WI GOP pols perpetually baffled by their world

Well, look: you can't expect busy career politicians to be up on everything, even the campaigns they run to win or stay in office and hold jobs which apparently are an endless source of befuddlement.


*  Like Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate Majority Leader:

Wisconsin Senate GOP leader says he had no knowledge of donations from lead manufacturer

Or Gov. Walker, who's made a career out of strategic forgetting or playing dumb, in his own words like these - - which are definitely keepers:

Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) struggled Friday to explain why the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) has failed to recover any taxpayer money given out to companies that have outsourced Wisconsin jobs, despite past claims he'd asked them to do that... 

"Again - that's a question you'll have to direct to them," said Gov. Walker. "The bottom line is the expectation, but if it's a company that - for legal reasons or otherwise - they'll have to answer the questions. They're the ones that handle that process." 

Yes, Walker has made a career out of strategic forgetting or playing dumb:

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*  Here's one example, after a patient starved to death at the Mental Health Complex, the gubernatorial campaign was underway and a report about it could have surfaced: 

Walker defends withholding Mental Health Complex report

"I don't know what's in it, so it's hard for me to say" if it should be released, Walker said. His administration had nothing to do with the report being withheld, Walker said.

But isn't there something earlier?
*  Ah, The Marquette Tribune had it in 2010, and used its files clear back to 1988, when Walker's campaign for student body president imploded over ethics and rule violations, and it was time to take responsibility:

Walker’s campaign record murky

In the run-up to election day, the Tribune’s editorial board endorsed Walker’s opponent John Quigley, but said either candidate had the potential to serve effectively.

However, the Tribune revised its editorial the following day, calling Walker “unfit for presidency...”

The revision also expressed disappointment in Walker’s campaign workers reportedly throwing away issues of the Tribune after the endorsement was initially made.

Walker dismissed this, saying he had no knowledge of what his supporters did, according to a Tribune article from February 25, 1988.