Republican Governor Scott Walker, a corporate shill who is leading a union-busting crusade against the public employees of Wisconsin, was punked. A clever prankster posing as billionaire conservative David Koch got the governor to spill the beans for twenty minutes. What followed was a revealing, candid dialogue that might have been written by Charles Dickens, or maybe Don DeLillo, in which Walker cozies up to the conservative billionaire while laughing about crushing the common man.The call is disturbing but not surprising. A casual observer can easily imagine Walker's cozy relationship with his corporate handlers--and this call confirms it. His relationship with the Koch brothers, who have poured millions into conservative political causes including Walker's own campaign, is no secret. They got what they payed for. Listening to this chat, however, makes it visceral. The experience is unsettling, like overhearing the pillow talk of a whore and her john.
(Read more about the Koch Brothers in this New Yorker article, The Billionaire Brothers who are Waging a War Against Obama.)
It's clear in this taped phone call that Scott Walker obviously sees himself as a man of destiny, and if he's not drunk with power he's at least mildly buzzed when he compares himself to Ronald Reagan firing the nation's air-traffic controllers during a labor dispute in 1981.
"That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and led to the fall of the Soviets," Walker says on the recording.
At the end of the call, the prankster, still disguised as David Koch, says: "I'll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."
"All right, that would be outstanding," Walker replies, adding that the standoff is "all about getting our freedoms back"
Listen to their conversation:
Part Two:
1 comment:
This is a concerted effort from Tea Party Republicans to crush public unions nationwide, and it's already started in several other states. People who normally bitch about Big Government--you know the types, the ones who oppose public health c...are and social services--should really be up in arms about this agenda--but of course they're on the side of the government THIS TIME since it basically is screwing the little guy. The Tea Party agenda makes sense if you're the Koch billionaires protecting their corporate pillaging, but it sure puzzles me how the poor rank and file Tea Party folks follow suit, obediently working against their own interests, willingly selling out their hard-earned rights at every turn, unable to understand even the basics of the capitalist system. I'm sure they're busy surviving, but they should take a weekend (a weekend, thanks to the unions that fought for such a radical thing) and read a history book about labor history. As they gloat and repeat the name of Jay-sus, they've forgotten their grandpas who probably worked on the railroads, or in factories, mined coal, cut trees, and were screwed over until they bravely banded together to get decent working conditions. As the Tea Baggers wave their misspelled signs condemning unions, their grandfathers are probably spinning in the grave like lathes. It's called "History," and so far the conservatives haven't outlawed it everywhere.
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