Walker's Waterloos
[Updated from 12:10 p.m.] Let's be clear about why Scott Walker says and does anything from now on:
His audience is national, not local. How does the curb feel, Bucky, now that Walker's not that into you?
More to the point - - Walker's audience now - - and actually since the 2007 conservative summit meeting along the shores of Lake Michigan about which the media, other than Salon.com, refuses to report - - is the hardest, rightist core of activists and voters in the Republican and Tea Parties, and their loyalties for 2016.
Constituencies, money and people power also being sought by Walker presidential rivals, like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and others.
So when Walker talks about what is an illegal and wasteful plan to drug-test public assistance recipients whom he says are loafing around playing Xbox -- - and, yes, he was clever enough to steer that dog whistle clear of the more overtly-racist tone which forced Ryan to apologize to the Congressional Black Caucus for a similar attack on allegedly-lazy inner city jobless - - Walker is talking to 2016 primary caucus voters in Waterloo, Iowa, not people living in, say, Waterloo, Wisconsin.
The same can be said for Walker's attack on unions, Planned Parenthood, minority ballot access through reduced early voting days and unneeded voter ID.
It's all about Iowa, the state, not about Wisconsin or its Iowa County anymore.
Two more observations:
* Walker is going to see a lot of these when he's in Iowa, and while tilting at them there he might have to explain why he's made it so hard in neighboring Wisconsin to install them, their good-paying jobs, and cleaner power.
* So it would so appropriately karmic if Walker's political manipulation set the stage for his presidential Waterloo.
His audience is national, not local. How does the curb feel, Bucky, now that Walker's not that into you?
More to the point - - Walker's audience now - - and actually since the 2007 conservative summit meeting along the shores of Lake Michigan about which the media, other than Salon.com, refuses to report - - is the hardest, rightist core of activists and voters in the Republican and Tea Parties, and their loyalties for 2016.
Constituencies, money and people power also being sought by Walker presidential rivals, like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and others.
So when Walker talks about what is an illegal and wasteful plan to drug-test public assistance recipients whom he says are loafing around playing Xbox -- - and, yes, he was clever enough to steer that dog whistle clear of the more overtly-racist tone which forced Ryan to apologize to the Congressional Black Caucus for a similar attack on allegedly-lazy inner city jobless - - Walker is talking to 2016 primary caucus voters in Waterloo, Iowa, not people living in, say, Waterloo, Wisconsin.
The same can be said for Walker's attack on unions, Planned Parenthood, minority ballot access through reduced early voting days and unneeded voter ID.
It's all about Iowa, the state, not about Wisconsin or its Iowa County anymore.
Two more observations:
* Walker is going to see a lot of these when he's in Iowa, and while tilting at them there he might have to explain why he's made it so hard in neighboring Wisconsin to install them, their good-paying jobs, and cleaner power.
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| Wind turbines, I-80, Iowa |
2 comments:
I really don't understand why they think someone who has worked steadily at a job making a life for him or herself for many years and becomes unemployed due to no fault of their own would instantly turn into a drug addict. If they knew anything about psychology, they would know that is not how hard working people manage their lives. The first thing they do is look for another job. It is an insult to those with a strong work ethic to make them consent to drug testing just because they are unlucky enough to be without a job. Shame on them. I hope if this comes to fruition it is struck down in the courts.
Scott Walker can exhort his fellow teabaggers to throw rocks at the wind turbines.
Scott Walker can exhort his fellow teabaggers to throw rocks at the solar panels.
Just like Roland Koch did in Germany. Koch was previously a high-ranking CDU politician, serving as deputy party whip starting in 2006, for instance. Koch was also a major critic of renewables and even went so far as to call on citizens to throw stones at solar panels in 2013 (report in German), while still CEO of Bilfinger. Public prosecutors refused to press charges, but the matter was an embarrassment for the firm.
Even though some of the solar panels and wind turbines in Iowa are on large livestock confinement buildings.
Solar energy is catching on with Iowa farmers
Scott Walker. Against renewable energy, for corporate agriculture, he's about to be stuck in the middle.
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