The Scott Walker of 2024?

Ron DeSantis, in Iowa, directly attacked parents who kept their kids out of school due to COVID, saying anyone who did so was susceptible to "corporate media narratives"

this is exactly the kind of thing that make DeSantis an unviable candidate: attacking voters pic.twitter.com/K4Fa1EkTc7

— Pat Dennis (@patdennis) March 11, 2023

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

If he only had a brain

Ted Cruz, while visiting Wisconsin last week, said that we need to enact right to work (for less) legislation, like Scott Walker did in the Badger State, for the entire nation.

While throwing out this sop to Corporate American, Cruz neglected to mention that also as of last week, the state of Wisconsin ranks 49th in the United States for its economic outlook.  That means one state, one fucking state, has a poorer economic outlook than Wisconsin.

What on God's green earth made Cruz think that a horrendous economic outlook is anything any creature with a functioning brain, much less working class Americans, would aspire to?

And once again, courtesy of republicans, we have proof that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Peace,
emaycee

Scottie, we hardly knew ye

Two down, fourteen to go....

Scott Walker pulled the plug on his comatose Presidential campaign today, calling on his colleagues to do the same and rally around a "true" conservative candidate who could defeat Donald Trump.  Apparently Walker didn't get the memo--over the course of the last twenty years, from Newt Gingrich to Tom DeLay to Dick Cheney to Sarah Palin, Trump is the "true" conservative they've molded for the republican party's base.

As for Walker, who could have ever guessed that hating on working men and women, failing to create jobs, presiding over a declining standard of living, having a scandal plagued governorship, and being an all around lying asshole could doom a campaign?

Doesn't bode well for Chris Christie methinks...

Peace,
emaycee

The fat lady is singing

With his support in Iowa plummeting to 3%, Scott Walker announced on Monday in Las Vegas his plans to completely decimate Labor Unions in America, presumably so our national economy could tank as bad as Wisconsin's did under his "leadership."

Because sooooo many Americans these days are worried about workers having too much power.

Digby notes that more likely this was a sop to Sheldon Alderson, noted Israel lover and Union hater, and that his (much needed) check to Walker is probably already in the mail.

As I mentioned concerning Jeb!'s tax cuts, this is another attempt by republicans to announce campaigns that are being run not for the Presidency of the United States, but for the United States of the Wealthy.

And this may also explain why Donald Trump is currently cleaning their top candidates clocks in the republican primary--he may be a moron, but even he understands that Americans, both right and left, aren't all that fond of America's rich elite these days.

Peace,

emaycee

It sucks to be a republican (not that I care)

Well, well, well--seems the Koch Brothers had a big Please Kiss Our Asses For Money event this weekend featuring the usual republican minions (Jeb!, Rubio, Walker, Cruz, Fiorina) and Donald Trump sent out a tweet that asked, mockingly, if the republican candidates were "Puppets?"

Yes, yes they are.  And what's even worse for the republican party is that they can't even fight back against Trump's comment--they've become so beholden to billionaires that even the traditional media would laugh them off the stage if they even thought about refuting it.

Dangling from those troublesome strings couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.

Peace,
emaycee

Scott's walking papers

Not wanting to miss a chance to show he'd be just as inept as Jeb! Bush at running this country, Scott Walker declared last week that he would be ready to bomb Iran on the first day of his Presidency.

Don't know about you, but it seems to me that Wisconsin isn't nearly far enough away from the White House.  Maybe we can deport him?

And Walker is supposedly one of the republicans' "serious" candidates.

Peace,
emaycee

You can't make this shit up, Part I

Scott Walker last week called the Minimum Wage a "lame idea."

Words spoken by a man who has made his living from the taxpayer teat and Koch Brothers largesse and never actually had to support a family on $7.25 an hour.

As Chris Rock once said, Minimum Wage means "...if I could pay you less, I would."

Peace,
emaycee

Beam me up, Scott

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker declared his candidacy for the republican nomination on Monday, surprising absolutely no one, and promising to be a leader who will fight and win for us.

One thing is for certain:  Walker has the republican facade down pat--presumably the Wisconsin Governor said he would fight for us with a straight face knowing full well that (as his record in Wisconsin clearly shows) he's going to fuck over working class Americans every chance he gets.

Walker is running on the kinda/sorta Chris Christie position that he can beat Democrats on their own turf, winning the governorship of a state twice that hasn't voted for a republican Presidential nominee since 1988.  Unfortunately for Walker, neither of his victories was prohibitive in decidedly republican years, and that doesn't bode well for him in years when Democrats turn out in big numbers.  He's also patting himself on the back for knocking those pesky unions for a loop--which did absolutely nothing for Wisconsin's economy.  Walker's Wisconsin ranks 35th in job growth and has had a decided drop in household income during his tenure.  Not to mention that Walker fought so hard for public employees that they've seen a 10% drop in their pay--any wise opponent, be it Democrat or republican, is sure to point out that ordinary Americans would prefer he take his boxing gloves to some other fucking country because none of us can financially afford to have him "fighting" for us.

Methinks, though, in the end what will kill Walker, at least nationally, is that like Chris Christie, he's an asshole.  Even worse, he's a wimpy asshole--he's always given me the impression that he could be easily bitch slapped by kindergartners.  He's just so fucking pasty.

Peace,
emaycee

Up yours, Governor

So...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told an interviewer this week that a bill he signed requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before the procedure would enlighten such women to the fact that the process was a "cool thing out there."

One wonders if a bill was signed requiring Governor Walker to have an anal probe every time he opened his mouth and said something extremely callous just how "cool" he would think it was to have a very private part of his body violated for his supposed own good.

Peace,
emaycee

Koch heads

Other than the fact that they're all probably running for the republican Presidential nomination in 2016, know what Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker have in common?  They've been anointed by the Koch brothers as the five candidates most likely to be supported by the not so dynamic duo ($$$$) as the Man Who Would Be King, otherwise known as the republican Presidential nominee in 2016.

Not so sure any of the Fab Five should be rejoicing--contrary to republican groupthink, rich folks aren't all that popular with average Americans these days and I'm pretty sure that whoever wins the Democratic nomination (not to mention our support groups) is going to use large chunks of the two to three hundred million dollars they'll have in their campaign chests to remind average Americans just how much they don't like rich rolks.

Having the Koch brothers on your side is a lot like trying to paddle a row boat with a basketball sized hole in the bottom across the Pacific Ocean--the odds were long to begin with but the hole makes it impossible.

Peace,
emaycee

And then it's too late

There was an excellent post today in The Daily Kos about how the 2016 Presidential Election isn't about who is going to be our next President, but rather about the future makeup of our Supreme Court--most likely as to whether we get a Court friendly to Wall Street or to Main Street.  And whether we like Hillary or we love her, it's going to be necessary to get our voters to the polls to prevent an even worse Court for everyday Americans than the current Roberts Court.

All too often we don't see this until it's too late--just witness the war on workers and the war on women orchestrated in Michigan and Wisconsin, where nominally blue states managed to let a republican Legislature and a republican Governor come to power and watched their people power disappear.  And it isn't coming back anytime soon.  Now imagine this on a national level--because right now Barack Obama is the only thing standing between us and the annhilation of unions and abortions being performed in back alleys by charlatans.

And if there is any one message we need to get to our supporters in 2016 it's this one:  either get out and vote for our candidates or kiss even the minor victories of your way of life goodbye.

Peace,
emaycee

Are his fifteen minutes up?

What really bothers me about Scott Walker's claim that his handling of Labor Union protesters in Wisconsin prepares him for dealing with ISIS isn't the comparison of Union protesters to terrorists (let's face it, that's pretty par for the course for republicans these days) but rather the abject naivete inherent in that claim.

I mean, the last time I checked, terrorists couldn't be rounded up by sending out the local sheriff.  And terrorists don't care that you have a majority of the votes in the legislature.  They also don't accept laws they think are wrong and go on with their lives.  Most of all, democracy means nothing to them--when they fight back it's with violence.

Frankly, his ball-less bullying would go over about as well as Bush the Lesser's faux bravado.  They'd have a little chuckle and go back to killing.

Tick-tock, Governor, tick-tock.

Peace,
emaycee

Take it from us

As Wisconsin republicans move closer to legislating a right to work for less law in Wisconsin, foks here in Michigan can tell them exactly what this law will mean:

It will not create any jobs.  It will not attract businesses to your state.  It will not increase anyone's wages.  It will not increase the state's standard of living.  It will not keep college graduates in your state.  It will not attract highly skilled individuals to your state.  It will not improve your kids education.

On the other hand, it will decrease wages.  It will lead to a lowered standard of living.  It will send your kids to other states that are more friendly to workers.  It will lead to an exodus of college graduates.  It will mean that fewer people want to teach in your state and your kids education will suffer.  It will lead to people abandoning your state in droves--who the hell wants to freeze their asses off for six months out of the year to work for peanuts?

It will also mean that your state, just like your neighbor to the east, is on the fast track to being as culturally, politically, and economically irrelevant as the Dakotas.

Probably should have followed the lead of your neighbor to the west, Minnesota.  Seems they elected a Democratic governor who raised taxes on the rich and raised the minimum wage--and now they have one of the best economies in the United States.

Too bad your governor, Scott Walker, chose to bury his nose in the Koch brothers asses, much like our governor, Rick Snyder, chose to bury his nose in the DeVos family's asses.  Funny how that works, isn't it?  He gets to run for President while you and your family get to survive on less and less money.

It's enough to make a man want to grab a pitchfork....

Peace,
emaycee

About to slip down

When I first moved to Michigan, there was no doubt in my mind that the reason my paycheck was fatter than it had been in Indiana was because of the United Auto Workers.  There's plenty of evidence that the decline of Unions has had a direct causative effect on income inequality--when Unions get their members better pay, everybody gets better pay.

Needless to say, republicans just can't have regular folks making a decent living at the expense of their benefactors, the Richie Rich's of America, and their war to destroy the middle class continues apace.

Not content to have destroyed public sector Unions in Wisconsin (and the state's economy with it), Koch brothers sycophant Scott "I Have No Opinion on That" Walker is readying himself to make his home staters even poorer with a new right to work for less law.  Ought to make for a hell of a Presidential campaign slogan:  MY CITIZENS MAKE LESS MONEY THAN YOURS!

Taking a cue from Walker and hoping to get a share of that Koch brothers cash for themselves, Nevada republicans are readying a series of laws to weaken labor unions and show that republicans don't have a problem with government regulation as long as it's being used to fuck over the poor and the middle class.

Couple the war on workers with new evidence that up to half of Americans are in dire shape financially and you have a recipe for Kochs flambe.

Because you can't keep a man down for long when he's starving.

Peace,
emaycee

Jellyfish

In an effort to stave off his ever increasing irrelevance, Rudy Giulani this week claimed that President Obama doesn't love America.

Never having met a tea party ass he wouldn't kiss, Bobby Jindal was quick to join the other two Americans on the Giulani bandwagon and agree with the former mayor.

Scott Walker on the other hand, as he did with the Theory of Evolution, was quick to parse out a no comment--which begs the question of whether or not the Wisconsin Governor has a thought in his head that doesn't involve fucking over workers and educators.

And this, my friends, is what passes for "leadership" in the republican party.

Peace,
emaycee

Hiding in plain sight

Let's see....

Jeb Bush embarrassed himself in the past week by proclaiming himself to be the technology candidate and then hiring as his technology chief a misogynistic homophobic racist and releasing a slew of e-mails from his governship in Florida trying to show his caring nature only he didn't care enough to redact the senders' personal information (including social security numbers).   Rand Paul embarrased himself in the past week by proclaiming that kids who were vaccinated suddenly turned into crazed zombies and that Hillary Clinton spawned ISIS.  Chris Christie embarrassed himself by going overseas and showing he knows nothing about foreign policy or vaccinations.  Scott Walker embarrassed himself today by also going overseas and refusing to say whether he believes in evolution because it isn't a question a politician should be concerned with (fucking really?).

No wonder republicans this week began sniping at Hillary Clinton because she's not campaigning and is supposedly in hiding.  If our candidate was peforming this badly, I'd want anyone out there from the other side who might deflect attention, too.

Christ, how does anyone vote for a republican?

Peace,
emaycee

Dream weaver

Another republican who won't be our next President, Scott Walker, this week announced that he thinks it's good for low-income Americans to not have healthcare because it will help them live the American Dream.

Pretty sure this qualifies as a "What the fuck?" statement.  And frankly, it's one made all too often by those on the right who have spent most of their careers either playing tiddlywinks in the executive suite of some corporation or living off the generosity of the American taxpayers.

Basically, Walker believes that if we can get every able bodied adult into the workforce, companies will just shower them with all kinds of money and benefits and we'll all be singing in the sunshine.  But right now, that pesky government safety net is getting in the way.

Sure it is--just ask all those minimum wage workers at Wal-Mart, McDonald's, KMart, Walgreens, et al.

And ignore all those jobs that record corporate profits haven't created, or the record wage stagnation, or the record income inequality, or the record number of Americans living in poverty.

Or the millions of jobs that Scott Walker did not create in Wisconsin.

Because Scott Walker apparently has a magic wand that he hasn't used yet, but when he's President, look out.  He'll whip that baby out and all our economic problems are going to be solved.

Book it.

Peace,
emaycee

Getting better all the time

For a while there, between the chained CPI bullshit that President Obama has bought into, Democrats voting to cut food stamps,  not being able to get enough Democrats to sign on to filibuster reform, and the general failure of our party to do much of anything that supports working families, I was beginning to think 2014 was shaping up to be as disastrous electorally as was 2010.

But lo and behold, up to the plate stepped the republican party--the gift that keeps on giving.

Following their disaster in Texas with its misinformed choice haters, special sessions to pass what cannot pass in the regular session, and flat out cheating to pass historically harsh restrictions to abortion, the geniuses next used an end around in Ohio by passing more historically harsh restrictions to abortion by using budget gimmicks, and then had the good sense to have Gov. John Kasich sign the bill surrounded by nothing but old white men (Kasich is also giving our own Gov. Gutless, Rick Snyder, a run for his money for the most gutless governor in the nation by signing the bill and then running and tucking tail rather than answer any questions regarding it).  For good measure, republicans in North Carolina also tried an end around by inserting historically harsh abortion restrictions into a bill on Sharia law, since the two have so much in common, and Wisconsin's Scott Walker this week became the umpteenth republican leader to think that the U.S. Government has no right to keep guns out of the hands of psychopaths but every right to stick medical instruments into womens' vaginas.

Apparently the sole guideline for being a republican consultant is to have no brain whatsoever.  Because nothing helps win elections by pissing off even more voters who historically vote in the biggest numbers and against your party.  Thanks, guys!

Not to worry, though, as they also have a brilliant plan for the Presidency in 2016.  It's to paint Hillary Clinton as old.

Man, mocking the only voting bloc--seniors--that votes for you is some kind of strategy.

Peace,
emaycee

Be careful what you wish

Digby had a recent post in which she hoped that Hillary Clinton wouldn't run for President in 2016, because a) Digby would like the chance to vote for a Progressive female in the primaries, and b) because of the sexist nastiness sure to arise from the republican ranks over another Clinton heading for the White House.

While I share her sentiment for the former (it'd be nice to vote for a real Progessive, period, male or female), the latter seems a bit silly.  I'm sure that they could call her an atheist, a lesbian, and compare her to Eva Braun, but after the republican shenanigans over the first black President, it's not going to be any worse for the first female President.  The republican vitriol toward her sex might be equal in its fury, but, hey, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.  Not to mention that after all Hillary Clinton has been through (Lewinsky scandal, impeachment of her husband, republican spaceman conspiracy theories virtually daily), it's pretty obvious her shoulders can handle it.

The real question over Hillary Clinton's running for President should be whether or not she gives us the best chance to win.  2016 is a long way away, and other candidates might rise to the fore, but those pooh-poohing a Hillary bid need to take a serious looks at what happened in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio (three solid blue states and two swing states) where republican majorities in their respective statehouses plus a republican in the governorship has led to the passage of numerous anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union, and anti-women measures despite a majority of those state's constituents being against them.  The odds of us winning back the U.S. House before 2020 (if then) are infintesimal, and we stand a chance (again) of losing the Senate in 2014.  Anyone want to imagine an America where Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House (other than some numb nut Antoinette)?  It's truly shudder inducing.

We're still a few years away from the supermajority status current demographic trends are showing, but if republicans can wreak the havoc they have in the individual states in two years, one can only guess how much harm they can do to women's rights and working class Americans in four.

Hillary Clinton probably wouldn't be my first choice either, but if she gives us the best chance to win in 2016, I'll happily pull the lever for her while biding my time for the Presidential election when a true Liberal can win.

Peace,
emaycee

Twenty-five reasons to vote for Obama: #12--Public Sector Employees

Over 600,000 public sector jobs have been lost since Barack Obama became President.  I have no illusions that should he win re-election those jobs are coming back.  But I am also certain that should Daddy Warbucks and Jughead win on November 6th, that number is going to seem like a grain of salt in the sea.  Nothing either of them has said would lead one to believe that they have any respect or feel any need for public sector employees--you know, those thankless but monumental jobs involving teachers, policemen, firefighters, and countless others who make our world a lot better place by taking care of us all.

It is also not a secret--see also, Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin--that republicans are hell bent on destroying the last remaining strong unions (not counting professional athletes and actors).  There is nothing Willard would like more than to be Scott Walker on a national level, and we just cannot afford any more union-busting.  The middle class has been squeezed enough and the public sector is one of the few chances we have left for good paying jobs that aren't at the whim of corporate greed.

President Obama's American Jobs Act--defeated thanks to those job creators, the House republicans--specifically calls for actions to save and grow jobs for teachers, policemen, and firefighters.  There is nothing in the republican platform that calls for the same.  President Obama will not have an agenda designed to destroy public sector jobs and take away more vital services for ordinary Americans.

Only republicans think teachers, policemen, and firefighters are overpaid and pampered with too rich benefit packages.  Nothing could be further from the truth--these people are the backbone of America, and a vote for President Obama is a guarantee of their continued strength and vibrancy.

Peace,
emaycee