I may be wrong, but I thought that story was about the difficulty of fundraising when Jeb Bush was so far ahead in money terms. When it comes being the governor of Wisconsin, Walker is secure. But WaPo's James Hohmann frames the story as Walker "claw[ing] his way back."
I was confused — clawing his way back from what? — until I eventually remember the old presidential race, the one where Jeb Bush prevented all the non-weird candidates from getting any traction. That was the one thing Jeb could do, stand there seeming like the normal guy and until the rival dull people drifted away.
But in Wisconsin, we like dull, normal people. I know I voted for him in 2010 (when he first ran for governor) because of the impression he made in this ad. And, actually, the WaPo article with the headline that puzzled me is really more of an effort to explain midwestern style to WaPo readers.
The governor.... eats ham and cheese sandwiches from a brown paper bag for lunch most days. This is part of his political identity. He routinely tweets pictures of the simple meal....By the way, who's running against Walker? I've been feeling that he's destined to win because the Democrats have no one. WaPo says Democrats are "lining up" to run against Walker:
[At a tailgate party across the street from Lambeau Field] it was dipping below 30 degrees... Walker, in jeans, already had four layers on to keep warm, including a Packers jacket. “Now I’ll have another layer,” he exclaimed. Midwesterners talk a lot about layers, especially this time of year.
As he mingled, posing for selfies and talking about tapping beer kegs, his go-to small talk was about cold-weather gear. “I really like your gloves,” Walker told one gentleman. “I’ve got an extra pair if you need some,” the man replied earnestly. (This is also a very Midwestern thing to offer.)
The head of the state firefighter’s union announced on Monday. He joins a field with no clear front-runner that includes the state schools superintendent, a Milwaukee businessman, a state representative from Eau Claire and a former state Democratic Party chairman.WaPo sure isn't helping the folks in that line gain name recognition. It names none of the Democratic Party candidates, but it does name some party spokeswoman who offers what I regard as lame spin: “A year ago, people were saying that Democrats didn’t have any candidates. Now they are saying we have too many. We are very happy to have so many quality candidates in the race. It shows that Walker is vulnerable.”
ADDED: I proofread this post by reading it out loud to Meade. When I got to the last line — "It shows that Walker is vulnerable" — Meade said, "He's vulnerable. And sensitive. That's what women love about him."
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69 comments:
Another alternate reality that WAPO is attempting to create.
Shorter WaPo, "Aren't Midwesterners cute?"
My own suspicion is that the WaPo author is trying to throw more wood on the 'Dem resurgence' bonfire started by the Left finally winning a couple of key elections post-Trump.
Journalism 101:
If the Democrats:
- have no candidates, they are "conserving their powder for when it matters"
- if they have only a few, they are putting their best/brightest stars front and center!
- if they have a HUGE field, they are putting all of their options on the table and letting the people decide.
If the Republicans:
- have no candidates, they are hard-pressed to find decent candidates to run, which will hurt them
- if they have only a few, they are putting up an extremist, which will hurt them
- if they have a HUGE field, they are confused and having a lot of in-fighting, which will hurt them
If I recall, that is all covered in chapter 3 of the course text, "Covering Politics".
Has anyone submitted an ethics complaint against him for that Packers jacket, the way they did against Palin for the Arctic Cat jacket, that she had to defend with her own money? Which, unlike for Bill Clinton, she didn't have access to gobs of it from Hollywood?
We are very happy to have so many quality candidates in the race.
A team that thinks it has two starting quarterbacks doesn't have any.
"Aren't Midwesterners cute?"
Conservatives in the Mist.
@tim In vermont, anyone suing the Governor of Wisconsin for wearing a Packers jacket is asking for more trouble than they ever knew existed in the entire world.
"WaPo sure isn't helping the folks in that line gain name recognition."
The name is "Firefighter's union": the voter is to look for the union label. Because unions can't run for public office there is a name and a face, but, really, the candidate is "union."
'We are very happy to have so many quality candidates in the race.'
Sounds like something Reince might have said a couple of years ago. I doubt anyone from the Dem side can pull off a Trump campaign against Walker. They are all about not being different from the leftist party line.
Walker might win? As time goes on, you Trumpists and rightists have become desperate to create your own reality, it’s become pathetic.
/Inga
ALTHOUSE says: "the old presidential race, the one where Jeb Bush prevented all the non-weird candidates from getting any traction. That was the one thing Jeb could do, stand there seeming like the normal guy and until the rival dull people drifted away."
Ha, ha - that's the most brilliant, concise and perfect summary of that primary i've ever heard! Now Normal Jeb is in charge of his weird ass-grabbing Grandpa.
Your cynicism re the WAPO article is also well placed and expressed - it's another common example of Lib media 'Newsuendo'.
Sorry.
When I think of Scott Walker I think of this guy: .No Regrets by Scott Walker.
I. am Laslo.
The reporter left out Paul Soglin? Did he do his homework?
You know Mike, you would have thought that would be true of Arctic Cat in Alaska.
And, actually, the WaPo article with the headline that puzzled me is really more of an effort to explain midwestern style to WaPo readers.
Yes, because a folksy Midwestern Democrat could be palatable to the rest of the country and may be the only hope they have of winning the Presidency in the near future.
You’re making WaPo’s point when you say that Scott Walker got crowded out of the Presidential race by Jeb Bush.
The Democrats are just biding their time, ready to deploy the secret routers bomb when the time is ripe.
We are very happy to have so many quality candidates in the race.
Who are they? Well, there's that guy with a lot of money. Richie, we call him. And there's that woman with the nice smile. She's not white. Brown, or black, but really more brown. Clearly some sort of diversity. She's Brownie to us. And the woman schoolteacher with the nice legs. We refer to her as, well I don't think we should say how we refer to her in the current climate. But we refer to her a lot around headquarters when we're discussing the candidates.
And we should say that we're still looking for a lesbian queer trans bi-something to really kick our fundraising into gear. People just love stuff with rainbows on it! Makes them feel like they're the good people in town even if the candidate flames out. Wait, can you say flames out when talking about that candidate? I don't think we can.
So you can see our candidates have just about all the bases covered. Their policy positions? Just one: people who eat ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and dress in layers are Hitler!
We're not sure it will work, but the folks in Brooklyn said we had to use it if we wanted any money from the national party.
When the Right makes fun of journalists who go out into the wilds of America to see the exotic animal-voters, I always think, "That's too ridiculous. No Corridor Dweller can be that cut-off from normality."
I stand corrected.
About that "secret router." I used to work for a company that had a contract wth the state. I worked in their space, but not on that contract. My project had to pay rent to the state for my cubicle, and I was required to use a separate internet connection and bill all of my calls to my phone card, because anything else would have been viewed as embezzlement of services from the state.
So if Walker was doing political activity, which as governor was inevitable, he damn well better have been using his own router. If he hadn't, they would have had him up on charges of stealing from the State of Wisconsin. And if he was using his router, he damn well would have kept it secure.
Typical "Heads I win, tails you lose" logic from liberals.
Gee, it ALMOST seems like the WaPo is nothing more than a hack filled member of the LameStream Media© and an arm of the Democrat party with bylines.
How odd.
Ms. Althouse, you are being unreasonable in your criticism of The Washington Post. Although they might misconstrue some items of minor importance their hearts are pure and their only purpose is to alert the citizens of Wisconsin about the looming disaster of another Walker term. As evidence of this consider their noble efforts to enlighten those Bible thumping, sister humping rednecks in Alabama.
I like Scott Walker - mostly due to following Althouse's reporting on the recall election etc. It was interesting because we visited Wisconsin while all of that was going on. Saw lots of signs supporting recall in Madison. Outside of Madison the signs were all supporting Walker. We drove south to north up the entire state and back to Michigan through the upper peninsula. Madison was a little island unto itself. A very pretty island, but the people there seemed pretty clueless about how they were perceived by the rest of the state.
Who reads WAPO for election predictions.
Mourning of the 2016 Presidential election, WAPO
"The forecast is for Clinton to win 323 electoral votes to Trump’s 215".
or "Clinton has a 76 percent chance of winning".
deplorable..
Mac McConnell - 'Mourning of the 2016 Presidential Election' Yes, and WAPO still is mourning.
As evidence of this consider their noble efforts to enlighten those Bible thumping, sister humping rednecks in Alabama.
Massachusetts, on the other hand, that sent Teddy (Chappaquiddick) Kennedy back to the Senate so many times, is populated by the most enlightened citizenry, also, Creepy Joe Biden, you really have to look at some of those montages of Biden and little girls, and see the one where Jeff Sessions slaps Biden's hand away form his daughter, well, Delaware also enjoys a citizenry of the highest order!
Walker had to walk back his comments on immigration after his campaign donors squawked. Wisely, he realized there is no way forward carrying the Chamber of Commerce's water with Trump going in the opposite direction.
I wonder if Biden was like that before the aneurism in his brain? There is a saying, "once air touches your brain, you are never the same."
Anything outside the Potomac basin is strange and exotic to--and rarely, if ever, understood by the "journalists" at the WaPo.
There's a line in the Kinky Friedman song, "Wildman of Borneo"--which is a riff on folks staring at an orangutang in a zoo. But it's also descriptive of the mindset of the reporters and dare I say fiction writers at the NYT and WaPo.
The lines goes, "They come to see what they want to see--but they never come to know."
There are some exotic critters out there in Wisconsin. Just ask a WaPo man or woman.
Greg said: "I doubt anyone from the Dem side can pull off a Trump campaign against Walker. They are all about not being different from the leftist party line."
The Democrats have perfected "diversity without a difference".
What a fine, well-crafted post by Althouse.
Makes me think about the history of this blog before Trump.
Professional lady said: "Madison was a little island unto itself. A very pretty island, but the people there seemed pretty clueless about how they were perceived by the rest of the state."
When you are absolutely certain of your moral and intellectual superiority there is no need for self awareness.
So all the disastrous outcomes from the confrontation with public worker unions -- those haven't yet arrived? Are just on the horizon? Or are people in Wisconsin just too stupid to see them?
Left Bank:
Show your work.
When Wisconsinites compare our state to Minnesota's progress you get the feeling that they have grown tired of a career politician who burned through millions while running for president and ignoring the state except to give away potential billions to one Foxcom. Small rural districts with huge public school problems no longer find Walker vulnerable and sensitive--that is left to conservatives who find him riding a union made Harley so cute.
Chuck,
Maybe it is you. Have you stoped to consider the irrational way you focus on all the negatives you perceive while ignoring all the positives you would perceive if done by anybody not named Trump?
As a Swamp fan, I appreciate your position.
roesch/voltaire said...I
Nice conjecture. Do you have a newsletter to which I might subscribe?
The Democrats are just waiting for Putin to jump into the fray and help rig the ballot boxes. Then, LOOK OUT!
The GOP primaries seem like eons ago, but back in 2015, I did honestly believe that Walker was the most accomplished of the candidates, i.e., he actually did the most conservative stuff in office.
I still believe that.
True, he lacked some of the charisma and fighting spirit that Trump had, and what the country wanted. But, still, Walker's been an excellent governor.
And, through his steady, plodding persistence, he did help turn Wisconsin Red.
My 2 cents.
Yeah, so the guy went from a county executive to governor of the state, survived an absolutely hysterical recall campaign, and then handily won re-election where getting him knocked out was probably the highest priority of public-sector unions nationwide.
And now he needs to "claw" his way back? Okay, whatever.
That being said, I initially liked him for prez, but he displayed a certain not-ready-for-primetime quality once he was in the spotlight. Perhaps he will outgrow that.
I was a Walker supporter in those far-off pre-Trump days. He's an actual conservative who does conservative things while keeping his profile as low as can be. I like him and admire him. He would have lost to Hillary 400-138.
@Tommy Duncan, that’s a great line: “diversity without a difference.” Do you mind if I use it?
Somewhere in Madison, garage mahal is screaming at the sky.
Makes me think about the history of this blog before Chuck.
Meade said, "He's vulnerable. And sensitive. That's what women love about him."
Meade's dry humor scores again.
It's the WaPoo. I ignore it. You may want to do so, too.
When Wisconsinites compare our state to Minnesota's progress....
Minnesota had the benefit of Jesse Ventura's governorship. (I voted for him)
@Big Mike: “diversity without a difference.” Do you mind if I use it?
In my best Gomer Pyle voice: "Golly. It was actually my cousin Goober what first said that. So go ahead, Goober he won't much mind. He don't much go on the Internet being as he don't have Internet at his shack and has to use the computer at the library."
Blogger Tyrone Slothrop said...
I was a Walker supporter in those far-off pre-Trump days. He's an actual conservative who does conservative things while keeping his profile as low as can be. I like him and admire him. He would have lost to Hillary 400-138.
I don't know what is weirder:
(a) the notion that this comment is correct (with the natural conclusion being that there are millions of people who would have voted for Clinton, or who wouldn't have bothered to vote at all, if the GOP nominee had been Walker), or;
(b) the notion that this comment is incorrect, and we could just as easily have gotten a workmanlike Walker Administration and that never needed the Trump freak show in order to defeat Hillary.
Just as I would love to sit down for a conversation with a voter who voted for Obama in '08-'12 and then voted for Trump in '16 (!?), I'd be interested to hear from somebody who voted for Trump, but who would not have voted for Walker if Walker had been the nominee.
What a long, strange trip that would be.
that is left to conservatives who find him riding a union made Harley so cute.
Does that seem ironic to you? Like P.J. O'Rourke said, "Life is full of little ironies for stupid people."
@ Tim In Vermont
and I was required to use a separate internet connection and bill all of my calls to my phone card, because anything else would have been viewed as embezzlement of services from the state.
Here in my area of Wisconsin, local public sector employers (school, county, city) on at least an annual basis are orientating employees that all of their computer use (Internet and internal) is subject to Open Records Requests. In a nearby school district several teachers were given the opportunity to resign because they were having "chats" that sometimes contained derogatory comments about students and parents (and supervisors), and that those communications could be made available to the public. There was no sympathy shown by the union or peers. None of the employers have ever brought up theft of service as a penalty for personal use - just strong warnings about their personal communications are actually public.
""It shows that Walker is vulnerable" — Meade said, "He's vulnerable. And sensitive. That's what women love about him.""
Technically, women who love pussies are called lesbians. I'm not sure that that's a strong Walker demo.
I'd be interested to hear from somebody who voted for Trump, but who would not have voted for Walker if Walker had been the nominee.
I didn't for Trump, and I actually liked Walker before he ran for president. But after seeing him roll over and play dead when he faced a hostile media during the primaries, I wouldn't have voted for him in the general.
"(a) the notion that this comment is correct (with the natural conclusion being that there are millions of people who would have voted for Clinton, or who wouldn't have bothered to vote at all, if the GOP nominee had been Walker)"
-- I'm curious how many votes Clinton loses if Walker is nominated since people don't think they're voting to stop literal Hitler.
Ah, who am I kidding? Walker would've been literal Hitler if he got the nomination too.
Matthew Sablan said...
-- I'm curious how many votes Clinton loses if Walker is nominated since people don't think they're voting to stop literal Hitler.
Ah, who am I kidding? Walker would've been literal Hitler if he got the nomination too.
Going by Althouse and Meade's riveting photojournalistic forays into the capitol, Wisconsin lefties literally considered Walker literal Hitler. Given a snowball's chance that he could have won, President Walker would be being subjected to the same middle-school histrionics now being aimed at Trump. It's who the left is, and how they behave.
"Ah, who am I kidding? Walker would've been literal Hitler if he got the nomination too."
Tyrone's right. He was already Hitler.
For example.
Darn those evil right wing geniuses!
They have managed to create a literal ARMY of Hitlers! DAMN YOU! (shakes fist in air)
Everyone but Chuck said...
What a fine, well-crafted post by Althouse.
Makes me think about the history of this blog before Chuck.
Walker has found his niche.
Want proof of this?:
"Professional lady said...
I like Scott Walker - mostly due to following Althouse's reporting on the recall election etc. It was interesting because we visited Wisconsin while all of that was going on. Saw lots of signs supporting recall in Madison. Outside of Madison the signs were all supporting Walker. We drove south to north up the entire state and back to Michigan through the upper peninsula. Madison was a little island unto itself. A very pretty island, but the people there seemed pretty clueless about how they were perceived by the rest of the state.
Exhibit A:
roesch/voltaire said...
When Wisconsinites compare our state to Minnesota's progress you get the feeling that they have grown tired of a career politician who burned through millions while running for president and ignoring the state except to give away potential billions to one Foxcom. Small rural districts with huge public school problems no longer find Walker vulnerable and sensitive--that is left to conservatives who find him riding a union made Harley so cute.
Hey-ah, roesch/voltaire, I'm quite sure that Walker did not burn through millions of Wisconsin tax dollars to run for POTUS.
Here's a serious question.
What other place do we have a two-time champion, including winning a grudge match, made to look like the underdog and being behind the power curve, when... we don't even know the champ's opponent?
"Matthew Sablan said...
Here's a serious question.
What other place do we have a two-time champion, including winning a grudge match, made to look like the underdog and being behind the power curve, when... we don't even know the champ's opponent?"
Sure, but FYI Walker has one three elections for his current office, not two. Original election in 2010, recall election in 2012, and re-election in 2014.
"Somewhere in Madison, garage mahal is screaming at the sky."
I miss the crazy bastard. The Althouse blog's Golden Age.
The Wash Post analysis of Walker makes it impossible for them to understand how Trump won Wisconsin.
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