FreemontTheGreat: August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

Walker goes full Forrest Gump, says Canadian border wall is “legitimate issue for us to look at”

Update: Readers who hunger for more mockery of Scott Walker should check out the #CanadaWall tag on twitter. ————————————– Today on Meet the Press, Scott Walker said that a border wall between the United States and Canada is “a legitimate issue for us to look at”. I expect his campaign will tomorrow release a “clarifying” more »

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Walker goes full Forrest Gump, says Canadian border wall is “legitimate issue for us to look at”

Monday, August 24, 2015

Quinnipiac poll of FL,OH,PA: fortunes of Walker and Clinton sink as Biden’s rise

Notice that in the crucial state of Ohio, Scott Walker is only at 2%. This is all come to a poll looking for these days: Walker’s failure. But other people are paying attention to the bigger picture, of course. Rubio is the only Republican polling ahead of Clinton in Ohio. Quinnipiac Poll: @MarcoRubio is the more »

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Scott Walker flip flops on birthright citizenship. Blames tiredness.

"Scott Walker said he accidentally took a position on [citizenship] because he was 'tired'" https://t.co/BBMDYMZQJo pic.twitter.com/vqBv0rSU8b — Billmon (@billmon1) August 21, 2015 At the Iowa state fair, Walker was for elimination of birthright citizenship. By Friday he had “no position” on it. “I’m not taking a position one way or the other,” Walker said in an more »

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Scott Walker flip flops on birthright citizenship. Blames tiredness.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Marquette U. Poll of Wisconsinites: 39% approve of job Walker is doing as Guv, 57% disapprove

The most significant bit of news in this poll, in my opinion, is the fact that Wisconsinites are taking a dim view of Scott Walker’s performance. His 39% “job approval” rating is down 2 points from where it was in April when 41% approved of his performance as Governor. Walker’s doing much worse than Obama more »

Santorum Still Thinks Judicial Review Isn’t Real

Rick Santorum, like many other far-right, anti-gay politicians, has taken the position that if the Supreme Court rules in a way he thinks is wrong, the other branches of government can simply overrule or ignore them. And in a recent interview, he claims that the entire idea of judicial review is not part of the [Read More...]

Thursday, August 6, 2015

John Doe developments: Walker was target in 2011, Appeal impending

Eagle Scout integrity: “Gov. Scott Walker was under criminal investigation in 2011 for misconduct in office — even as he insisted he wasn’t — over a proposed real estate deal when he was Milwaukee County executive, according to records filed Wednesday in federal court” Source: Despite denials, Scott Walker was target of probe in 2011 more »

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Trump Gets Something Right

This weekend a bunch of the Republican presidential candidates flew to California to kiss the rings (and asses) of the Koch brothers and a whole bunch of other super-rich Republican donors. And Donald Trump, asshole though he may be, scorched them pretty hard on Twitter:

I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2015

Of course they’re puppets. Now this is hypocritical, of course; the only reason Trump isn’t a puppet is because he is one of those billionaires who buys politicians rather than one of the politicians seeking to be bought. Replacing one with the other is hardly progress. The New York Times reports on this with this weird passage:

The answer to his question, of course, is a matter of perspective.

The candidates who made the pilgrimage to Dana Point, Calif., this weekend to address the gathering of wealthy donors were either pandering to the brothers at one of their twice-yearly seminars (beg-a-thons, in Trump parlance) or simply hoping to woo an influential network of Republicans who could help finance their campaigns through what is shaping up to be a grueling nominating process.

What would be the difference between those two “eithers,” exactly? The Kochs have made a rather public show out of refusing to support Trump, but he doesn’t need their support, at least in the primaries (the general election, on the other hand, requires at least a billion dollars to run a serious campaign and if you think Trump has a liquid billion laying around, you’ve been drinking the koolaid he’s been serving).

On Saturday, Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Mr. Walker addressed the gathering in back-to-back question-and-answer sessions, praising the Koch network and dismissing concerns about the outside money flooding into presidential politics. Mike Allen of the news organization Politico moderated all of the sessions. The candidates were not shy about flattering the gathered donors, some of whom are already financing their campaigns or super PACs.

“These are people who care deeply about our nation, and who are willing to put their time and their energy and their resources and their minds to the challenge of making a better nation,” Ms. Fiorina said, referring to the Koch network. “The foundation that the Koch brothers have built has invested in the power of ideas,” she said, adding “they’ve invested in lifting everyone up, regardless of their circumstances.”

In front of most audiences, such an obviously ridiculous statement would provoke howls of laughter, but since she was talking to the very people she was talking about, it only pandered to their presumptions of their own goodness. This is how people operate, they convert their own self-interests into moral crusades so they can convince themselves and others that they are really just civic-minded do-gooders out to support the public good rather than robber barons bribing people to boost their profits. I wonder what really rich ass tastes like? Fiorina just found out. So did Scott Walker:

Mr. Walker was similarly laudatory, saying he wished “the whole world could see what goes on here.”

“So many of you here aren’t here because of any interest on behalf of your personal finances or your industries, you’re here because you love America,” Mr. Walker said, before likening those in the Koch network to the everyday Americans he had met at Tea Party rallies across the country. Those people, he said, “may not have a lot of net worth, but they’re out fighting Obamacare, they’re fighting for their country.”

“In closing, let me just say what an honor it is to speak to the most generous, patriotic, and wonderful people in the country. The fact that you’re all billionaires who could fund my campaign is, of course, totally coincidental.”

One can only wait for Donald Trump to reply, “No one is more generous, patriotic and wonderful than me. I invented generous, patriotic and wonderful. My generous, patriotic and wonderful ass is gold-plated. There’s never been a bigger or classier gold-plated ass than mine.”

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Proof: Scott Walker’s aide Archer lied. Maltreatment she claimed rec’d during #JohnDoe raid refuted by newly released recording

Recorded audio from the FBI-assisted raid of Cynthia Archer’s home has been released. “The audio of the raid is being released now in an attempt to rebut claims Archer makes in her suit. For instance, she said in her filing that officers stormed into her house “throwing the (search) warrant at her without giving her more »

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Milwaukee Bucks arena is product of bizarre and bipartisan bedfellows

It takes an incestuous bipartisan pile of snakes to foist this expense upon Wisconsin when only 9%* of the Wisconsin public wants to help fund it AND when the administration is slashing public education funding. Steve Horn and Michael Arria have a long and interesting piece out on Truthdig that exposes backroom bipartisanship and public more »