Thursday, March 19, 2015

Righty politicos question Walker's righty reliability

I get no sense that righty commentators in Wisconsin have anything close to this kind of criticism for Walker emerging nationally.

Or that they think he'll sell them out.

Or isn't ready for prime time.

Because he's a panderer, "the gutless wonder of the 2016 presidential race."
Forcing [digital consultant and 2102 Walker campaign consultant Liz] Mair out was like amputating your finger to deal with a paper cut. Instead of having a problem with a few Iowans and a writer at Breitbart.com, Walker has now baffled his admirers across the right. Mair's resignation signaled that Walker's team either didn't do its homework before hiring Mair, or that it was too spineless to defend her. It is hard to believe the former, since Mair consulted for Walker before during his 2012 recall. 
Walker's unwillingness to defend his own hire will give other consultants and policy experts jitters before joining the team. It totally undercuts his reputation as a tough-minded fighter who stands on principle. And it may contribute to an alternate interpretation of Walker as a 'fraidy cat. Earlier this month, Walker caved to Iowa ethanol interests by reversing his position on the federal mandate.
Shocked we here back at home might have been misled!

All you ever hear on the right in Wisconsin is that Walker can chew gum and walk on water at the same time.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If we have been mislead, and your post does suggest this is so, then we need to have a dialog about the media that has lead the pro-Walker cheerleading.

They now expect us to accept a part-time governor while Walker campaigns around country and world on our dime. The media refuses to cover any of Walker's failures and have promoted the lie that, since Walker now proclaims everything a "gotcha" question, they can't even expect Walker to talk to the citizens of Wisconsin through a media that is not publishing his campaign's talking points.

As Robert W. McChesney explains in his new book, "Blowing the Roof Off", the idea of "professional journalism" has failed us. The public has largely been conditioned to believe the lie that, regardless of how dishonest a talking point is, if one-side of the false dichotomy says something, it needs to be presented as being just as true as objective facts in order to be "fair" and "balanced".

This is an outrageous lie, but it is how the lie of objective journalism works. We all know who the major players in Wisconsin are and it is easy to demonstrate how the state's largest newspaper republished false stories to create a fake "October Surprise" to make it impossible for Mary Burke to win last November even though the polls leading up to the propaganda had her running neck-to-neck with Walker.

Walker is entirely a media creation. I would not rejoice too much right now about what may appear to be more national scrutiny. Walker, in the national press, has mostly gotten his talking points in the news cycle and quickly was catapulted to the front of the republican clown car.

What I fear you are missing in some of your posts is the fact that the national media encompasses so many more players and a hugely enormous scale.

Yes, we can find some players that publish unflattering stories that Wisconsin's media would never touch, but polls also show that the reports that may seek to hold Walker accountable are not making changing the media landscape that is promoting Walker uncritically, actually reprinting his talking points.

JPT said...

My take - they are afraid of Walker's mob tactics- to go to any means to remove anyone who disagrees with him.

Bill Kurtz said...

In fairness, there are two local commentators who deserve attention. Jim, you've mentioned John Torinus, a moderate Rapublican (the last one?) who has criticized Walker's environmental policies and his general tendency toward "government by ambush."
Also worth noting is (surprise!) Jessica McBride, the former radio personality who has criticized Walker's cuts to the UW System and wondered why Walker never mentions his major plans before he's elected. She has said she supported Act 10 but criticized Walker for not telling voters about it until he was safely elected.