Earlier today, when news broke that a liberal blogger from the
site Buffalo Beast claimed to have successfully prank called Gov.
Scott Walker by posing as liberal hate figure and billionaire
libertarian donor David Koch, I thought that if true, this could
really embarrass him. Since then, the call has been confirmed by
Walker’s office as
legit, but after listening to the whole thing, I think
Walker comes off rather well.
Throughout the call, fake Koch makes a series of bizarre and
over-the-top comments such as “gotta crush that union,” but Walker
generally either changes the subject or treats the remarks politely
without cosigning them, as a host or guest would do with a crazy
caller on talk radio or C-SPAN.
Some liberals are claiming that Walker responded “oh yeah” when
fake Koch referred to MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski as a “piece of a—.”
But TNR’s Jon Chait has had to
correct his post to acknowledge that the early transcription
was “totally misleading.” If you listen to the
audio of the exchange (just before the 7 minute mark), you’ll
hear that what actually happened is that fake Koch said, “You gotta
love that Mika Brzezinski,” Walker said “Oh yeah” and started to
change the subject, there was cross talk when fake Koch referred to
her as a “piece of a—,” and then Walker goes on to tell an
unrelated story.
Liberals are also seizing on Walker saying “we thought about
that” when fake Koch suggested “planting some trouble-makers” among
the protesters. But Walker actually goes on at length to explain
why he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. “Let them protest,” he
said. “It’s not going to affect us. And as long as we go back to
our homes and the majority of people are telling us we’re doing the
right thing, let them protest all they want.”
When Walker explained that they may have found evidence that
unions were paying to put lawmakers up at hotels, which he said if
true, would be an ethics code violation or felony, fake Koch chimes
in “they’re probably putting hobos in suits, that’s what we do.”
Yet Walker corrects him to say that he’s only talking about
lawmakers: “People can pay protesters to come in, that’s not an
ethics code (violation).”
Throughout the call, Walker explains why he believes what he’s
doing is right, and that he intends to stand firm. “This is about
the budget,” he said. “This is about public sector unions – hell,
even FDR got it…You’re essentially having taxpayers’ money being
used to lobby for spending more of taxpayers’ money. It’s
absolutely ridiculous.”
At another point, he said: “If they think I’m caving, they’ve
been asleep for the last eight years, because I’ve taken on every
major battle in Milwaukee County, and won in a county even where
I’m overwhelmingly overpowered politically. And it’s because we
don’t budge. If you’re doing the right thing, you stay firm.”
And toward the end, he said, “We’re doing the just and right
thing for the right reasons, and it’s all about getting our
freedoms back.”
The worst you can say about the call — aside from the screening
bungle by his staffers — is that he took 20 minutes of time to
speak with a rich guy from out of state. But at the same time, the
call undermines the conspiracy that Koch is secretly controlling
events in Wisconsin, as Walker is clearly explaining the way things
are to fake Koch and the decisions he’s making, rather than acting
on Koch’s suggestions. Also, as some have pointed
out, their interaction on the call seems to suggest that the
two don’t know each other, or at the least, not very well.
