There will come a time when we no longer care about what Scott Walker does or says or eats or promotes with Kohl's sweaters and Packers gear, and when we need not dwell on images like this - -
- - which fail in their intended distraction because they are so clumsily staged.
But we're not there yet because he's still in office and behaving just as the peerless political pundit Charles Pierce has so perfectly put it for years by calling Walker...
That same guy who's leaving the Governor's office still trying to rig things for his party and patron.
This time with 11th-hour special-session'reforms' - - actually, a brazen effort at a kind of policy and process ex post facto gerrymander of executive powers lost fair-and-square per the voters' actions - - that GOP leaders promise to be so reasonable and appealing that they are have to be crafted behind closed doors so visitors to the Capitol are not felled by the stink.
Think about it: eight years of gubernatorial aspirations and service bracketed by the bastardization of chief executive positions and levels of government 90 miles apart.
Some reformer, as he continues to say.
After absenting himself from public view for several days and failing to make a routine, gracious concession speech, and making this staff-scripted or group-tested faux bon mot that bears some analysis:
* Brian Williams put Walker and his claims to education reform to the test during a televised education forum - - video, here.
* And then-US Congressman Dennis Kucinich - - video, here - - unmasked Walker at a hearing in Washington, DC, where he tried to peddle his reformist credentials, as I noted at the time.
* He reformed poor people's budgets out of $20 a month with a very hard Calvinist lesson inserted in his first state budget which I wrote about in March, 2011 that took food off their tables while he enjoyed the mansion's kitchens (plural).
He and his wife tried to reform the equipment in one of them with some taxpayer money, but other more socially-conscious reformers objected and donors were eventually recruited to handle about the Walker's half-million-dollar need.
* That $20, by the way, was removed from some of the same people whose wages he has steadfastly resisted reforming from a rock-bottom $7.25 an hour because it's a livable wage. So add language, like "livable," to his reformist record, along with "progressive." See, above.
* And let's not forget the state parkland he wants to reform into private property for a donor's gain, or the wetland he reformed for a donor into a big box store construction site near Lambeau Field right after being sworn in eight years ago, or the larger wetlands he's reforming into Foxconn parking lot pavement or building foundations.
Readers are free to remind me of other things Walker has reformed which I'm forgetting.
And while Walker delivery boy Scott Fitzgerald may soon disclose his list of "reasonable" reforms, I'm sure we'll all agree that with friendly reformers like these, who needs enemies?
- - which fail in their intended distraction because they are so clumsily staged.But we're not there yet because he's still in office and behaving just as the peerless political pundit Charles Pierce has so perfectly put it for years by calling Walker...
the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage this particular midwest subsidiary...Because Walker is still the guy who got into the Governor's office with the help of campaign workers and Internet equipment quietly stashed on the Milwaukee County Executive's payroll in 2010.
That same guy who's leaving the Governor's office still trying to rig things for his party and patron.
This time with 11th-hour special-session
Think about it: eight years of gubernatorial aspirations and service bracketed by the bastardization of chief executive positions and levels of government 90 miles apart.
Some reformer, as he continues to say.
After absenting himself from public view for several days and failing to make a routine, gracious concession speech, and making this staff-scripted or group-tested faux bon mot that bears some analysis:
"I may have reformed myself out of a job."Regrettably, no reporter in the room cared to risk losing access to this generally opaque and inaccessible Governor for six more weeks to contest something so fatuous, though there have been occasions when Walker was forced to defend similarly propagandized stupidities.
* Brian Williams put Walker and his claims to education reform to the test during a televised education forum - - video, here.
* And then-US Congressman Dennis Kucinich - - video, here - - unmasked Walker at a hearing in Washington, DC, where he tried to peddle his reformist credentials, as I noted at the time.
Addressing a congressional hearing - - where all 14 Republicans are Koch brothers campaign recipients - - Gov. Walker praises himself extensively for being "truly progressive."
Ha ha.But before he hands Tony Evers the keys to the Governor's Mansion and has to make his own way to the barber shop and the custard stand without a state plane or taxpayer-supplied SUV entourage, let's also remember some of Walker's reforms:
* He reformed poor people's budgets out of $20 a month with a very hard Calvinist lesson inserted in his first state budget which I wrote about in March, 2011 that took food off their tables while he enjoyed the mansion's kitchens (plural).
He and his wife tried to reform the equipment in one of them with some taxpayer money, but other more socially-conscious reformers objected and donors were eventually recruited to handle about the Walker's half-million-dollar need.
* That $20, by the way, was removed from some of the same people whose wages he has steadfastly resisted reforming from a rock-bottom $7.25 an hour because it's a livable wage. So add language, like "livable," to his reformist record, along with "progressive." See, above.
* And let's not forget the state parkland he wants to reform into private property for a donor's gain, or the wetland he reformed for a donor into a big box store construction site near Lambeau Field right after being sworn in eight years ago, or the larger wetlands he's reforming into Foxconn parking lot pavement or building foundations.
Readers are free to remind me of other things Walker has reformed which I'm forgetting.
And while Walker delivery boy Scott Fitzgerald may soon disclose his list of "reasonable" reforms, I'm sure we'll all agree that with friendly reformers like these, who needs enemies?
He reformed honest govt by making using your staff for campaign and fundraising on state property legal
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