Does Mark Green Even Know What Mark Green Thinks?

Spivak and Bice are reporting today about an interview that Mark Green had on Wisconsin Public Television. The interview was with Frederica Freyburg, host of the program "Here and Now" (The transcript itself is not up yet, but you can go HERE to find it when they do get it up).

In the interview Ms Freyburg asked Mark Green if he is elected governor, would he pardon the recently sentenced Scott Jenson. Green's eloquent response to the question? Uh, er, ahhhh, well ah,hmm...."good lord."

Spivak and Bice then contacted Governor Jim Doyle's people and decided to ask the same question. Would Governor Doyle pardon any of the Democrats that have been convicted for political corruption and the like? The answer? "Absolutely not," according to Spivak and Bice.

Does Mark Green really need that much coaching to give a straight forward answer? Given that Jenson had just been convicted in a very high profile case across the state and given that he used to work closely with Jensen when he was in the state Legislature, shouldn't he have expected such a question? Perhaps more importantly, shouldn't Mark Green know what Mark Green is supposed to think?

This seems to confirm my own personal view that Mark Green is a puppet for his party. They didn't tell him what to think or do in that situation yet, he didn't get the marching orders from HQ. How the hell should he know what to say on this issue?

Even after the embarrassing episode, Green's second shot at the question was through Mark Graul, his campaign manager. Perhaps he could answer the question for Mark Green with a bit more skill. This from Spivak and Bice:

Figuring that maybe Green may have more to say on the question, we called his campaign manager, Mark Graul.

Graul, who has been a Green aide for years, said his boss was simply caught by surprise by Freyberg - who, as a public TV type, isn't known for doing Geraldo-style ambush interviews.
"The 'Oh, good Lord' part - it was the night before Mark Green was going to receive the endorsement of his party," Graul said, explaining that his guy was primed for big-picture questions about taxes and job creation. "The first question from public TV was, 'Would he pardon Scott Jensen?' He was surprised."

OK, that was then - this is now. Let us try it again: If elected, would Green give Scooter a "Get Out of Jail Free" card?

Graul could have pointed us to the state pardon rules, which require a felon to serve his time and then wait five years before applying for a pardon, a regulation that could be waived by the governor or his appointed chairman of the Pardon Advisory Board.

Nope, Graul opted to be as evasive as the candidate.

It appears that Mark Green looks more like George W. Bush everyday. If it's not scripted, then I'm not answering. Poor fella, maybe he doesn't even know the answer. Is that really the kind of governor that we want?

Ah, well, er, hmm, uh, good lord...NO?