Did the people of WI know that Walker was going to do what he did during the campaign?

[CTyankee]

Today on Morning Joe that statement was made. The people knew what Walker was going to do and voted for him based on that knowledge.

Is this true?

If it is not factually correct, we need to be letting the show's producers know and back it up with factual information (videos of his campaign ads, mailings, statements on talk shows and debates and other public information released to the general population).

This needs to be stopped. It is being used to support the notion that the demonstrators and the Dem senators are just poor losers who are forcing their ideas on the people of the state that voted Walker and the Republican state senators and reps into office.

[still_one]

1. I would like to know that also, since I am hearing the same thing from co-workers /nt

[lisa58]

2. I remember reading that, no they didn't...

...I'll see if I can find the article.

[Poiuyt]

3. I sure didn't

I knew he was going to kill to high speed rail system, but not much more than that.

To be honest, I knew I wasn't going to vote for him so I didn't read his policy statements. I don't think there was anything in there about union busting anyway.

[ClassWarrior]

4. FALSE.

We knew his budget would be draconian, but he never said he'd destroy protections for working families.

NGU.

[CTyankee]

8. But did he say that if elected he would force the union to make concessions?

If so, then that statement is technically true, altho it could be argued that the point is moot since the unions have agreed to some concessions already.

[ClassWarrior]

9. I don't recall that, but I'm not sure.

NGU.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Political bait and switch.

You pay for something and the store gives you something else.

[reformist2]

20. His commercials showed him talking about filling potholes.

It looks to me like he projected a "sensible conservative" image.

[lisa58]

6. I might be wrong....

...this is what I found: It's a transcript from Meet the Press

http://crooksandliars.com/node/44199/print

[QC]

7. Many people here have been making that same argument:

This is what they voted for, they deserve it, let's hope they suffer.

I think it's a shitty thing to say, but let's not forget that for many people the best thing about being a liberal/progressive is that one gets to lord it over the hoi polloi.

[ClassWarrior]

10. Many?

Really?

NGU.

[QC]

12. "Many" is a poorly chosen word in this case, but there's an entire thread in GD:P

making the argument that the people of Wisconsin deserve what they get, along with individual posts scattered here and there expressing the same sentiment.

We have long had a history here at DU of people throwing shade on so-called red states, rural people, poor people, religious people, blue-collar people, people who drink Folgers, etc. I have a particular problem with that kind of thinking, partly because I come from some of those déclassée categories but mostly because such snobbery validates one of the Right's most effective anti-Left talking points, the one about how the Left holds the common people in contempt. It's been a staple of class war politics for a very long time, and we don't need to help prop it up.

[CTyankee]

11. I haven't seen "many" doing that. I have seen many post in solidarity with the union workers in WI.

[gratuitous]

13. If that's true, then why have Walker's poll numbers gone down?

While poll numbers for unions and for Wisconsin's democrats have gone up? (National Democrats, please take note of what happens to your all-consuming poll numbers when you act like Democrats a la our friends in Wisconsin.)

[CTyankee]

16. Excellent point! What that tells me is that perhaps the WI medial didn't do its job

of pressing Walker on what specifically he meant by "reform" of collective bargaining by the unions. If they let that go, people may not have the ability to accurately assess this guy.

[Tsiyu]

14. I know he promised not to borrow money to balance the budget

But as soon as he was made king - er...governor, he slashed taxes for the wealthy thus weakening a fairly healthy budget.

Now he is saying he wants to borrow money to make a $165 million loan payment due, which, with interest will end up costing millions more to the taxpayers.

I know on this campaign promise he lied through his teeth. I'm sure there are others.

[yourout]

15. He said he was going to create jobs........Were are they?

[boston bean]

17. I've learned right here on DU that politicians will say anything to get elected

and that if you believed or didn't believe them you were stupid.

Cause who would know what to believe??

Politicians are not held accountable for what they say on the campaign trail. Whether they promised something and didn't do it, or did not promise and did it.

Learned it right here on DU!

[elocs]

18. No. But we also heard him say he was going to use federal high speed rail funds for highways

in spite of the fact that he was told over and over they could not be used for that.

Walker never said he was going to end collective bargaining for public employees though. But not only did everyone or even close to that number hear what he was going to do, hundreds of thousands of people, particularly Democrats, could not be bother to even vote.

A sign I saw in Madison on Saturday:



Here's the lesson we should have learned from this: VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

[Modern_Matthew]

19. Maybe elected officials should be legally mandated to do only what was said in their campaigns. n/t

[karynnj]

21. Excellent idea, but alos turn it around

President Obama's health care effort was a centerpiece of his campaign - and that didn't stop the tea party and the Republicans from acting as if no one voted for it.