In this case, Walker did something that the current GOP is exceedingly proficient at doing — because after all they’ve learned so much from their forebearers — and he made an outrageous claim. Subsequently, he is trying to claim that the media distorted what he said, The Raw Story reports.
At CPAC 2015, our hero said he has what it takes to take on ISIS because he faced down public employee unions in his home state.
“If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he told the (hopefully) stupefied crowd.
Uh, I’m sorry, but if you say something that clueless, you’re going to get slapped upside the head, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) was just the one to do it.
And she did it in a quiet little tweet that has been retweeted 5,987 times and favorited 4,820, as of the writing of this article.
What did she tweet?
“If Scott Walker sees 100,000 teachers & firefighters as his enemies, maybe it’s time we take a closer look at his friends.”
Let’s see who Scott Walker’s “friends” are:
It should come as no surprise that Charles and David Koch are Walker’s “friends,” and they’ve helped the Wisconsin governor in some rather obsequious ways, Think Progress reports.
You see, back when Walker was first elected in 2010, the gubernatorial race was hugely expensive (they always are, but this one was even more so) and it was fueled by the John Birch Society-loving brothers — largely due to the fact that David Koch’s dad was a radical founding member of this cesspool that calls itself a society, with its obsessive worry about socialism and civil rights laws. So the brothers personally donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) in June of 2010. Now, admittedly, this paltry amount is a drop in the thimble for the Koch brothers, but fellow billionaire Rupert Murdoch also tossed in a $1 million donation from his company News Corporation, which whelped the Fox News Channel.
So then, the RGA shoveled $5 million into the race, mostly in the form of character assassination TV ads, Internet ads, and snail mail that targeted Walker’s Democratic opponent, Mayor Tom Barrett. When Barrett inevitably lost, the RGA boys slapped themselves on their backs.
Walker has other friends on his side, Follow The Money reports. (Just click on the “Industry” and “as a candidate” tabs). Yes indeedy, lots of industries have opened up their pockets for Scott Walker, to help him keep his job as governor, including:
• Party committees–$3,486,745
• Health professionals–$1,951,557
• Oil and gas–$762,644
• Commercial banks–$714,723
A bazilion other industries have donated money in varying amounts, according to the list.
There’s also a very long list of individual donors, which you can also check out on Follow The Money.
So Elizabeth Warren is right, it’s good to know who this guy’s friends are. And yeah, Warren also has her supporters in Industry, which you can check out here, but she doesn’t appear to have the Koch brothers sniffing at her door, and she is right to be enraged at our man Walker for comparing labor unions to ISIS.
Because, you know, workers striking at McDonald’s and Walmart, just look sooooo like Jihadi John, that poster boy for ISIS, don’t they? That fearless Scott Walker, he might have had to put up with someone whacking him with a “McDonald’s screws it’s employees” sign instead of an AK-47.
Warren, however, isn’t Walker’s only fan.
Joan Walsh, in her article for Salon, was equally impressed by Walker’s idiotic comparison, writing:
“I’m not sure it’s enough to break the fever on the right that has delirious admirers seeing Walker as the 21st century Ronald Reagan. That might take a bigger dose of Walker idiocy – but it’s probably coming.”
Wonkette’s Dr. Zoom hilariously noted:
“He’s been battle-tested, at least in a Bill O’Reilly kind of way.”
Now that’s my kind of pundit — one who can insult Scott Walker and Bill O’Reilly simultaneously. Yeah!
Walker has since tried to cover up his own mess by denying he’d compared Wisconsin protesters to ISIS.
“You all will misconstrue things the way you see fit,” he whined, “but I think it’s pretty clear, that’s the closest thing I have in terms of handling a difficult situation, not that there’s any parallel between the two.”
But Walker did draw parallels between the two. This is the bald-faced lie that the GOP and their ilk have uttered so much it’s like a mantra: “I misspoke myself,” “I was quoted incorrectly,” “that wasn’t what I meant.”
It’s like the circus has come to town, only it’s always been here. It never left.
