This is great. Dana Milbank has taken Scott Walker to the woodshed for a swift evisceration.
What Rudy Giuliani did this week was stupid.
What Scott Walker did ought to disqualify him as a serious presidential contender.
Why? Because a guy like Giuliani is quickly joining the ranks of Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann in terms of crazy irrelevancy...but Walker (unfortunately) has a serious shot at becoming the standard bearer of the entire Republican Party.
As the world now knows, Giuliani, the former New York mayor, said at a dinner featuring Walker, the Wisconsin governor, that “I do not believe that the president loves America.” According to Politico, Giuliani said President Obama “wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”
And Walker, just a few seats away, said . . . nothing. Asked the next morning on CNBC about Giuliani’s words, the Republican presidential aspirant was spineless: “The mayor can speak for himself. I’m not going to comment on what the president thinks or not. He can speak for himself as well. I’ll tell you, I love America, and I think there are plenty of people — Democrat, Republican, independent, everyone in between — who love this country.”
But did he agree with Giuliani? “I’m in New York,” Walker demurred. “I’m used to people saying things that are aggressive out there.”
Ugh. There's a very simple answer that any serious candidate for higher office should have memorized by now. It's similar to what we heard from Democratic candidates eight years ago when asked about George W Bush:
"I have no doubt that President Obama loves America as much as I do, but we have a fundamental disagreement about the direction of the country."
Done. Next question.
But no...and the memo must have gone out that this is not the sort of talk that wins someone the GOP nomination in 2016, because only Rubio seems to be level-headed here:
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential presidential candidate, defended Giuliani, saying what Obama had “obviously demonstrated for everyone is that he is incapable of successfully executing his duties as our commander in chief.”
Most Republican presidential hopefuls largely avoided the subject. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he had “no doubt” that Obama loves the country, “but I just think his policies are bad for our nation.”
Officials with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas declined comment.
Um...I guess this means that Rubio's not running?
Giuliani's talk is obviously not going to help win over the independent voters of November 2016...in fact, it may leave a nasty lingering aftertaste. Rather, it's aimed squarely at the rabid fringe who actually decide who the GOP nominee will be.
So, normally I would say "Keep talking, Scotty!" but after seeing this and the laughable "punt" on evolution in London, I'd have to advise Wormy Walker to "Keep saying nothing!"