Six Degrees of Scott Walker

One thing Bill Clinton said that is absolutely the truth: "Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line". Except, of course, in 2016.

It looks like Democrats are falling in line and willing to crown Former Secretary of State Senator First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as their party's nominee even though she has more baggage than Samsonite and she is as charismatic as concrete. 

But that doesn't matter, Clinton is a woman and would be historic and the world would fall in love with us again just like it did with President Faculty Lounge.  Oh, wait.

Over on the Republican side, just about everybody that didn't run in 2012 is running in 2016. But, so far, it is about two candidates: Former Florida Governor and Current Bush son/brother Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Currently, at this moment, right now, it looks like everybody else is way back in the pack.

The problem with Jeb Bush is his last name. Dad President Bush lost re-election to Bill Clinton, mainly because he looked at his watch during a debate. That led to eight long years of hearing about Bill Clinton's glands, which became a real drag. Brother President Bush stood tall after 9/11 but then we got into this Never-Ending War  which led to where we're at now, which is another real drag.

Jeb is kinda/sorta leading in the polls, such as they are. Polls at this time of an election cycle could best be termed as "Hey, have you heard of this guy?"  

Jeb seems smart and seems like somebody the average person could see as President. But, I don't know. I just wish he had a different last name, like Kardashian.

The only person of the rest to have made an impression is Gov. Scott Walker. He's won three elections in four years in a "blue" state and seems to be a person that could unite the factions of the Republican Party and appeal to independents.

Ahem. Not so fast.

It seems Gov Walker has stepped into one of the Democrat Party's templates about Republicans.

The templates that Democrats use on Republicans are as follows: 1) Republicans are rich and out of touch; 2) Republicans are evil; 3) Republicans are dumb.

Walker comes from a middle-class background, so you can't say he's rich. While some Democrats might say he's evil for breaking up the State Worker's Union in Wisconsin, most Americans could care less about unions or their labels.

That leaves The Dumb Template, which I wrote so brilliantly about in 2011. You can read it here: http://manisville.blogspot.com/2011/09/dumb-template.html

It seems Scott Walker does not, please hold on to your chairs because this is shocking, have a college degree. He "dropped out" of Marquette University with a year or so remaining in his degree program. To quote Jack Webb, this makes Walker: DUM de DUM DUM

This explains the fascination some have in the press with Walker's opinion on this important matter facing the country: Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The reason for this, according to Jamelle Bouie in Slate magazine, is  "evolution is a public policy issue. The foundation of modern microbiology and pathology, disbelief in evolution could lead to bad policy choices around disease control and other public health concerns. Likewise, evolution helps us understand biodiversity and helps us grasp what happens when we damage the stability of an ecosystem. Which is to say that a stance on evolution could also have consequences for environmental policy." Right.  Which means if Walker doesn't "believe" in evolution, people could die. That's not what Bouie said, but that's where it is heading.

But that was at least kind in comparison to what Bill Press said. I know what you're thinking. Nobody really cares what Bill Press says. But he does. Press says, "I’ll say it right up front: I would not vote for any candidate for president, Democrat or Republican, who did not have a college degree."

My wife will tell you that one of my pet peeves is intellectual dishonesty. First of all, Bill Press would never vote for a Republican for President.  Second, I guess that means Press would have voted for Thomas Dewey over Harry Truman. Fat chance.

Press continues, "Actually, for Walker, the issue is more than the fact that he didn’t graduate from college. It’s that he chose to drop out of college — and then chose never to go back and get his degree."  Press almost goes into vapors when he says, "All Walker will say is that he was offered a job, took it, intended to go back and finish, but just never got around to it. He’s never given any reason why he quit in the first place or why he decided completing his college education wasn’t that important."

Press seems to imply that it would have been better for Walker to get booted from college than choose to take a job and make money.  Most people go to college so they can get a job to make money. I'm not sure why this is a big deal to Press. 

Press calls Walker "a politician who belittles the value of college education and won’t even say whether or not he believes in evolution."  Heavens to Betsy. The only thing belittling the value of a college education are the college graduates themselves. Some are real smart. Some are real dopes.

Press goes in for the total burn. "Sarah Palin went to at least four different colleges over the course of six years before getting her degree from the University of Idaho in 1987. If Sarah Palin could pull it off, don’t you think Scott Walker could, too?" Nobody is saying Walker couldn't. I think just about anybody, if they have the patience (and money) can get a college degree. (Which, incidentally, is what belittles college degrees.)

I read Press's piece on an iPhone, which is a company created by a college dropout and I would venture a guess that Press wrote his column on Microsoft word, which was created by a college dropout.  Press deals with that this way: "What about Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg? True, they dropped out of college. But they both regret it, and they’ve both spent a good deal of their fortune in support of improvements in education — unlike Scott Walker, who has made war against public education the hallmark of his governorship, from his early attacks on teachers to his latest proposal to cut $300 million, or 13 percent, from next year’s University of Wisconsin budget."

I will translate it for you. I have a policy disagreement with a person so he's stupid.

The same people who will tell you Walker would be too dumb to be President because he doesn't have a college degree are the same people who said George W. Bush was too dumb and he had degrees from Yale and Harvard. The same people who said Yale Law School graduate Gerald Ford was too dumb to be President. The same people who said Dwight Eisenhower, who was the President of an Ivy League school and liberated Europe was too dumb to be President. The same people who will then turn and say we need another President like Harry Truman, who did not have a college background.

I'm not saying that Walker should be President or should even be the nominee of the Republican Party. I'm just not sure his lack of a college degree is that big of deal.