I don't think this is actually that scandalous, but during the conversation there were some questionable things said by the Wisconsin Governor. I basically just think its funny that the Governor fell for it. It also think it is interesting to compare this to some of the "scandals" highlighted by Fox News and right-wing news outlets like "climategate," the ACORN thing, and the supposed Planned Parenthood sting. While MSNBC has been blowing this story up, it has not reached nearly the level that those scandals did.
14 comments:
Which part is the scandal?
I find it much more scandalous that Senators fled the state so that they did not have to vote than Walker trying to "lure" them back to do their job.
He did admit that he had already thought about sending 'troublemakers'/goons into the crowds to... make trouble for the protesters. Not exactly high level corruption or anything like that, but it doesn't reflect too well on the governor, either.
Compared to what I'm sure the blogger was hoping for, it's mostly a non-story. The obsession on the Koch brothers is starting to go a little overboard.
The fleeing I think is just their version of a fillibuster and the tactic was used by Abraham Lincoln while he was in the Illinois legislature. The scandal part is that the governor talks about thinking of "sending trouble makers in" and bringing out his baseball bat. The fact that he answered the phone when he was supposedly extremely hard to reach is also somewhat scandalous again, maybe in that it just shows how much access big donors can get. Again, I don't think this is a big deal but neither were the scandals highlighted extensively by Fox News and right-wing bloggers.
Wait, you find it more scandalous that the minority portion of a legislative body might try to obstruct a piece of legislation they don't like?
http://newsjunkiepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Cloture-Invoked3Final.png
Power Line's take:
"One of today's fronts in the Left's war on Charles and David Koch, not to mention Governor Scott Walker and the conservative movement generally, was a hoax call that a liberal blogger made to Governor Walker. The hoaxer introduced himself as David Koch, and, after holding for a considerable time, was put through to the governor. This was not great staff work, obviously. Liberals are crowing about this successful hoax--fine. But is there any point? Did Walker say anything embarrassing?
No. The recording is actually rather endearing. Walker comes across as a consummate wonk. The hoaxer makes only a couple of off-the-wall comments, and Walker makes none. On the contrary, Walker's reasonableness generally causes the hoaxer to be far more rational than, one suspects, is his norm. Beyond that, as Ann Althouse and others have pointed out, it is apparent from the recording that Governor Walker is not personally acquainted with David Koch, although he obviously is aware of him as a political supporter.
Here is the recorded conversation, in two ten minute segments. There is nothing in it that reflects badly on Governor Walker. It is remarkable, really, that the Left was able to eavesdrop on Walker for 20 minutes, and they only caught him being the same principled, ethical leader that we see in public."
Yeah, obsession with Koch bros is a little overboard, but it is nothing compared to right-wing obsession with George Soros, who I think is probably less involved than the Kochs are. I get a call involving George Soros atleast once a day, and he is frequently mentioned on Fox News as a shadowy liberal figure that may or may not be trying to take over the country.
Professor Eismeier, I would actually listen to some of it before putting up opinion about it. A lot of it is what he would say in public, but there is definitely some shady parts of it like what Ryan and I listed. And again, I am just trying to compare this to scandals that have made the right-wing go crazy, but have ended up being nothing.
And I just think if the tables were turned, and some conservative bloggers had the same conversation with a Democratic Governor, this would have been blown up all over Fox News as a scandal.
Yeah, but I'm not sure how far we need to take this, "But Fox News is crazy!" argument. If we're debating strictly the media coverage, yes, the Koch/Soros comparison is a good one and merits some discussion (Glenn Beck's appalling and somewhat anti-Semitic crusade against Soros deserves special mention here). But all that leads us down is the question of whether MSNBC is taking more active steps to become a true Fox News of the left in wading deeper and deeper into the paranoia game.
If we're talking strictly about what that phone call says about Governor Walker, I don't think the answer is necessarily to force ourselves to freak out about this just because we know if the tables were turned, Megyn Kelly would be getting self-righteous about it. Got to keep trying to rise above...
Yeah, fair.
Megyn Kelly is a great journalist and a great American!
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/201012/megyn-kelly-fox-news
And she is definitily sassy.
Ryan- I don't support this type of filibustering for Democrats or Republicans. Yes, I think it is more scandalous than this ridiculous non-scandal. I don't even know where I stand on the union issue, and I still think this is ridiculous.
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