I think maybe the explanation is more damning than the condition here. http://t.co/fNhaQujbUG
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) August 18, 2015
The NYTimes, “Scott Walker Is Heckled in Iowa State Fair Appearance“:
DES MOINES – They sported Wisconsin cheese hats but the impression that Gov. Scott Walker had brought a home-state cheering section was demolished when catcalls began as soon as he started speaking Monday morning.
“Fifty kids in a classroom!’’ shouted Jonathan Hannah, a cheesehead from Milwaukee, responding to Mr. Walker’s criticism of the Common Core education standards at the Iowa State Fair…
Sarah Clifton said she and about 50 others came from Wisconsin to protest. “We’re residents of Wisconsin he’s not doing nothing for,’’ she said.
But Mr. Walker, whose standing in Iowa polls has been declining recently, was never thrown off his stride by the steady chorus of boos and interruptions. In fact he used the opposition to try to demonstrate he was a warrior Republican who would not back down, recalling how 100,000 protesters flooded the Wisconsin capital to try to derail his anti-union legislation in 2011.
“I will not be intimidated, just like I wasn’t intimidated there or anywhere else,’’ the governor said…
Both sides may have gotten what they wanted. After the governor’s speech, TV cameras and notebook-wielding reporters surrounded the protesters to hear their views.
But Walker supporters agreed with him that those doing the booing made him look tougher…
Wingnut-American standards of “toughness”, how far they have fallen. Tangentially related, Marin Coogan at NYMag on “The Politics of Presidential Dieting“:
The annual political pilgrimage to the Iowa State Fair, which kicked off this week in earnest, promises to be a trying time for the presidential candidates — and not just because of the proud Iowan tradition of waggling phallic fried goods in their faces (though that’s certainly a part of it). This year’s crop of presidential hopefuls is an unusually body-conscious bunch: They are challenging each other to pull-up contests (Rick Perry), bragging about their “gym rat” proclivities (Bobby Jindal), tossing away the garlic bread and scraping aside the pasta (Jeb Bush), and getting involved in push-up contests (Bobby Jindal, again).
You don’t have to look far to find the roots of this new focus on fitness: The man they’re running to replace has been photographed shirtless on the beach by paparazzi. The last guy to win the GOP presidential nomination was a Ken doll for the over-65 set. His running mate showed off his P90x-sculpted bod in Time magazine. Is it any wonder that Jeb Bush asked the vendor who made his fried Snickers bar to throw half of it out before giving it to him on Friday?…
News flash, Repubs: Much as some of his fans may pant over them, it’s not President Obama’s abs that won him the White House — twice.
On the other hand, it’s not like their candidates seem to have much in the way of brains to show off for the adoring crowds…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Uh huh. And my aunts always agreed with my mom when she said I was good looking.
ThresherK (GPad)
So did the prarie dogs leave Walker a big enough tunnel to escape these protesters, too?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I was a little surprised when people started talking about Walker’s bald spot, not at all unusual in a man his age (which is also mine and shut up), then I saw him lean a little too far forward during this very exchange. It truly is a helluva bald spot. He looks like he was tonsured with acid, then left the monastery.
Anne Laurie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s not the criminally obvious bald spot, it’s the cover-up!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Hard to see that they have anything worth showing off. I can’t believe this crowd of losers. I thought the boatload of sorry asses in 2012 was sad. The way things are going, who’s going to be running for the Republican nomination in 2020? Steve King? Ted Nugent? Looey Göehmert? How much lower can they sink?
RK
Thinking of making yarmulke toupees for the practicing set.. Kills two birds with one stone. Gonna call the business Hair Club for Mensch.
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
How much lower can they sink?
Not really a question I want answered.
Steve Finlay
We have an election coming up in two months here in Canada. You will have no trouble guessing what percentage supports the Conservatives, which are the Canadian equivalent of the Republican Party — it’s THAT NUMBER again!!
news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/ndp-would-lead-a-minority-government-if-election…
Suzanne
Dudes who are balding: just shave that shit.
I am completely riveted by the corpse flower, I want smell-o-vision!
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The age or the bald spot? Both? Inquiring minds and all that.
@Anne Laurie:
At least he’s no doing a comb over. Like the man sitting in front of me on a plane once. Three, yes I said three greased up strands of maybe ten hairs apiece from his left ear to the right on top of a bowling ball smooth noggin. If he hadn’t been with his wife I might have told him to just give it up. But I didn’t want to find out she’d been telling him this for years and just needed one person to back her up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
craigie
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Seeing Ted Nugent in that list made me laugh. Until I realized that’s probably the right answer.
NotMax
On the plus side, at least when they’re gobbling the fried stuff they’re not spewing verbal crapola.
Probably a nutball cell on the fringe working up posts on how anyone who eschewed the pork chop is a crypto-Mooslimaniac.
craigie
I just noticed that according to the Balloon Juice timestamp, it’s my birthday. The steady accumulation of which has created an alarming bald spot of my own.
It’s always been my belief that in the age of television, a bald man cannot get elected President. At least, that’s my excuse for not running.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: I remember when I was a freshman in college, I used to go to this smoothie place. The manager had the worst comb-over I still have ever seen. That was seventeen years ago and I still have it burned into my memory.
Just. Shave. That. Shit.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
No kidding. I went a while after it started, cutting the rest shorter so it wouldn’t be so noticeable. Wrong, it is. Now shaving is out of the question on my face so it follows on the noggin as well. But a beard trimmer set to short, zip, zip and it’s done. Looks as good as it’s going to get and doesn’t require a blade on skin. As good a compromise as available.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
My three strand guy was about 15 yrs ago. It is still fresh an image as can be. Really, telling him or laughing out loud the entire flight seemed to be my only options. But the look on his wife’s face cured me of laughing. Figured it was a very sore subject. Or at least something was. Poor bastard. He didn’t stand a chance, either the shame or the wife, one of them was going to get him.
redshirt
My only voting criteria is who has the bigger deadlift.
mdblanche
That’s because Rmoney is a Ken doll, or at least made out of the same plastic as one.
srv
Obama can walk on the beach all he wants.
Trump owns his beach and his helicopter.
Ruckus
@redshirt:
Hmmm, over the current crop of dems, that’s one vote in my favor. I could beat Hillary, I think.
Do the candidates have to do the lift themselves or can they have subordinate, like their vp pick?
Also is it one time or are there reps?
NotMax
@mdblanche
“My friend, Ken dolls are people too!”
:)
Ruckus
@NotMax:
What gender is Ken? That smooth spot doesn’t give any clues and the pecs could go either way.
redshirt
@Ruckus: Hillary could out lift Bernie.
Trump too, maybe.
Ruckus
@mdblanche:
Isn’t that rather harsh against a doll who can’t defend himself?
Ruckus
@redshirt:
I figured that, so I’d only have to beat Hillary. And then I’ve got one vote. How many million to go?
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
“All of them, Katie.”
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Still, one is more than some are going to get.
Should have checked which comment you were referencing before answering.
ETA But as a person who has done work on Mattel projects including molds for Barbie dolls I should have gotten that one right from the start.
NotMax
@Ruckus
Homo
TabulaCorpus Rasa.Tree With Water
@Ruckus:
Detective: “Would you like me to talk to him?”
Wife: “I’ve been married to the man for 35 years. How long have you known him”?
Detective: “A couple of days”.
Wife: “Talk. To you, he’ll listen”.
That’s from an old Barney Miller episode.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
The essence of man?
Redshift
@Suzanne:
On that note, I read some interesting speculation about Trump’s ridiculous hair. The story that caused all the brouhaha about a month so about Trump and marital rape included the claim that the fight was about botched “scalp reduction surgery.” Apparently such surgery leaves a significant scar. So if this is true, Trump has a bald spot underneath all that, and can’t shave his head (and look classy) because it would reveal the scar, so his only option is a massive combover. In addition, he knows the only reason he’s in this state is because of his own vanity, which has to sting.
Don’t know if it’s true or not, but it would explain a lot.
redshirt
How do you reduce your scalp?
Culture of Truth
In all honesty, they [ the abs ] didn’t hurt. Obama is young and handsome and has a nice smile. And you pretty much have to be tall to be President.
…and how many pundits hyperventilated over Romney’s shoulders?
One reason why I’m not too worried about the GOP candidates. They either look like weasels, or sound like whiny kids, or both.
Sorry, it’s objectifying, but it’s true.*
*of course there are exceptions. Rick Perry looks the part, but he’s an idiot.
Duane
seaboogie
@Steve Finlay: No matter what happens, election-wise, Canadia will still be a sane, normal and progressive country. I lived there for 25 years, and most of my family is there.
Canada seems to be able to entertain and elect all manner of extreme and eccentric politicians over the years and survive with common values intact. It feels like a sometimes wildly swinging pendulum that always finds its center.
South of the 49th, it’s kind of another story….
Ruckus
@seaboogie:
I think it’s the system. A parliamentary system has compromise built in. Things can get done even with crazies in power. And the crazies need the other side to get things done. As efgoldman said in an earlier thread without earmarks, our legislative compromise tool, it’s all or nothing, win or lose. And we got rid of earmarks a few yrs ago. So now it’s win or go home. Empty handed. A true parliamentary system will gravitate towards the larger party but it’s very hard for one to go all the way in one direction.
Redshift
@redshirt: Apparently, they cut out the bald spot, stretch the rest of the scalp over the gap kind of like a face lift, and stitch it up. Eww. Also, according to the person who wrote the speculation, it does not have a high success rate, which is why it’s not commonly done by cosmetic surgeons.
David Koch
Walker later blamed his tanking in the poll on slipping in the bathroom and hitting the toilet tank.
Anne Laurie
@Ruckus:
You forget — she’s been carrying the weight of a great many peoples’ hopes and ambitions for the last twenty years.
redshirt
@Redshift: Where does the extra scalp skin come from?
Anne Laurie
@redshirt: Link, because nobody wants to look at pictures.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Tree With Water
@Culture of Truth: Then again, recall the rise of FDR to the presidency a mere eleven years after being stricken by polio. Granted, he was to the manor born and bred. As far as I’m concerned, though, that makes his story all the more remarkable. When congressional republicans voted down Bob Dole’s personal request to extend his hallmark disability legislation a few years ago, it was easy for me to visualize FDR sitting in his wheelchair beside the former GOP presidential nominee, watching with contempt beside Dole as a guest on the floor, as House republicans disgraced the country by denying the good and decent request of the man from Kansas. It’s serves as an out-of-time reason to explain why FDR made no bones about welcoming the hatred of the republican party shot callers.
4 Star Read: The Man He Became- How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency; Simon & Schuster; 2013
Major Major Major Major
New story about my thing about fish
imjustthisguyyouknow.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/the-fish-26/
seaboogie
@Ruckus: Yep – I was all parliamentary in my mind on that too – it seems more confrontational in debate (yes, actual debate), and more constructive in legislation. Here is one of many pity quotes from P.E.T.
azquotes.com/quote/919467
Seems pretty pity for Bernie et al today.
pluege
Quote of the Day:
Scott Walker is George W. Bush stupid.
sukabi
@NotMax: one could hope that the fried fair fare will induce copious gastric discomfort that will render them speechless for at least a couple of days.
sukabi
@Redshift: not sure I buy the scalp scar thing.
you’d think with all his billions he could afford either the hair club restorations, or buy a decent toupee. I think it’s more a self image thing with him…he sees the hair he had when he was much younger. And everyone else sees Bozos hair.
Keith P.
Scott Walker is the GOP’s penance for pretending to take Sarah Palin’s “I am qualified for VP because I served on the PTA” schtick seriously.
Another Holocene Human
@redshirt: Real deadlift or fantasy.
Hal
Walker’s attacks on public worker, unions and schools is all amazing given the fact that he’s made a career out of public life. I guess as long as his taxpayer supported salary, healthcare and benefits are fine, all is good in Walker’s world.
Also, that bald spot. I didn’t know he was bald until a few months ago when he was caught at a certain camera angle, and it just jumped out at me. He’s working every hair on the sides and back of his head to cover as much real estate as possible. I expect plenty of hats in windy weather this fall.
Geeno
@sukabi: That’s it! The hair is a trademark!
He doesn’t care if you, or even HE, thinks it’s ugly – it says TRUMP!, and that’s what matters.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Bobby Jindal is a gym rat? HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa! I’d totally kick sand in that guys face at the beach on a dare. And I’m a 5’8″ 155lb weakling.
boatboy_srq
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That, and:
The Teahad is the last stand of bullies petrified they’ll be out of work and valueless in modern society.
Ruckus
@Anne Laurie:
Deadlift was the stated lift. Carrying the weight is a different skill. Do her dreams and aspirations counterbalance those of her fans? Or are those hopes and dreams uplifting rather than a load? If not have they made her tired so that a deadlift would be the straw? (BTW she doesn’t look tired. And I can’t say that every day.)
Ruckus
@sukabi:
With all his billions (still, not nearly as many as he thinks/says) he can afford to breed an animal that will grow hair and stay relatively still on his head.
Which he obviously has done.
boatboy_srq
@mdblanche: That’s a horrible thing to say. Ken’s IQ is measurably higher, and he has both more gravitas and more compassion.
AnonPhenom
@boatboy_srq:
They see themselves as Clint Eastwood’s errant knight/cowboy ‘Man With No Name’ character, but in execution they come off more like Biff Tannen.
Jado
“…it’s not President Obama’s abs that won him the White House — twice.”
Well, that can’t be true. I mean, if it wasn’t his looks or the fact that he is the First African American president, why would so many white people vote for him? He’s a DEMOCRAT, for god’s sake.
He doesn’t even want to cut the capital gains tax!! And he thinks that Travon Martin might look like his son. He’s OBVIOUSLY scammed most of America with his trim physique and blandly handsome blackity-black-black looks.
It’s not like anyone likes the policies of the Democrats – they don’t even want to persecute the GAYS!!!
As Mars used to say, it’s gotta be the shoes…
Librarian
He’s certainly big on showing he’s not intimidated by those evil libruls, isn’t he? Even his book was titled “Unintimidated.” It’s all projection with these people.
Steve from Antioch
why aren’t these idiot protesters going after Bernie Sander’s? Don’t they understand that the. Best way to effect change is to harass your allies?
shell
Lordy, remember all that swooning over Paul Ryan’s physique in 2012? Those ridiculous gym pictures? Do all Repubs have Putin envy?
Scott Walkers imagined toughness reminds me of a MASH episode when Frank Burns takes over command…
O’Reilly: They’re not gonna like t his
Burns: I didn’t come here to be liked
O’Reilly: You came to the right place.
And if Walker thinks the more people dislike him, the better it is for his campaign, just ask Chris Christie how that worked out.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve from Antioch: Hey look, tiresome person is tiresome.
El Caganer
And just look how svelte Chris Christie is these day!
Paul in KY
@Ruckus: I don’t think it was Ken’s idea….
Seanly
I told my wife to make me shave my head got to looking as bad as Walker’s. Her first reply was that I had said I had an ugly shaped head, but I replied that my misshapen head bald still would look better than the 30% bald look that Walker’s rocking.
Shana
@NotMax: Or a secret (or not so secret) Jew.