Scott Walker Is a Fighter, but He Needs to Offer More
The Editors – New Haven Register
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker formally entered the GOP presidential race on Monday as an immediate contender. A minister’s son who smashed Wisconsin’s public-sector unions, he is one of the few candidates who could plausibly unite the Republican Party’s fractious business, religious and tea party wings — and he plays well in neighboring Iowa….
Yet even before Mr. Walker announced, his heavy reliance on his tumultuous record in Wisconsin began to wear thin, as when he claimed earlier this year that he is qualified to battle the Islamic State because he battled union protesters in Madison. This wasn’t a one-off; he followed it up by claiming that then-President Reagan’s move to bust the air traffic controllers union in 1981 was the most significant foreign policy decision of his lifetime, which once again made him look narrow.
Washington politics, not to mention world affairs, is orders of magnitude bigger and harder than what Mr. Walker has dealt with in Wisconsin….
If Mr. Walker made it to the general election, he would have to explain why his confrontational style would help in Washington.
Republican presidential candidate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during a town hall meeting on July 17, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP)
Which Version of Scott Walker Is Running?
Jennifer Rubin – The Washington Post
In response to the Boy Scouts lifting the ban on gay troop leaders, a move former defense secretary Robert Gates supported, Walker felt compelled to declare: “I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values.” Does he think children need “protection” from gay men? …
But I honestly don’t believe Walker believes this. After all, this was the governor who instructed Republicans not to take the bait on social issues…. That Walker understood that respect and tolerance is the only way Republicans win…. It will be a grave disappointment to those looking for an electable Jeb Bush alternative to find that Walker is making himself into a traditionally divisive Republican.
Scott Walker Pleads Ignorance: “I Don’t Know” If Being Gay Is a Choice
Sophia Tesfaye – Salon
After the Boy Scouts of America announced plans to drop its nationwide ban on gay troop leaders, Walker rushed to condemn the move, arguing that the ban on gays should remain to “protect children.” And after being roundly criticized for suggesting that gay people are pedophiles, Walker attempted to walk back his remarks, claiming that he meant the ban only protected Boy Scouts from the debate over discriminating against gay individuals, not gay people themselves.
Despite fumbling through the very first days of his presidential campaign over the ultra-conservative issue of sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ Americans, the Wisconsin governor told CNN‘s Dana Bash this weekend that although he is running to be president, he is unable to “have an opinion on every single issue out there” insisting that the issue of sexual orientation is “not even an issue for me to be involved in.”
When Bash directly asked Walker if he thought being gay is a choice, the conservative’s response boiled down to, “I don’t know.”
Scott Walker Loves Ronald Reagan More Than Seems Humanly Possible
Andrew Prokop – Vox
Earlier this year, the Wisconsin governor’s high regard for Reagan caused a bit of a controversy when he said that “the most significant foreign policy decision of my lifetime” was Reagan’s firing of striking American air traffic controllers. Before that, Walker had claimed that “documents from the Soviet Union” show the Soviets changed their behavior because of this — a statement Politifact found completely baseless.
Happy National Ice Cream Day! Reagan 1st declared it in 1984. We stopped at DQ in Dubuque to get some. -SW pic.twitter.com/uFY4zgqJA2
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) July 20, 2015But while Walker’s statement may have sounded bizarre to foreign policy experts, it’s no surprise for those who’ve followed his political career. Because, in a party filled with high regard for the 40th president, Walker is the one who takes things to the next level….
The son of a preacher, Walker expected to go into business when he was in high school … once he began attending Marquette University, he became active in student government. The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold reported that he kept a photo of Reagan on his dorm room desk, and quoted a former dorm mate saying that Walker talked about becoming president one day.