I've had 6 posts about Scott Walker since last Friday — mainly on 2 subjects: his declining to answer the question whether he feels "comfortable with the idea of evolution" and his lack of a college degree.
I'm experiencing active pushback from commenters who seem anxious to get me to stop monitoring the journalism and commentary that's so suddenly raining down on Scott Walker. I get accused of being a "spokesperson" for Walker or a "big fan." The truth is, I have an aversion to politics, but I read the news and I vote. And I blog. I blog about Walker because he's a long-entrenched topic here and has been ever since my city became Ground Zero for Walker-hating 4 years ago.
At this point, it's very hard to deal with every Walker topic that comes up as it comes up, especially since I don't want to be an all-Walker-all-the-time blog. But after 4+ years of following Scott Walker, it feels as though I'm doing something wrong if there's a significant Walker topic that non-Wisconsinites are blogging and I haven't even acknowledged its existence.
So here I am at 4:48 in the morning, driven by a weird sense of obligation to pay attention to that foolish Gail Collins column The New York Times published on Friday the 13th: "Scott Walker Needs an Eraser."
You'd think columnists who want to wield influence would be more careful about letting their murderous intentions glare. But Collins stupidly overreached, perhaps fed by the Wisconsin Walker-haters who've been chewing over a set of stock topics for years and now pass along the gooey pulp of their contempt.
Collins built her column on the story of a young teacher who won an award for excellence but then got fired due to budget cuts. Walker's name is associated with budget austerity, so Walker must be to blame for her job loss. This was a gross error, the teacher having lost her job the year before Walker became governor. It took 2 days for the Times to edit out the mistaken assertion (which left the column not making much sense). Walker's reforms were aimed at saving money at the school-district level and making it possible to keep excellent new teachers.
Yesterday, Politico latched onto the screwup with a piece that begins with a sentence that seemed to write itself: "In hindsight, perhaps the headline 'Scott Walker Needs An Eraser' wasn’t the best idea." I was settling in to read an article with some substance, but it's just a little pile of fluff:
Whoops.The New York Times gets caught in a bad factual error and one of its main columnists — did you know Collins is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board? — exposes herself as a Walker-hater, and Politico casts the incident as an occasion for conservatives to have "a field day." Like it's all just a big militarized operation, and one side got an occasion for a grand, showy triumphing.
Conservative news sites had a field day with the error over the weekend, with The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack calling out the (since deleted and corrected, but archived) mistaken section in question.
Oh, how I loathe all the politicos out there — those who are labeled "Politico" and, worse, those who are labeled "New York Times." But I'm sticking with this little enterprise of mine. It's 5:44 a.m. now, and I'm as dedicated as ever to monitoring these politicos, even though in my heart, I'm an artist. My real inclination — as I've been toiling over this post in the pre-dawn — has been to go off on a tangent about the meaning of the term "field day" (originally, a day when military troops are assembled for some sort of review or exercise) or to go into a reverie about erasers I have known and loved, like the rubbery pink Pink Pet (not to be confused with the upstart Pink Pearl) and the mystifyingly fragrant Art Gum, which, when I was a schoolgirl, I used to like to rub into an inch-deep pile of dust which I'd invite my classmates to palpate.
Everyone who touched my little evanescent creation was delighted.
Posts
193 comments:
I thin Gail Collins is quite possibly the most uncritical political columnist in America. I really think she us a dumb blonde. She repeats her articles constantly. You can get an application to automate or write her articles. It is mind blowing how far this moron had come in the field of journalism. I would not hire as an assistant in a school newspaper.
But, at the end, she is a volunteer for the Democratic Party.
Funny how you never blog the effective take downs, just the ones that miss.
It is going to be delicious when the debates and media circus sink the guy you propped up 700 times.
Posting that Walker as Nazi sign will not save him forever. Wonder how many times you linked that single picture ... 100?
@Mark Who are you? Your name goes to no profile. Is this where your soul finds itself at 6 in the morning? Are you a real human being or a political operative?
As I said in the post "I'm experiencing active pushback from commenters who seem anxious to get me to stop monitoring the journalism and commentary that's so suddenly raining down on Scott Walker."
My working theory is that you are a hack. Do you think there is anything about your bland, empty name and your keyed up questions that would cause anyone here -- anyone not also a hack -- to read your comment as anything other than hackery?
@America's Politico Gail Collins is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Well this "little enterprise" is being threatened by the Usurper and his fellow travelers, who are trying now to squelch all dissent on the internet
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/16/tammy-bruce-fcc-fec-look-ruin-internet/.
How do you feel about that "law prof" (who actually voted for the British born Usurper who is the point man for the NWO destruction of the United States)?
Don't you know that the "United States" no longer exists, since the executor of the laws is an illegal entity, and that the progressive fellow travelers are busy destroying every aspect of the former "United States"?
The Community Organizers are moving forward like it is a mandate.
Mark is a paid troll of .gov and the Usurper of course.
@Mark
The Democrats and liberals shot their wad already.
If after three years of trying in Wisconsin, the Democrats and the liberals couldn't figure out how to sink Walker in a Blue State,
they're not going to be able to sink him with the national electorate.
Walker has survived everything the Left has tried to throw at him.
What else have they got left?
Walker is an unknown nationally, I'll be interested to see how he does on a bigger stage. It's obvious that Dem partisans (NYT among others) will be trying to take him down. He has been vetted in 3 tough races the past few years so writers living in a bubble (gail collins) are going to have to do much better to avoid looking foolish.
Mark, why don't you share with us these "effective takedowns"? I'd like to see them.
Collins is the paid "hack" just like the rest of the media, who face no consequences for their obvious attempts at personal destruction. She is the same as the rest, a cheering section and campaign headquarters of the Usurper and his acolytes.
Remember when they doctored the 911 call of Zimmerman, then stuffed the revelation of that down the rabbit hole? Remember when they ignored the lies surrounding Benghazi? Remember when they lied about the source of the chemical attack in Syria? Remember when they would never let anyone investigate the Usurper's past, yet now talk to Walker's teachers? It's right in front of your face-- the destruction of the United States--- but cognitive dissonance keeps you blind to it.
Your problem is that you are part of the ivory towered academia "law prof"--- you really have no clue, but the Usurper and his fellow travelers will try to censor you also.
Please keep up the Walker posts, as I enjoy them. My Governor is Jerry Brown, and my community protests White people trying to eat breakfast or go to work on BART or a Google Bus, or a freeway. California is so boring these days.
Prof., I got it. Your blog is the best. Ignore the "mark".
Re: Collins and Pulitzer, is this not sad? A partisan and an uncritical thinker in charge of prizes. If this is not ironic, then I do not know what is.
"Mark, why don't you share with us these "effective takedowns"? I'd like to see them."
If they were "effective," we'd already know, so that was a self-destroying assertion of Mark's.
Mark and Mick are the same person, right?
Gee Ann, the media running oppo research is the very essence of their existence. This is not the 1st time. An earlier post questioned her intelligence. This single incidence, doesnt prove that. I am surprised that she didn't quote someone else saying it. Someone like Howard Dean, that doesnt have any skin in the game. Just quoting the smear.
Pay attention, thats what the smart news readers and opiners will do till Nov.16
Collins built her column on the story of a young teacher who won an award for excellence but then got fired due to budget cuts. Walker's name is associated with budget austerity, so Walker must be to blame for her job loss.
It's worth noting that the sort of policies that would fire a young award winning teacher instead of a low performing tenured teacher are those of Walkers opponents, the WI NEA/AFT and the Dems. The Seniority trumps teaching people.
The same person law prof? No I am anti the Usurper, Mark would be pro the Usurper.
I would be the one you censored from your blog for calling out the inanity of being a "law prof" who voted for one who is not a natural born Citizen.
It is you and yours in the ivory tower of academia, as well as the useful idiots in the media who allowed the Usurper to infest the White House. So you and Collins are about the same, and only different by degree.
703 posts about Scott Walker doesn't sound like that many, considering what may come.
I predict 1,406 posts about Walker in the future.
I'm waiting for someone on this thread to declare
"I am Spartacus!"
There are a few deductions we can make about commenters who appear to be posting under different names.
It's pretty easy to maintain multiple IDs if you use more than one Internet browser, because the browsers maintain their own identity datasets. Similarly, if you use multiple devices, you can do it easily. But these methods take a little time and effort.
If you've only got one device and one browser, then you have to sign out and in again, which takes more time and effort, and is probably prone to error.
Suggestion: if you think CommenterA and CommenterB are the same person, challenge them to a contest. "Comment and then respond to my responses as quickly as possible."
Unless you're dealing with Stephen Hawking, the answer should be obvious. (Sorry, Dr. Hawking.)
Seriously "Bob"? That's what you're focused on?
Thanks for the Art Gum nostalgia. I was initially captivated by them much as you describe back in the day, from the fragrance down to the eraser dust.
Journalism seems to be about dead now, if that article is any indication as to the state of it. As for an effective takedown, though, I would say that a well thought out alternative solution would work better than a not very well thought out attack piece. Walker will win easily if this lazy article is the standard Dem engagement procedure with him.
Isn't it funny how the press has to go all the way back to college and high school to try and find something bad on Scott Walker, but Obama's high school and college records are off limits? We have no college transcripts, no interviews with any of Obama's law class students, nothing.
Yes "K", I pointed that out earlier. Of course the "law prof" completely ignores that aspect ("it's uncivil and political").
I hate the formula political news writers use, saying "Republican critics say...." to introduce what is actually true.
I, like you, wonder why Politico can't just introduce Collins as being absolutely wrong, rather than giving readers permission to disregard criticism of her column because Republicans found it to be wrong.
"Are you a real human being or a political operative?"
Neither. Just a punk with an attitude. There are several around here but they are probably still asleep. Those of us who work are up early.
"MayBee" , if your are a R or a D then you are a fool. It's called divide and conquer, they are both the same. Have the Rs done ANYTHING with super majorities?
The media supports the R vs, D game, thus aiding in the dividing and conquering. G. Washington warned direly and presciently about political parties in his farewell speech.
Mick, Ann can't handle the truth.
She is the ultimate Walker fluffer.If all fails, she will post that Walker nazi sign. Annie has an obsession with that photo, not a month goes by between posting it.
Perhaps that is what I should put on my blogger profile. Such pages have as much use as MySpace accounts.Endless lulz here.
The "truth" is that you are the lie (and a .gov troll)
Seriously, "Mick", I am "Bob Ellison", and that's what I'm "focused on". (Though I wonder routinely whether that word needs two esses.)
How do you identify a sock-puppet on today's web? Maybe the question doesn't interest you, but it interests me quite a bit.
I'd take delight in touching a little evanescent creation, I'm sure of it.
Mick and Mark are indeed writing like sock puppets.
They need not be the same people. Could be a tag-team, like in professional wrestling. Jesse Ventura made a living on that. There may be money there.
That suggests another method, much more difficult, of ID'ing sock puppets: get Google or something like that to profile commenters on writing style, issue-interest, or something similar.
The NSA probably already has this wrapped.
I doubt there's money in it as a commercial venture, though. Look at GroupOn, or whatever that thing was.
Hey, Mick and Mark, I've got a little time on my hands. Try responding quickly.
Here: what's 12+17?
It's 29.
Trolls aside, I greatly appreciate the Walker posts and hope they continue. From what I have read and seen of him, I actually like the guy. He seems decent and caring.
And what I have learned from your posts is that his political acumen is kind of "Dayum, this guy can fight."
I would much rather read a Walker post and their comments than another book sentence deconstruction. It feels like our children's future is at stake more than it has ever been before.
What do you get when you burn hydrogen in the presence of oxygen?
Ann will ignore Richard Cohen's article in the Washington Post about evolution. Instead, she shoots the fish in the barrel.
Seriously, teeing up on Gail Collins isn't going after the lowest hanging journalist fruit?
There's a whole lot of real articles, and instead Ann stays in the bush league with Collins.
I'll sit and wait on this question. It involves science. Trolls are not good at science.
What? Are my remarks too "uncivil" for you Bob. I do have a profile, and have been seen here for a long time speaking the truth which those with cognitive dissonance cannot comprehend. I am a political iconoclast, not beholden to either "team", so you cannot pigeon hole me. I am a Constitutionalist (much more than the "law prof is).
It's really quite easy to see why Collins thought Walker could travel back in time and screw with causality. She wrote something, then traveled back in time and changed it; she knew it could be done. If the paper had changed it, they would have issued a notice about the correction, wouldn't they?
Mark has been posting at Althouse for awhile. He's never been a Walker fan. Not sure why you'd call him out now about responding to a post.
Why would you think he's an operative just because he responds to an early am post? I don't agree with him, but his post is just another comment disparaging Walker, not hackery.
Hey, "Mick", "ease up" on the "quotation marks". Your little fingers are going to be sore.
If I were to post under duelling identities, though, I'd go with names that appeared quite opposite. Maybe "Jethro" and "Aristotle".
But then...that might be to telling. Maybe the way to go is with names like Jim and Jane.
*too
Patrick, Ann [like Walker] cannot handle any pushback or critique.
She desperately wants to ignore the headlines in the Milwaukee papers about how Walker is playing games with debt to avoid a Budget Repair Bill.
"Gov. Scott Walker's administration in May will skip more than $100 million in debt payments to balance the state's shaky budget, bringing the total such payment delays to more than $1.5 billion since 2001."
Walker's using Jim Doyle's old money tricks, increasing future payments to get through the end of the fiscal year in June without having to admit his budget didn't balance.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-budget-again-declines-federal-money-for-medicaid-expansion-b99445846z1-292084711.html
Bob, if you are pairing someone with Jethro - it has to be Homer.
Took music lessons from a student of Jethro. Guy was a laugh a minute.
Damn, fighting with commenters who challenge you--challenging not their assertions, but their very identities as commenters! Grow up.
You and Meade are so desperately aching for a Walker victory that the rest of the country doesn't even know it doesn't want. It will be interesting to read this blog when he loses--like your epic silent pout on election night 2012.
Also, here's an effective takedown:
http://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/509/it-says-so-right-here
When I was in the Navy, "field day" meant all-hands cleanup.
"You'd think columnists who want to wield influence would be more careful about letting their murderous intentions glare. But Collins stupidly overreached, perhaps fed by the Wisconsin Walker-haters who've been chewing over a set of stock topics for years and now pass along the gooey pulp of their contempt."
Jesus, how hard is it to figure out that Collins, or others on the left, simply want to be liked by the "cool kids". And they know to wield any influence at all they have to be liked by the cool kids. And to be liked by the cool kids you have to toe the line. Never deviate from the message. Koch Brothers! Faux News!
Every single lefty friend posted Collins article. And like clockwork "Like", "Like", "Like"...
When challenged on it's accuracy, not a single one cared. I witness this behavior over and over and over.
"Mark said...
Patrick, Ann [like Walker] cannot handle any pushback or critique.
She desperately wants to ignore the headlines in the Milwaukee papers about how Walker is playing games with debt to avoid a Budget Repair Bill.
"Gov. Scott Walker's administration in May will skip more than $100 million in debt payments to balance the state's shaky budget, bringing the total such payment delays to more than $1.5 billion since 2001."
Walker's using Jim Doyle's old money tricks, increasing future payments to get through the end of the fiscal year in June without having to admit his budget didn't balance.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-budget-again-declines-federal-money-for-medicaid-expansion-b99445846z1-292084711.html"
It's a miniscule amount of money. And here is the reality:
"Overall, Walker has slowed the previously rapid growth in state debt"
"In itself, this sort of debt refinancing has only a modest effect on the state's massive budget..."
It's a yawner.
"When challenged on it's accuracy, not a single one cared. I witness this behavior over and over and over."
The goal is to get the meme out there. Once it is established facts will be irrelevant. Everyone will remember the meme and if you challenge the meme it will be assumed that you are ill-informed.
For experimental proof try telling a lefty that Sarah Palin didn't say that she could see Russia from her house.
Gail Collins is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
That says a lot about the Pulitzer. I wonder how many people they had to ask before Ms. Collins said yes, mistaking the Pulitzer for the Nobel.
Stay on it, you are in a unique position to report on such matters. You have the background on the subject of Gov. Walker. There is no problem being a specialist on a subject.
A correction is to adjust a minor factual inaccuracy like the spelling of a name. The column needed to be fully retracted.
Also, are the unions really protesting in front of his parent's house? Really???
Mark, Collins wrote in the New York Times. Love it or hate it, nobody thinks the NYT is the bush leagues.
A 'field day' when I was a child was the school kids all of them herded outside and made either to play at games or sports or to be the enthusiastic spectators thereof. I suppose it makes sense that a military sense precedes the school sports sense.
The goal is to get the meme out there. Once it is established facts will be irrelevant.
This here. It would be a mistake to conclude the same attacks Walker countered effectively in Wisconsin can't end his national ambitions.
"The same person law prof? No I am anti the Usurper, Mark would be pro the Usurper. I would be the one you censored from your blog for calling out the inanity of being a "law prof" who voted for one who is not a natural born Citizen."
Oh, I remember you, with the Mick Jagger avatar, always saying the same thing about "natural born citizen." How I could have "censored" you, I don't know.
In the thread this morning, coming in so soon after the similar name "Mark," I thought you looked like Mark's Moby.
How about writing at a higher level? Challenge yourself, Mick.
Let's talk erasers!
The Artgum always crumbled too much, into tiny little ineffective pieces. I've become more of a fan of the Staedtler Mars Plastic (latex-free, thank you) white eraser. It erases well, more smoothly that similar pink erasers like the Pink Pet or Pink Pearl.
There's also the venerable Samson Kneaded Rubber grey versions, which are more ideal for artistic renderings than everyday erasing work.
"Ann will ignore Richard Cohen's article in the Washington Post about evolution. Instead, she shoots the fish in the barrel."
So Richard Cohen, one of the lamest old columnists out there, has weighed in on the Walker topic I've been blogging about for a week, and I should care? If I were looking to "shoot fish in a barrel," I'd do all the Cohen columns. Read some of my old posts where I deal with him.
There's always some other commentary that I'm not blogging and my failure to blog whatever it is has been used against me. I've been dealing with that kind of criticism since 2004 and I regard it as the lowest form of blogger criticism.
But this case -- that I'm afraid to handle Richard Cohen -- is particularly ludicrous.
And by Richard Cohen, I do not mean my former husband Richard Cohen, who always has brilliant and interesting things to say, and is surprisingly often even right about some things.
For those of you Wisconsinites, how did Walker get elected in the first place? Who was he running against and why was he successful? All this other stuff came after, of course, but what were the conditions in the state that put him in office in the first place? i.e. context.
What's the first post on Scott Walker?
(I don't want to scroll back through 100 screens to find it).
"The rubbery pink Pink Pet" served as a way for young girls to learn about their bodies. Of course it is a nubile representation of the clitoris. Of course.
I am Laslo.
"Everyone who touched my little evanescent creation was delighted" makes perfect sense in the eraser-as-clitoris context. Orgasm.
I am Laslo.
Young boys could be too aggressive with the eraser. This could become problematic in later years.
I am Laslo.
GaGa is engaged. Priorities, people!
". . . exposes herself as a Walker-hater, and Politico casts the incident as an occasion for conservatives to have "a field day." Like it's all just a big militarized operation, and one side got an occasion for a grand, showy triumphing."
Even the faux surprise seems to be wearing thin.
For them it's all about boosting their side all the time.
Save the expressions of surprise or how-could-they or like-it's-all-just for exceptions to the rule.
I have posted and voted on this blog only a very few times, but I have read it every day for many years.
(Full disclosure: I never buy anything on the Internet, so you never have earned any money off any of my purchases.)
Please continue to post articles frequently about Scott Walker.
Go, Scott !!!
"kcom said...
For those of you Wisconsinites, how did Walker get elected in the first place? Who was he running against and why was he successful? All this other stuff came after, of course, but what were the conditions in the state that put him in office in the first place? i.e. context."
Two term Democratic Guv Jim Doyle decided not to run for re-election. Not a surprise, he ran the state into the ground. Raised taxes a billion dollars. Robbed the transportation fund (money set aside to build roads) to blalance budget. Was forcing furloughs on public workers to cut costs. And still faced a $3.6 billion structural deficit. No way he could run on raising taxes, nor program cuts. So he walked away from his mess. In comes Walker, three time Milwaukee County Exec, balanced budget every year without raising taxes. Perfect fit. Kicked the shit out of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who frankly ran a disinterested campaign. I'm sure he was content running Milwaukee into the ground.
Sometimes young girls would purposefully draw a mistaken line, just to have the opportunity to rub that pink eraser some more. So I suspect.
I am Laslo.
As entertaining as it is to watch everyone tie themselves in knots over Walker, let's get real here, at least for a moment. He is not going to be the nominee. The Republican line-up is weak but it is not that weak.
He is a career politician who's state under-performs economically. What credible argument is there for Scott Walker?
Althouse effectively answered Mick many years ago, by noting that once Congress fulfilled its constitutional role of accepting the results of the election(s), the question was moot. But he's continued to be a one-note poster, popping up every now and then, ever since.
"A 'field day' when I was a child was the school kids all of them herded outside and made either to play at games or sports or to be the enthusiastic spectators thereof. I suppose it makes sense that a military sense precedes the school sports sense."
That was my association with the term too. I thought it was a sports term. I looked it up and saw that the nonmilitary uses are considered figurative. The literal meaning is the military one. Now, I have a greater understanding of what our schoolmasters were doing to us.
I have to agree with Althouse about Richard Cohen the WaPo columnist. I don't know anybody of any political persuasion who thinks he writes anything worthwhile.
ARM go over to twitchy and see the length of the comments on the protesting his parent's house post. People seem passionate about him and what he has done.
For a candidate that so many say is dull, he certainly does inspire strong opinions on both sides. He could surprise you.
Mark may be the latest manifestation of LoafingOaf, who used to turn up every 5 minutes or so back in the day to post robo-denunciations of Sarah Palin in the same smug, sour tone. Or he may be a different person who happens to have the same tiresome MO.
" What credible argument is there for Scott Walker?"
He's a Republican who was able to effectively govern a blue state despite massive opposition from public employees unions and other entrenched interests who was able to balance a state budget that was out of control? Could that work? Maybe?
AReasonableMeltdown: "He's a career politician who's state under-performs economically."
Well, that explains why Bill Clinton was never elected.
…let's get real here, at least for a moment. He is not going to be the nominee.
And then ARM shows up to try to give the self-fulfilling prophecy bandwagon a shove.
Of course Billy Jeff had WalMart and Tyson chicken helping to keep his state afloat. Not that he would ever admit that.
Mark is criticizing Althouse and Dear Leader?
OH.MY.GOD
WHO IS MARK?????
MARK?
WHO MADE YOU?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
‘Field Day’ is when all the ham radio operators get together (in June) out in the field using emergency-powered equipment, and make all the distant radio contacts that they possibly can.
We know bias leading to distortion is tolerable at the NYT. Now we know bias leading to incompetence is also okay.
Prof. Althouse, you have used the verb "loathe," where you want the adjective "loath."
Ralph Hyatt said...
He's a Republican who was able to effectively govern a blue state despite massive opposition from public employees unions and other entrenched interests who was able to balance a state budget that was out of control?
I agree that Walker makes the 'right' enemies to excite the base but it has to have some purpose, like a strongly performing economy, in order to appeal to a broader audience. He can't even argue that he solved the state deficit with his cuts since the state is headed back into deficit.
There are several R governors with stronger economic arguments.
I guess you could argue that the federal economy is performing so strongly under Obama that economic factors will not be that important in the election and the culture wars will predominate but somehow I don't think you are going to make that argument.
Professor –
I’ve been following your blog for about four years now, and because of you, I was able to follow the adventures of Scott Walker as well. I liked what he did in WI and how he did it. I have even give to his campaign because I believe that principled guys like Walker need to be supported.
So thank you for making me aware of this man. However far he goes in the race to the White House in 2016, I feel like I have gotten to know him. Game-changer or not, I’m more engaged and aware because of your reporting on Walker.
He is a career politician who's state under-performs economically
Performing isn't the goal. The goal is to shovel as much money away from the working class to the elite donor class, deregulate industry, and centralize power to the executive.
"chewing over a set of stock topics for years and now pass along the gooey pulp of their contempt."
High marks for word smithing. Black and blue marks for several commenters.
"I guess you could argue that the federal economy is performing so strongly under Obama that economic factors will not be that important in the election and the culture wars will predominate but somehow I don't think you are going to make that argument."
Yes you could make that argument, if you wanted people to laugh in your face.
If I was Walker my platform would be more along the lines of how the rich are doing great, but maybe importing a bunch of new workers when wages have been stagnant for a decade or more and the labor force participation is the lowest since the 70s may not be in the interest of the middle class.
One advantage of such a platform is that it will piss off the Republican donor class, ensuring a large turnout for Walker during the primaries and general election.
Would Walker run on such a platform? I don't know.
But why would he run on the cultural wars? When asked about how he "felt" about Evolution he punted, he didn't denounce it.
By the way, what he should have said was "its a scientific theory." Its short, accurate, and pithy.
So Mick has popped up again, and I agree that Mark has been here for a while, but I've noticed a few more new Anti-Walkerites popping up on all these posts in the last few weeks. What's interesting about them is that they're not interested in Walker so much (a la secret router garage), but disparaging and criticizing Althouse--Alinsky like tactics.
Perhaps it's organic, I don't know, but the Anti-Walkerites seem to think that Althouse needs to be neutralized and quickly. Interesting.
I may be a color-blind, left-handed engineer but I love words.
If I start a blog is it OK with you if I name it "Gooey Pulp of Contempt?"
Since you're experiencing pushback on Scott Brown posts, I'll take that as an invitation to encourage you to write about whatever you dam well please.
No, not "more Walker posts" nor "less Walker posts." I am not your boss, nor are any other commenters here. Serve your free thoughts and we'll decide if we should stay or go.
(Except Lazlo; he needs to stay and continue posting).
Personally, I'm happy to find out more about SW from your perspective, but that and a couple bucks will buy you a field day at Starbucks.
Field Day in Brooklyn, c. 1920:
http://www.historyplace.com/weeklyphoto/best/brooklyn-field-race.htm
I've always thought of Field Day as a one-day respite for tenement-dwelling kids who needed a quick look at grass and sky. Did rural schools also have Field Day?
Dear Ms. Althouse,
I have been following the "the news" pretty closely (fanatically?) for more than 60 years. It is my observation that any byline from outside the ZIP code is probably inaccurate (update to the lexicon - I remember when postal zones, 2 digits kiddies, were new).
Please, please continue, nay increase, your coverage of Walker. We need a reliable source.
Regards,
Roy
And ARM, the Republican bench might not be deep in your eyes, but you must be willing to admit that the Democratic bench is even shorter. Hillary!? Really? The Dem bench feels like 2008 for the Republicans. Hillary, meet John McCain.
She's an artist, staring out into the yard while she evanescently palpates her eraser dust...
but I've noticed a few more new Anti-Walkerites popping up on all these posts in the last few weeks
Oh noes!
The main question for Gail over the next year will be, did Walker ever put a dog cage on the roof of his car.
I see Garage has taken some time off from his spray paint Hamas activism to weigh in on this Walker post.
Isn't that nice.
What he should have done on the evolution question is look at the reporter like the reporter was nuts and said that's an odd/bizarre question. Why would you ask something like that?
"I guess you could argue that the federal economy is performing so strongly under Obama ...."
You can only make that argument if you are an innumerate Democrat who gets all his economic data from the Obamamedia or if you are an Obamadupe for whom the template is everything and facts are nothing.
"Federal economy?"
Art Gum!!! Thanks for the memories:)
I must get some.
Is it just me, or does the NYT seem to be caught out in more stupid errors since they fired the lady editor? Also more blatantly Dem bias ( if possible)?
Mick needs to weigh in on TedCruz the Canadian born Texas Senator with the great debate skills. Is he allowed or disallowed?
And where was Walker born? We know where he was born again, but that is not the question.
On a map Wisconsin is too close to Canada for Mick's comfort.
What credible argument is there for Scott Walker?
Scott Walker actually acted, with effect, to replace a fundamental Progressive policy ... the money-laundering cycle between public-sector-unions and Democrat officials ... with principled governance, by striking at the very heart of that cycle: the mandatory-dues checkoff.
And around half the TEACHERS in Wisconsin apparently think that the change is good policy, for they have opted out of paying those dues.
And you can add to that, his work to end the monopoly the union-supported health-insurance system enjoyed in Wisconsin schools ... allowing school districts smart enough to consider other options and balance their budgets - without laying off teachers.
In other words, we now have someone who is pushing back - again, with effect - against the fundamental policies that Progressives have led us to adopt for a century, yet are now leading us into an intergenerational decline.
THAT is the credible argument for Scott Walker ... and Professor Althouse has, and continues to, do a great job in bringing us the "rest of the story" that the Progressive jackals of the Fourth Estate can't bring themselves to publish.
As for his critics ... well, as you have done for the last four years ...
Strain strain strain ... strain those gnats!
Then fling 'em out, see if they'll stick
From wherever your at ...
As you swallow camels of dysfunction
'Till your belly's fat ...
Strain strain strain ... strain those gnats!
Ann, welcome to the world of conservative blogging.
Mick isn't here to argue on the merits your ideas and positions. He is here to make expressing those ideas and positions as irritating and uncomfortable for you as possible. That's all the progs can do anymore.
So Richard McEnroe, you think Mick is a moby?
"AReasonableMan said...
I agree that Walker makes the 'right' enemies to excite the base but it has to have some purpose, like a strongly performing economy, in order to appeal to a broader audience. He can't even argue that he solved the state deficit with his cuts since the state is headed back into deficit."
What a bunch of bullshit. He cut taxes by a billion dollars, he reduced the structural deficit that he inherited from Jim Doyle by half, he replenshed the transportation fund, he increased the rainy day fund, he eliminated furloughs for state workers, and he will once gain have a balanced budget without increasing taxes.
Oh, and the state economy is doing well.
All of this is why he has kicked ass three times in four years. You are delusional. As usual. Please stay that way.
On the fourth full weekend of June there is a world-wide "Field Day" among amateur radio operators. They get together in groups - or even by themselves - and set up their radios outdoors. Use of alternative power is encouraged, as it prepares the users to be useful in an emergency. They see how many other amateurs they can contact and they invite non-amateur radio license holders to check out what they're doing and try it themselves. It's been going on in the U.S. and Canada since 1933.
garage mahal said...
He is a career politician who's state under-performs economically
Performing isn't the goal. The goal is to shovel as much money away from the working class to the elite donor class, deregulate industry, and centralize power to the executive.
Like Obama has done.
Got it.
"Mark and Mick are the same person, right?"
Who ever they are we have yet to see their "A" game.
Perhaps in their next post.
"At this point, it's very hard to deal with every Walker topic that comes up as it comes up, especially since I don't want to be an all-Walker-all-the-time blog."
When the other side's strategy isn't constrained by truth, provability, or even rationality it will always be impossible to deal with every topic that comes up. It's the same strategy that drove Palin from office (when coupled with a ridiculously written anti-corruption statute) and inspires most of the response to her to this day. It's 7/24 Alinsky and will continue as long as the media and liberal blogsphere pass along every attack uncritically.
It's Jim Doyle's fault Walker has a deficit 4 yrs later, and why the state has to borrow billions/delay debt payments/cut education (again).
Jim.Freaking.Doyle ya'll.
Performing isn't the goal. The goal is to shovel as much money away from the working class to the elite donor class, deregulate industry, and centralize power to the executive.
Points one and three sound like a true description of what Obama (aka President Goldman Sachs) has been trying to do at the Federal level.
But we know what the Progressive objective is ... let me phrase it as you might, Garage:
Performing isn't the goal. The goal is to shovel as much money away from the working class to the elite "enlightened" who "deserve" it, centralize power to the executive ... all in support of the primary mission: jamming Progressive socio-economic morality down everyone's throat with coercive force, because it is the One and Only True Way for All.
Even when said morality is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE to Progressives' publicly-stated aims of peace, fairness, compassion, and prosperity for the "little guy".
Even when it leads millions to make themselves vulnerable to the errors, greed and mendacity of the "experts" and "leaders", by outsourcing their personal responsibility and personal initiative to these elites, thinking that they are sufficiently omnisicient to solve their problems and secure their future FOR them.
Even when it expands opportunities for the very corruption and crony capitalism that Progressives decry ... as they search in vain for some of that stuff to stick to Scott Walker, while there are mountains of it being uncovered over in Oregon.
I'm actually pretty surprised that Bitchtits would be able to make it to 30 houses one night.
Seeing as he is morbidly obese and all.
His commitment to Hamas is impressive. Only surpassed by his commitment to outing the SECRET ROUTERS!
It's unfortunate that even at this late date garage is incapable of anything other static analysis.
Then again, middle schoolers do what middle schoolers do. You might as well lament gravity.
Professor Ann, Please keep the Walker posts coming!
Walker is the only Republican candidate who excites the base, he very well may be the next President.
I consider it a civic duty of Madison bloggers who've been so close to him these last few years to share what they know.
Try to encourage Walker critics to give him their best shots.
As far as I can tell he's been a fine governor of your fine state, and has pretty much a 'boy scout' past.
What about Walker's family?
We know that Hillary's and Obama's families are 150% off limits.
Except Bill....well he's just that funny crazy uncle who likes to hang with pedophiles. Nothing to see there.
Republican elected officials families are ground zero for the all the mud that's fit to throw. Just ask Bristol Palin.
So what's the dirt on Walker's family? Sluty daughters? Nice daughters with scumbag boyfriends? Spouse who was mean to a clerk at Target? Dog on the roof of the car?
Please encourage readers to throw all the dirt they can at Walker! Inquiring minds want to know!!
Ann gets upset that she gets labeled as a "big fan" or a "supporter" of Scott Walker yet she labels everyone who disagrees with him and his policies as a "Walker-Hater". And given how much money the Walker supporters have funneled to her via the Amazon portal, it is simply precious that she labels someone else as a "hack".
Mark and Mick are the same person, right?
Obviously. He is also Garage. And Inga. And Penguin. And Shortbus. And Corky. And of course, me.
Because as you and many of your supporters have stated, there is only one person who has any disagreements with Scott Walker. After all, he is so perfect how could more than one person disagree with him?
Some more butt hurt from MadisonInga.
Particularly bad hangover today, you old sow?
Scott Walker crushed the political left in Wisconsin, and I see no reason it can't be replicated at the federal level.
I would support him in the primaries if only to make the lefty retards of Madison further butt hurt.
Please continue the Walker posts, as felt appropriate. What he is doing and has done are interesting. A local perspective is of great value, especially when it lends insight to the wold of the national media. My view is from New Mexico, also home to a mega-liberal state capitol, and with Wisconsin knowledge from having family in the southeast corner of your state. Eight years ago, I watched the NM presidential candidate, Gov. Bill Richardson, be treated by national media as if he were real. He wasn't. Now national media venerate current Gov. Susana Martinez, who, while having a great story and doing an OK job, lacks the stature, a view shared with me last year by a senior Walker administration official. Walker, by contrast, is quite real.
"garage mahal said...
It's Jim Doyle's fault Walker has a deficit 4 yrs later, and why the state has to borrow billions/delay debt payments/cut education (again).
Jim.Freaking.Doyle ya'll."
Of course it is. The state was forced to dig out. Doyle robbed a billion from the transportation fund. You want road repair, it had to be replenished. We had a $3.6 billion structural deficit, that number has been reduced in half. Doyle raped the taxpayers with a billion dollars of additional taxes. Walker cut by the same amount.
And all this awesomeness is why the state overwhelmingly supported Walker and the GOP legislature three times in four years.
Stay delusional.
And given how much money the Walker supporters have funneled to her via the Amazon portal
So, you get the monthly reports, too?
Hahaha. Keep fucking that chicken Georgie.
How much has Althouse raked in from the amazon portal madisonfella?
You don't make sense, MF. Which has been on this site longer, the amazon link or Walker posts?
If you Progs didn't get so delusional over Walker, there wouldn't have been as many posts. There would be more $$ in the city and state's accounts, too. Clean-up, police and hissyfit lawsuits aren't cheap.
Garage certainly provides many interesting "intercourse with fowl" comments.
Is this, like his "blackeys" comment, a Wisconsin thing or just a garage thing?
Dem partisans fear Walker, which is why they are going after him. Perhaps they should spend some time reading AA blog posts to get more familiar with him.
I too enjoy reading about Walker here, lots of fairly intense political drama over the past few years.
Madison has trouble, hate crime trouble. Focus more on that.
You keep doing what you're doing. Most of us come here every day because we trust your instincts.
Andrew Klavan refers to the NYT OpEd line-up(incl. Collins)as "Knucklehead Row." That seems about right.
"garage mahal said...
Hahaha. Keep fucking that chicken Georgie."
You have nothing. Noted.
Dayton in Minnesota inherited a much larger deficit, didn't have to cut any programs, and has over a billion dollar deficit to show for it. Progressives are much better with money than teabaggers like Walker, that's for sure.
Birch: a classic term. Of course, he may just be a, oh, what is the old-fashioned notion... oh, yeah.
An asshole.
How much did Dayton raise taxes in Minnesota?
Yes progressives are really good with other peoples money.
Like the Greeks.
"How about writing at a higher level? Challenge yourself, Mick"--- The "law prof".
How about knowing something about the Constitution "law prof"? (what could your students possibly be learning if you voted for a Usurper?) You never answered the question as to Obama's eligibility, as someone above insinuated, although you did post Federalist 68 once--- which proves my point, that Obama Sr. was "an improper ascendant" (i.e an improper ancestor that imparts improper foreign influence), and that Obama 2 is not "a creature of their own" (our own, i.e he is not a natural born Citizen).
If the executor of the laws is an illegal entity, then how can their be any law at all--- isn't that what's happening before our eyes?
You as the administrator of an academic law blog have a unique position. You could have posed the question as to whether Obama was a nbC, and had an honest discussion about it, but you were afraid of the "birther" label I suppose.
As for Walker, I am not for or against him yet. But the fact that he has not challenged Obama's eligibility, combined with his position as some R firebrand gives me pause.
How could Collins mess up so badly? Shouldn't completing her degree at Marquette University make her invulnerable to such mistakes because getting such a degree supposedly makes one smart enough for prominent positions in life?
"garage mahal said...
Dayton in Minnesota inherited a much larger deficit, didn't have to cut any programs, and has over a billion dollar deficit to show for it. Progressives are much better with money than teabaggers like Walker, that's for sure."
LOL He raised taxes. By 1.2 billion. And they have $6.5 billion in unfunded transportation projects. He wants to raise that money with a new gas tax. So add that.
Start packing garage. Get the double wide of the jacks and head west. Your utopia awaits.
"The decision to delay repayment is estimated to cost $544,900 in interest in 2015-16 and about $18.7 million in interest and a portion of deferred principal in 2016-17, according to the LFB memo."
Thank God For Scott Walker.
"Mick isn't here to argue on the merits your ideas and positions. He is here to make expressing those ideas and positions as irritating and uncomfortable for you as possible. That's all the progs can do anymore".
"Uncivil discourse" McEnroe? My position is that Obama was born BRITISH of a British subject father, thus is not a natural born Citizen. Pretty simple really. That a "law prof" doesn't know that is a shame.
Mick said...
As for Walker, I am not for or against him yet. But the fact that he has not challenged Obama's eligibility, combined with his position as some R firebrand gives me pause.
Mick thinks Walker should challenge Zero's eligibility. I think you just lowered your game.
You're a smart guy Mick, don't be a doofus. Even if you're right, that horse left the barn six years ago. Sometimes you have to move on. Move out of your Mom's basement. Get a job.
Meanwhile the NYT has an above the fold article on Walkers cuts to UW today, Ann ignores it just like the Journal Sentinel stories of his budget flip flop, his debt repayment games, or anything that might be worth criticism.
Taking pot shots at commentators she hates is about all Ann is really good for, as she never refutes the actual critique in detail (just editorial writers and making mountains out of molehill mistakes).
Ann would rather deny evolution or play gotcha semantic games than admit Walker missed an answer or a single question.
Her defense of Walker during the debates is going to be priceless.
I will enjoy being her target until then, it amuses me how thin skinned she is when you talk about Walker.
That was a great post with a fantastic debate! More please.
I don't know why people are picking on poor Ms. Collins for making a factual error. The page clearly says "opinion pages" not "fact pages". /s
TIL the word "palpate." Looked it up even though it's pretty clear what it means in context and I can connect it to "palpable."
But I wanted to see if the definition or etymology would lead me to understand its relationship to Emperor Palpatine.
Michael McNeil said...
"Althouse effectively answered Mick many years ago, by noting that once Congress fulfilled its constitutional role of accepting the results of the election(s), the question was moot. But he's continued to be a one-note poster, popping up every now and then, ever since".
No, the "law prof" never answered the question. So you are OK with your government overlords committing treason and allowing an ineligible POTUS? Seriously?
The 20th Amendment says no such thing about Congress being responsible for vetting POTUS eligibility. It merely states that the VP will take over if the President elect "shall have failed to qualify". "Shall have failed" is future perfect tense which is used to describe an event that is expected or planned to happen before a time of reference in the future, meaning that the determination of "fail to qualify" is already made before the joint session to count the votes.
Congress only has the duty to judge the qualifications of it's own members A1S5C1. The Constitution says nothing about judging those of the POTUS or POTUS elect.
The Marxists are going to go to any lengths on this election. This is their chance to seal the deal.
Thank G*d Walker is willing to run.
"garage mahal said...
"The decision to delay repayment is estimated to cost $544,900 in interest in 2015-16 and about $18.7 million in interest and a portion of deferred principal in 2016-17, according to the LFB memo."
Thank God For Scott Walker."
Yes thank god. Do you know how stupid you look wringing your hands on shit like this just minutes after hyping Dayton who increased taxes by over 100 times more?
No, because you are that stupid.
Tank said,
"Mick thinks Walker should challenge Zero's eligibility. I think you just lowered your game.
You're a smart guy Mick, don't be a doofus. Even if you're right, that horse left the barn six years ago. Sometimes you have to move on. Move out of your Mom's basement. Get a job."
Well thanks, but I already have a pretty good job. I will never "move on" when treason has been committed that voids my sovereignty. You think that it is a coincidence that neither Rubio or Cruz are eligible yet are thought of as candidates? (Cruz was born in Canada of a Cuban citizen father, and was born with 3 allegiances-- US, Cuban, and Canadian. Rubio was born to non US Citizen resident alien parents, and was born with allegiance to Cuba and the US. Multiple allegiance at birth voids eligibility as a natural born Citizen-- especially since the purpose of the requirement is prevention of foreign influence).
Rubio and Cruz are both protecting the Usurper.
"What's the first post on Scott Walker?"
Here:
-------------------------------
"Because of this primary we are tested and we are ready to take on the liberals in Madison."
Said [strike]Mark[/strike] Scott Walker, after winning the primary here in Wisconsin. He's the GOP candidate for Governor, running against Tom Barrett.
Wisconsin's governorship has been a top target for both parties, with groups aligned with each side running ads to disparage Walker or Barrett. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, who has helped Barrett raise money, has visited Wisconsin three times since June and is scheduled to hold a Madison rally on Sept. 28.
Calendar marked! Marked and Tommed.
(Back in August, we were admiring Walker's excellent anti-high-speed-rail ad.)
IN THE COMMENTS... Okay, okay, so it's Scott Walker... and my "marked and tommed" joke makes even less sense than originally. I'm bored with the names Mark and Scott.
--------------------------------
Oh! I see the internal link to an earlier post, before I had a Scott Walker tag. I'll fix that.
"Prof. Althouse, you have used the verb "loathe," where you want the adjective "loath.""
Actually, what happened there was I omitted the "I" before "loathe."
Thanks for the heads-up. Fixed.
Curious George thinks that cutting taxes, then having to borrow billions to cover it while slashing education is sound fiscal strategy. But hey, Walker supporters at this stage in time ain't the brightest people.
So many posts about Scott Walker that she can't even keep count, yet I can't help but wonder how many of those were critical of him? After all, shouldn't a self-proclaimed "neutral" blogger have at least a dozen or so posts (out of the many hundreds written) that aren't praising him unconditionally?
"garage mahal said...
Curious George thinks that cutting taxes, then having to borrow billions to cover it while slashing education is sound fiscal strategy. But hey, Walker supporters at this stage in time ain't the brightest people."
Walker has slashed debt dumbass. He didn't have to "borrow billions." You are delusional. Or maybe...likely a psycho liar.
But I do like slashing the UW budget. I think he should have goon further. Huge bloated money eating beast. And I think cutting taxes is a good idea too. On a state level you can't wqaste what you don't got.
Walker has slashed debt dumbass
How much?
So is this Gail Collins really a graduate of Marquette?
Oh the irony! It burns!
Madisonfella, Althouse never applies her own rules to herself.
Note she doesn't mention every single post of that Walker as Hitler single sign she has a photo of.
That must be a hundred times as she posts it mid thread plenty.
I think he should have goon further
Walker can never goon enough for you, can he? You're just never happy - no matter how much he does you still want him to be even more of a goon.
Don't worry. His plan for the state parks is plenty goony, and Walker is sure to have has a whole lot more gooniness in store for our state.
I think you're probably right Richard McEnroe. I don't know anyone that far right who could use Usurper so often, for so long.
"I think you're probably right Richard McEnroe. I don't know anyone that far right who could use Usurper so often, for so long.
And his understanding of what a natural born citizen is is skewed. He doesn't understand that either.
Mick wrote;
"Well thanks, but I already have a pretty good job. I will never "move on" when treason has been committed that voids my sovereignty. You think that it is a coincidence that neither Rubio or Cruz are eligible yet are thought of as candidates? (Cruz was born in Canada of a Cuban citizen father, and was born with 3 allegiances-- US, Cuban, and Canadian. Rubio was born to non US Citizen resident alien parents, and was born with allegiance to Cuba and the US. Multiple allegiance at birth voids eligibility as a natural born Citizen-- especially since the purpose of the requirement is prevention of foreign influence).
"
Unfortunately for you, we learned in immigration school that this only applies to foreign diplomats.
This is why, when a Mexican citizen comes across the border with no allegiance to the United States, and births their child here, those children are still US Citizens. Because they aren't foreign diplomats.
On the other hand, you admit their parents are US Citizens. There are tons of US Citizens with citizenship in other countries (Most Mexican's, for example).
You are trying to make the argument that Cruz's father, by virtue of having citizenship in another country, wasn't a US Citizen, even though he was.
Do you realize no court would agree with you?
Meanwhile, state troopers have been recommended for a 17% raise by Walker.
Always keep the palace guards well paid, even as you hold everyone else's salary to 0 growth and cut others.
There are always more singing grannies to arrest!
Ha Ha. It was great to read the comments on that first Walker post. Someone called Scott Walker a RINO.
Also, I miss Bagoh
I didn't realize Wisconsin was such an interminable hellhole under Walker. You'd think some commenters here would want to get out before Kristallnacht.
Hi Ann,
For what it's worth, I enjoy your posts on Walker. I don't live in Wisconsin, and your posts have been my primary source of information about him. Please keep it up.
Walker won a special election for County Exec (a non-partisan position) after the the Tom Ament was forced to resign after a public employee pension deal that gave out more money at retirement than the person earned while working. Walker is eight years ahead of the curve on the growing outcry against excessive public employee compensation. He has won twice since with convincing majorities by doing what he campaigned to do....I have no doubt he will kill this train and eat the one-time cost of reimbursing the feds for Doyle's irresponsible rush to get the thing started.
This is a winning issue because at least 95 percent of WI folks will never ride this train. Select folks in Madison may love it, but Oshkosh, Green Bay, Eau Claire and Wausau see it as just another waste of their money.
That's from the first post on Walker. Tosaguy seemed to have him figured out fairly early.
It's deja vue all over again,
In fifth grade the worst teacher ever used to stand up front droning away while total war went on along the back aisle - spitballing, insults written large and held up quickly - but she was so terrible that even that became boring and then people used to doodle and play with pencil leads and spill ink in a controlled way - and destroy pink erasers. All the while that great voice went booming on and you knew it had another hour or more to go.
Althouse sounds as if the thought of writing about another Walker campaign and watching commenters knot themselves over the latest whatever is as boring as those long, long grade school hours. However important, it is just boring to think of a another election with "garage" and "mark" lying and repeating themselves to establish a meme and other commenters trying to make them be honest. And all this going national with new garage and mark avatars. Or maybe I'm just projecting.
All the same I like to see Scott Walker's doings mentioned on this blog. Perhaps the national electorate is going to have a Scott Walker adventure and, if so, it looks as if it will be just like the one in Wisconsin. Where entrenched Democratic ways of doing business came to an end AND so did entrenched Republican non-response to government overreach amid incredible scenes - seizure of the state capital building, legislators surrounded by leftists shouting 'shame' but still the legislators stuck to principle; legislators jumping over the back fence in their flight to Rockford, Illinois.
Adventure and the triumph of principle. Too much to hope for nationally? Perhaps. But I seem to hear "Stand with Walker" (to the tune of "On Wisconsin" or maybe "Oh, Freedom") off in the distance and crowds cheering in DC at the Capitol building.
Eric said,
"Unfortunately for you, we learned in immigration school that this only applies to foreign diplomats.
This is why, when a Mexican citizen comes across the border with no allegiance to the United States, and births their child here, those children are still US Citizens. Because they aren't foreign diplomats.
On the other hand, you admit their parents are US Citizens. There are tons of US Citizens with citizenship in other countries (Most Mexican's, for example).
You are trying to make the argument that Cruz's father, by virtue of having citizenship in another country, wasn't a US Citizen, even though he was.
Do you realize no court would agree with you?"
Wrong again. That anyone born in the US is considered a US Citizen is only assumed, never held by the SCOTUS. If the parents are not at least legal residents, then they cannot be considered "subject to the jurisdiction of the US", and making them US Citizens is like kidnapping. That is why there is so much "birth tourism" and other ills, and illogical family situations, like illegal alien parents and US Citizen (assumed) minor families.
Besides that you are, as usual, conflating the term "Citizen" with "natural born Citizen".
One is required to be a natural born Citizen to be President. That term is defined explicitly by Original Common Law (law of nations-- SEE Sosa v. Alvarez (2004)) as one "born in a country of parents who are its citizens." (Law of Nations, Vattel, bk 1 Ch 212)
Anyone who gains citizenship by operation of the 14th Amendment is a US Citizen. Anyone who gains citizenship via A2S1C5 is a natural born Citizen, eligible to be POTUS (See Schneider v. Rusk). Both Cruz and Rubio were naturalized at birth by the operation of the 14th Amendment, US Code 8 S. 1401, and the holding of Wong Kim Ark (that children born of legal US residents are Citizens because they are born subject to the jurisdiction of the US, and have as much right to citizenship "as the natural born child of a citizen"-- See pg 693)
Meanwhile, state troopers have been recommended for a 17% raise by Walker.
"At a time with such fiscal difficulties...I just can't support a raise that big." - @SpeakerVos on 17% state trooper raise."
What? Fiscal difficulties?That's not what I heard right up until the election. I thought it was fixed! You don't think...wait....you don't think Walker lied in the campaign, do you? He's an Eagle Scout!
I hung around because I thought Curious George would post how much "Walker has slashed debt dumbass".
Maybe he's out mowing the lawn.
Garage, how are you taking the time to be posting here all afternoon?
I thought you would be continuing to put the "fat" in fatwah by bringing your own unique brand of spray paint activism to the property of the jewish citizens of Madison?
Taking a break? I guess at your weight you can't cover too much ground at one time before you start wheezing and gasping. But you need to push through, and when your cholesterol glogged heart gives out, remember you have those 72 virgin camels waiting for you.
Actually, this is THE place to learn about Walker, Ann is on the ground there so offers a unique view. I am rooting for Walker to be honest, it's a tough hill he has decided to climb.
Mick writes;
"That anyone born in the US is considered a US Citizen is only assumed, never held by the SCOTUS."
Ummm, ok. Why do you suppose this has never been brought before SCOTUS?
"Besides that you are, as usual, conflating the term "Citizen" with "natural born Citizen".
Not sure how I was conflating those two. I wasn't arguing for the natural born citizenship of anyone. I was talking about how citizenship is conferred.
Perhaps your inability to understand arguments is why you're having such a hard time with this. I was arguing that Cruz and Rubio had US Citizen parents.
Or are you trying to say that for a person to be a Natural Born Citizen, their parents must also be Natural Born Citizens? That would be even dumber.
As to being Natural Born Citizens, yes, they are.
There are two ways to be Natural Born Citizens in the United States. One is known as Jus Soli and the other is known as Jus Sanguinis. Birth by land and birth by blood.
I myself don't care for the birth by land doctrine. I prefer the birth by blood.
Cruz and Rubio were both born citizens of the United States. They did not naturalize.
And as far as US Law is concerned, there are only two ways to become a US Citizen. Naturally, through birth, or through naturalization process.
Clearly Rubio and Cruz were born as citizens and are therefore, Natural Born Citizens.
I guess at your weight you can't cover too much ground at one time before you start wheezing and gasping. Bu
One minute, Shitty Jeans. One minute and you'd be crying for your mama. But I doubt you would be stupid enough to run your diarrhea mouth in my presence.
Awww, what would you do, fat boy?
One minute what? You would try to smother me with your fat rolls and man boobs?
I am terrified of the middle school sports hero. Please be merciful!
Since you started this blog post about Gail Collins' article, here's an earlier Gail Collins Scott Walker hitpiece blog post.
Link.
I wonder how they are similar.
Eric said,
"Not sure how I was conflating those two. I wasn't arguing for the natural born citizenship of anyone. I was talking about how citizenship is conferred.
Perhaps your inability to understand arguments is why you're having such a hard time with this. I was arguing that Cruz and Rubio had US Citizen parents.
Or are you trying to say that for a person to be a Natural Born Citizen, their parents must also be Natural Born Citizens? That would be even dumber.
As to being Natural Born Citizens, yes, they are.
There are two ways to be Natural Born Citizens in the United States. One is known as Jus Soli and the other is known as Jus Sanguinis. Birth by land and birth by blood.
I myself don't care for the birth by land doctrine. I prefer the birth by blood.
Cruz and Rubio were both born citizens of the United States. They did not naturalize.
And as far as US Law is concerned, there are only two ways to become a US Citizen. Naturally, through birth, or through naturalization process.
Clearly Rubio and Cruz were born as citizens and are therefore, Natural Born Citizens"
And of course you are wrong again (I hope you're not a lawyer). You just did it again--- you conflated "citizen" with "natural born Citizen". The requirement is not "citizen at birth", it is "natural born Citizen," as defined by law of nations, the Original Common Law of the US (AGAIN, See Sosa v. Alvarez, quoting the Nereid (2004)).
One can be naturalized by the Constitution itself, as those were who were "residents of the states at the time of the ratification of the US" (A2S1C5-- the grandfather clause, or the first naturalization statute of the US-- however those naturalized citizens were eligible to be POTUS because the first nbCs were only 13, born since 1776, but none after). See also Wong Kim Ark @ 705.
No, your parents do not have to be natural born Citizens for you to be a natural born Citizen, only at least naturalized citizens at the time of the future POTUS' birth. Rubio's parents were not naturalized until he was 4, after being legal residents for 15 years, so he is not eligible.
Cruz is not eligible because he was born w/ multiple allegiances, whereas nbCs are only born with allegiance to the US--- purposefully to safeguard against foreign influence.
There are actually 3 ways to become a citizen.
1) by being born in the US to 2 US Citizen parents (or an unmarried US citizen mother).
2) Naturalized at birth by operation of the 14th Amendment, and or congressional statute (such as 8 US Code 1401).
3) by oath.
Only #1 is eligible to be POTUS. Number #2 and #3 are naturalized.
Mick:
It seems to me that Althouse is not "taking shots at commenters" so much as returning fire.
I seldom see her responding to someone who hasn't been going after her... often quite aggressively... before she says anything at all.
Manty,
I never said she was "taking shots"
??????????
I especially like the Althouse Walker coverage. It's better than the Walker coverage anywhere else and has a big edge over most in having started years ago and providing better context.
"Meanwhile the NYT has an above the fold article on Walkers cuts to UW today, Ann ignores it..."
Most of America ignores it. It's the NYT.
I've been enjoying Althouse's posts on Walker since day one. It's been a fascinating journey following this man and Wisconsin politics through her - and Meade's - eyes, and I look forward to her continued observations as the journey continues.
Kudos and thanks, Althouse!
Barf.
Keep writing about Walker. Public employee unions, pensions, and the funneling of tax money to one party through unions, are the most important fiscal issues in most states, and Wisconsin is ground zero.
Looks like Illinois could be next. They're supposed to be public servants, not our superiors.
Gail Collins is tiresome, predictable, and boring.
The Pulitzer is as political as the Nobel Peace Prize.
Has there ever been a NYT above-the-fold article on the "green" energy boondoggle? Or is that space reserved for the "get Republicans" demographic? Is it news? Or is it propaganda by another name?
"You just did it again--- you conflated "citizen" with "natural born Citizen". The requirement is not "citizen at birth", it is "natural born Citizen," as defined by law of nations, the Original Common Law of the US (AGAIN, See Sosa v. Alvarez, quoting the Nereid (2004)).
I see what you're saying now about conflating.
And you're right. I'm saying the two are one and the same. If you are born a citizen of the United States, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.
I see nothing in Sosa V Alvarez to contradict that.
Eric said,
"I see nothing in Sosa V Alvarez to contradict that."
Citizen cannot mean natural born Citizen by the rules of statutory construction.
Show me where the SCOTUS has said "born a citizen" equals natural born Citizen.
Sosa v. Alvarez said that law of nations is "ORIGINAL COMMON LAW" (may times-- See especially the citation of The Nereid, that upon foundation of the nation, the United States received the law of nations).
Law of nations explicitly defines the term of art, nbC, as one born in a country to parents who are its citizens. It means what it did when the Constitution was written, and the 14th Amendment is well held to not change or alter the Constitution, only reaffirmed the Bill of Rights.
Schneider v. Rusk held that natural born Citizens get their citizenship rights from A2S1C5, and naturalized citizens from the 14th Amendment (so if you get citizenship from the 14th Amendment you are naturalized, either at birth by statute, or by oath.)
"The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners." Minor v. Happersett, 88 US 162, 167 (1879) See also Wong Kim Ark, The Venus, Trustees v. Inglis. (The "Common Law" cited is law of nations)
SCOTUS has defined nbC the same as law of nations many times, never any other way.
Clear enough? Probably not.
Public employee unions, pensions, and the funneling of tax money to one party through unions, are the most important fiscal issues in most states
Funny you should say that, because Walker arranged it so only the public sector unions that funnel money to the Republican Party have the right to collectively bargain in Wisconsin. They also are getting huge raises this year.
Of course, not too much is said about that by Althouse, hence the perception from those 1000 miles away who only get their Walker updates from this blog.
Althouse,
"... is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board."
Why did you leave off "... which has neither apologize for, nor retracted, awarding their prize to Walter Duranty for his fawning praise of the genocidal Soviet government"?
"Mark and Mick are the same person, right?"
That's a fabulously-interesting assertion. Which one is the real person's opinion, and which one is the moby?
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