The unelectable whiteness of Scott Walker

Alec MacGillis of the New Republic has an excellent piece outlining the racial politics that Scott Walker has used to further his political career, and it’s most definitely worth a read. Here’s a snippet.

That accomplishmenteffectively eliminating collective bargaining for most public employees in the state, facing down the angry protests that followed, surviving a rancorous recall electionhas vaulted Walker into the top tier of Republican presidential contenders for 2016. He is the closest person the party has to an early favorite, and not simply because of Chris Christie’s nosedive from grace or because Jeb Bush is still waffling about his intentions. Walker has implemented an impeccably conservative agenda in a state that has gone Democratic in seven straight presidential elections. Unlike Mitt Romney, or, for that matter, John McCain, he is beloved by the conservative base, but he has the mien of a mainstream candidate, not a favorite of the fringe. His boosters, who include numerous greenroom conservatives in Washington and major donors around the country, such as the Koch brothers, see him as the rare Republican who could muster broad national support without yielding a millimeter on doctrine.

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This interpretation of Walker’s appeal could hardly be more flawed. He has succeeded in the sort of environment least conducive to producing a candidate capable of winning a national majority. Over the past few decades, Walker’s home turf of metropolitan Milwaukee has developed into the most bitterly divided political ground in the country“the most polarized part of a polarized state in a polarized nation,” as a recent series by Craig Gilbert in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put it. Thanks to a quirk of twentieth-century history, the region encompasses a heavily Democratic and African American urban center, and suburbs that are far more uniformly white and Republican than those in any other Northern city, with a moat of resentment running between the two zones. As a result, the area has given rise to some of the most worrisome trends in American political life in supercharged form: profound racial inequality, extreme political segregation, a parallel-universe news media. These trends predate Walker, but they have enabled his ascent, and his tenure in government has only served to intensify them. Anyone who believes that he is the Republican to save his partylet alone win a presidential electionneeds to understand the toxic and ruptured landscape he will leave behind.

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19 thoughts on “The unelectable whiteness of Scott Walker

  1. That article is an absolute must-read, and the screeching comments from the righties shows it has hit the mark. As someone who graduated from the same HS as Walker’s kids, I think the connection between racism and the 262’s Republicanism to be spot on.

    It also shows that Walker and SykesBelling are working together and use one another to gain power and influence. The fact that our media refuses to call out this failing, divisive and destructive mentality and its lies shows how paid off they are. And they must be held accountable every bit as much as Scotty has been.

    And if the DPW had any guts, any time SykesBelling race baits and inflames with lies, they should tell people that they are speaking for Walker. Because this article shows that they are.

    1. Belling and Sykes need to be held accountable for what? For talking on the radio, voicing their opinions and reporting on events? They have no more power than anyone, all they can tell you is to go out and vote. So because they are on the right they need to be shut down? The fact that you think this is an “article” reporting on any facts is telling. It was a piece that had a conclusion before it was written.

      1. They need to be held responsible for their lies and inflammatory disgusting act. TMJ and 1130 and their advertisers can decide if they wish to be associated with such garbage, but it is absurd that no other voices other than hate radio occupy 9 hours on the air every day.

        You have the right to an opinion, you do not have the right to airtime. The fact that those propagandists are the only ones given air time is the problem.

        Stevie knows this, it just hurts his Wittle fee-wings that the game has been exposed. You don’t want to be called racist? Don’t act like one

        1. What lies? You are free to start a liberal talk radio show if it can bring in the payroll. There is one out of Madison. The problem with liberal talk radio is it fails because it is not interesting and does not bring in the advertising dollars. The economy of it fails every time.

          No one is forced to listen to Belling or Sykes or anyone else. You’re just whining and trying to denigrate the other side with false accusations, slander and lies.

          1. I’m not free to start an over-the-air radio station. There are a limited amount if frequencies by law, and then I’d need to have huge bank to get the project off the ground. I’m not Clear Channel or JournalComm.

            Please try again with another lame flail.

            1. Yet again John you never seem to miss the mark more than the worst shooter at the range.

      2. From the right-wing KING of copy and paste with no balls or original thought, unwilling or at minimum unable to respond to facts, the registered persona here whose online alias is still allowed to post comments at BB, give me a radio station and a fat salary and tell me what you want me to say, of course they have no more power than any other sell-out for personal financial gain.

        Tell us please, mr steve, (lower case intentional) who is paying you to be such a continual troll?

        1. Nice list of personal attacks, stay classy.

          Paid? Why are liberals always against jobs.

          1. Nothing against fuller employment myself, but I’m not sure what liberals might think about jobs, I couldn’t confirm a sighting of one if he or she was standing in front of me, but thanks for confirming that you are paid to disrupt blogs.

            I recited the truth about you and/or the group of people contributing under a this single alias. Thanks for proving again, my previous comment to and about you. Hurt fee-fees just like Eric O’Keefe? We’ll be watching for the law suit to force silence and to stop anyone from telling the truth, which “infringes,” on your right to free exclusive speech.

            1. More proof liberals are against jobs. It’s just sad, especially when you try and blame someone else for your failures.

  2. A hit piece with no proof or basic journalism is hardly an article. More copy and paste slander from the left.

    1. Are you or are you merely speaking of or referring to Christian Schneider? LOL!!!

    2. Actually, it’s not slander; if anything it would be libel. There’s a difference, not that I’d expect you to know.

      And did you read the entire article? If you had you’d know it was chock full of facts and basic journalism.

      1. Facts, sure…

        ►So often did he call in to Belling’s show—to chat on air or to spin the host during a commercial break—that he had access to an emergency-only phone line to the studio that was off- limits to station employees, even for calls to family. “It was essentially the ‘zombies are rising’ line,” says Terry, the former WISN employee.◄

        This phone line doesn’t exist.

        1. And you know the phone line doesn’t exist because you are…..??!

          This isn’t 620 or 1130. You can’t just throw garbage against the wall because you want to believe it, kid.

          1. Cute, you really believed they set up a phone line just for this. Lol. And the rest is ALL true because some all white paper said it was. lOl.

  3. Long ago, I classified Walker as a “zealot.” The dictionary defines “zealot” as fanatical, radical, extremist, all of which suggests someone who is uncompromising in their principles. Many saints in a sense were zealots as were also many evil dictators. The difference between the two, saint vs. zealot, is a false conscience.

    Walker is in the latter category. His conscience falsely concludes that the end justifies the means. Lying or deceiving is acceptable as long as it achieve Walker’s politics. Walker allows that there is extensive voter fraud in Democratic districts, especially the poor which do not vote Republican and signs legislation to make it difficult to vote. Walker denies a Medicare extension even though it results in a denial of or is problematic in obtaining health care to tens of thousands of poor Wisconsin citizens even to the extreme of causing death. Thus, his extreme conservative principles are satisfied by his false conscience.

    And on and on; Walker’s moral blindness is justified by zealously placing his political principles above the harm to the common good or humanity.

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