Gov. Scott Walker’s unwillingness (or inability) to give a straight, honest answer in response to direct questions asked regarding hot-button issues has become legendary here in Wisconsin. Whether the issue is right to work legislation, the Menominee tribe’s proposed $800 million casino in Kenosha, or any number of other issues, Gov. Walker has tried avoid taking any positions that would hurt his chances of furthering his own ambitions.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise Gov. Walker is refusing to give a straight answer on his stance on same sex marriage.
Eight months ago at a press conference in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Scott Walker had a hard time answering an easy question. Daniel Bice reported for Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel that when the Wisconsin governor was asked about his stance on same-sex marriage, his responses left attendees confused.
“It really doesn’t matter what I think now,” Walker said, apparently referring to the fact that a district court judge had recently thrown out the state’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. “It’s in the Constitution.”
Pressed to elaborate, he said, “I don’t comment on everything out there.”
Asked if he was reconsidering his stance on the issue, he said, “No. I’m just not stating one at all.”
Keep in mind that just as Gov. Walker didn’t comment on same sex marriage, he also didn’t comment when his surrogate Rudy Giuliani viciously questioned President Barack Obama’s love of this country, but he sure did comment when he compared schoolteachers and children protesting in Wisconsin to the terrorists of ISIS.
The fact is, Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t the vaguest understanding of what it means to be a real leader, because real leaders don’t shy away from making their voice heard on issues that matter.
As a gay man in a 15-year relationship I find Walker loathsome when it comes to this issue. But if I can place my objective political hat on–or try to concerning this matter–what Walker is saying regarding this issue, while being cute by half, is staying on message and allowing for the main themes he wants to highlight to be the headline makers and not the assorted other issues that he wants to sidestep. Younger voters and urban voters are more in line with my thinking and for Walker to venture into a debate over something that is or will be settled by a court decision makes no sense for his White House bid. While I think it important to know a candidate’s mindset on a variety of issues political handlers will choose whatever works best for the playbook they need to use to win.
As I have suggested in a state newspaper, Walker is a “chronic and habitual liar.”
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/mailbag/duane-dubey-evidence-of-scott-walker-s-habitual-lying-is/article_5e86ab39-bfa4-53a6-a346-f1727d518bb3.html
He is a master doing so in a variety of ways, one being telling a “half truth’ which some declare to be the largest of all lies.
When the national press ends its shallow evaluations and begins to dig deeper into the Wisconsin “old news” of Walkers history of prevarication and failures, the nation will be more fully or accurately informed.