Scott Walker has spoken. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. In Puddytat's current diary, we learn about Walker waiting for God to whisper in his ear and tell him to run for president. (Gee, I wonder what He will say....)
But he made another comment that is at least as significant. Scott Walker, the governor of the State of Wisconsin, has just acknowledged that he is at war with the citizens of Wisconsin.
Here's the first report of this I've seen:
Walker took the stage at CPAC late on Thursday afternoon. At one point, he was asked about how he would handle the threat posed by the Islamic State group were he president. He responded by saying that the country needs a commander in chief who will do anything in their power to stop "radical Islamic terrorists."
He wrapped up by saying: "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world."
With that remark, Scott Walker has just declared that I, a citizen of Wisconsin, am an enemy combatant. He has declared war on me. And on Wisconsin's teachers, firefighters, first responders, state workers, police, nurses, union members, workers, business people, students, professors, and hundreds of thousands of other, everyday citizens who have had the temerity to exercise their constitutional rights and to speak out about his policies.
It is plain now for everyone to see. I have been reluctant to say it this way, but why now should I not? Scott Walker is a fascist. And unless all Americans, Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians and Greens, conservatives and liberals, northerners and southerners and westerners, stop this man, he will be your first fascist president.
Do I overstate the case? Listen to his remarks and tell me different.
UPDATE:
And... 3... 2... 1... here comes the inevitable statement-from-a-Walker-spokesperson (from the National Review [!!!] blog post, noted in AnnieJo's comment below):
Kristen Kukowski, communications director for Walker’s 527 organization, sends along this statement: "Governor Walker believes our fight against ISIS is one of the most important issues our country faces. He was in no way comparing any American citizen to ISIS. What the governor was saying was when faced with adversity he chooses strength and leadership. Those are the qualities we need to fix the leadership void this White House has created."
"He was in no way comparing any American citizen to ISIS." Lovely. That's when you know you have really stepped in it....
7:11 PM PT: A further thought, actually.... There is a substantive upside to this stupid comment by Walker. We are a loooooooong way from the first presidential primary. Walker has not yet announced, and that will be his big chance on the national scene to make his case and win over the far-right base. For four years he has ridden this self-aggrandizing story. It his has been his best selling point, his brand, his main claim to fame: that he faced down those awful big bad protesters in Madison. But now he has shot himself in the foot with his best ammunition. He his just turned his own main talking point into a laugh line. "Please proceed, governor."