Forward

New Visit from Prez Brings New Flip-Flop from Walker?

Anyone that has been paying attention to Scott Walker for any length of time knows that he will say and do anything to feed his personal political ambitions. So it should be no surprise that Walker is in a continual state of flip-floppiness. Just a few examples: against the stimulus but still relies on it to close the gaping holes in his budget, pretends to be concerned about the AZ immigration law but changes course 24 hours later, has been both for and against concealed-carry, was against building a new mental health facility but after his mismanagement of BHD was repeatedly exposed he now has agreed to a new facility. The list goes on and on and on. Now a new visit from President Obama seems to have brought with it another case of Walker flip-flops.

Just a few weeks ago when the President was in town, Scott Walker ran an ad and held an event calling for the shifting of money designated for high speed rail to roads instead (even though he knows that this is not possible). On Monday the President came back to town to announce a $50 billion additional investment in our country's infrastructure. This includes additional funding for roads. In fact the initial spending would involve improving 150,000 miles of roads.

In typical knee-jerk fashion, Walker attacked the president for his new proposed investment in our nation's infrastructure. So let me see if I am understanding this correctly...

During the President's August visit Walker said, "I'd rather take that (federal) money and fix Wisconsin's crumbling roads and bridges."

But during the President's visit on Monday (only weeks later)Walker attacked the President because he wants to invest in the fixing of Wisconsin's roads and bridges?

What gives? Am I missing something in translation or did the new visit from President Obama cause a new flip-flop from Scott Walker? So does he want a federal investment in our local roads and bridges or doesn't he?

Speaking of Taxes...Don't Forget these Credits/Cuts

The President highlights many of the tax cuts and credits that were made available in the stimulus bill (there are more than a dozen) and reminds working families to take full advantage of them. He also points to some of the tax cuts/credits that we can look forward to because of the passing of health care reform.

The White House also offers this handy dandy Tax Savings Tool.

Who is Cutting Medicare?

This chart from Paul Krugman shows that over the next decade the President's proposed budget would spend more on Medicare than Paul Ryan's "roadmap". Yet Republicans get away with attacking the President for supposedly trying to slash Medicare.


ht: Daily Kos

In Critical Condition, Walker Should Beg for Reform

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker sent out a message on his Twitter account before the President gave his State of the Union address last night. In his latest substance-free tweet, Walker asks:

"Will the President dump Obamacare tonight? Other predictions?"

Given the critical state of Milwaukee County under Scott Walker's dreadful eight years, he should be open to just about anything that would change the dysfunctional status quo. The Public Policy Forum's recent report reveals many things about the administration of Milwaukee County, and none of them are good. One thing that is highlighted as a major problem is the ever escalating costs of health care. Milwaukee County has many areas of dysfunction and problems that are totally unique, but ever increasing health care costs are not among them. That has been a major problem for individuals, small and large businesses, and units of government on all levels. Gee, maybe that is why the President has been trying to lead on that issue at the expense of his own poll numbers. A concept that I don't expect someone like Walker to understand.

If the government that you are leading is being strangled by the health care industry, one would think that you would be fighting for reform rather than sniping on the sidelines with the latest bumper sticker slogan. But then again, I did say if you were "leading" and we all know that the only place that Scott Walker is willing to lead is (himself) to higher office. He is perfectly willing to leave Milwaukee County in a ditch if he thinks it will help him get one extra vote. If he really cared about the fact that he has left Milwaukee County in critical condition, he would be begging for health care reform right now, not feeding the obstruction of it.

Debunking Myths and the Cost of Inaction

Who Do You Trust?

There has been much talk in recent days about the President's poll numbers slipping slightly. That is no surprise because he did inherit the worst economy since the Great Depression and is trying to take bold action to solve the problems left over from the Bush train wreck. Even with the very slight dip in these recent polls, those same polls indicate that the public trusts the President across the board to deal with all of the main issues that we face. He is still more than 20 percentage points ahead of Republicans on all of the major issues. This helpful chart from Yglesias:

How Obama Really Got Elected: The Video