Scott ‘Baghdad Bob’ Walker

Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf a.k.a “Baghdad Bob” was the Iraqi Information Minister under Saddam Hussein.

I’ve been wanting to write a post involving “Baghdad Bob” for quite a while and now I think I’ve finally found a reason. If you don’t know who former Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf is, he was the face of the Iraqi regime during the beginning of the Iraq war. Saddam Hussein was nowhere to be found but al-Sahaf, dubbed “Baghdad Bob” by the American press, was on the television spinning fantastic lies about how the war was going for Iraq.

It was of course going badly but you had to respect the man for doing his duty until the end. But what dictator survives without his very dedicated communications staff, and Bob’s role was to obsfucate the truth as much as possible.

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Why We Should Stand With Mahlon Mitchell

Mahlon Mitchell, candidate for Lieutenant Governor

It was a year ago today (June 3, 2011) that I attended the Democratic State Convention in Milwaukee. It had been an historic spring and now there were Senate Recalls to plan for and how to sustain momentum for a Gubernatorial Recall drive later in the year. It’s good to look back because I found some video I shot that is foreshadowing of the election only three days from now.

On the main floor I heard many great speeches and even sat next to Senator Fred Risser, one of the Wisconsin 14. Risser has been my Senator off and on since I was born. Retired US Representative David Obey gave the best speech of the night when he inveighed against the Tea Party, and their in-state standard bearer Senator Sunspot himself, Ron Johnson.  Continue reading

Walker Hubris Shines Through During Debate

There were no real surprises at last night’s debate between Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Barrett took an aggressive stance, because he had to, and Walker just had to not mess up. I half blame the media and the electorate for not demanding more from Walker.

Walker should have to try harder to convince people he should remain in office. Instead he just has to put out there enough obsfucations, dog-whistle talking points, and mis-characterizations of why there is even a recall election at all to distract from not only his failure as a leader, but also his criminality. Oh yes, he should be so lucky to be recalled rather than have to resign due to legal problems.  Continue reading