Scott Walker’s Slithering Snakes: A Roundup

A year ago, Cory Liebmann likened Scott Walker’s gimmickry on a range of issues, notably his brown bag campaign, to a salesman selling snake oil (to this day, Walker’s campaign has an iPhone app yet no detailed economic plan for the state). Now, in a year the tea party promised right-wing establishment reform, I’m a bit surprised to see George W. Bush-Republican snakes slithering around our state, hosting high-dollar fundraisers for the snake oil salesman himself, Scott Walker.

Karl Rove
Rove needs no introduction, except to say that he’s the snakiest snake of them all. He’s been pulling for Scott Walker since his run for Milwaukee County Executive (and we all know how that’s going). In a visit to our state, Rove said of Walker’s election county executive victory:
 

“[Walker] doesn’t know this but that night we had people in Washington … lights were burning late as they monitored the outcome of the race… It was great victory. I would like to think it’s due to the fact that we trained him as being Bush county chairman.”

[AP, 5/3/2002]

Eight years later, Republican Party of Wisconsin chair Reince Priebus was “honored” to have Rove as a featured speaker (and fundraiser) at the RPW Convention which nominated Walker.

Paul Ryan & Jim Sensenbrenner
If you want to blame somebody for our nation’s huge deficit, look no further than Wisconsin U.S. Reps Paul Ryan & Jim Sensenbrenner.  This pair of slithering snakes are among the biggest George W. Bush rubber stamps the nation has to offer, having voted for both major Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy – the largest contributor to the U.S. debt. Noted economist Paul Krugman recently even called Paul Ryan a “The Flimflam Man” for his deceptive rhetoric on U.S. debt.

The slippery duo endorsed Walker in early August. (Musta been enamored by Walker’s tax cuts for the rich and expected budget deficit.)

Newt Gingrich
Newt isn’t quite a snake of the George W. Bush era,* but he’s a slithering part of the right-wing establishment nonetheless. Gingrich was among the first to slither into Wisconsin to fundraiser for Walker. And when he’s not making videos telling people to “Drill Here, Drill Now” he is sure to namedrop Scott Walker on national TV.

* Just prior to Bush coming into office, Gingrich had resigned after shifting serious policy discourse to Bill Clinton’s marital transgressions while Gingrich himself was cheating on his second wife – whom he had cheated with during his first marriage. The GOP had unprecedented losses in 1998, for which Gingrich was often blamed.

Haley Barbour & Tom Ridge
Regular folks in Wisconsin probably don’t know well the name Haley Barbour (unless of course they’re Hurricane Katrina displaced residents from Mississippi). Besides presiding over a state with an 11% unemployment rate, the highest rate of obesity, and a third place ranking in the amount of federal money per capita, the Governor of Mississippi is notorious for downplaying the recent oil spill disaster (much like BP CEO Tony Hayward).

Barbour (R-BP) endorsed Walker in August along with Tom Ridge, the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Secretary.

Mark Green
Like Ryan and Sensenbrenner, Mark Green was a rubber stamp for George W. Bush, and makes the list of slippery GOPers who voted for the debt-expanding Bush Tax Cuts and Iraq War who are now hypocritically endorsing Scott Walker’s message of less spending, less taxes.

Jeb Bush
The Brother of W. and former Republican Governor of Florida during his brother’s election fiasco probably doesn’t need much of an introduction either. Bush stumped and hosted a fundraiser for Walker in May.

There you have it: a roundup of right-wing establishment ssslithering sssnakes stumping for snake oil salesman Ssscott Walker and his debt-increasing tax cuts for the rich. Ironically, it’s the tea party that carries the Gadsden flag.

(In turn, Scott Walker did his share of stumping for George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004. More on that here.)