Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is back in the news, following a prosecutor’s allegations that Walker was at the center of a “criminal scheme" to bypass state election laws, by illegally coordinating spending between conservative groups and his campaign in 2012. Is the former GOP star in free fall?
One thing’s for sure, it’s not pretty.
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The scandal-ridden governor can take heart that judges have found the “John Doe” investigation that’s dogged him for years to be without merit, and this revelation of criminal goings on may come to naught, if it’s tossed out on a technicality. There may be some legal doubt as to whether these groups “expressly” advocated for Walker.
But, as Digby writes, the whole thing looks sleazy to voters, and may leave a political stink on Walker worse than limburger, that he won’t be able to shake in time to hold on to his office. Never mind any now-distant hopes for 2016.
The bad news about Walker comes on the heels of ominous news about the GOP’s other great hope for 2016, New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Christie may be assuring donors that the scandal surrounding him is “over and done,” but an Esquire report suggests that U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman is talking to Christie confidants about all New Jersey scandals — Bridgegate and beyond — and may even be close to an indictment.
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No wonder the GOP is down to pinning its 2016 hopes on Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. Here’s the best of the worst in wingnuttery this week.
- Turn the volume on your "unmitigated gall meter"way down for this one. Former vice president Dick Cheney, and his failed Senate candidate of a daughter wrote in Wall Street Journal editorial criticizing President Obama on foreign policy, "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many." Well, we did warn you.
- Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, of all people, wouldn't let Cheney off that easily. During an interview, Kelly asked Cheney, "Time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well in Iraq, sir. ... Now, with almost a trillion dollars spent there, with almost 4,500 American lives lost there, what do you say to those who say you were so wrong about so much at the expense of so many?"
- Glenn Beck finally admitted that opponents of the Iraq war were right that the war in Iraq was a bad idea "from the beginning," but only because, “You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else, it doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.”
- The RNC put some poor intern in a squirrel costume, and sent them out to rattle Hillary Clinton at a promotional event for her new book. Needless to say, it didn't work.
- WorldNet Daily columnist Burt Prelutsky is pretty sure that President Obama is not the anti-christ. He’s the anti-Moses. Glad we got that cleared up.
- Prelutsky may say Obama's not the anti-christ, but Religious leaders Jerry Boykin and Richard Land agreed that President Obama is, "a judgment of God on the United States."
- Outraged by the U.S. Patent Office's decision to revoke the trademark for the name of Washington DC's professional football team, Redstate founder Erick Erickson fulminated that those responsible were "a threat to freedom," "a bunch of overeducated white guys who cry during Love Actually," and "a class of men who pee sitting down."
- It looks like conservative columnist George Will can enjoy a “privileged” victim status of his own, now that a major news outlet has dropped Will’s column, after Will wrote that anti-rape activists on college campuses have made “victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges," giving young women an incentive to lie about sexual assault. Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune revealed that it declined to run Will’s campus rape editorial.
- It's come to this. Fox News brought in NFL football analyst and former quarterback Terry Bradshaw — Terry Bradshaw to do Benghazi analysis. Can we finally declare this issue officially dead?
- A Heritage Foundation panel discussion on Benghazi devolved in to a xenophobic freakshow, when Saba Ahmed, an American University law student, challenged the panel’s portrayal of Muslims. Panelist Brigitte Gabriel of a group called ACT! for America claimed that “180 million to 300 million” Muslims are “dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization,” and said that “thepeaceful majority were irrelevant.” Once Gabriel launched into a Hitler comparison, things went even further downhill.
- To add insult to injury, Fox host Sean Hannity continued the attack on Saba Ahmed, and Bridgette Gabriel smeared Ahmed in a fundraising email.
- In an interview with Truenews host Rick Wiles, former congressman Allen West claimed that President Obama is "secretly aiding the rise of an Islamic caliphate," because he, "has an eastern orientation, not a western civilization orientation."
- West also demoted Benghazi suspect Ahmed Abu Khatalla from "a ringleader of the attack" six months ago, to "the Obama administration's fall guy," after Khatalla's "wag the dog" arrest.
- A Fox News panel suggested that Khatalla's capture was really a well-timed conspiracy by Hillary Clinton, ignoring months of planning leading up to Khatalla's arrest.
- Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is calling on his viewers to boycott Mexico, because "Mexico is not our friend," is allegedly allowing human trafficking in to the U.S., and the Mexican president is "giving us the middle finger" over the case of a Marine jailed for entering the country with three firearms. The Mexico boycott promises to be as successful as O’Reilly’s 2003-2007 boycott of France.
- Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh was kicked off his own radio show for saying the n-word.
