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Scott Walker Watch: Dropping out? Update – Yup

Scott Walker Watch: Dropping out? Update – Yup

Parting shot at Trump?

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/646084962903552000

Scott Walker has a 6 p.m. Eastern press conference, at which he is expected to drop out of the race according to numerous news reports, such as this from the NY Times.

His speech:

https://twitter.com/billhobbs/status/646085643269984256

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/646078607681552386

Before the conference:

Walker never survived the Trump storm. The turning point was the Fox News debate, when Walker was a non-entity. Others, like Cruz and Rubio, have held their ground in the polls as Walker disappeared.

As readers know, we were Walker fans since way back when. As I stated in Scott Walker has fallen, hoping he gets back up:

Life is not fair, and neither are election cycles. It may be that people are looking for something Walker is not capable of selling. That would be unfortunate, but no one said politics is fair.

I have little doubt that as President, Walker would deliver more of the body blows that so endeared him to us. It won’t be fluff, and it won’t be showmanship….

But it’s not to be. So be it. Like Rick Perry, Walker couldn’t make the transition from excellent conservative governor to excellent conservative national political candidate.

There is a ton of gloating on Twitter. Walker shouldn’t get mad. When Walker goes back to Wisconsin, Walker should get even by finishing the job he has started.

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Comments

smalltownoklahoman | September 21, 2015 at 5:06 pm

Well if he does drop out I’ll be sad to see him go. Walker is someone whom I would have happily voted for had he got the nomination. He’s still young though so maybe 2020 or 2024 after he’s done more for the state of Wisconsin.

    He had a record of actual victories for conservative policies, not just sweet-sounding rhetoric. But this year it seems a big segment of our voters need to be serenaded. Their loss.

    The net effect will likely be to help Rubio or Bush consolidate the support to prevent Trump from sailing through with 27% in state after winner-take-all state. This means the debate over issues and the vetting of records will be much shorter. We all lose.

    – –

    To the gloating union thugs: Walker cleaned your clock every time you fought him. He may not be leading the next fight, but we are coming for you punks. Laugh while you can, Trumpka.

Other candidates might enhance their chances by proposing him to head of their the dept. of labor. Maybe the other candidates might be picked to fill other cabinet posts in the end. There is too much talent to waste. How about Perry as secretary of defense or the air force? They might pick up some of their votes and unite the party.

He’s probably the only Republican that could have won my vote. Go Gary Johnson.

    Radegunda in reply to windbag. | September 21, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    In other words, you’d rather let Bernie Sanders have the presidency than sully your sense of purity by voting for someone less acceptable than Walker.

      No, I’m tired of the slow creep toward Armageddon that we’ve been engaged in for decades. Voting for the lesser of two evils is a vote for evil. I’ll vote my conscience, which rules out most of the rest of the GOP field. Maybe Paul or Cruz, but I’d have to give it a lot more thought, most likely not, as it would probably just more of the slow crawl to our doom.

      Thanks for volunteering to be the obvious finger wagger when presented with the concept that people might not vote for one of the two parties. You’ve provided an important service in the interest of status quo.

        Radegunda in reply to windbag. | September 21, 2015 at 7:03 pm

        1. A vote for “the lesser of two evils” is a vote for less evil than you would otherwise have.

        2. Letting “more evil” win elections because you won’t vote for the “lesser evil” doesn’t mean you don’t get evil. It means you get more evil.

        Leftists seem to understand that the most urgent task in an election is to stop the worst alternative. That’s why communists will vote Democrat.

        Some “conservatives” would rather feel good about themselves than actually influence the direction of the country. For such people, “windbag” is an apt label.

          You’re fairly short-sighted if you think that continuing to feed the two-party monster influences the direction of the country one iota. All it does is let it continue down the path it’s already heading down. Breaking from the status quo can influence the direction in a positive way, but not until enough people feel that way and act on it. I’m not brave or original for breaking with it, just fed up.

          Not voting for the lesser of two evils doesn’t make me responsible for those who vote for the greater of the two evils. Those who are going to vote for Hillary or Bernie are responsible. Not me. People like you, who insist we must operate within the two-party charade, are far more responsible than those who are trying to break free from its confines.

          Milhouse in reply to Radegunda. | September 21, 2015 at 8:59 pm

          It depends whether you live in a swing state. My state is going to go for whomever the Democrats nominate; the only way my state’s result could be in doubt is if there’s such a landslide that its votes won’t matter. So I have the luxury of being able to vote Libertarian if I’m unhappy with the Republican ticket, even if it’s clearly the lesser evil. Thus in 2000 I voted for Harry Browne, even though Bush was clearly less evil than Gore, and I desperately wanted him to win, and even though his running mate was someone I actually liked, and even though I already knew Browne was a crook. By 2004 I actually liked Bush, and voted for him. In 2008 I voted for Palin, but if I could have done so without also voting for McCain I would have.

          If I were in a swing state, though, where my vote might actually matter (as each Floridian’s vote did in 2000) I would have to vote Republican any time I thought their candidate actually was the lesser evil. The last time I thought otherwise was in 1996; even in hindsight I see no reason to have prefered Dole over Clinton. But in every election since then the choice has been clear.

        Radegunda in reply to windbag. | September 21, 2015 at 7:12 pm

        “cool and candid people will at once reflect that the purest of human blessings must have a portion of alloy in them; that the choice must always be made, if not of the lesser evil, at least of the GREATER, not the PERFECT, good”
        –James Madison

          What a bunch of crybabies. Walker is not the first, and will not be the last good guy that drops out of a race, or this race. Blaming Trump is just another sign of TDS.

          It’s good for Wisconsin at least. They get a damn fine governor.

Well, there goes my number one choice. Then again, my first choice failed in six of the last eight presidential runs.

That’s a lot of talent wasted. America’s loss is Wisconsin’s gain.

My new short list is Cruz or Jindal – if Biden doesn’t run.

    InEssence in reply to Henry Hawkins. | September 21, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    For me the top issue is immigration, and Trump leads on that one. The next issue is the trade wars, and Trump is the only one present on that issue. Someone needs to take on the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), and no one has addressed this issue, but Trump. With any other candidate, we will continue to lose the trade wars (run import/export deficits) by forfeit. If we could just participate in the trade wars, middle class income would rise quickly because it brings manufacturing back into the economic mix.

      Milhouse in reply to InEssence. | September 21, 2015 at 10:31 pm

      Free trade is the oiriginal and founding issue for the liberal political movement, now known in the USA as “conservative”. There is no room in the tent for protectionists.

His collapse is curious. He had such potential, having fought and defeated the Left in Wisconsin. His campaign began well. He didn’t make any huge gaffe or series of small gaffes. I don’t know.

    Henry Hawkins in reply to pesanteur. | September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    There seems a tip of the iceberg quality to this, given there’ve been no gaffes, no scandal, no nothing outwardly that would cause such a quick flameout. Walker’s situation needs a good conspiracy theory.

    Ragspierre in reply to pesanteur. | September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    Everything carries a cost/benefit ratio.

    For whatever benefit some claim for the T-rump ascendancy, the cost has been…among other things…the early demise of two very fine candidates in Walker and Perry.

    Both men will have a role to play in reclaiming America, IMNHO.

      Radegunda in reply to Ragspierre. | September 21, 2015 at 6:27 pm

      The Trumpsters have elevated indiscriminate anger and blind faith (and a peculiar taste for shallow celebrity bombast) above a serious assessment of candidates’ records.

      Some people say they don’t favor Trump but think his effect on the campaign is positive. The squeezing out of the most effective and principled leaders says something quite different. Donald Trump is a blight on what was shaping up to be an exceptionally promising political year.

      It was not Trump that did Walker in, it was beltway consultants. Business Insider shows dysfunction among his staff.

        Radegunda in reply to EBL. | September 21, 2015 at 6:41 pm

        If Trump weren’t in the race, anti-establishment voters would be giving thought to the best non-Jeb candidates. Trump drew all the anti-establishment attention with his celebrity and his billions and big doses of red meat. Some of that attention would otherwise have gone to Walker.

        DaMav in reply to EBL. | September 21, 2015 at 8:53 pm

        Old Hat — BDS = Bush Derangement Syndrome
        New and Shiny — MBT = Must Blame Trump

    PhillyGuy in reply to pesanteur. | September 21, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    I accidentally posted this in the Rubio vs Cruz thread, but why did FNC and CNN cut him out of the loop in the 2 debates. He got so little speaking time – it made no sense at all.

      Estragon in reply to PhillyGuy. | September 22, 2015 at 12:48 am

      Walker did get the short end of the proportioning of time, but by the CNN event his numbers were already in the tank. He didn’t make much of the time he did get at the Fox one.

      Conventional wisdom said people would want to follow Obama with proven competence and a record of results, not more empty bluster from a different direction. It was wrong as it often is.

      America is the loser for it.

This failed candidacy reveals more about the electorate than it does about the candidate. If the core problems we need addressed are federal overspending, over-regulating, under-performing, never being accountable, and never being forthcoming with the truth, . . . . . . then why in the world would the electorate not have Walker and Perry at the very top? Part of the answer is the Left’s ability to steer attention and distract from those core problems. The other part is the short attention span theater that readily abandons critical thinking and becomes me and the rest of the GOP electorate.

The Times of London once asked a popular writer for an essay on “What’s wrong with the world?” The writer gave this simple response:

Dear London Times,

I am.

Sincerely Yours,

G. K. Chesterton

    Milwaukee in reply to Mark30339. | September 21, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    G.K. Chesterton totally rocks. One of my favorite quotes of his is this
    “We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.”
    ― G.K. Chesterton

    He has also suggested that “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”

    We need to keep our heads as we move forward.

    Hear! Hear!

    With each election the electorate has become more media bound, awaiting media to tell them what to think, and less logocentric. Critical thinking is now being surrendered over to the “elite” “Nudged” (Cass Sunstein) by those of the unconstrained vision (see Thomas Sowell’s “A Conflict of Visions”).

    The permanence of our culture has eroded due to the ad hoc law-making of SCOTUS. Add to that the dilution of our core values via illegal immigration, the LGBT’s unnatural agenda and coercive bullying and the #BlackLivesOnlyMatter civil terrorist movement, among many other destructive pop culture trends.

    The envious desire (and the push by politicians) to gain materially over sound moral and fiscal principles by the electorate is turning our nation into one big commercial gimmick. The electorate votes in more corruption than a Wall St. guy or bank could ever could conjure up.

    Walker and G.K. both knew that the electorate was not ready to think beyond immediate gratification.

    We are in a battle for this nation’s soul yet most people want nothing to do with God and self-government. Instead, they have chosen Epicurean ways under the pirated flags of “freedom” and “rights”-avoid pain and seek pleasure at all costs.

    Many are desirous of following the wide way of nihilism and socialism as laid down by Big Brother EU in Greece, Portugal, Spain and France…all the while pretending to be part of a Democratic Republic.

If he couldn’t “withstand” Trump, when others did, even others sitting worse off than he, perhaps it was never meant to be.

    Radegunda in reply to maxmillion. | September 21, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    It isn’t a mater of “withstanding” Trump. It’s a matter of competing with a celebrity billionaire for the attention of the shallow, emotion-driven part of the electorate — the part of the electorate that flatters itself with the fantasy that a celebrity billionaire is listening to them and speaking for them and really, really cares about them. The fact that CNN did its best to squeeze Walker out of the debate didn’t help either.

    And if Walker “was never meant to be,” the corollary is that Obama WAS “meant to be.” That way of thinking excuses voters from the responsibility of making wise choices.

Trump cultists keep saying that anyone not for Trump must be for Jeb, so they’re probably happy to see any serious alternatives go away.

So congratulations, Trumpsters, on marginalizing the most effective, most principled, most courageous governor in the country — someone who actually keeps his promises — because of your indiscriminate (and ultimately stupid) anger at “politicians” and your blind faith in a billionaire blowhard with fluid principles and a shallow grasp of issues.

    Walker ran out of money. Trump is mostly self-funded at this point, so he did not take Walker’s money. When Walker changed his position on Amnesty his popularity increased but his money began to dwindle. The Republican Establishment cut him off and he got wobbly on the issue. Unlike Trump, he didn’t have self-funded immunization against blackmail by the Open Borders crowd. So he tried straddling and lost popularity without regaining funding. He was now opposed to Amnesty and ineffective against Trump. And… naturally, and sadly, he got cut off, ran out of money, and got forced out of the race. Why should the Chamber spend money on Walker that could go to Bush or other Amnesty candidates?

    Must get Trump. All costs. Sorry Scott.

      PhillyGuy in reply to DaMav. | September 21, 2015 at 9:23 pm

      Good comment DaMav. Best summary I have read.

      Estragon in reply to DaMav. | September 22, 2015 at 12:56 am

      Trump isn’t spending much at all yet. He’s getting ALL the free media usually spread among the candidates (but those in the low single digits never see much). 90% or more of the coverage of the GOP race is on him, by every measure, and a good bit of the 10% or less divided among the others is devoted to asking them about Trump.

      It’s how the MSM short-circuits what might have been a campaign of ideas and educating the public on WHY Obama’s policies don’t work and how ours will. It would kill them to cover serious issues being discussed by conservatives. But they love covering Trump because even when he isn’t saying something to offend someone, he gives them an excuse to ignore the issues.

      Anonamom in reply to DaMav. | September 22, 2015 at 9:45 am

      You nailed it.

Bummer. And my #2 choice is already out of the race, so now I don’t know whom to support. Jindal, I suppose, but he’s probably the next to drop out.

    Radegunda in reply to Milhouse. | September 21, 2015 at 6:35 pm

    Trumpsters don’t want you to have an alternative to Jeb or Mr. Billionaire Blowhard.

      PhillyGuy in reply to Radegunda. | September 21, 2015 at 9:25 pm

      Well, if the other candidates run smart races on issues the plurality of the Republican voters are attracted to, then it won’t matter what the Trumpsters want, will it?

        Estragon in reply to PhillyGuy. | September 22, 2015 at 1:00 am

        Because with Trump getting 90%+ of the coverage, the messages of the lesser-known candidates don’t get out. That’s the way the media likes it. Because in a campaign of ideas, Democrats must lose. Make it about sturm und drang, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, and Democrats have a chance with media help.

It really didn’t help that CNN waited 44 minutes in the debate before asking him a question.

I’m sorry to see him gone from the race. I think he is a really decent man.

Two items which made me wary of him. When first asked about ethanol subsidies he wasn’t ready to cut them off. We don’t need to be taking a gallon of gas to make a gallon of ethanol to drive up food and fuel prices. The second was dealing with illegal immigration. Trump has tapped a vein others don’t want to go near and yet us hoi polloi want something done. Recent studies indicate violent crime, rape and murder have illegal immigrants disproportionately represented as perpetrators. Walker didn’t have a firm response ready for those questions. In the end, too squishy. Sorry Scott, better luck in Wisconsin. At least there Planned Parenthood has been defunded by the state.

We’ve not heard the last of Scott Walker. With his withdrawal, Rubio’s chances just rose. And if Rubio gets the nomination he’ll likely take Walker for VP. They are buds. I could see Cruz taking Walker as VP too.

It’s really a shame that the Republican Establishment starved Walker for funds and forced him out of the race in an attempt to narrow the field and attack the front runner. I guess when Scott said he had changed his mind and now opposed Amnesty, they saw him as dead weight and expendable.

I wish him the best back in Wisconsin, and hope the GOP Donor Class agreed to retire his debt in exchange for his parting attack on Trump.

I was a modest donor to Walker during his recalls, and would support him there again. He deserved better from the Party Elite.

    Ragspierre in reply to DaMav. | September 21, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    Since you brought up amnesty, tell us the details of T-rump’s “touch back” amnesty.

    You have the floor. Go!

    Ragspierre in reply to DaMav. | September 21, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    Waiting on your answer…

      Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | September 22, 2015 at 9:52 am

      Nonsense.

      What are the details of T-rump’s touch-back amnesty?

      Since several of you think “amnesty” in some form in other candidates (often LONG past) proposals is the sign of the anti-christ, we need to know what it is that T-rump proposes and how that’s any different.

      Or is it…like so much else…just something your blinding yourselves to because he’s so dreamy?

        Henry Hawkins in reply to Ragspierre. | September 22, 2015 at 10:45 am

        Trump’s ‘touchback’ plan (actually, it’s the Democrats plan – they wrote it and first introduced it in congress) is very, very, very tough, just like Trump, who is so tough nobody can believe how tough he is. Trump’s touchback plan requires illegal immigrants in the US return to their home countries, obtain a visa, and come right on back to America. That’s right, Trump’s plan is to make illegals go get permission slips to be in America from their mommies.

        I’m all for fixing the illegal immigration problem, but Trump’s plan is brutal to the point of being sadistic. I mean, they have to go home and get paperwork before they can come back to stay. It’s just downright tough. I can’t support it. Hey, I wonder if Trump realizes that Mexico will simply set up visa mills along our border? No matter. He’d fix that too, push them a good mile outside the border, maybe more.

        Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | September 22, 2015 at 11:27 am

        I appreciate your attempt, Henry, but it isn’t enough and it is mistaken in at least one significant way.

        Visas are not issued by anybody but the host nation. Mexico only issue visas permitting entry into Mexico.

        Since several here think that T-rump has a “detailed plan” (which is delusional on both their part and on T-rump’s), they should be able to detail the details here spit-spot.

        Strangely, no responses…

          Henry Hawkins in reply to Ragspierre. | September 22, 2015 at 4:49 pm

          I never got a response to my question about the ugly Trump quote except one that was just ad hominem against me as the messenger.

        “Nonsense.”

        Handwave.

        Is it your considered opinion, that Trump is going to deport these people and then let them all back in, issuing visa’s?

        The reason no one will give you an answer is because it’s BS. No reason to get your panties all bunched up over the fact the Trump says they can go through the legal immigration process. That is all there is to it. They can do that now.

          Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | September 23, 2015 at 6:57 am

          No, Barry. No “hand-wave”, and your’s is no answer, any more than “Eisenhower”.

          And, as a matter of fact, under current law, anyone here illegally cannot apply for legal status for ten years (last I checked) AFTER they return home.

          So you’re the BS artist here, and you can’t answer the question. There IS a T-rump “touch back” amnesty plan, it isn’t current law, and you have no flucking idea what it entails…like all the other T-rump cultists. But anyone else who’s EVER uttered the word “amnesty” in the last 10 years is an enemy.

          Barry in reply to Barry. | September 23, 2015 at 10:04 am

          “And, as a matter of fact, under current law, anyone here illegally cannot apply for legal status for ten years (last I checked) AFTER they return home.”

          Then that’s the law and that’s your answer. Trump cannot change the law, that requires congress.

          I was not aware it was 10 years.

          “nonsense” is a “handwave”

          As for your contention that trump is like all the rest, “because amnesty”, he’s the only one that makes a credible case that he will: 1. stop the border crossings, 2. deport the criminals, 3. deport the rest.

          It certainly isn’t possible to deport 15K per day, but one can try. Ask Ike.

          That is more than you get from any other candidate, and that is why trump is leading in the polls.

          Ragspierre in reply to Barry. | September 23, 2015 at 10:29 am

          I asked you a question. You responded with a non-sequitur about Ike. Declaring that to be nonsense is not a “hand-wave” because your cite was not an argument, much less an answer to my question.

          All you’ve given me here is a declaration of your blind faith, and STILL not addressed my question. You’ll find it clearly stated, so I won’t repeat it.

BIDEN IN 2016:

“GROPE AND CHANGE!”

    lol!

      PhillyGuy in reply to DaMav. | September 21, 2015 at 9:27 pm

      Someone downvoted you for typing “lol?” Rough crowd.

        Hilarious, isn’t it.

        I’ve been branded with the dread Mark of Trump, even though Cruz is my first choice.

        Dare I? — “lol”

          Henry Hawkins in reply to DaMav. | September 22, 2015 at 10:49 am

          All it takes is one person willing to down vote another on their home desktop, their laptop, their work desktop, their work laptop, their spouse’s desktop and laptop, and from any other available computer, seen by the software as different ‘people’. We assume one person/one vote, but I could up/down vote anyone six times just with the devices in my home.

TrumpoPhobes Demand an End to Male Pattern Baldness

District of Columbia — Leaders of the recently formed Washington Chapter of MBT (Must Blame Trump) demanded Donald Trump shave his head and apologize for male pattern baldness. Trump has been held responsible for the condition on the MBT Website in an “Official List of Stuff that is Trump’s Fault!”.

“This is as egregious as Trump forcing people not to give more money to Scott Walker” said MBT officials, speaking before a sparse crowd at DuPont Circle. “Or him using his billions to make it rain at Little League games. Or to deliberately put runners in stockings.”

MBT vowed to continue the struggle by continually hurling insults at Trump supporters and using the dreaded power of the downvote to punish heretics.

Dear God, and we still have another silly season (August) to go before the actual election.

I began to lose interest in Walker due to his timid response to the abuse of his supporters by the John Doe investigators in Wisconsin. He should have been pounding the table but he kept silent until the WSC closed the investigation down, then only made a few comments of mild disapproval. For a long time I assumed he was being held back by a gag order. Turns out that he wasn’t. That’s not the kind of leadership I’m looking for at this time.

Scott Walker walked out after a string of missteps & as a result, donors pulled his campaign ATM card. It had little to do with Trump.

It happens.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/09/22/here-we-go-again-trumps-feud-with-fox-news-and-megyn-kelly-reignites/

Just curious here…

How is T-rump’s call to boycott FOX different than the Collectivist’s call to boycott Rush?

Ever hear anything…ANY-THING…of the kind from Walker? Cruz?

Note the totalitarian urge exposed here.

Heh…!!!

Walker also dropped another nugget when he got out of the race.

A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice died

more details at

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-n-patrick-crooks-dies-b99581412z1-328560641.html