February 23, 2014

Scott Walker (and Vermont's Peter Shumlin) on "Fox News Sunday" this morning.



And here's the transcript. The moderator Chris Wallace confronts Walker about the emails released after the John Doe investigation, and Walker's strategy is to avoid the details and stick to the message: a Democratic district attorney spent 3 years looking through all of this and closed the case. When Wallace pulls out something specific and Walker goes to that message, Wallace pushes with "You're not answering my question," and Walker says: "No, because I'm not going to get into 27,000 different pieces of information. The bottom line is a Democrat who led the district attorney's office looked at all this, decided not to charge anything other than the individuals."

What do you think of Walker's question-answering strategy?
  
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155 comments:

Mark said...

Refusal to answer the question makes me wonder if admitting anything might be a perjury issue with his testimony.

The endless repetition of how the DA is a Democrat is noteworthy. It is quite clear his lawyer told him what he could say and he won't step an inch off it.

Doubt it will work in WI. He sold himself as a straight shooter and there isn't a newspaper in the state that didn't ask for questions answered in their editorials this week.

David said...

Great, because he's not bullshitting about why he's declining to answer the questions.

I suppose Mark will think it's ok to ask Hillary questions about Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster etc.

Allen Edwards said...

I voted for the third option, but that should really read as:

"Okay for now, but you can't get by on that running for president ... unless you are a Democrat."

TML said...

These issue are always is full of bullshit. OF COURSE it's OK to answer questions. On a level playing field. Which there never will be with our media. Let's see even 1/50th the scrutiny of Obama or Clinton or Holder...name your democrat. So, good for Walker for not walking into a buzz saw voluntarily.

TML said...

What Allen said (that popped in as I was writing my comment)

Ann Althouse said...

"Refusal to answer the question makes me wonder if admitting anything might be a perjury issue with his testimony."

To me, it seems like a strategy to stay out of the weeds. If he starts explaining things, then people will jump all over the explanations. That alone is a good-enough reason for the strategy.

But I think he has to worry that people will see this approach as mechanical.

Still, being mechanical can work with respect to a controversy that's as boring as this. (Who used which phones and what did Walker know about that?) But with respect to something important, like, say, the attack on Benghazi, this let-me-get-back-to-my-message thing might meet some resistance.

Ann Althouse said...

For "phones," please read "email account" or "wifi" or whatever.

I was mixing this up with the old Al Gore "no controlling precedent" controversy.

Ann Althouse said...

Hey, the old Al Gore "no controlling precedent" controversy is really hard to google.

What's the deal with that?

Does anyone remember?

Ann Althouse said...

Man, that used to be a meme.

Weird when memes don't google.

Michael in ArchDen said...

Professor, I believe Gore's comment was "...no controlling legal authority."

Mark said...

Even if he decides later to answer questions about specific points (to make the questioner look asinine, for instance) he has to start out with the big picture strategy.

He can run against the Democratic Fishing Expedition for years.

Wince said...

Unlike the making-policy-in-secret allegations at the Obama EPA, for instance, wouldn't using a private email account (as opposed to the official government email account) be exculpatory when the charge is using government resources and time for political ends?

Mark said...

David, I have heard quite a bit about Monica Lewinsky in the last month.

So, yes ... Given this very blog thought it worth discussing Monica again recently, it should be fair game.

Talk to Rand Paul about that ...

The Crack Emcee said...

BLACK WALLACE: "Forget 27,000 emails, why do you surround yourself with so many racists who can stop blabbing it all over town? I mean, on the bus, in the library, at the office. And it's not just them, but their friends, sending in awful stuff that you apparently saw as well. What's that about?"

"How does this fit with Wisconsin's record on race, where there's no public transportation connecting blacks to the city areas - didn't you make you name fighting a light rail connection of that kind? Was that a good call for those citizens who would like a job when they're all out of reach?"

Unknown said...

--wouldn't using a private email account (as opposed to the official government email account) be exculpatory?--

Thanks EDH. That's my question as well. I would think that a governing executive has to balance time. Either on the clock as the governor/president/mayor or I'm running participating in my campaign. Not to mention when governing really is a political exercise. So at a time period set aside for campaigning politics use of a non-governmental email would be the right thing to do.

This is different from say the head of the EPA or IRS offices who's only activity is governing and administration.

We all know Obama makes political calls from Air Force One, has anybody made this an issue?


Unknown said...

----where there's no public transportation connecting blacks to the city areas - didn't you make you name fighting a light rail connection of that kind?

Ha hahahhahhs You did it! You made it about race! Way to go crackerjack.

But it wasn't light rail that would help black people, it was high speed rail for the white elite. Thanks for playing!!!!

Haa has you can't make this stuff up!!!

The Crack Emcee said...

That should've read "Madison's record on race,…"

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

He could just screech"at this point what difference does it make!"

Unknown said...

---That should've read "Madison's record on race,…"

He was the Milwaukee County executive not Madison.

Woo hoo! Crackerjack take some time off!

Drago said...

AA: "Does anyone remember?"

Yes.

Algore was raising money in a religious institution where the members of that institution had taken a vow of poverty.

But hey, algore.

Dem.

Totally cool.

No big whoop.

Now, secret routers, that's a thing!

The Crack Emcee said...

Unknown,

Ha hahahhahhs You did it! You made it about race! Way to go crackerjack.

God, you guys are dumb. It was already about race, you moron - only racists who aren't paying attention, because they only follow white news on Walker, missed it:

Race to Equity Report, 2013 - City of Madison, Wisconsin

Mark said...

Crack, you must have missed the stories about what Walker's #1 and 2 when was Milwaukee County Exec thought were funny jokes to email out.

There's plenty to go with there.

Unknown said...

At least Al Gore was cool with nuns (bhuddist nuns).

Unlike the current President who is jamming the Little Sisters of the Poor. (Hmm they don't have money - wonder if that would make a difference)

DKWalser said...

Walker's strategy may be the best; I still didn't care for it. I wanted him to say: Look, Chris, county employees are not supposed to be using government resources -- including their government provided email accounts -- for campaigns. The email proves that my staff was trying to comply with the law, which is why the Democrat who investigated all of this closed his investigation more than a year ago.

There are probably good reasons NOT to take this approach, but I would have liked it more than what he said.

Hagar said...

Unknown,
I think a governor (and exempt employees?)can use a private e-mail account whenever he/she wants to; regular employees cannot do so on working hours.

Drago said...

Mark: "So, yes ... Given this very blog thought it worth discussing Monica again recently, it should be fair game.

Talk to Rand Paul about that .."

Perhaps you are being purposely obtuse.

Quite possible.

Rand Paul's comments go to the heart of lefty hypocrisy in decrying the make believe "War on Women" meme when the leading candidate for the dem nomination at this point is the very person who led the charge to destroy women whose only "crime" was their paths crossed Bill Clintons.

Summary: Hillary led the charge to destroy the reputations of women who were accurate in their characterizations of Bill Clinton and his actions.

Dems offer up War on Women meme to batter the republicans.

Dems leading candidate for office is the very person who led (don't think for a moment it was Betsy Wright, she was just following orders) the charge against the women.

Rand Paul happens to notice this blatant hypocrisy and mentions it.

Mark at Althouse misses the point.

I hope that helps.

Unknown said...

----God, you guys are dumb. It was already about race, you moron

Nope, we just don't share your pathological obsession. Wish you could get help.

Until then, your tieing trains or public transportation to Walker's responses on Fox News is pretty funny.

Come on, admit it.

Drago said...

Hagar: "I think a governor (and exempt employees?)can use a private e-mail account whenever he/she wants to; regular employees cannot do so on working hours"

Half the obama administration used private email accounts for official business to avoid discovery.

Dems response: no problem baby!!

Keep it up!!

Hagar said...

This will be an evergreen for Wisconsin Democrats. Walker can't very well do anything but stick to his stock answer, since he cannot know that there won't be another e-mail crop up that he had not heard of before, and might have a little something in it at least slightly contrary to what he just said.

The Crack Emcee said...

Good governance:

That's when you've got a guy, openly surrounded by racists, who let citizens across the way rot, because the white media is only concerned with the Democrat/Republican tit-for-tat they find to be exquisite political theatre for readers also so disinterested in black lives they, too, never think of the implications.

Presidential material, they say.

White supremacy is fucking crazy,...

Titus said...

I don't mind him...but if he brings up religious freedom laws to bigot the gay I am through.

He did not get the job number he promised and did the whole vagina legislation which isi depressing...but that is how they have to role to be a legitimate pube...sad.

Unknown said...

That's when you've got a guy, openly surrounded by racists, who let citizens

Presidential material, they say. White supremacy is fucking crazy,…


Tell me again who was running Detroit?

Did they make chop choo trains there?




Titus said...

It would be so awesome to see one pube in a position of power to say...I don't give a shit about gay marriage.

But, unfortuately, they can't, because they would never make it in the pube caucus.

They have to really hate the gay to prove they are a true pube....sad.

History will not judge these things kindly.

Hagar said...

Yeah, well, legally do so then.

But this is like here in New Mexico; the Democrats had no problems with Bill Richardson's shenanigans, but are all over Susana Martinez because she got the State Police to give her a helicopter ride to catch a plane in Albuquerque after she got delayed at a meeting in Santa Fe.

800 dollars worth of taxpayers money! Quelle horreur!!!

And at that I think her plane ride also was defensible as in the State's interest.

Unknown said...

the Democrats had no problems with Bill Richardson's shenanigans,

I'll never forgive that b(*$$* for holding North Korean's hands and holidaying on the USS Pueblo.

Alex said...

Doubt it will work in WI. He sold himself as a straight shooter and there isn't a newspaper in the state that didn't ask for questions answered in their editorials this week.

Bullshit, all lefty papers that never endorsed Walker to begin with.

n.n said...

It will only work if he has sufficient leverage. I foresee another South Africa, less mass retributive change, where white and black interests conspire against other white and black interests to take control. The outcome may, once again, be ruled and judged by perception directed by influential or merely loud voices in the press, academia, and various non-profit organizations.

Michael K said...

Crack, I didn't know you were black until the past day. You seem now to have nothing close to say but race. Have you morphed into Al Sharpton ?

Walker knows something that many GOP pols don't. Stay on message ! It's the fox and the hedgehog again.

Bob Ellison said...

Most of what I know about Wisconsin has come from a car-ride through that beautiful country and regular reading on this blog. I think people outside Wisconsin really don't care about these stories. They sound very local and petty. Without a severed head or a drowned girlfriend, they won't figure in the national scene.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Since the Democrats and the liberal press have NOTHING, they're hoping they can trick Walker into saying SOMETHING / ANYTHING which they can then use against him. Why should he make things any easier for them?

Bob Ellison said...

On Fox News Sunday, Walker pretty much confirmed that he'll run for POTUS in 2016. He didn't say so outright, of course, but when Wallace asked whether these Wisconsin investigations would figure in on a 2016 run, Walker didn't say "that's really not any concern of mine; I'm a governor." He pretty much said "no".

KCFleming said...

They shoulda had Howard Stern interview him.

The Crack Emcee said...

Unknown,

Tell me again who was running Detroit?


It wasn't the "Americans" who practiced "white flight" I know that. And let's not pretend after they left they were good neighbors, no, they were as hostile as you are but that bears no weight on what's happened - causing others to retrench against them, does it?

You're dysfunctional.

You think you can teach blacks patriotism, or demand love of country, when your every utterance is a denunciation of everything you claim to represent. All you want to do is separate yourself from a history there's no escaping - and you think no one sees it because (like jr565) you don't. You look cowardly doing it, like this guy. No blacks want to be with someone who twists the rules, history, everything, so far in his favor when the facts prove it all a lie. You must be joking!

You're resisting, right here on this thread, and you dare to suggest that resistance wasn't part of what happened to Detroit?

You're an idiot.

Moose said...

So it may be legally not actionable, but (allegedly) morally reprehensible. More or less than (at the time) being part of the "Choom" gang, or having the Arkansas State Police dragging trailer parks for plump young woman.
Wow - standards for outrage have slipped...

n.n said...

Michael K:

He thinks that the discussion can be squelched by a related, but selective issue. I thought his prejudice was limited to cults (e.g. atheism), then to France, finally to religion, but now it has progressed to encompass all people of a certain skin color. He does not respect people as individuals, nor does he judge philosophies by their principles.

Anyway, people who have been subject and survived his kind of nonsense may tolerate but will never acquiesce to his foolishness. He thinks the determinative criteria is white or even black. He is wrong. His experience is severely limited and does not reflect the actual state of the world.

MikeD said...

No, the other unknown!
You'd think people of WI, as well as readers of same, would know what "trolling" is. Simply put, it's dragging something thru the water that a fish confuses with food and tries to consume, usually to the fish's detriment.
Crack continues his successful fishing trips.
You all think he stays warm with his victim blanket, when it's really his daily fish fry.
BTW, why I think SW would be a good President, odds are it'll be one of the three "egos".

Known Unknown said...

You look cowardly doing it, like this guy.

Paul Dano plays the best creeps.

Unknown said...

---You're an idiot


I'm not the one saying Walker's TV appearance has something to do with choochoo trains.

You're just a ranting race obsessed whacko. All races have suffered. My people were oppressed and starved in Europe.

They didn't come to this country until long after your people were freed by the death of three hundred thousand soldiers.

Wish I could make it better for you, but only you can give up your self destructive anger and racism.

Bob Ellison said...

Unknown, don't fish-wise WI people call that "trawling"?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Can't do that if you're running for president? Well, just (wait a second, let me do the math) twelve times in my lifetime. Walker is definitely one of the canniest politicians I've seen in my life and one of the few Republicans who understands how liberals/Democrats have stacked the deck. He's five times the threat to the Donks than Palin ever was. They're going to go absolutely apeshit if he's the candidate in '16.

Anonymous said...

"Doubt it will work in WI. He sold himself as a straight shooter and there isn't a newspaper in the state that didn't ask for questions answered in their editorials this week."
---------------
"Bullshit, all lefty papers that never endorsed Walker to begin with."

2/23/14, 6:53 PM
---------------

Baloney. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal endorsed Walker and now are asking plenty of questions that he is not answering.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

I like the sound of Cruz/Walker 2016

The Crack Emcee said...

The Cracker Emcee,

"They're going to go absolutely apeshit if he's the candidate in '16."


You're dreaming - he's got the charisma of a doorstop - and Hillary will hang him with the race issue alone. She will ring that bell, which can't be unrung, and she'll hammer it all the way to the White House. "Ah ain't no ways tired!" she'll bellow, and blacks will howl with laughter.

Nobody's scared of conservatives but the Republican Party, which is finally realizing it's struck a deal with the devil.

Known Unknown said...

"Ah ain't no ways tired!" she'll bellow, and blacks will howl with laughter.


This part is true.

The Crack Emcee said...

Joshua Barker said...
I like the sound of Cruz/Walker 2016


So does Hillary.

Cruz is supposedly so popular now he needs a food taster.

So you've got the guy who caused the shut-down with a guy with no discernible charm.

Good luck with that against Jimmy Fallon,...

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

It would be so awesome to see one pube in a position of power to say...I don't give a shit about gay marriage.

How about a sitting Vice President in a debate against a Democrat who was opposed to gay marriage. Would that be good enough?

Anonymous said...

It would be a Democrat's wet dream to see those two on the Republican ticket.:)

Birkel said...

I would like to discuss The Crack Emcee's repeated claims that "white flight" caused Detroit's problems.

I call bull shit.

Because the only way anybody can stop "white flight" is to restrict the movement of people, reduce their freedom and become authoritarian.

The Crack Emcee once again reveals himself a standard issue Leftist: a 'liberal' fascist.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

That blacks will vote Democrat is a given. Hence the meagerness of the crumbs they receive for their loyalty.
Solid gold that "charisma of a doorstop" and Hillary appeared in the same sentence. As to Dem fears of a Walker candidacy, what do you think this fishing expedition is about?

Michael K said...

"You think you can teach blacks patriotism"

I can certainly understand your own problem with this. After all RACISM !

Marty Keller said...

As long as conservatives treat MSM interview techniques as methods to extract information rather than to bolster the "progressive"/rentseeker axis (and sell advertising by pandering to the LIVs), they get caught every time. When they refuse, at least they cover their flanks even while subjected to lefty second-grade level derision and name-calling. It's a boring and obvious set-up. Good for Walker not to play.

MadisonMan said...

I think this matters more in Wisconsin than it ever would nationally.

Unknown said...

Oh yeah, the government shut down a couple of months ago. All of 17 percent of it. It was catastrophic!!!!

All 300 million Americans were impacted!!!!

Errr.. no they weren't. Just those vets who's monuments were closed and those Japanese that the INS arrested in their hotel.

We'll see if ANYbody cares about the shutdown when another ten to twenty million small business employees lose their health care coverage in a few months.

Mark said...

Alex,

Inga linked to the Journel Sentinel which endorsed him.
As did the Wis State Journal.

The two largest papers in the state, the ones from the D leaning urban centers.

The upstate papers were nearly unanimous.

Seriously, get a clue. You could not be more wrong about basic, verifiable facts.

Mark said...

MadisonMan, I agree. The local press is annoyed, many are a bit stunned at the quantity.

The plausibility issue is huge.

Staff brought in private laptops that they spent hours working on instead of their county-supplied computers. Walker didn't notice that Kelly Rindfleisch (deputy chief of staff) was using a second computer in her office ... Nor the rest of the staff. 1300 emails in a month worth of time on work hours by Rindfleisch alone.
Nope, he was unaware of that.
Of course, when Darlene Wink was busted for posting on the journal Sentinel's comments during work hours he sent that email detailing how 'we can't have this happen again ... That means no laptops'

The press sees the total pile of steaming lies Walker's statements are. Either that or he is the most clueless boss ever.

test said...

To recap: Fox is alleged by the left to be the Republican propaganda outlet. Yet we've already heard a more probing, uncompromising, and antagonistic interview of a Republican who can't become President in any circumstance for almost three years than we've ever heard from the supposed independent media of President Obama.

Ann Althouse said...

"Professor, I believe Gore's comment was "...no controlling legal authority.""

Thanks. Google usually accounts for synonyms, but that does dispel incipient conspiracy theories.

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel,

The only way anybody can stop "white flight" is to restrict the movement of people, reduce their freedom and become authoritarian.

Or they could've considered themselves citizens and lent a hand for a better future, but - no - they were white, and evil, and acted like it.

And now you want to celebrate the results with even more of the same.

God, white people are swell!

Anonymous said...

Is he supposed to remember what is in 27000 emails?

Sounds like Sarah Palin's emails. They can always send troops of journolistas to keep digging.

Michael K said...

"Hillary will hang him with the race issue alone."

Who knew that Hillary was black ?

I knew Bill was but I guess it wasn't an interracial marriage after all.

Unknown said...

---The only way anybody can stop "white flight" is to restrict the movement of people, reduce their freedom and become authoritarian.

Or they could've considered themselves citizens and lent a hand for a better future, but - no - they were white, and evil, and acted like it. ---


Here's a crazy thought, perhaps Mayor Young could have called for unity and made Detroit a livable attractive place to live..

----A radical trade unionist who ran as an antiestablishment candidate reaching out to disenfranchised black voters, Young lacked a plan except to go to war with the city's major institutions and demand that the federal government save it with subsidies.---


however, Young made things worse. He divided the police department along racial lines, creating separate layoff lists of white and black officers. He and his handpicked police chief, William Hart, made clear that policing that resulted in too many arrests or citations in the black community would not be tolerated. "I wouldn't write tickets for black kids," one black officer told journalist…

Young's divisive brand of governing extended to economic policy, such as it was. When General Motors agreed to build a new plant in the 1980s to help the city's revival, Young and GM targeted the still vibrant, largely white ethnic neighborhood of Poletown to locate the facility. In one of the nation's most infamous cases of eminent domain, the city sued in 1981 to raze some 1,500 homes and 144 businesses and displace 3,500 people.



http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324110404578625581152645480

Unknown said...

PS.. If the government seizes your house by eminent domain, is that 'white flight'?

Michael K said...

"God, white people are swell!"

Coleman Young:Coleman said: “I am not here to fight in any un-American activities, because I consider the denial of the right to vote to large numbers of people all over the South un-American.”

According to historians Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes and Ronald Radosh, Coleman Young was "a secret CPUSA [Communist Party USA] member."[12]

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

CE, when whites leave, it is white flight; when whites come to a neighborhood, it is gentrification.

You really don't have much self esteem, do you? Everything has to revolve around whites. Can't blacks do better without whites clogging up the place?

Frankly, the problem is, well off blacks leave with whites. It's more "wealth flight" than "white flight". Did Obama live in a run down neighborhood, or did he live in a well off neighborhood among rich whites and rich blacks?

Anonymous said...

"Hillary will hang him with the race issue alone."

Hillary has 95% of black votes already.

Everybody else is more concerned with his own livelihood than imaginary racism. Blacks are really too sensitive, too whiny.

garage mahal said...

To me, it seems like a strategy to stay out of the weeds.

Walker's strategy is to stay in the weeds so he doesn't have to explain what he and his administration were really doing. Just repeat 2-3 talking points until the questioner finally gets sick of asking, and redirect blame on Democrats. He doesn't blink when his honor is being challenged. It's a unique skill I will give him that.

Original Mike said...

Maybe Walker can use that other Gore chestnut: the iced-tea defense.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Unknown said... Oh yeah, the government shut down a couple of months ago. All of 17 percent of it. It was catastrophic!!!!

You mean the shutdown and subsequent threat the default on our loans, because Obama refused to delay Obamacare even though it needed another year to become effective. That shutdown?

Alex said...

I really think Ann should consider shutting comments down again. This is getting ridiculous with Crack coming into every fucking thread and shouting RACIST!

Alex said...

garage - you are just angry that Walker refuses to lose his cool. You are grasping at straws. What a sad, little man you are(figuratively speaking of course, we know you're borderline obese) to hinge your happiness on the fortunes of your political party. Get a fucking LIFE.

Unknown said...

garage mahal, it's a time tested strategy. One of the best & reasonably current: "WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?"

Alex said...

Oh and I've been there, done that with the political hack mentality. That ended for me after the 2008 election. Taking the broader sweep of history, it's much easier to stay calm in spite of any apparent "victories" by the left-wingers.

Unknown said...

Again, not a democracy BUT I vote Crack off the island.

Unknown said...

---Obama refused to delay Obamacare even though it needed another year to become effective.

Yes, that shutdown. And Obamacare needs how many years to become effective??

***The Obama administration announced Monday it is giving small businesses an extra year to comply with an Obamacare rule requiring that they provide …


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/another-obamacare-mandate-delay-for-small-businesses/

Regulations announced by the Obama administration Monday give two levels of delay to employers who would have had to cover their workers next year. Some businesses will get an extra year – until 2016

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/obamacare-employer-mandate-delay-103338.html#ixzz2uCkTFjd0

What a farce!

KCFleming said...

Benghazi?
Ho-hum.

Failed 3 year politicized investigation with no charges?
BLOOD IN THE WATER !!!1!


Democrats may have fucked things up, but Walker = Racism! Misogyny! H8rs of teh gay!

The Crack Emcee said...

elkh1 said...
CE, when whites leave, it is white flight; when whites come to a neighborhood, it is gentrification.


What do both of those have in common?

Whites only thinking of themselves - not the country, the state, the city, the neighborhood.

Love you back!

Mark Jones said...

I'd like to see every Republican answer questions about anything in their past more than, say, six months old this way: "Well, as Mrs. Clinton said about the deaths in Benghazi, 'What difference, at this point, does it make?' That seemed to satisfy you then. Surely it's sufficient answer now, right?"

garage mahal said...

Old spin: I can't comment because the investigation is ongoing.

New Spin: Now that the investigation is closed I won't comment because the investigation is closed.

Future Spin: I can't comment on the 2nd John Doe investigation targeting my campaign because that investigation is ongoing.

KCFleming said...

Now you're getting it, garage!

Unknown said...

-----I can't comment on the 2nd John Doe investigation targeting my campaign because that investigation is ongoing.

I can't comment on the 2nd John Doe investigation by Milwaukee secret police targeting the free speech of average Wisconsinites because the abuse is on going.

Fixed it for you you lying ……

The Crack Emcee said...

I'm just looking around the internet:

Angry crowd runs George Zimmerman out of Miami


From Hillary's up-coming highlight reel:

"There stood Cruz, backed by his hardline tea party colleagues, going down in flames and lighting the path towards legislative irrelevancy, while reading Green Eggs and Ham and talking about Ashton Kutcher for as long as his voice and legs would hold."

Thomas Sowell on your champion:

"The most charitable interpretation of Ted Cruz and his supporters is that they are willing to see the Republican party weakened in the short run, in hopes that they will be able to take it over in the long run, and set it on a different path as a more purified conservative party. Like many political ideas, this one is not new. It represents a political strategy that was tried long ago — and failed long ago."

Go on, guys - keep insisting you know better.

garage mahal said...

I can't comment on the 2nd John Doe investigation by Milwaukee secret police targeting the free speech of average Wisconsinites because the abuse is on going.


Rock ribbed, ex-military Republican who chased down terrorist networks as special prosecutor, and 2 Republican DA's assisting an investigation engulfing a 5 county swath? But who's counting. No, that doesn't wash. As much as Pogo dirties it all up it still doesn't wash in the end. He may not like it because __________.

Pogo is a GREAT party man though. Til the end!

Michael K said...

Well, crack, the race hustlers beat you to Zimmerman. The poor guy. What did he know about racial politics with his black grandfather ?

Trayvon was only innocently trying to mix him up some Purple Drank and that racist 711 clerk wouldn't sell him some DXM. So he headed back home while casing the neighborhood.

Totally innocent.

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K,

Well, crack, the race hustlers beat you to Zimmerman. The poor guy. What did he know about racial politics with his black grandfather ?


Whatever it was, he didn't learn it well.

Trayvon was only innocently trying to mix him up some Purple Drank and that racist 711 clerk wouldn't sell him some DXM. So he headed back home while casing the neighborhood.

Totally innocent.


Yep - the crime of "Purple Drank"

I hear ya, Mike

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael K said...
Trayvon was only innocently trying to mix him up some Purple Drank and that racist 711 clerk wouldn't sell him some DXM. So he headed back home while casing the neighborhood.


Are you still humping this bullshit? You are dumbest cunt on the planet.

test said...

AReasonableMan said...
You are dumbest cunt on the planet.


Ah, the war on women the media doesn't care about.

Fen said...

But I think he has to worry that people will see this approach as mechanical.

Nah. I see it as not giving the MSM ammunition to launch cheap shots with.

And considering the way the media has covered for Obama, I could give a rats ass if he is lying. If so, good for him. Its not like the Dems are honest or anything. Why should he be?

Unknown said...


Lying scum garage just can't stop….

Seven months before closing the the John Doe probe in March 2013, (Milwaulkee County DA) Chisholm opened a second one targeting possible illegal campaign coordination during the 2012 recall elections.

http://chippewa.com/mobile/article_b5c748e9-22e4-58ff-9b68-91daa60558ba.html

"This secret investigation and gag order on conservative activists is intended to stop their political successes in Wisconsin," O'Keefe said in a statement. "The state cannot be allowed to silence political speech it does not like."

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-club-for-growth-sues-to-shut-down-john-doe-investigation-b99202093z1-244738571.html#ixzz2uCtvAlxS


Unknown said...

While the state Court of Appeals has allowed the investigation to continue, prosecutors face significant challenges. Last month Peterson — the judge overseeing the probe — issued a secret order quashing subpoenas against conservative groups supporting Walker, dealing investigators a setback, sources told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-club-for-growth-sues-to-shut-down-john-doe-investigation-b99202093z1-244738571.html#ixzz2uCuGQy5I
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

Fen said...

Garage: Pogo is a GREAT party man though.

Too bad irony isn't lethal.

Fen said...

This is where Fen's Law is useful in saving you time and energy: "The Left doesn't really believe in the things they lecture the rest of us about"

Applied here, it reminds you that people like Garage don't give a rat's ass about corruption, so any attempt to "prove" that Gov Walker isn't corrupt is a waste of your time.

Garage cares about Power. Stick your boot in his face and he'll lick it clean. Don't waste your time appealing to principles like honor or virtue.

garage mahal said...

Lying scum garage just can't stop….

Nope. Not again. Not ever. You didn't do anything that refutes anything I said.

Do you need help getting up to speed on this process?

Fen said...

Sure, Garage is a nice guy. So were the guys that delivered Zyklon B to Auschwitz.

Birkel said...

So The Crack Emcee's response is to say he can know the motivation of every person who left Detroit.

And the single motivation of all of them is, you're not going to believe it... RACISM!

And now I guess people who choose not to move to Detroit are racists. All of them or only the white ones?

Because... RACISM!

Fascist.

Anonymous said...

Don't all Michael K. A cunt !


Wait a minute....

Unknown said...

Its all one-sided….

Emails from Barrett's wife violated MPS policy
By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel May 14, 2012

Kris Barrett, a teacher and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's wife, violated a Milwaukee Public Schools policy last year by sending three emails from a school system account that involved county or state politics, MPS officials said Monday.

The emails were first revealed Monday by Media Trackers, a suburban Milwaukee conservative group that regularly researches and releases unflattering claims about Democrats. The mayor's wife was laid off by MPS along with more than 300 other teachers in June 2011. She now works in the Wauwatosa schools.

MPS spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said the school system disciplines employees who send political emails through their system, but officials did not know about the emails until after Media Trackers requested them.

Tom Barrett, a Democrat who is running against Republican Gov. Scott Walker in a June 5 recall election, noted during a campaign stop Monday that the emails had nothing to do with his current campaign.



Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/emails-from-barretts-wife-violated-mps-policy-f35dnri-151439775.html#ixzz2uCyUE7vI
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Garage cares about Power. Stick your boot in his face and he'll lick it clean. Don't waste your time appealing to principles like honor or virtue.

One of the defining characteristics of wingers is the ability to perceive an actual boot on someone else's neck as a boot on their own neck. Clue: Walker & Republicans control EVERYTHING in Wisconsin, including all the outside money and all the carved up districts to secure advantage. Exactly what power are you talking about that I crave? One seat in a 20 seat house assembly disadvantage? Is that where the blood lust starts?

Birkel said...

Also, notice that The Crack Emcee's response to "white flight" is that those white people should think about something other than their own interests.

That is to say The Crack Emcee believes white people should think about the collective above their own interests.

What we have here is the longest running RACISM! Moby in the history of the internet.

But make no mistake that what The Crack Emcee is advocating is collectivism and traditional Leftism.

Unknown said...

---How many times did he slander the dead kid with this fucking nonsense last year?

How many times has the left told us that Trayvon was an innocent kid a symbol of white oppression.

Face it, he was a kid looking for trouble.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Inga said...
Don't call Michael K.


What a piece of work that putz is. How many times did he slander the dead kid with this fucking nonsense last year? Shameless. A complete disgrace to all of humanity.

Anonymous said...

Woo doggy! Three emails!

27,000 emails... Wait a minute.

Birkel said...

garage mahal:

The power you wanted to continue to exercise for political purposes was the power of the state to take pieces of Wisconsin citizens paychecks. This is a raw exercise of power as we now know those citizens prefer not to send their money to the unions via the state.

You would prefer other people have less freedom.

Anonymous said...

Yes, ARM, he is.

Birkel said...

AReasonableMan:

Are you fashioning a rule that we should never speak ill of the dead? On what basis do you propose such a rule? I am unworried about ghosts and hauntings but perhaps you have some sort of reason.

Anonymous said...

The world is a better place with that nasty little punk Trayvon gone. He asked for it, he got it.

Oh, my! The plain truth is just so horribly un-PC sometimes!

Jesus, the last time I see Crack Emcee in these parts he was going on quite boringly about New Age fiddle-faddle and cults, which have gone from being the cause of every evil in the world to not even rating a mention from him these days. What happened? Did all those astrology buffs and Chopra devotees and Mormons with magic underwear vanish? Has that battle been won?

Or did Crack manage to eventually bore even himself silly about New Age and decide to move on to a new monomania? A new reason to blame others for his own failures and rage and obvious unhappiness? Looks that way, doesn't it?

He can't face up to the fact that he's responsible for his own life and his own happiness - no, he's a mess because of the French, the ex-wife, New Age, Mormons and of course, whitey. And slavery, although the only person enslaving Crack is himself.

Yep. That's a real "Macho Response" alright. "See what you honkies have done to me!"

Sorry, Crack. I don't feel guilty in the slightest and never will and I don't care how many times you screech "racist!"

Phil 314 said...

Comments heating up and quality tanking. I fear another comment shutdown on the horizon.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I fail to see what the hell light rail in Wisconsin has to do with racism. A majority of the blacks in Wisconsin live in the city of Milwaukee. Light rail would mainly benefit whites in the suburbs and exburbs - like Inga, for instance.

If you're going to comment on Wisconsin politics, it might be helpful to actually know something about Wisconsin first.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Phil 3:14 said...
Comments heating up and quality tanking. I fear another comment shutdown on the horizon.


I doubt it. I have come to the conclusion that Althouse is a nihilist who actively encourages some of the scum of the earth to post on her blog in order to reinforce her own bleak vision of humanity, excluding, of course, Woody fucking Allen.

Birkel said...

AReasonableMan:

So you have given no reason not to speak ill of the dead. Shall I assume you have none?

I'll check back...

chickelit said...

Should we all strive to receive transgender epithets as a mark of true gender equality?

Anonymous said...

I am not a dick, I'm a cu.....hey wait a minute.

Anonymous said...

ARM: for years, I was a volunteer in a program that helped adults learn to read. Some were black and some were Hispanic. I admired them. It was embarrassing for them to admit they had never learned to read, but they wanted to correct that. They wanted very much to learn.

Most of the blacks had not learned to read because they had grown up in shitty neighborhoods and gone to shitty public schools. And the Democrats do everything in their power to prevent children trapped in those schools from being able to attend better ones. I know who the real scum of the earth are - they're on your side. I know who the real frauds and phoneys are - white liberals like you who give themselves moral brownie points for hyperventilating about Trayvon Martin but don't give a good goddamn about inner-city blacks, not really. Here's your crumbs, your EBT cards, your welfare checks. See how much we care. Remember to vote D next election day. That's the important thing to you. That's the only important thing to you.

garage mahal said...

But, what about Palin?

***Busts out some 2008 questions***

Anonymous said...

Crack is just scroll-over country for me. I avoid locking eyes with the nutter on the subway, too.

Xmas said...

Walker opposed light rail projects? Good for him. Light rail is such a waste of tax payer money for a SWPL project. Transportation money that could be spent on improving existing bus service and creating dedicated bus lanes and stations for routes that need high speed travel.

Mark said...

I love how obsessed the Republicans here have become by chasing squirrels on this discussion.

Like Walker they want to do anything but talk about how he is going down in flames here.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Most of the blacks had not learned to read because they had grown up in shitty neighborhoods and gone to shitty public schools. Democrats do everything in their power to prevent children trapped in those schools from being able to attend better ones.

Your paternalism is showing - African Americans are too foolish to see how bad the Democrat party is for their interests.

Why not ask, as Crack has done, why African Americans are reluctant to vote for the Republican party if it is so obviously in their interests to do so? Simply reading through this thread provides the answer. If you genuinely believe what you are saying you should, like Crack, attempt to reform the party to make it a more hospitable environment for African Americans and a less hospitable one for crude sociopaths like Michael K.

Anonymous said...

Your gloating is a bit premature,Mark. I recall garage confidently predicting Walker's demise months before the recall election. You'd think the left would have learned something from that, but then if you were capable of learning, you wouldn't be on the left.

ARM: Paternalism? I'm saying black inner city kids should be given an opportunity to escape shitty schools and that's paternalism to you?

The other side of the coin is that black kids who try to get an education are stymied not only by white liberals, but by other black kids who jeer at them for "acting white" (by studying!)and think it's great to pop out babies fathered by guys who don't stick around. The only people who are going to change that mindset are blacks, not whites.

And it's not changing, not because of anything white Republicans do or don't do, but because it's much easier to howl "racist!" at whites than it is to change your own community. Writing angry rants about slavery in the comments section of blogs and trying to guilt-trip whites for sins committed 150 years ago is more fun than actually trying to teach somebody to read.

" why African Americans are reluctant to vote for the Republican party if it is so obviously in their interests to do so?"

Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that when they do so, they are immediately labeled Uncle Toms and race traitors and sellouts by their fellow blacks and by white liberals? How many times has Dr. Ben Carson been audited by the IRS now?

You've got a nice little Catch 22 going on here - denounce and ridicule blacks (and women and Hispanics, etc)the second they wander off the plantation and then denounce the GOP as the party of white men.

I'm glad to help people who genuinely want to improve their circumstances. But I don't buy into the guilt business and I certainly don't think that you, or any white liberal is my moral superior. Quite the reverse.

RecChief said...

and another thread hijacked. 132 comments. over 100+ on fake racism and push back. this place has become tiresome

The Crack Emcee said...

Rev. Wright's "God Damn America!" makes more sense with each passing day.

So does Obama's whole campaign - he was fighting you guys!

His mother and father - united against you.

His socialist/Marxist godfather? United against you.

Yes, yes, it's all making sense now:

You ARE some despicable characters,...

Unknown said...

It's a witch hunt. Pure and simple. Walker has an R after his name and the corrupt Democrats will stop at nothing to criminalize the non-criminal, all while they act outside of the law.

Unknown said...

Can Hillary get by? She was responsible for the deaths of 4 Americans including an American ambassador.

Can we go through her e-mails with such vigor?

Drago said...

Clearly no one has cut crack a check yet.

Drago said...

ARM: "Your paternalism is showing - African Americans are too foolish to see how bad the Democrat party is for their interests."

LOL

One of the primary leftist "explanations" for why they don't win more often is "people voting against their interests", with "interests" of course helpfully defined by leftists.

ARM, you have zero self-awareness.

Which of course, along with garage and Inga (who supports calling women "cunt" if they are conservative), makes you the perfect leftist.

SGT Ted said...

The problem I have with Obama is that he doesn't seem to be much of an American. He appears to be more an European style progressive authoritarian.

Kansas City said...

Astonished at poll results. 75% think great and only 3% unacceptable. Such lack of objectivity. I was casually watching live and was immediately distressed at Walker's evasiveness. I realize this is a political attack by the democrats and media on a rising republican, but facts are facts and honesty is honesty.

Mark said...

Kansas City, you correctly identify the highly partisan [and non WI] nature of this site.

It's rare when people here take their blinders off.

TosaGuy said...

<---is a WI resident and is pretty familiar of the highly partisan games the Dems have been playing for 3 years with regard to Walker. If the Dems here spent their time campaigning on issues rather than engaging in Walker Derangement Syndrome then perhaps they would win some state government elections.

Basically, the Dems have cried wolf again and again so no one listens to their crying anymore.

Cliff said...

I wonder if Althouse will continue to defend the guy now that released emails show Walker hinself was the one who directed his staff to campaign for him on county time. What a corrupt waste of taxpayer dollars.

SteveR said...

Kansas City, you correctly identify the highly partisan [and non WI] nature of this site.

Having been around here for 10 years, the nature of this site is that most left leaning commentators don't like to debate and stop coming by. Garage and Inga notwithstanding. Plenty of places to go and only see one side. For instance, noted Pop Music Critic Steve Simels, once a participant here, is a very active commentator elsewhere but its all very left. No input from hate filled FNC watching troglodytes allowed

RecChief said...

"...now that released emails show Walker hinself was the one who directed his staff to campaign for him on county time. What a corrupt waste of taxpayer dollars. "

That seesm like something a prosecutor would be interested in. Why then did the prosecutor drop the case? you divined something in those emails that a prosecutor did not?

Drago said...

Cliff: "I wonder if Althouse will continue to defend the guy now that released emails show Walker hinself was the one who directed his staff to campaign for him on county time."

LOL

Sure Cliff. Sure.

It's becoming clearer and clearer that Cliff is a garage sockpuppet.

Cliff said...

Wisconsin "conservatives" are an odd bunch. Why bother doing the job the taxpayers pay you to do when you can direct your county employees to campaign for you instead. Yay abuse of taxpayer dollars! Let's also make sure we are nearly last in job creation, because um... benghazi!

Wow.

Cliff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
test said...

Cliff said...
That people, like prof Althouse, who claim to be conservatives


Miss.

Drago said...

Cliff: "That people, like prof Althouse, who claim to be conservatives..."

wow.

Not just a troll.

Not just a concern troll.

Not just a unfamiliar with this blog.

Simply out in far left field.

Cliff, you are an idiot.

Alex said...

The thing is in Cliff's little world, if you aren't a raving leftist loon like him that makes you a conservative.

A binary world view.

Cliff said...

And what is with the name-calling? Sad that people would stoop to such ad-hominem attacks when confronted with ugly truths.

chickelit said...

Sad that people would stoop to such ad-hominem attacks when confronted with ugly truths.

I deliberately deploy ad homonym attacks but am often labeled homophonic.

Hyphenated American said...

"Why not ask, as Crack has done, why African Americans are reluctant to vote for the Republican party if it is so obviously in their interests to do so? "

Why are 70% of black children born outside of marriage? Same question, really. Why are back men more likely to commit crime and go to jail, instead of going to college?
All tough questions....

The Crack Emcee said...

exiledonmainst,

"The other side of the coin is that black kids who try to get an education are stymied not only by white liberals, but by other black kids who jeer at them for "acting white"…"


Ooooh, listen to the expert. Been doing some reading yourself, have you?

You don't know the first thing about black people,...

amyshulk said...


Remembering why I stopped reading this site/comments - Lots of ox goring.

So if I grok correctly; white people are bad because black people make bad decisions and white people don't?

And D's motives are pure while R's are {bad invective of your choice} re: Gov. Walker, because of some smoke that was NOT from a fire?