They Make Quite The Team (Walker and Bush, that is)
Scott Walker and the rest of the tax-cuts-for-the-rich crowd are making all sorts of political comparisons these days (see a recent Walker blog post). Funny, because for a time Scott Walker liked to compare himself to champion of the uber-wealthy, George W. Bush.
Scott Walker, you may remember, was a co-chair of George W. Bush’s campaign for President in 2000 and 2004. After jumping the Dole ship to join Team George W. Bush, Walker said:
“I am thrilled to join the growing number of Bush supporters in Wisconsin and across the U.S,” said Walker. “I am convinced that Gov. Bush’s compassionate conservative message will resonate with Dole supporters.”
[George Bush, Press Release, 10/21/1999]
And Walker was seemingly proud to be counted among George W. Bush’s base in 2000:
“People are much more enthusiastic and revved up on the side of George Bush, and that’s what this election is going to be about: whose base is most revved up.
[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/31/2000]
Of course Bush lost Wisconsin, and the national popular vote in 2000, but at least he had Walker in his corner. And here, check out his snippet from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2002:
Milwaukee County executive-elect Scott Walker also took the podium, calling for change in the status quo of county government. He also referred teasingly to the middle initial in George W. Bush’s name. ‘These days in Milwaukee County, I remind Karl [Rove], the W stands for Walker,’ he said.
HILARIOUS SCOTT! HILARIOUS!
But this was no one way relationship. Oh no. After being elected Milwaukee County Executive, evilperson Karl Rove had his own theory as to why Walker was elected County Executive:
“He doesn’t know this but that night we had people in Washington … lights were burning late as they monitored the outcome of the race,” he said. “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]
Dubya himself said of Walker:
“I want to thank Scott Walker. I call him ‘cousin.’ After all, I’m George Walker Bush. [Laughter] At least I call him ‘cousin’ so long as he’s doing a good job. [Laughter] And they tell me he’s doing a fine job. Scott, thank you for taking on a very important assignment as the Milwaukee county executive. And we wish you all the best.”[Presidential Documents, 8/19/2002]
There’s even some photographic evidence of Walker’s enthusiasm for George W. Bush. Here’s Scott walker and wife Tonette at a Bush campaign event in 2004. (I bet they met afterwards to talk about how tax cuts for the rich and big business tax loopholes are a good idea.)
Tee hee. And here’s another picture of the two after Bush made a trip to Milwaukee.
But Team Walker must have wised up somewhere along the line and decided that comparing yourself to the fifth worst president in American history maybe ain’t such a good idea. From the screenshot below of Walker’s campaign website, as archived by the Wayback Machine, you can see that the image of Bush and Walker has disappeared, but other, non-incriminating images have remained.
So there you have it.
Compare away Team Walker, but remember, your tax cuts for the rich and big business sound awfully familiar. Maybe that’s why the Republican Party of Wisconsin nominated you for governor on the anniversary of the passage of said tax cuts (“Wisconsin GOP Votes for Walker’s Bush-Style Tax Cuts on Anniversary of Passage of Bush Tax Cuts”).
For more information on Scott Walker’s Bush-like failed leadership and mismanagement, please visit ScottwalkerfailureFiles.com.