Monday, July 29, 2013

And If Ryan Braun Were In Politics...

The conventional wisdom is that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun's use of performance enhancing drugs was wrong and bad, but lying about it was as bad, or worse.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin's largest newspaper, editorially urged Major League Baseball and the team to give Braun and anyone else in the same circumstance a lifetime ban.

But I am fascinated that the same newspaper endorsed Scott Walker in the 2012 recall election even though its own reporters had already begun documenting a year earlier the Walker penchant for false speaking.

"I campaigned on (the proposals in the budget repair bill for Wisconsin) all throughout the election. Anybody who says they are shocked on this has been asleep for the past two years." 
Scott Walker on Monday, February 21st, 2011 in a news conference 
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he campaigned on his budget repair plan, including curtailing collective bargainingFalse.

And it kept on happening.

Blatantly:
Gov. Scott Walker says $247,000-per-job CAPCO program was approved by former Gov. Jim DoylePants on Fire!:
Our conclusion
In the wake of a story about poor jobs results of a state-sponsored program, Walker sought to pin the blame on his predecessor, Jim Doyle. 
But he was off by five years, two governors -- Thompson and successor Scott McCallum -- and one political party 
As governor, Doyle didn’t have anything to do with approving the CAPCO bill. But as an Assembly member, Scott Walker did. Pants on Fire.
So why do we hold our Governor to a lower standard than the Brewers left-fielder?

Apples and oranges, you say? Well, ask yourself which position has the most impact on our collective life?

By the way, Walker's pattern has not changed, so expect to see it emerge in his pre-Presidential primary campaign now in full swing. 

Here's a very recent example of his "Mostly False" use of crucial jobless data:

Scott Walker says success in office reflected in 2-point drop in unemployment rate from time he decided to run for governor

Mostly False
PolitiFact continues to rate Walker's statements "Mostly False," "False" or "Pants on Fire" in a majority of cases.


2 comments:

Jake formerly of the LP said...

And of course, Braun will lose nearly 40% of his 2013 salary for breaking the rules and lying about his role.

Compare that to Halliburton, who just got fined 0.03% of their profits for destroying evidence about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Shows that sports does real punishment a whole lot more than it does to businesses and politicians.

And you wonder why I say sports is more real-life than politics or Wall Street? Because people are more honest when they talk sports, and rule-breakers might actually get punished.

Anonymous said...

today walker talked about how state employes have been "empowered" by him. i can't believe george orwell never met him.