Besides never giving one example of anyone spending time in prison for their supposed death threat, Walker shifts away from the real reason for all the threats: His inability to moderate policy base on the public's reaction. Isn't that a symptom of going too far? Isn't that how, sadly, extreme politicians are held in check in a democratic republic? How blindly ideological do you have to be to ignore the death threats, recalls and massive protests? That simple checks and balances approach is a relic of the past.
On WPR's Joy Cardin Show, Walker explains how it wasn't what he said, but the unions rhetoric that stirred things up around the Capitol. That's a complete lie, or proof Walker is that far out of touch with what actually happened. In reality, the unions were just as caught off guard by the massive public response and support they received.
Again, the massive protests, the recalls and even the death threats were just so many red flags that should have told the majority party they went way too far. Audio:
Believe it or not, Walker directly compared the protests around the Capitol to the Gabby Giffords shooting. That event scared the daylights out him and the Republican majority, despite the fact liberals weren't the ones threatening "Second Amendment Remedies." Instead, the party of righteousness under Scott Walker doubled down on security. Walker claims he tried to tone things down, but in reality, tried to protect concealed carry legislation from being affected.
In fact, Walker's reaction to blame "liberals" was eerily similar to this response by Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation:
Judson Phillips described Jared Loughner as a "liberal lunatic" "The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and the left's attack on the Tea Party movement," described the shooter as "a leftist lunatic" and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik as a "leftist sheriff" who "was one of the first to start in on the liberal attack." Phillips urged tea party supporters to blame liberals for the attack on centrist Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona ... as a means of defending the tea party movement's recent electoral gains.
The fact that Walker gaves rambling responses to listener questions told us more in a few minutes than anything we'll ever read in his published attempt at revisionist history. I wonder if he mentioned the death threats against the opponents of his authority? Thom Hartmann talked with DPW's Graeme Zalienski about that and more:
Classic case of the abusive husband blaming the spouse for bringing charges after he beat her, instead of sitting quietly and "learning her lesson."
ReplyDeleteOur governor may be mentally ill