So tell my why I should fear Scott Walker

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Let me preface my remarks by saying I am aware of the admonition that it is dangerous to "misunderestimate" your opponent.

He is a charmless governor from a small homogeneous state. Barack Obama did worse among caucasian voters than any Democratic candidate since Walter Mondale who lost forty nine states but was re-elected comfortably riding a wave of Latino, African American, Asian, and moderate and liberal caucasian voters.


I do not see Scott Walker making inroads into those groups.


The only Republicans that concern me are John Ellis Bush and Marco Rubio because they offer the possibility of mitigating Republican losses among Latinos without which a path to victory is not clear.

[HuckleB]

1. One name: George W. Bush.

He was "elected" twice. It makes no sense to pretend Walker is not a threat.

[trumad]

3. In Wisconsin. ..

That ain't saying much.

[HuckleB]

4. Say what?

[trumad]

14. Sorry...I thought you meant Walker...

But still...Wisconsin is no Texas.

Walker will implode in the primaries.

[HuckleB]

16. Probably. Though that's what everyone thought would happen with GWB.

We are not in a place to underestimate anyone. Ever. The damage they do is beyond the pale.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. Who wins the FL primary-Bush or Rubio?

That should be epic; the mentor versus the protege.

[trumad]

41. Bush by a million miles

[JonLP24]

40. Texas is easier for a Republican to get elected

than Wisconsin I'd imagine. I'm surprised Walker actually wins there.

[ananda]

63. Wisconsin was the Koch test state for..

.. turning blue red.

Illinois is next.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Bush* had the cowboy mystique even if it was of the drug store variety and he was the scion...

Bush* had the cowboy mystique even if it was of the drug store variety and he was the scion of a powerful political family. He also was the governor of a large heterogeneous state, knocked off a political heavyweight for governor in the name of Ann Richards, and demonstrated an ability to capture Latino votes in his home state of Texas.

[HuckleB]

8. And?

Obama hasn't won Texas, so it's not like that is a big game changer.

It's time to realize that GWB isn't that different from Walker, and letting him go is exactly what happened in '99 and '00.

Not again!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Bush* received 35% of the Latino vote in 00 and 44% in 04.

If Walker hits those numbers you can turn off the lights but he won't.

[HuckleB]

12. Citizens United was not in play back then.

We should not fool ourselves.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Unless the Koch Bros, can buy Scott Walker a different electorate I'm not going to worry...

Unless the Koch Bros, can buy Scott Walker a different electorate I'm not going to worry my "beautiful mind."

[HuckleB]

23. I was here in 2000. We should worry.

We are at risk, if we do not.

[trumad]

2. No repub scares me...

They will eat each other during the primaries.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. As long as don't get Bush* or Rubio.

I am confident we can beat them but there will be some sleepless nights in the process.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Republican controlled States are preparing to rig the Electoral College?

[PowerToThePeople]

7. He is doing very bad things to Wisconsin

You need to fear all of these Republican scum, because they want you dead. You are just a useless drain on their capital.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. The Peter Principle is your ally...Walker will rise to his level of incompetence./NT

[PowerToThePeople]

11. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Signs Right-To-Work Bill

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/09/391901732/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-sighs-right-to-work-bill

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a right-to-work measure Monday that makes his state the 25th in the nation with such a law. That effectively means that mandatory union membership and dues are banned at privately owned businesses — a move strongly opposed by unions, which say it restricts collective bargaining.

Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio reports: "Walker signed the bill at an invitation-only ceremony Monday morning at Badger Meter, north of Milwaukee. He was surrounded by company officials and others who supported the divisive proposal, including Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald."

Before the signing, Walker, a likely Republican presidential candidate for 2016, said the law "sends a powerful message across the country and around the world."

The message is, "we are putting our slaves in check."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. Don't worry... He won't be harming anybody except the innocent people of Wisconsin./NT

[PowerToThePeople]

18. Well,

the innocent people of Wisconsin are NOT acceptable collateral damage to me.

I agree that he will likely not make it to the national stage as President.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. All politics is local so you know his appeal better than me. What is It?

I didn't like Reagan or Bush* at all but I can see why they were successful.

[PowerToThePeople]

22. * was successful?

Star Member DemocratSinceBirth (49,953 posts)
21. All politics is local so you know his appeal better than me. What is It?

I didn't like Reagan or Bush* at all but I can see why they were successful.

I think his handlers were successful at stealing two elections and propagandizing the population into some support for an illegal war, but HE was certainly not.

I can not even believe I see a post on DU claiming * was successful. This just blows my mind. Oh wait, this is the new right wing DU, I guess it was just a matter of time before positive * posts started showing up.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. He/they were successful in getting elected.

I don't know what you are suggesting or what you were doing when i was driving elderly African Americans who couldn't drive in the Midway section of Sanford , Florida to the polls in 2000 to vote for Al Gore.

[PowerToThePeople]

27. selected and elected are not the same thing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. Ronald Reagan was selected??? He won 44 states in 1980 and 49 states in 1984./NT

[PowerToThePeople]

30. .

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. I wear your thinly veiled ad hominem attacks the way my old man wore the Purple Heart ...

I wear your thinly veiled ad hominem attacks the way my old man wore the Purple Heart he was awarded in the North African Campaign in WW ll where he was blinded in one eye, contacted malaria, and spent six months in Walter reed Hospital.

[PowerToThePeople]

35. why not stand on your own feet?

I do not see how your honourable father has anything to do with this conversation.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. You attacked my integrity, Thar was the most apt description I could think oh how i wear it./Nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. I did my part...I went to one of the most impoverished part of my hometown and drove poor folks...

Last edited Sat Mar 14, 2015, 09:09 PM - Edit history (1)

I did my part...I went to one of the most impoverished part of my hometown and drove poor folks to the polls...Don't blame me...In the precincts I worked Gore literally got near 100% of the vote.


To suggest I empathize with Republicans is as nonsensical as suggesting Mussolini empathized with the Abyssinians.


There's a poster in this thread who is from Central Florida...Ask Trumad what Midway is like.

[PowerToThePeople]

33. I never blaimed you.

I just have issue with you claiming the two, especially * were successful Presidents. Definitions of success differ from person to person I guess.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. They sucked as presidents but they were successful at getting elected...

Even if you dismiss Bush*'s elections as illegitimate Reagan won by such huge margins that if he was to have stole them it would have been election theft on a Ferdinand Marcos or Fulgencio Batista level.

[HereSince1628]

37. He isn't doing it alone, he COULDN'T do it alone

The teahadists control all branches of elected government and the brothers who lead both houses of the legislature are really about 70% of why Wisconsin is getting ALEC boiler plate shoved down it's throat.

On his own, Walker would really be nothing.

[Kalidurga]

19. Fear is a mind killer

So I would not tell you to fear Walker. But, we better make sure our nominee is stellar and as scandal free as possible.

[TheKentuckian]

24. Well, if your name isn't Harry Potter he can kill you with a wave of his wand for one thing

Derp...on edit that is Rick Scott.

Scott Walker has to be worrisome because he keeps winning in Wisconsin so there has to be something that appeals to many that folks like us might be blind to.

[Raine1967]

25. IT's the Koch money and advertising that I am concerned with.

Walker is nothing more than a puppet paid to say anything they want.

It the advertising and the shadow campaigns that we should all be concerned about. WAlker is a result of the cancer of big money in politics.

Sure you can remove a polyp. That doesn't mean the cancer is gone.

[underpants]

28. Ham sammich

For close to 20 years the joke of sorts has been that with the same money and political operation you can get a ham sandwich elected. Your ham sammich or mine.

Walker has serious Koch money behind him. He IS a their dancing monkey.

The difference will be if the Dem nominee gets access to the OFA database and if the public goes with "enough of them" mentality (or are lead to) and the RNC choice of the dull space filler of mashed potatoes (Jeb or Walker) ends up as POTUS.

Walker is an unlikely result but we have to remember that they actually nominated W and Palin and Mitt And Dick and Ryan to national tickets.

[delrem]

38. Because by orchestrating a coronation the Dems have lost their voice.

The Reps design and control the terms of debate, 100%.

It becomes a HRC slag-fest, since even HRC supporters refuse to actually debate *DEM ISSUES* so as to explain why *DEM ISSUES* are most important and should be above the fold day after day, so refuse to devise a winning platform. The idea that HRC is so popular, just because she's HRC, that she can beat any Rep because Dems are more honorable, is insane.

Just sayin.

[JonLP24]

39. The demographics are sliding out of the GOPs favor

but I think actual addressing policy which made them unpopular in the first place and only Rand Paul is the only one out there whatsoever actively doing this. He is the only one I see as a threat to this, I don't know why Republicans are unpopular with Latinos but I don't think a Rubio surname is a simple enough reason for voting for him.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. Immigration is the primary reason Republicans are unpopular with Latinos.

And also attempts to undermine the safety net.

[JonLP24]

45. I know immigration is more of a secondary issue

but important

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2014/10/29/latino-support-for-democrats-falls-but-democratic-advantage-remains/ph_2014-10-29_nsl-politics-elections-04/

Living in Arizona, I know Republican rhetoric in how it relates to Mexican-Americans is very unhelpful. Especially Sheriff Joe. Economy like most of them & safety net policies I certainly agree with but I have occasionally ran into some Mexican-Americans that were as Republican as anybody, though one I did well didn't believe in voting because Free Masons control it all.

I'm familiar more with local politics in how it relates to the local Mexican-American population who is racially profiled at rates much higher, the DPS statistics showed blacks & whites were caught with drugs at the same rates but Latino populations were caught at a lower rate with the most stops in Arizona. Mexican & Mexican-Americans make up 2/3 of the jail & likely the prison populations.

I know the Republicans hurt themselves regarding this as well as rhetoric combined with McCain obsessing over building a fence which can easily be solved. Russell Pearce came up with SB 1070 & just a lot of racism overall in this state.

How this relates to a Cuban running for President I don't know what influence that will have if he runs as a Republican but he isn't very similar when it comes to party line on those issues & perhaps rhetoric? The concerns of the Cuban-American population are perhaps different than the Mexican-American population.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. A couple of points

1) I suspect many Latinos see immigration as a proxy for how folks feel about them, even those who are citizens and were born here. So they see opposition to immigration as opposition to them.

2) You are correct that Marco Rubio is a Cuban and his experience is different than other Latino Americans. I mentioned him and Jeb Bush because they both have tried to straddle the middle when it comes to immigration and both have ties to the Latino community.

[JonLP24]

47. Well the Arizona Republican is more direct in its feelings

They don't need a proxy to know how they feel, immigration rhetoric is a good indicator of those true feelings which they don't keep them much as a secret.

Joe Arpaio's White Crosses: Where Are the Ones for Joe's Victims?

I'm not sure which is more obscene: Sheriff Joe Arpaio's grotesque mockery of migrants who've died crossing the Arizona desert, or a compliant and wholly uncritical media's reporting on Joe's latest stunt involving white crosses in the desert.

There's nothing the local idiots in the Fourth Estate like more than a photo op, and Grampa Joe gave them one Thursday, standing before a patch of dirt in Gila Bend with white crosses that he says the MCSO will be putting out as markers of migrant deaths.

Did any of the so-called journalists reporting on this absurdity question why Arpaio was pulling such a stunt the day before a major filing in Melendres v. Arpaio is to be made?

That's the federal civil rights lawsuit wherein Arpaio's been found guilty of racial profiling. Judge G. Murray Snow has ordered the sheriff's office to stop its systemic discrimination against Latinos, and today, both sides in the lawsuit will be submitting suggestions as to how that order will be implemented.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2013/08/joe_arpaios_white_crosses_wher.php#more

Those racist certainly show themselves in the immigration debate, however especially regarding 2 or more generations of Mexican-Americans the polling shows Education followed by Economy rank as top concerns other than that, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to speak for them but I don't mean but the Cuban-American population I'm very unfamiliar with except for some portions are anti-Castro. I don't think it is enough unless overall policy that directly affects them which could include immigration, certain with the DREAMers but as an activist organization I don't see them as easily swayed to the Republican camp. Especially on an issue like education which the RW here often tries to remove minority studies from the curiculum of Universities & High Schools.

[AverageJoe90]

42. He's dangerous, yeah, but he doesn't have much of a chance.....

unless, of course, we run a particularly disappointing candidate(see: Dukakis in '88, or even Muskie in '72), and there's massive amounts of electoral shenanigans.

The only Republicans that have a real shot at actually winning fair and square with a decent Democratic candidate would be folks like Rob Portman or Susan Collins, and it's possible that moderate conservatives and right-leaning centrists may suddenly and finally decide they've had *quite* enough of the Teabaggers and other crazies; and if so, then 2016 could get rather interesting.....I can't see either of these two being likely candidates, though, without that.

[spanone]

43. a tool. no skills. neocons wet dream.

[anotojefiremnesuka]

48. Walker appeals to the Centrist and Conservative Democrats aka Reagan Dems.

That is why one should fear Walker.

Walker was not elected twice as Gov by Republican votes alone.

[HereSince1628]

51. Walker's appeal is among people who like simple answers

Social welfare programs steal from the 'working' people
Environmental regulation costs jobs
People with money are the job creators.

He exploits Wisconsin's deep and substantive jealousies that are embedded in perceptions of why rural and urban economies in WI are both dysfunctional.

[forthemiddle]

49. Because he's not a Clinton or a Bush?

Aside from that, I happen to live smack in the middle of Wisconsin, so I have insights into this. He has won three elections in 4 years in Wisconsin. And contrary to popular belief, although the turnout wasn't as heavy as it is in a Presidential election year, Wisconsin actually had it's highest voter turnout in 60 some years in 2014 for a mid-term election. This wasn't a matter of the base just staying home.

I think many people overestimate the enthusiasm of the average voter in the 2016 election. They love to point out that we won the 2008 and 2012 election in landslides, yet forget that the two elections before that were lost. Even though they were razor thin. I really think that President Obama brought out that enthusiasm. He was new, he was different, and he was charismatic. Do you honestly think Hillary Clinton will bring out that enthusiasm?????

I also believe, deep in my heart, that people do not want another Clinton/Bush election. I think the Republicans are seeing that, but the Democrats seem blind to it? I may eat my words, but I don't fear Walker at all in the traditional sense, but I sure as heck fear him in the Walker vs Clinton sense.

Why couldn't the Dems have a more female charismatic candidate? I'm sorry but Clinton is old news. She is last century, and let's face it, she will be the second oldest President at inauguration in history! She certainly won't bring out the youth vote like Obama did. Will she bring out the black vote? I don't know, but those are the questions that only time will answer. She may bring out the female vote, but the female vote is no where near as one sided as the black, and youth vote. I honestly don't see her moving Republican women voters just on the matter of her gender.

[Orsino]

50. Because he is hurting the people of his state.

He has already done terrific damage. He won't be president anytime soon, I don't think, but his is the model for union-busting, women-oppressing and poor-kicking everywhere. Every day he gets away with it emboldens the sociopaths.

[HereSince1628]

53. Yes, but it's important to understand he doesn't do it alone...

the ideology he works on wasn't invented by himself.

And every branch of elected WI government is in the hands of the tea-party and the tea-party tolerant.

Protecting the nation from what's happened in WI, MI, OH etc, DEMANDS at minimum divided government.
Because given the opportunity to ram-through extreme solutions of the simple-minded the tea-party does just that with no consideration for others.

Walker's support lives by the notion that elections MUST have consequences for their opponents.

[Orsino]

72. Yeah.n He's a symptom--not the disease. n/t

[cali]

52. to you he's charmless, to many others, he's not.

He doesn't need to make inroads into the groups you mention to win the WH.

I'm much more concerned by Walker than Rubio, and consider him as much of a threat as Bush. He lights a fire among the base and has potential appeal to independents.

I think he's a real threat should he be the nominee.

[leftofcool]

54. Walker is the new shiny bauble of the moment for the GOP.

I have no fear of him. No way he can beat Hillary in a general and I doubt he will get past the primaries. Jeb Bush scares me more. Wile I don't think he can beat Hillary in a general election, he could come close. Hillary will get the female vote, the Latino vote, the Black vote. On, the other hand, if we run someone who claims to hate Wall Street, big banks, corporations etc...we will lose 49 states.

[greatlaurel]

55. He keeps winning elections and he is a sociopath withs tons of Koch money. He is very dangerous.

The Democratic Party needs to do extensive research on this guy. Such an evil guy surely has some ugly stuff in his background.

[Bettie]

56. He's really good at saying nothing, answering no questions

and still getting what he, well, the Koch brothers, want.

Of course, the husband points out his lazy eye and says it won't play well to a national audience.

I don't know, nothing sticks to this asshole.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

57. I didn't bring it up because I didn't want to appear shallow...

But being cross eyed and having a prominent bald spot won't play well to a national audience.

[Greybnk48]

59. You forgot one.

On top of being completely inept at governance, i.e., we're now losing jobs and businesses (Hoffman), he's gutting environmental protections, he's pretty much trashed and is trashing our public school system including the University of Wisconsin system, and many are about to lose what health care they have, and he's created an agency in Wisconsin that blocks anyone from knowing where a huge chunk of our tax money is going for "loans."

And DO NOT say "well you guys voted him in." First, Scott Walker is a pathological liar, in politics it's called "pandering" or "flip flopping" and many people here were suckered because he's an Evangelical Christian Teabagger, I know, "What the fuck!" Second, I'm not convinced he won the recall election OR this past one. Wisconsin is so dirty and lawless (if you're a repuke) now that I don't trust our elections. Not relevant but Paul Ryan routinely loses his hometown of Janesville, yet still wins re-election his district is so gerrymandered.

That said: He's a hairpulling (not a natural bald spot, btw), crosseyed, RAT TOOTHED, nasal voiced liar that is despised (not merely disliked) by an alarming number of Wisconsinites, yet we're stuck with him. Go figure, and while you're thinking about it, have some Koch.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

60. This might be an artifact but we never had a president in the modern era with a prominent bald spot.

Some were receding but no prominent bald spots. Maybe he can spray some Couvre on it:

[Greybnk48]

61. Lol! Though Eisenhower looked like a cue ball!

One of our DUers, a Dr., pointed out that off-center bald spots like Walker's, do not occur naturally; that they are most likely the result of hair pulling over time. So add to my littany that he is neurotic as well. Trichotillomania http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trichotillomania/basics/definition/con-20030043

[DemocratSinceBirth]

62. Ike was almost bald...Nixon had a widow's peak...

Both Bushes were receding but no prominent bald spots...They just look funny...

[Greybnk48]

64. He has that jet black hair dye going on too

which really accentuates the whitey whiteness of the spot.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

65. We are so shallow.

He also looks like he doesn't work out...He's kind of lumpy looking.

[Greybnk48]

69. I'm o.k. with shallow, lol!

It feels good to vent about this. We've been getting the stuffing knocked out of us here and this kind of talk helps.

[Bettie]

66. That's what my husband says too

I kind of hope he's right...or that non-answers won't get him through the election.

[still_one]

58. Look at Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, and even Pennsylvania. There are some very troubling signs that

country has moved even further to the right since President Obama was re-elected. The country has been dumbed down even worse, and most media outlets follow the fox news lead. There really is a right wing echo chamber, and the media is up to their eyebrows in it.

[dembotoz]

67. he has sort of an everyman quality that is hard to figure

lies like a rug and folks forgive it

damn hard to figure and the media just adores him

[muriel_volestrangler]

68. Because in the latest poll of match-ups, he was the leading Republican

http://www.pollingreport.com/wh16gen.htm

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/03/06/258941/clinton-loses-ground-against-gop.html

Hillary had a lead of 7% over Bush and Rubio, and 4% over Walker (9% Perry, 11% Paul, 14% Cruz).

[geek tragedy]

70. He is "generic Republican" who always polls

the best of all their candidates.

He won a fair number of Obama voters.

[Blue_Tires]

71. Because he has a metric ton of Koch money behind him

[B Calm]

73. My thoughts too!