Robert Meyer
Walker Derangement Syndrome reaching fever pitch
By Robert Meyer
Scott Walker got elected as governor of Wisconsin without a college degree. That has the usual purveyors of snide remarks, such as democratic provocateur, Howard Dean, questioning Walker's presidential qualifications. Funny, once upon a time the unlikely achiever was celebrated as an American success story. In Howard Dean's world, Walker is shunned because he isn't an elitist – or a liberal. In my book, Walker's decision to drop out of college only helped him to escape being immersed in the liberal hegemony that permeates contemporary higher educational environments.
On the other hand, I do have a college degree, but never got elected to anything (though I tried a few times when I was younger). So I guess that proves I'm an underachiever of the highest order. I guess higher education ain't everything.
Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold acted according to his convictions and was lauded by the media as a maverick. Walker does the same thing and gets branded as a shill for his close friends the Koch brothers. In fact, he's such good friends with them, that he couldn't tell the difference when a liberal imposter called his office pretending to be one of the brothers. That would seemingly indicate a rather dubious close friendship.
The gag never could have worked with me though – I don't have any close friends for anyone to impersonate. Being a rock, an island and a loner has certain advantages, I suppose.
Speaking of the Koch Brothers, I never knew much about them before Walker was elected the first time. These guys have been so relentlessly impugned with boilerplate diatribes, that were I not already a conservative, I'd have to assume these guys are doing something right. A little research showed that the brothers were generous philanthropists. Some people are surprised to discover that conservatives tend to be more generous with their own money than are liberals. I was never surprised by that fact. If you expect the government to do everything for everyone, you're less likely to see the need for doing anything for anyone yourself.
Of course, I could never make the cut in politics anyway. I would address issues regarding the meaningless curiosity over my opinions on the neo-Darwinian synthesis, the causes of Climate Change, Obama's religious beliefs and my educational deficiencies, along with other irrelevant issues before the questions were even asked. That way the people who are swayed by my answers could leave, and not bother wasting their time listening to the actual policy speech.
And that's the state of media vetting today. Don't bother finding out anything for sure about candidates, just single out the candidates you don't like, and ask a bunch of foolish questions that will make the candidate look bad regardless of the answer they give. Walker was smart not to take the bait. I have often suggested that fools ask questions that serve no purpose in being answered, but far from having no purpose, their questions have a nefarious purpose. The statesman Benjamin Disraeli is credited with saying that there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. In that spirit, I would submit that there and lies, damn lies, and questions designed to provoke one word answers that are misleading.
We know any innuendo about media bias is just part of a loony conspiracy theory. Of course, I have noticed that people who deny the presence of media bias are usually the ones who share the same ideology as the source of the bias. Go figure.
But, alright then, the mainstream media can demonstrate that they are fair and objective once more, by having their moderator ask all candidates participating in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Debates, to raise their hands if they believe in Biblical Creationism. On second thought, that venue may not include many participants, so perhaps any collection of assembled liberal politicians should do.
After all, the Democrats came within a whisker of dropping reference to "God" in their platform for 2012...at least until cooler heads prevailed, and they realized they had gone a bridge too far. They could have unnecessarily lost the votes of some lunchbox Joes, who though they have nothing in common with progressive ideology, still continue to vote for the donkey, because everyone "knows" the Democrats are the only party championing the little guy. My oh my, how they have feasted off that canard.
I'm not expecting Walker to be the last man standing when the smoke clears in the Republican primary. But, Walker's success could influence the audacity of the conservative platform for 2016. The longer he stays relevant in the presidential race, the more shrill and obnoxious his detractors will become. That will prove to be wonderfully entertaining.
© Robert Meyer
March 18, 2015
Scott Walker got elected as governor of Wisconsin without a college degree. That has the usual purveyors of snide remarks, such as democratic provocateur, Howard Dean, questioning Walker's presidential qualifications. Funny, once upon a time the unlikely achiever was celebrated as an American success story. In Howard Dean's world, Walker is shunned because he isn't an elitist – or a liberal. In my book, Walker's decision to drop out of college only helped him to escape being immersed in the liberal hegemony that permeates contemporary higher educational environments.
On the other hand, I do have a college degree, but never got elected to anything (though I tried a few times when I was younger). So I guess that proves I'm an underachiever of the highest order. I guess higher education ain't everything.
Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold acted according to his convictions and was lauded by the media as a maverick. Walker does the same thing and gets branded as a shill for his close friends the Koch brothers. In fact, he's such good friends with them, that he couldn't tell the difference when a liberal imposter called his office pretending to be one of the brothers. That would seemingly indicate a rather dubious close friendship.
The gag never could have worked with me though – I don't have any close friends for anyone to impersonate. Being a rock, an island and a loner has certain advantages, I suppose.
Speaking of the Koch Brothers, I never knew much about them before Walker was elected the first time. These guys have been so relentlessly impugned with boilerplate diatribes, that were I not already a conservative, I'd have to assume these guys are doing something right. A little research showed that the brothers were generous philanthropists. Some people are surprised to discover that conservatives tend to be more generous with their own money than are liberals. I was never surprised by that fact. If you expect the government to do everything for everyone, you're less likely to see the need for doing anything for anyone yourself.
Of course, I could never make the cut in politics anyway. I would address issues regarding the meaningless curiosity over my opinions on the neo-Darwinian synthesis, the causes of Climate Change, Obama's religious beliefs and my educational deficiencies, along with other irrelevant issues before the questions were even asked. That way the people who are swayed by my answers could leave, and not bother wasting their time listening to the actual policy speech.
And that's the state of media vetting today. Don't bother finding out anything for sure about candidates, just single out the candidates you don't like, and ask a bunch of foolish questions that will make the candidate look bad regardless of the answer they give. Walker was smart not to take the bait. I have often suggested that fools ask questions that serve no purpose in being answered, but far from having no purpose, their questions have a nefarious purpose. The statesman Benjamin Disraeli is credited with saying that there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. In that spirit, I would submit that there and lies, damn lies, and questions designed to provoke one word answers that are misleading.
We know any innuendo about media bias is just part of a loony conspiracy theory. Of course, I have noticed that people who deny the presence of media bias are usually the ones who share the same ideology as the source of the bias. Go figure.
But, alright then, the mainstream media can demonstrate that they are fair and objective once more, by having their moderator ask all candidates participating in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Debates, to raise their hands if they believe in Biblical Creationism. On second thought, that venue may not include many participants, so perhaps any collection of assembled liberal politicians should do.
After all, the Democrats came within a whisker of dropping reference to "God" in their platform for 2012...at least until cooler heads prevailed, and they realized they had gone a bridge too far. They could have unnecessarily lost the votes of some lunchbox Joes, who though they have nothing in common with progressive ideology, still continue to vote for the donkey, because everyone "knows" the Democrats are the only party championing the little guy. My oh my, how they have feasted off that canard.
I'm not expecting Walker to be the last man standing when the smoke clears in the Republican primary. But, Walker's success could influence the audacity of the conservative platform for 2016. The longer he stays relevant in the presidential race, the more shrill and obnoxious his detractors will become. That will prove to be wonderfully entertaining.
© Robert Meyer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
