Bruce Murphy
Murphy’s Law

Who is Scott Walker?

The real, profusely documented story of the man who would be president.

By - Jul 16th, 2015 01:43 pm
Governor Walker and delegates from Badger Girls State take a break from their inauguration in Oshkosh to take a “selfie.” Photo from the State of Wisconsin taken June 19th, 2014.

Governor Walker and delegates from Badger Girls State take a break from their inauguration in Oshkosh to take a “selfie.” Photo from the State of Wisconsin taken June 19th, 2014.

Scott Walker is a magnet for both adulation and anger, and that’s resulted in lots of half-truths and misconceptions about him. I’ve written about Walker for nearly two decades, since he was a legislator, and Urban Milwaukee has probably done more than 150 stories about him. Here’s the real story about the Republican candidate for President.

Grew Up in Poverty?: Walker has a younger brother and this family of four lived chiefly on the salary of his father Llewellyn Scott Walker, who was a Baptist preacher. The family had always been described as one of average means, through the more than two decades Walker sought and held office, but in a June 2014 profile by the National Journal, Walker for the first time described a family in poverty. “We didn’t realize it until later in life, but we were poor,” Walker said. The family, he noted, didn’t even own a TV until he was nine. But because the church where his dad was employed served many farmers, “we ate like kings,” Walker said.

His Depressed Father: Walker was an Eagle Scout and skilled speaker at an early age who was sometimes called to the pulpit to give a prayer, lead a responsive reading or even preach. But it’s more recently come out that he sometimes subbed for his father because Rev. Walker had problems with depression. The list of politicians driven by the absence or deficiencies of their father is long, and includes the alcoholic and abusive fathers of Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton, the absent father of Barack Obama and deceased dad of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. More here.

Competitive in School: Walker was a very competitive person who joined “practically every sports team and extracurricular organization that Delavan-Darien High School had to offer,” the National Journal noted, including the foreign-language and library clubs, pep band and symphonic orchestra. He also played football, ran track and cross-country and played basketball.

Drawn to Politics Early: Wisconsin Republicans joke that Walker has been running for president since he was teenager involved in Badger Boys State, where high school students from across Wisconsin attended a seminar on government. He was one of two boys selected to serve as Wisconsin’s “senators” at the Boys Nation event in Washington, D.C. He was just 17, and already envisioning a career in politics. He was 18 when he worked as a volunteer in the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tommy Thompson and just a sophomore at Marquette University when he ran for Student Council president and lost. He was 22 when he first ran for the state Assembly and lost. More here

Why Walker Didn’t Graduate: The idea that Walker was “kicked out” of Marquette University for “cheating” has often been repeated by his opponents, but has never been proven. There were accusations that Walker’s supporters in the student council race emptied racks of the student newspaper, which endorsed his opponent, but no evidence any action was taken against him or his supporters. MU officials have said Walker left as a student in good standing, some 34 credits short of graduation. One professor said Walker had below-average grades and another described Walker as a bored and indifferent student to the Washington Post. Why did Walker leave without graduating and never return to finish his degree? He has given various explanations. Psychologically, it might have been hard for him to remain at and return to the scene of his defeat. More here

The Lifetime Politician: Other than three years working for the Red Cross in his early ‘20s, Walker’s entire career has been in politics. “His whole life revolves around politics,” his wife Tonette Walker has said. He was 25 when first elected to the state Assembly in June 1993. As a legislator he was seen by fellow Republicans as an ambitious headline hunter and he began amassing a campaign chest to run for higher office. After a pension scandal forced Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament from office, Walker ran as a reformer and won election to the position in 2002. “The whole time he was here, he was running for governor,” former county board chair Lee Holloway told me.

Less than three years after becoming county exec, Walker announced his run for governor in 2006. The state’s Republican establishment favored Congressman Mark Green and Walker eventually dropped out of the Wisconsin primary. But after Green lost, former Republican Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald told GQ magazine, “Scott Walker never stopped campaigning. It shows you the kind of political animal he is.” He was elected governor in 2010 and by 2011 was beginning to make speeches nationally to pave the way for a presidential run. More here.

Not a County Reformer: Though Walker was elected to clean up county government and later ran for governor as a reformer, he actually did little to clean up the pension mess at the county. County supervisors were “flabbergasted” at Walker’s disinterest in the issue. More here.

Not a Team Player: Walker typically describes his style as “aggressive,” “bold” and “unintimidated,” but never as a unifier or compromiser. His first race, for Marquette student government divided the campus and broke voter turnout records and his 2012 recall race for governor did the same statewide. As a legislator, he wasn’t seen as team player by Republican leaders. As County Executive, he rarely compromised with the Milwaukee County Board, using the veto 204 times and seeing them overridden all but 65 times. As governor, Walker’s first act wasn’t to create a bipartisan jobs agenda, as he promised, but to pass a law — bitterly contested by Democrats — that all but abolished public unions. Since then, Walker has largely ignored any Democratic ideas. As he once put it, “hell, I’ll talk to (Democrats). If they want to yell at me for an hour, you know, I’m used to that… But I’m not negotiating.” More here.

The Anti-Union Governor: Walker is famous for Act 10, his proposal which largely eliminated public unions. He argued that taxpayers who didn’t receive the same level of health and pension benefits shouldn’t have to pay taxes to support this. But as a recent analysis showed, state and local government employees actually earn less in total salary and benefits than comparable workers in the private sector, and the one group of public employees who typically earn more than private sector workers, namely police and fire fighters, were exempt from Act 10. Walker also argued that ending teacher unions could lead to higher educational achievement, but the analysis found little evidence to prove this. The law’s other impact was to decimate the state teachers union, which was the most important campaign contributor to Democratic candidates. More here

His Historic Recall: Walker is the first governor in American history to survive a recall. The spending on both sides was massive, though Walker had a huge financial advantage. But the decisive issue was the decision of Democratic candidate Tom Barrett not to run on overturning Act 10, which removed the main reason for the recall from the campaign. Walker emerged as a national hero to Republicans.

The Mayor and City Council members presented Governor Walker with a city sign when he stopped in Delavan. 6/7/13. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

The Mayor and City Council members presented Governor Walker with a city sign when he stopped in Delavan. 6/7/13. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

The Tax Cutter: Walker is most popular in Wisconsin for delivering tax cuts in his first term, which averaged a hefty $322 per family. But because the cuts came through the state income tax, the wealthiest 20 percent of state taxpayers — those earning $119,000 or more annually —  got more than half of the tax reduction, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Budget Project. Meanwhile, Walker’s cuts in the Homestead Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit resulted in low-income individuals and families paying $170 million more in taxes. The income tax reduction was funded by the $3 billion saved by requiring government workers statewide to contribute more to their benefits, and all of that came from the mostly middle-class public employees, which in turn helped fund the tax cuts that were more helpful to upper-income taxpayers. A Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis shows a mid-level government employee earning $50,000 was forced to pay $3,060 more in contributions to his/her benefits — and yet would have received less than a tenth of this in tax cuts. More here

The Jobs Governor?: Candidate Walker promised in 2010 to grow 250,000 private sector jobs, but fell far short, delivering just 131,515 in his first term. Wisconsin has trailed the nation in job growth throughout his tenure and is among the worse states in new business startups. As our Data Wonk columnist has found, his approach to economic development has followed the recommended conservative path of lowering taxes, but there’s no evidence this has worked in other states. A Reuters story, in fact, found next door neighbor Minnesota is doing far better in attracting business and jobs.

Another key part of Walker’s jobs approach was to replace the Commerce Department with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, but the new agency has struggled with turnover, suffering a 25 percent turnover in all staff, and losing two CEOs, two COOs and four chief financial officers. While some business leaders say the agency has become more responsive to businesses, the liberal magazine The Progressive reviewed WEDC records and concluded just 5,840 jobs had been created in his first term. More here

The Tell-It-Like-It-Is Politician: Walker has repeatedly recommended such an approach to conservatives, saying voters respect and will vote for someone who takes strong stands in an election and then delivers on them. The outstanding example of that was Act 10, where Walker withstood stinging criticism and huge protests to stick to his guns. But Walker didn’t run for office in 2010 on shutting down unions. He did suggest he might ask state employees to contribute more to benefits, but his campaign expressly said no other government employees (teachers and local employees) would be asked to contribute more, much less that their unions would be eliminated. In fact, on most controversial issues, Walker has given people the idea he wouldn’t favor them, in the case of something like the right to work law, right up until its passage.

Is Walker Going Bald?: Not according to the governor, who told the Wisconsin State Journal the bald spot was actually due to a scar caused by hitting his head on the cabinet, creating an area where hair wouldn’t grow. But that doesn’t explain why the bald spot keeps growing bigger, in the typical style of male pattern baldness. If Walker can’t be honest about a trivial matter like this, that raises questions about his statements on more major issues.

The Quick Law Governor: Walker proposed the massive changes in Act 10 without any study or in-depth rationale done ahead of time. He proposed to delete the “Wisconsin Idea” from state statutes, killing the idea that university scholars should provide research and insight to help guide state government, with no study or analysis of potential effects. His last budget casually ended tenure and faculty governance through a budget provision, slashed the number of scientists in the state Department of Natural Resources and ended the state’s land conservation program. (Republican legislators restored some of this last program.) All of these were pillars of state government with a long history of bipartisan support. More here

A Fierce Opponent of Obamacare: Like many Republican governors, Walker has opposed the Affordable Care Act, but nine of them nonetheless accepted expanded federal Medicaid funding for their states, because it meant less costs and more health coverage for their citizens. Walker, however, rejected the funding, arguing the federal government might take away the money at some point. Of course that’s true of any federal money, which makes up 28 percent of the state’s budget. A Republican supporter of Walker provided another explanation: it would give Walker a huge advantage over these other Republicans in his run for president. The net result is Wisconsin residents have has lost some $500 million in federal funding. This is one of several issues where Wisconsin residents were arguably hurt by Walker’s run for president.

Married to a Cougar?: Tonette Walker is 12 years older than her husband and should Scott Walker become president, she would be older than her husband (by more than seven years) than any first lady in history. But it was Scott who pursued Tonette, at a bar on Karaoke Night, scribbling a note on a napkin with his phone number and request to meet again.

Anti-Abortion and Anti-Birth Control: Walker’s position on abortion, reiterated frequently, is that he opposes all abortions and favors a legal ban even in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.  And he has long favored proposals that would reduce women’s access to birth control. In 1998, 1999 and 2001, Rep. Walker was the lead author of the “conscience bill,” which allowed doctors and pharmacists to refuse to prescribe and dispense birth control. He also supported a “personhood” amendment to the constitution that would outlaw some forms of birth control. In his first budget as governor, Walker unsuccessfully attempted to repeal Wisconsin’s Contraceptive Equity law that requires employers to cover birth control in the same way as other prescriptions and preventive care. And his administration did audits of family planning clinics that could have forced them to close, though the audits were eventually abandoned.

The Middle Class Man: Unlike most of the candidates for president, Walker is not wealthy. Walker and his family live in a rather average, suburban home in Wauwatosa with a not-so-well-kept-up yard with the home and lot valued at about $360,000. Though it does have 12’ by 20’ swimming pool.

Categories: Murphy's Law, Politics

53 thoughts on “Murphy’s Law: Who is Scott Walker?”

  1. AG says:

    Bruce, I thought Walker’s private sector job record for first term was closer to 150k? Where did the 102k come from?

  2. PMD says:

    Is Walker’s approval rating in Wisconsin a big deal? Does it matter that he’s not exactly popular here right now? I wonder how popular other governors were in their home state before they received their party’s nomination (Bush, Clinton, Carter, etc.).

    Also, is the fact that he’s a career politician going to be used against him? I thought that was a bad thing amongst conservative voters.

  3. bruce Murphy says:

    AG, I just corrected it, the more recent analysis, based on more complete data, has it at 131 k

  4. Allison says:

    Bruce-Not one mention of the Recall? That is what really put him on the map. We all know he’s done the standard conservative stuff: cut taxes, more school choice, balanced budgets, cleaned up the Doyle mess, etc. But without the Recall, hard to see him in the top tier?

  5. Bruce Murphy says:

    Alison, I quite agree. I plan to add more to the column. There is a wealth of stuff to include (no one can say Walker hasn’t been busy) and hard to narrow it done. Should expand it by tomorrow.

  6. Allison says:

    Great thanks, looking forward to reading it

  7. AG says:

    Bruce, I take exception to your Obamacare section. It wasn’t as simple as Walker rejecting the federal money for medicaid… quite ingeniously, they noticed many people on Badgercare were eligible for Obamacare subsidies and thus had them join the exchanges. In return, a whole new group of people (the childless) were then able to get onto Badgercare. Not only did it mean less federal money going to the state that it may have to make up for later (although technically money still went to the state… by going to the taxpayers now on the exchanges in the form of subsidies), but more people had health coverage through his plan. I don’t understand why Obamacare supporters didn’t get behind this plan.

  8. Wisconsin Conservative Digest says:

    Why do you perpetuate this fable about Walker leaving school cause he was in despair about losing. He left two years after that. This supposed stealing of a dozen or so newspapers from one place in cafeteria has been disavowed by everyone, forever, but you keep repeating a false allegation by who? Who has made the allegation?? Pisspoor reporting but Roesslein told me you are never very accurate, that is why you got dumped by Journal. Marquette has never said anything about it. You Walker haters just love to go about spreading lies all the time. Walker has been investigated by more people than Nixon and has never done a thing wrong. His biggest mistake is surrounding himself with bunch of losers that did some dumb things. Walker reported them. Chisholm too that report and tried to attack Walker and every Conservative group in state for speaking out. The vendetta was for one reason, as several courts have said. Shut up Conservative groups at election time. ACLU should defend him. What is to stop a Waukesha DA from doing the same thing. As these lawsuits start you are going to find out that the DOJ, IRS, GAB and DA were all acting in concert to shut up groups just like the dems have. My Wisconsin Conservative Digest received letter fro IRS closing us down. and We fought it and won. Chisholm/Schmitz,slimiest bastards in Wisconsin, and are loved by the Left.

  9. PMD says:

    I don’t like Walker and I could care less about him not finishing college or what happened during his college days. Your breathless defense of Walker makes you seem like a teen girl shrieking over seeing The Beatles in the ’60s. Easy man.

  10. Bruce Murphy says:

    To Bob Dohnal: please don’t make these libelous character attacks, they are really beneath you. I left the JS to take a job with Milwaukee Magazine, and only after Marty Kaiser made every effort to convince me to remain with the newspaper. The allegation of stolen newspapers was made by the Marquette Student newspaper, which did an editorial endorsing Walker’s opponent as a result. This has been widely reported.

  11. Big Al says:

    I assume you mean scientists were cut from the DNR, not DPI?

    To me, the most disturbing thing is that he flat-out says he won’t negotiate. Just an ignorant position – no one has all the answers, and to pretend that his way is always the right way is flat-out dangerous.

  12. Bruce Murphy says:

    Al, yes, DNR, fixed, thanks!

  13. Alan Brostoff says:

    Dear Mr. Murphy,

    Walker was the HEAD of WEDC.

    Even though his administration has self-servingly called WEDC a “Jobs” agency (and you did discuss that aspect of its performance), I don’t understand why your article omitted reference to other information about it — sleazy, damning and undisputed — that’s become public so far. This aspect of Walker’s performance as Governor is arguably AS important a window into the “Real” him (your title), as any.

  14. Former Wisconsinite says:

    I still can’t believe he survived a recall election. But, then considering he is the Koch Bros. political slut I guess it’s not too shocking. They have more than enough money to have bought it. Scooter is a liar plain & simple.

  15. Tom D says:

    Walker’s family didn’t have a until they moved to Wisconsin (around the time he was 9). Walker says that’s evidence his family was poor.

    But is it? Was TV even an option in his Iowa town?

    Did Plainfield, Iowa have cable service back in the early 1970s? If now, the nearest city big enough for broadcast TV was probably Waterloo, IA, about 22 miles away, and even with a huge “beam” rooftop antenna (something you probably wouldn’t install on a rental home), the reception would be poor.

  16. tim haering says:

    Chance The Gardener or Leonard Zelig? He makes an interesting candidate. “Falling with style.” THe 2016 BUzz LIghtyear award winner. Thanks for the dot-point life summary. Have a great weekend, Bruce

  17. PMD says:

    More importantly, what were Walker’s favorite television programs in the 1970s? That is what should determine his viability as a candidate for president.

  18. Lta Ladi says:

    has the story of him fathering a child when he was in college been debunked or quieted to protect the mother and child?

  19. Jeramey Jannene says:

    @Lta Ladi – I’ve never seen it proven. Appears to be just a rumor.

  20. old baldy says:

    Our son is a Badger State and Boys Nation alumnus. He finshed his degree (several of them) and is now a productive taxpaying member of society. Thank goodness he didn’t turn into the pathological liar that Walker became.

  21. Doug says:

    Narcissist. Megalomaniac. For sale.

  22. Marie says:

    Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota likes to quote his predecessor Sen. Paul Wellstone “We all do better when we all do better.” That’s been part of the Minnesota Way for a long time, a philosophy that’s more than just a buzz phrase. (Bruce Thompson analyzed MN’s success in UM Data Wonk this week.)

    The opposite has proven true recently in Wisconsin. We all are doing worse as only a few are doing better and better. It’s more than just divisive. It’s a rush to the bottom that’s starting to worry even some in the state GOP, the gang that effected Walker’s regressive policies.

    Although Walker’s already exited the state in many regards, to quote a Leonard Cohen song, his “spirit continues to drool.” Reclaiming a vision and policies for the state that will allow us all to do better together will not be easy and may take a long time.

  23. D says:

    It’s amazing how you people can’t even give him a shred of respect. Id be proud of a liberal Democrat from our city winning the White House.

    This is what you get when you are in a union cult though. These union supporters remind me of scientologists.

  24. PMD says:

    So one should overlook having legitimate and major policy disagreements with someone simply because of where that person is from? And it’s not just people in unions who dislike Walker (just like some people in a union actually like him). That’s simplistic nonsense.

  25. PST says:

    If you do expand on this, I certainly hope you go into Walker’s budget process while he was Milwaukee County Exec. He’d propose an INSANE budget, cooler heads would propose a much more workable budget, Walker would reject it, and those cooler heads would then override his veto. This is how Walker can ‘honestly’ (go ahead…I know you wanna) state he’s never supported a tax increase.

  26. jake says:

    Walker is your God! Silly libtards show him your feality, and your money and maybe hell let his friends trickle on you too!!!

  27. Sue says:

    I wonder if you would consider taking out the reference to Tonette as a ‘cougar’. It’s just disrespectful generally.
    Any way to verify if Governor Anti-Obamacare’s kids are covered by his insurance now that they’ve left school to campaign for him? He should be paying for their insurance privately if he objects to Obamacare and the benefits it affords adult children of covered parents.

  28. Former Wisconsinite says:

    @ D: That is just utter nonsense. Scott Walker is an embarrassment to the people of Wisconsin. He is the Koch Bros whore & a liar. He’d be worst than G.W. Bush as a president.

  29. JP says:

    This is a bit off topic, but not much. Walker’s national profile was achieved largely through the recall. I suggest that people read statistician Richard Charnin’s investigation into elections including the Walker recall. Electronic voting machines are notoriously easy to hack and/or program with malware and they are never verified post-election. The discrepancy between exit polls and vote tallies is so pervasive that it is referred to “red shift” in aligning the exit polls to the vote count. Touch screen discrepancy is 7%, scanners are 6% while areas that use paper ballots are less than 2% and can be attributed to human error (either people not voting for who they thought they did or miscount). In the recall election, a cognitive dissonance took place in Racine County where they recalled R state Senator Wanggaard but retained Walker (Lehman squeaked out an 800 vote win over Wanggaard while Walker “beat” Barrett by over 5000). Margin of discrepancy? 6%, right on Charnin’s analytical metric, which would seem to indicate software malfunction rather than voter preference; votes were flipped for Walker but not Wanggaard. Another statistician, Beth Clarkson of Whichita State, is suing the State of Kansas over access to the 2014 paper trail. You can write this off to the tin-foil hat crowd if you so choose, but do you really think that billionaires and super-PACs investing multi- tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in campaigns in the buying up of politicians and justices and a party that is nationally doing everything it can to deny access to the voting booth gives a rip about honest elections and wouldn’t invest in some simple manipulation of the counting of the vote that is virtually undetectable?

    There are two simple fixes. 1) Immediately upon the close of the polls, every machine should have 1000 votes run through it, 500 for each major candidate. Call it “Verification Mode”. 2) Bring back the paper ballot.

  30. Kyle says:

    JP, I like how you went straight to corporate voter fraud, rather than the documented preference of exit poll workers to interview young women over old men. I also like how 94% of people voting straight party lines is clear evidence of 6% fraud, since no one anywhere could possibly vote for one Democrat and one Republican.

    Also, what would you do if verification mode came back with an error? Invalid all the votes? I’m all for testing our systems better, but you have to think through the test.

  31. tim haering says:

    Bruce, this is no more significant than his baldness, but find out how he got cross-eyed. I’m guessing it was a childhood muscular imbalance that could have been corrected by special lenses, but maybe his family could not afford them. And the cross is almost imperceptible. Anyhow, would be interesting if he would deny that, as he did the baldness.

  32. tim haering says:

    ANother thought, Bruce: Back in the Assembly days, Joe Handrick was Walker’s best buddy. BOth went on to be county execs. Would be intresting if somebody interviewed Handrick about his old pal, Walker.

  33. Will says:

    “It’s amazing how you people can’t even give him a shred of respect. Id be proud of a liberal Democrat from our city winning the White House.
    This is what you get when you are in a union cult though. These union supporters remind me of scientologists.”

    Liberals have become a cult of personality. They agree on every issue and are vicious if you disagree on anything. You must get in line and follow orders, i.e. vote for Clinton (no other options allowed) They love big government which to me is the least liberal thing in the world. That’s why USA politics is in the toilet, the “liberal” party has been eviscerated and replaced with people who as Gruber described are just dumb trolls, PROUD LIBERALS (with trust funds), receiving gov’t benefits, or are in unions. There is nothing liberal about liberals today.

  34. PMD says:

    “Liberals have become a cult of personality. They agree on every issue and are vicious if you disagree on anything.”

    The great Democrat Ronald Reagan said the 11th Commandment is never speak ill of a fellow Democrat. And Democrats have to sign a Grover Norquist pledge and pass a litmus test out of a fear of alienating the base. Oh wait wrong political party. Sorry. But please keep it coming with the insightful political analysis.

  35. Will says:

    The proof is in the pudding. Clinton v. no one and yet I no of none of my Dem friends who like her. Republican field has 15 candidates from Paul to Trump to Cruz. I say this as a borderline Socialist, who doesnt really have a horse in this race. I consider myself very liberal and laugh at what we consider liberal to be here in the USA. It is more fascist than liberal

  36. PMD says:

    Clinton vs. no one? Tell that to Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb. And the fact that the Republican field has 15 candidates with more on the way is hardly an endorsement of the GOP.

  37. Will says:

    If Bernie loses by 30 he will consider that a success, but if you consider that a challenger I guess we just disagree. At least the Repub give their voters a choice. Hillary is more connected to the 1% than pretty much anyone and still the liberals aren’t allowed to vote on anyone else and pretend that all the Repubs are corrupt. It is bizarre to watch. Welcome to the machine, my friend. “We are all just a pawn in their game” Bob Dylan

  38. PMD says:

    Bizarre describes your political analysis perfectly. It makes little sense. It’s full of distortions and overly broad generalizations and Dylan quotes, without much connective tissue.

  39. Will says:

    That was a broad critique, please expand it and I will respond.

  40. Will says:

    “If Bernie loses by 30 he will consider that a success, but if you consider that a challenger I guess we just disagree.”
    (RCP poll HC-59, BS-19, MOM-1, JW-1)

    Two challengers you cited are favored by 1% of dem voters, quite the challenge!

  41. Dave says:

    I may never vote Republican but I can respect many of them on various levels. Scott Walker, on the other hand, is nothing but a sad, pathetic human being. I look forward to him embarrassing himself (and hopefully every fool who voted for him) on the national stage.

  42. Former Wisconsinite says:

    @ Will are you a troll? Your comments to me look like TP base stupidity. So what the GOP has 15 clowns running that’s all they’re doing. The only one that seems to have any intelligence is Ben Carson. But, he should stick to medicine. His fellow running mates need the medication. Maybe you can get an appointment to see him as well.

  43. Will says:

    @FW Not a troll or TP’er but if it makes you sleep better at night go ahead and believe whatever you like. See how if you disagree with a liberal you are automatically a CRAZY LOON OMG TEA PARTY!!! So thanks for proving my point. I consider myself an actual liberal. Not a Hillary Clinton fundraiser at Goldman Sachs type liberal. Unfortunately, liberalism today refers to nothing more than insulting the right wing and following the marching orders from the masters in DC and the media. Again, cult of personality. But then again the Dems are the “cleaner” party…..HC 2016 amiright?

  44. Former Wisconsinite says:

    Yep just as I thought. a trolling Tea Loon. FYI I am not what you think but, you certainly are what I think you are.

  45. PMD says:

    It’s hard not to see you as a troll Will. You claim to be a “true liberal” but do nothing but bash all liberals as unthinking simpletons who do nothing but insult the right wing and follow strict orders from DC masters and the media. You engage in exactly what you claim to be so against. And are you seriously claiming Republicans don’t follow marching orders and partake in insulting the left wing? If you are going to pretend that all the problems are one-sided, then you are nothing but a troll.

  46. PMD says:

    Also, Will, you made the comment below in a press release from Planned Parenthood concerning Walker. Is that the comment of a “true liberal?”
    Hardly seems like it.

    Will says:
    July 13, 2015 at 1:17 pm

    In their attempt to kill unborn babies PP is nothing if not persistent.

  47. Tim says:

    @PMD thanks for proving his point. Don’t believe in abortion? not a liberal, get back in line… Don’t believe in gay marriage? Not a liberal, get back in line…Cult of personality….It was all clear when Obama evolved on gay marriage. From that point, it was blasphemy to go against the dear leader, otherwise you were a bigot. aka Get in line.

  48. Dave says:

    I think this piece needs more about his fanatical obsession with all things Ronald Reagan. I think it fuels his delusions of grandeur and morally bankrupt lifelong campaign for higher office.

    Also, wasn’t he an Eagle Scout? Considering that’s probably the last worthwhile thing he’s done for society, it seems significant.

  49. PMD says:

    It hardly proves his point Tim. You can be pro-life and be a Democrat. Never said otherwise. But the rancid and false comment about PP is a routine right-wing talking point.

  50. PMD says:

    And this idea that it’s liberals who follow orders and never stray from the path, it makes no sense. What about the stupid Norquist pledge? Or the GOP litmus test? Hate liberals all you want, but let’s not pretend that Republicans don’t follow orders or do anything that REAGAN wouldn’t do.

  51. So when did Charlie Sykes become God? Walker’s old story was that Charlie
    Sykes convinced him to run … now it is God talking to him.

  52. Walker just wanted to climb the political ladder with no feelings or care for the lower or middle class. He is all about him and him alone. Yeah he lower the budget and quality of education by putting the burden directly on the local taxpayers, which he says is more local control. BS.

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