Scott Walker's no Leader, and he's not saying what you think he is...

I was fascinated by Scott Walker's arrogant authoritarian advice to the Republican congress. Here's my interpretation. jsonline:

"It's put up or shut up time. Your election is a message from the American people that they want change. So go big and bold."

The Republicans benefit from gerrymandered districts and low midterm turnout. And the change the American people want are all things in the Democratic column, like minimum wage, immigration, gay marriage...heck look at the chart to the right. Guess what, this is the change Americans want.  

"The message Wisconsin holds for national Republicans is clear: Don’t be afraid to lead … (don’t) nibble around the edges. Push common-sense, conservative ideas.  Lead."

Walker has always looked at "leading" as an excuse to ignore voters. And they fell for it.

"Send funds for Medicaid and similar programs back to the states in the form of block grands to encourage innovation. Reform welfare programs to restore the dignity that comes from work."

"Restore the dignity that comes from work" is a cute way to say, "I can't create jobs, but I can boot you off assistance." How about restoring dignity with a decent wage? 

And Walker's way of "encouraging innovation" with block grants...I once describe it this way: No federal strings attached to the block granted money ... means the GOP can require any test they’d like to penalize and choke off benefits. Federal strings have prevented that.

Walker has ruled with a super Republican majority, how hard is that:

"And they will keep leaders who do what they say they will do. If the president does not lead as he was elected to do, this is an opportunity for Republicans in Congress to show the American people what they would do with a president who will lead."

Another Walker reference to one party rule, something he's now drooling over. I hope the Republicans do offer up a tangible plan. Paul Ryan is supposedly doing that right now on health care. I can't wait to see how the CBO grades it.

Leadership, Paul Ryan and Vicki McKenna style.....

Republicans are big on having "leaders," despite pushing "individualism, freedom and liberty," a direct contradiction to their one party style of authoritarian rule .

I heard radio's snake oil pitch person Vicki McKenna come up with a dramatic example of projection today. Basically, it goes something like this; pushy know-it-all progressive leadership is bad, conservative authoritarian father-knows-what's-best leadership is good.

Progressive Leadership: In the first clip, McKenna poses this false premise to make her case for what really sounds like her own parties goal:

"...believe what they say. Don't present them with the facts. Don't confront them with the failures. The failures will be redefined as successes. The facts will be ignored. Your concerns are irrelevant, trust us, we know what's best. That's the way progressives think."

Good conservative leadership: But McKenna sounds like she's describing Paul Ryan, who says he morally knows what's best for us, despite overwhelming public support for something else:

"It sounds simple...but if I believe this is counter productive for the very people we're trying to hurt...to help...and will hurt them by doing this, but it's politically popular, what does that say about you as a moral person...leaders have to take positions that may not be popular sometimes if they think they're doing the right thing."

Republicans continue to tell all of us what we're not ready for, because they say they know, from legalizing marijuana to a female president:

Darn, that rules out Hillary.

With not even a mention of allowing medical marijuana, Scott Walker has decided for us that we're just not ready yet. jsonline:

"I've never experienced this, but I can't imagine people socially smoking the way people have a beer or two at a wedding reception. There's a huge difference out there. So in the end, I understand why people make that argument (for legalization), but in our state, I don't think we're ready for that."