?

[boutons_deux]

"Republicans and their Reagan myths"

Repugs got nothing but lies, propaganda, slander, revisionist history. Their fake adoration of St Ronnie is part of their fantasy world.

[DMX7]

:lol WTF?


Walker Claims He Voted for Reagan
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) talked to Right Wing News about voting for Ronald Reagan:

"I remember, I was a teenager, had just become a teenager and voted for Ronald Reagan -- limited government, you know, smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense. You knew what you were getting. You knew how a Reagan administration, a Reagan presidency was going to be better for you."

One problem: Blogging Blue notes Walker wasn't old enough to vote in either 1980 or 1984 when Reagan ran for president.

Voter ID could have stopped this. It is real.

[TeyshaBlue]

Probably want to read post #15, DMX.

[DMX7]

Probably want to read post #15, DMX.

It's a joke...

[TeyshaBlue]

I need to rent a new sense of humor. :depressed

[boutons_deux]

Now We Know. Scott Walker Was John Doe. (Big Update) (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409808/-Now-We-Know-Scott-Walker-Was-John-Doe)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/158186/large/walker-is-john-doe.jpg?1438982582


He's still denying it, but Scott Walker, it turns out not only caused the first John Doe Probe by refusing to cooperate and obstructing an investigation (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/01/1407894/-The-Skeletons-Keep-Falling-Out-of-Scott-Walkers-Closet) into missing funds from a Veterans trust, but he was a target of the John Doe Probe (http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-says-he-didnt-know-he-was-a-john-doe-target-b99552520z1-321053741.html).


Gov. Scott Walker says he didn't know he was a target of a now-closed John Doe probe until this week, when newly released court documents showed he was under investigation for misconduct in office.

He continues to rely on the same old talking points to discount the importance of this revelation: "I didn't know", "this is old news", and, the infamous "I was never charged".Why he was never charged in the investigation is a continued mystery since it is clear that he knew about the secret router, private email system, as well as campaign work and fundraising being done in his Milwaukee County Executive Office instead of official government business. All were in place to hide the use of his official office and staff as a campaign organization by avoiding the Milwaukee County routers that archive all communications to comply with Open Records Laws.

And then there's this:


Although Walker insisted at the time he was not a target of the probe, he set up a legal defense fund and hired criminal defense attorneys.

Why did he need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on criminal defense lawyers if he "didn't know" he was under investigation and pay for them using campaign funds under a statute that makes those funds available in the case of a politician being investigated?

Even at the time Slick Scotty avoided those questions and our Walker-loving media never vigorously pursued the answer.

The original probe, closed in 2013 with the indictment and conviction of 6 of Walkers closest aides and associates, is still newsworthy because of documents continually coming to light in legal filings. The latest, a lawsuit filed by former top Walker Aide Cynthia Archer, has led to quite a number of documents becoming public.

Oh, The Hypocrisy!

Despite the John Doe revelations of his own legitimate email scandal, Scott Walker decided that last night was a great time to hurl mud at Hillary Clinton about her hyped up email "scandal". Yes, this guy has moon-sized balls and it didn't take long for the hypocrisy to be pointed out.


"Out of all of the candidates, the last one to have any credibility on the issue is Scott Walker," said state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton), noting that the secret email system router was located not far from his office while he was Milwaukee County executive.State Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) added, "It smacks of hypocrisy, at the very least."

Walker and his aides routinely conducted county business on campaign and private email accounts and blurred campaign and county government lines, previously-released records show.


Walker is the last guy in this solar system who should be accusing anyone of misconduct in office.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409808/-Now-We-Know-Scott-Walker-Was-John-Doe?detail=email

Repug tea baggers love criminal slimebags like Walker.