I disagree: Scott Walker has a personal appeal that Romney completely lacked. He isn’t the son of a rich guy and won’t make gaffes about car elevators and such. His combination of extreme positions along with his “reasonable every-man” presentation make him a viable candidate. I’d like to think his lack of a college education would exclude him from consideration for the presidency but there is a large swath of the voting public who’d like to vote for someone like them rather than an “elitist” college graduate. We underestimate Walker at our own peril!
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But they’re 99% successful at all the little underhanded things their nonresident billionaires really want, like making it easier for the insurance industry to deny claims and easier for legal persons but harder for real people to file lawsuits.
The only one I disagree with is #7 … he is ALL ego
And the D’s lack broad ‘bench strength’ in WI.
The Democrats ran the same sad sack in the recall who lost to Walker the first time around. Walker won his second term running against Mary Burke; her highest elected position was to the Madison School Board.
My personal favorite Republi FAIL is Wisconsin voter id law. Walker has outsourced the production of ID cards to a nonresident firm, and the temporary licence you get from the DOT is nothing a 12 year old couldn’t fake on a bubble jet printer. So it’s actually easier than ever to commit the nearly nonexistent fraud they said they were trying to prevent
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Paul Ryan couldn’t get Wisconsin to go for Rmoney, and Walker is even less popular in the state. More likely that the VP slot is reserved for a Hispanic or female sacrificial lamb.
Won’t happen.
The Koch Bros. support Walker, and hate Bush.
Wall Street Bankers support Bush, and hate Walker.
More likely is: Bush/Rubio or Walker/Paul
In a perfect world we would get: Trump/Palin (hey, a guy can dream can’t he?)
I am not underestimating him. I have long said that Walker is probably the best positioned candidate on the GOP side, in terms of appeal across the various wings, his relatively unknown name to most of the low information voters, his “every-man” fake persona, and his financial backing by the Kochs.
But so far, his campaign has been pretty bleak. He jumped out to an early lead, (never good, especially in the GOP today…see 2012 frontrunners), made a series of gaffes, and then got put on the sidelines by his own staff, He has been the very last candidate to comment on anything in recent weeks. Even his announcement has been met with a great big yawn as the media is bored with campaign announcements and is ga-ga over Trump.
I still think he wins Iowa, but he doesn’t seem to be making much of an impression beyond there. And while he has the money to go the distance, he is very green at national politics. I’d say there is a pretty decent chance that he self destructs before the convention right now.
For as many Wisconsin residents as he’s thrown under the campaign bus these past several years, he doesn’t seem to have made nearly as big a splash as he should have. Did you hear THE RUMP is worth $10 Billion?
If the meaning of conservative is “lying backstabbing poor hating race baiting anti woman ignorant hayseed” then yes, he is a conservative.
I don’t see Walker as adding anything to the Bush/Waker “Two White Guys Ticket”. My guess is that the GOP would court Susana Martinez for the second spot. She would help balance out the ticket and might garner a few female and Hispanic votes.
I will have to disagree with you on that. Scott has absolutely no charisma. If you were to look up dullard in the dictionary, you will see his picture there. He is also not the sharpest tool in the shed. He is only able to speak using his talking points given him by the Kochs. Check out how he embarrassed himself on his overseas trip to prove his foreign policy acumen. He was called to DC where they put him through the paces and tried to bring him up to speed. I still don’t think he could find Iran on a map. Notice when asked questions he often punts because he first needs to check with his financiers.
Frank Bruni from the NYT had an excellent piece on Walker.
Totally agree, jinx_tpm. He IS all ego, and he’s in it for the power. Other wise, Khaaannn’s got a great list: especially “#5. A really, really good liar” - that’s him to a “t” and why he’s so dangerous.
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Be careful !! He’s not that bright, but he’s not as dumb as you think either; and therein lies the danger; and the appeal to so many on the right, and those in the middle who don’t pay close attention to politics.
Yes, he’s a doofus, but he also has an uncanny ability at politics, and a chameleon-like quality that will actually make some think he’s a moderate when that serves him. That’s where the press has to do their job and make sure the public knows how extreme he really is. Unless - as you suspect - he self-destructs early in the process. He should, but those of us in Wisconsin have been waiting for that moment for a long time and it hasn’t come. Of course here, he benefitted greatly from a media that until recently, refused to investigate and report what an extremist he is.
Also, remember this! He never campaigned on the extreme things he planned for Wisconsin - not in any of those elections. And even the most moderate GOP voters love him, in spite of not sharing his far-right ideas.
As a Madison resident, I so completely agree with you.