On May 27, going to the same theme Scott Bauer employed at the Associated Press yesterday, USA Today's Ben Jones did his level best to cast Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as the richly funded perpetual campaigner, while portraying Walker's recall challenger, former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, as the underfunded man of the people underdog. Of course, as was the with Bauer's bombast, there's not a word about union-driven funding, which Walker estimated in an April Newsmax interview at about $60 million. This seems like preemptive excuse-making for a Walker victory on Tuesday. Preelection polls show Walker ahead by anywhere from 2 to 10 points.
Without a whit of skepticism, Jones relayed the following dissembling quote from a Barrett spokesperson which follows the jump:
"Scott Walker can spend all the money in the world and he doesn't seem to be able to convince or compel the voters of Wisconsin that his way is working," Walzak said. "Tom likes to say that, based on those spending disparities, Walker should be crushing Tom Barrett but he's clearly not. That has a lot to do with people's concerns about Walker."
That's horse manure. Either Ben Jones knows it and failed to question it, or he needs to get out from behind his desk more. And to repeat a point from yesterday, if Walker's $60 million claim weren't true, the AP and USA Today would be all over efforts to debunk it. But they aren't.
Given the millions pouring in from unions, their PACs, and other "progressive" cuases, one would think that Daffy Duck would be crushing Walker at this point. But, with the caution that the real deal is Tuesday, it's not happening yet.
Looking at the bright side, at least Jones characterized Walker's public-sector labor reforms as having "eliminated most collective bargaining powers for teachers and other public union employees and forced those workers to pay more for their health insurance and retirement benefits." As noted yesterday, the AP's Bauer continues to give his wire service's readers that all public-sector collective bargaining rights have gone away -- and they haven't.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
