Sykes' Operatic Dissonance

From xoff:

For a guy who's married to a former opera singer, right-wing radio's Charlie Sykes sure had some nasty things to say about the money in the state budget to help preserve the Oshkosh Opera House:

No money to catch child molesters, but cash for an opera house in Oshkosh. How’s that going to look on a bumper sticker next year?

Can't wait to see how Sykes squares that with the revelation that anti-stimulus Senate candidate Ron Johnson wanted to get stimulus money for that same opera house.

Will Sykes try to help him weasel out of it, as usual, or ignore it completely?

Local Right Wing Columnist Bashes Right Wing Candidate

PaddyMac, who has long carried water for Scott Walker, perpetual candidate for governor, must have gotten tired of all of Walker's flip flops.

In a blog post from earlier today, Paddy points out how terrible it is to use tax dollars instead of just paying for them for no gain. He compares using stimulus money as that of getting hooked on drugs and being used by the dealer.

Well, if he feels that strongly about it, I can't wait for his post about the evil Scott Walker, who has stimulus needle tracks on both arms.

Irony, Thy Name Is Scott

The twittering candidate, taking a break from declaring his redundancy, heads to the airport for the presser for the Airbus380, one of the most impressive and newest passenger liners in the world.





Do you suppose he went to stand up against the government stimulus that made its launch possible? Nah. me either.

BTW, it's a good thing that Milwaukee County doesn't need a county government or Scott wouldn't be able to take time off to shake hands in Oshkosh on a Monday.

PS: Where does he get off calling it "Our" airport? Hasn't he tried to sell it off to everybody but Bernie Madoff and P-Diddy?

Belling joins the chorus

Mark Belling joins the wingnut echo chamber in the defense of Scott Walker's indefensible position against taking any of the federal stimulus money for Milwaukee County -- a position since modified several times by Walker.

Belling, frothing at the mouth as usual:

It is terribly obvious the Obama plan will put fortunes in the hands of poverty pimps, political hustlers, grubby contractors and anybody else with a political pal. Write book, here’s a million dollars... Local taxpayers will have to match the federal loot with money of their own. Programs started now with the federal stimulus will have to be fully funded with local money when the stimulus checks dry up.

Walker is saying he’ll only take money that requires no local match and no local operating costs. I haven’t found a single other politician in Wisconsin recognizing that the federal stimulus money will create massive new local spending.

As others not infected by right-wing rabies have noted, the Obama plan that so "obviously" will do all of the things Belling hates hasn't even been written yet. The Poverty Pimps appropriation hasn't even been earmarked. Nor has a local match been specified.

But Scott Walker is far from the only politician recognizing that some local tax money will also have to be spent as part of the stimulus. What many of them have said, however, is that a 20% county match (if that's what it ends up being) is far preferable to a 100% county-financed project, which is the likely, eventual alternative for a lot of much-needed projects. That, and the fact that Milwaukee County taxpayers will pay their share of stimulus costs whether their county accepts any money or not, is why Walker looks like a minority of one on his ill-considered stand.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Hey, Mr. Conservative!

You say you've said something really stupid, climbed way out on a limb that's gonna crack any minute, alienated even some of your strongest allies, are catching hell from all sides, and can't imagine what to do about it except try to peel back your indefensible position a little at a time?

Is that what's troubling you?

Well, not to worry, Buster. You've got a friend.

Her name is Jessica McBride (Surprise!), and she sees nothing wrong with Scott Walker's statement that his county is not interest in any of that stinking federal stimulus money.

Says McBride:

(Walker) isn’t seeking a federal bailout (wouldn’t it be good if other "CEOs" were saying that?). He recognizes that the federal money President-elect Obama wants to shovel to states (and counties) for infrastructure and other projects isn’t "free money;" it’s borrowed money that taxpayers will have to pay for. The Milwaukee County Executive also notes that most federal grants, especially for transportation, require local spending matches.

Two Republican governors question the stimulus package (which she insists on calling a bailout), McBride says in Walker's defense. What's more:

Walker also told the media he’d consider on a "case-by-case" basis whether to accept any of the federal money. That nuance must not make a sexy newspaper headline.

Actually, he didn't say that initially, when he spouted off and set off the whole controversy. That came only as part of his back-pedaling, after even folks like Tim Sheehy of the Milwaukee business lobby more or less said Walker was full of shit himself.

McBride seems to have missed the fact that there will be a federal stimulus package, a big one, whether Walker supports it or not. And Milwaukee County taxpayers will pay their share of it, over time, whether Milwaukee County gets any of the money or not. This is not rocket science. Walker went to college longer than I did before dropping out, so he must have at least had Econ 101.

I called him Herbert Hoover Walker in a recent post, but McBride claims Hoover was really a big deficit spender. Actually, although he did take some action to try to stave off the coming Depression, here's how a historical reference site describes what Hoover did next:

As the Depression became worse, however, calls grew for more radical measures involving increased Federal intervention and spending. But Hoover refused, adhering strongly to his principles.

What makes that amusing is that Walker's reason for his action, and his defense for his irrationality, is that he's sticking to his principles.

Herbert Hoover, move over.

One more thought: When is McBride going to start the campaign to get her friend Dan Vrakas, the Waukesha County exec, to follow Walker's principled lead? McBride's home county certainly needs a stimulus a lot less than Milwaukee County does.