[Updated from 10:23 p.m.] We are hours away from right-wing GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's State of the State address, the kickoff of his Year Seven of The Great Con, wherein middling growth, crumbling roads, contaminated groundwater, disrespect for workers, contempt for science, cuts to education and a fast-disappearing middle class will be spun into red state Nirvana.
Cue the ovation from his gerrymandered GOP legislators, soon to be forced into fair elections by Federal judges beyond the reach of a State Supreme Court and judiciary under partisan purchase.
Walker has only one real goal in this speech: convincing Wisconsinites that he really likes being Governor, that he's really learned to love Wisconsin all over again in his phony, by-invite only 'listening sessions,' that his flirtation with the Presidency actually worked out well because he got to keep the best darn job on the planet.
And that good times are here again because Big Daddy Donald will help make Wisconsin great again by sending the state all sorts of job-producing federal money that was deemed untouchable when President Obama offered it by the boatload for Amtrak, broadband expansion and the very Medicaid expansion that, once rejected, cost state taxpayers and potential recipients hundreds of millions of life-affirming dollars and prevented some heroin addicts from getting the treatment that Walker will now say is a crisis occupying some of his attention.
So the Great Con continues, on live TV, with all sorts of nods to programs and policies that were, are and will always have been secondary to Walker's first priority: election, re-election, special-interest servitude and GOP votes at the Electoral College confab.
Also - - look for his signature fake winks and shoutouts to the Packers and UW football Badgers.
If only he could wear their jerseys, bought with Koh's cash, of course.
Now that would make for some excellent TV.
Updated: Here's the text of Walker's speech, and I have to say that Walker, being Walker, as he's done before, just could not deliver remarks without a snarky, dog-whistling shot at the poor:
Cue the ovation from his gerrymandered GOP legislators, soon to be forced into fair elections by Federal judges beyond the reach of a State Supreme Court and judiciary under partisan purchase.
Walker has only one real goal in this speech: convincing Wisconsinites that he really likes being Governor, that he's really learned to love Wisconsin all over again in his phony, by-invite only 'listening sessions,' that his flirtation with the Presidency actually worked out well because he got to keep the best darn job on the planet.
And that good times are here again because Big Daddy Donald will help make Wisconsin great again by sending the state all sorts of job-producing federal money that was deemed untouchable when President Obama offered it by the boatload for Amtrak, broadband expansion and the very Medicaid expansion that, once rejected, cost state taxpayers and potential recipients hundreds of millions of life-affirming dollars and prevented some heroin addicts from getting the treatment that Walker will now say is a crisis occupying some of his attention.
So the Great Con continues, on live TV, with all sorts of nods to programs and policies that were, are and will always have been secondary to Walker's first priority: election, re-election, special-interest servitude and GOP votes at the Electoral College confab.
Also - - look for his signature fake winks and shoutouts to the Packers and UW football Badgers.
If only he could wear their jerseys, bought with Koh's cash, of course.
Now that would make for some excellent TV.
Updated: Here's the text of Walker's speech, and I have to say that Walker, being Walker, as he's done before, just could not deliver remarks without a snarky, dog-whistling shot at the poor:
Here in Wisconsin, we are willing to help people who are down and out. But public assistance should be a trampoline, not a hammock.Remember when he found the same scapegoat before? Somethings never change:
In the final month and a half of the campaign, Gov. Scott Walker is making a blunt promise to voters — that he'll ensure jobless workers aren't on drugs, or their recliners.
"My belief is we shouldn't be paying for them to sit on the couch, watching TV or playing Xbox," Walker told cheering Republican campaign volunteers last week in West Bend.
Apparently the "great communicator" is not going to offer specific proposals as to how he is going to make Wisconsin Great Again [sorry] keep Wisconsin wonderful. Rather offer a broad over view of how if you don't live in Kewaunee County there isn't crap in you water. He will tell us that gravel roads are coming back into vogue and Wisconsin will lead the way in this regard. Walker will as always tell us that Wisconsin's economy is roaring as we have the lowest unemployment rate ever and that Walmart and Menard's will continue to hire and continue to offer low wages, benefits and opportunities to live the American dream let alone the Wisconsin dream [finding happiness on $7.25 per hour]. The specifics we be worked out in closed door sessions with last minute public hearings and the bills and the budget passed under the cover of darkness after midnight. So in reality the "STATE OF THE STATE" will be to carry on as before and to assure all Wisconsinites that "all is good in badger land" and how about those Packers and Badgers!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHistory will not treat Walker well. When the health of the state is review in the context of years of progress by dozens of administrations Walkers numbers will be at the bottom. It will be clear when the "political cancer" arrived and who introduced the policies that ruined a once great progressive healthy state.
ReplyDeleteAnon@12:32, History will not treat Wisconsin voters well either. A bunch of folks who not only continued to elect Walker & his cronies after information was out there, but voted in more foxes to the henhouse as Walker's regime continued.
ReplyDeleteIt is long past time we noted this pathetic inclination of our fellow citizens, and acknowledge their portion of responsibility for today's situation.
Well said Sue- The thing that shakes me the most about the Age of Fitzwalkerstan is not that this college dropout grifter and his supporters in the Legislature have passed policies that have damaged the state's economy and destroyed its reputation for clean government.
ReplyDeleteIt's that too many Wisconsinites ALLOWED IT HAPPEN. I used to be proud to be from here, largely because I thought my fellow Wisconsinites weren't mouth-breathing dopes like other parts of "flyover country." We aren't special like that any more, and a whole lot of Wisconsinites are a lot more gullible, bitter and weak-minded than I thought we were. And I don't know what turns that tide, even with the next Dem victory.
While I agree a factual history of the Walker years would be telling, one needs to read what is published and taught to school children. Please read James W. Loewen's books, "Lies My History Teacher Told Me" and "Lies Across America".
ReplyDeleteThe myth of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree is not only unsubstantiated in any way, did not even emerge until 1809, 10 years after his death (you know, "cannot tell a lie"). Who will publish a factual historical without the lie that it must always have Walker's (and GOP's) side of the story for, you know, "balance" no matter how dishonest and distorted it is.
Walker has been promoted as a great man, Big and Bold (tm) by the media throughout his career even though what he has "accomplished" cannot be objectively described as positive to the citizens he has a sworn duty to serve.
The reputation for clean government, by the way, was never accurate yet it was catapulted as a tag-line for Gov. Tommy Thompson. The funny thing, it wasn't Thompson that promoted this. It was in every story published by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal back in the day.
Meanwhile, plans for highways were leaked and, what a coinkidink, contributors and insiders bought up key properties and developed truck-stops at the interchanges and major exits. Tommy admits he was a koch boy back then and his signature legislation came from ALEC.
Sadly, history is written by the "winners" and we are gettin' our butt's kicked right now. It is too back that so many are hoodwinked at election time, but remember, the numbers generated by unverifiable proprietary tabulation systems (it is NOT the electronic voting machines that are the biggest problems, its how votes are tabulated -- counties that do it in a spreadsheet have mathematically sound results.
Key counties that tabulate with 3rd party proprietary software cannot be authentic as the numbers are highly implausible and this happens election-to-election. I also do not know what will turn the tide, but that will not stop me from speaking the truth.