Bipartisan Report: Johnson Wrong to Blame Obama for Secret Service Woes

Last September, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson faced a tough situation: Blame President Obama, or blame government in general, for Secret Service agents failing to stop an armed intruder from scaling the fence, running across the front yard, and coming in through the front door of the White House.

Johnson chose both, saying that this was yet another example of Obama's "inability to manage," and then also blaming the "dysfunctional" Federal Government: "What we're seeing across the board with this administration is the inability to manage events and manage the agency. The government is out of control. That's one takeaway that Americans really need to realize is that the federal government is dysfunctional, ineffective, inefficient so my suggestion is to stop growing it." Apparently, in Johnson's view, Obama should be doing a better job of managing something that is intrinsically dysfunctional and unmanageable.

The New York Times reported that the "most revealing parts" of the report were about the impact that deep budget cuts have had on the Secret Service: The most revealing parts of the report were about the agency’s budget and staffing, and raised questions about the impact of across-the-board spending cuts — known as sequestration — and other budget cuts in the last decade.

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In other words, the report's conclusion-- add more agents and give the Secret Service proper funding so they aren't spread too thin-- is exactly the opposite of Johnson's "government is bad, cut everything except the military" mantra.

Flashback: Ron Johnson on Russia, "Sad Fact is that Sanctions Haven't Worked"

Last May, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson appeared on CNN's State of the Union and dismissed Obama's plan to deal with Russian aggression with more economic sanctions, saying, "the sad fact is that sanctions haven't worked." Johnson then went on to suggest that the only way to deal with Putin was militarily, saying, "Vladimir Putin is only going to respond to action, strength and resolve."

Now, seven months later, Russia's economy is going up in flames and the fire hydrants necessary to put it out -- IMF loans and other international help -- are locked down tight, because of the economic sanctions Obama and other world leaders imposed on Russia.

What's Ron Johnson saying now? After Putin turned his attention to his own economic sinking ship, Ron Johnson moved on to next Fox News' flavors of the month: ISIS, then Ebola, then ISIS using Ebola.

Look, police just can't work when they under a constant barrage of racist criticism like Obama gets all the time.

“Popular, oft-malfunctioning computer tabulator used in WI, many other states, tallied just 16 votes out of 5,350 cast in Stoughton, WI. Though some 5,350 voters are known to have voted in the city of Stoughton in Dane County, Wisconsin on Tuesday, just 16 of those voters were interested in voting in a local ballot referendum calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to help overturn the infamous Citizens United decision — at least according to the results reported by paper ballot optical-scan computer tabulators there.”

Thus, Charnin observes, “In 2010, Walker won by 124,638 votes with a 52.3 percent share. In 2012, he won the recall by 171,105 votes with 53.1 percent. But the True Vote Model (TVM) showed that he needed 23 percent of Obama returning voters to match the recorded vote. That is extremely implausible — and a red flag. It’s further evidence that Barrett won the election.”

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In 2014, Charnin reports, Walker won with a 52.9 percent share. The exit poll was forced to match the bogus recorded vote by cutting returning Barrett voters to just 35 percent of 2014 voters, compared to Walker’s 50 percent. The 15 percent differential is much higher than the 7 percent Walker-recorded margin (8 percent discrepancy) and the 6 percent Barrett True Vote margin (a 21 percent discrepancy).

“When the returning voter mix is changed to a feasible Barrett 45/Walker 41 percent outcome,” he concludes, “Burke is the winner by 52.3-47.3 percent. The ‘How Voted in 2012’ crosstab vote shares are missing for Other (3 percent) and New Voters (DNV 11 percent). This is highly anomalous and another ‘tell’ that Walker stole the election.”

Gov. Scott Walker should run for president now — it's his best shot

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson was a well-known, bold reformer who did a lot of things that Democrats didn't like and still managed to easily win re-election three times. His name was floated as a potential presidential candidate in the 1990s, but he waited. In 2007, he finished a dismal sixth place in the Iowa straw poll, proving that 14 years as a Republican governor in a purple state isn't enough to win a national primary if you don't stay relevant. In other words, if Scott Walker wants to run for president, he needs to do it now.

The left has thrown everything that wasn't nailed down at Walker — the mayor of Milwaukee, a millionaire, a war on women, millions of dollars in attack ads. But none of these attacks, not even a recall election or a John Doe investigation, were able to faze the seemingly invincible governor. He has won three major election victories in four years. As we approach the 2016 campaign cycle, the timing could not be better for Walker to run for president.

Congressional job approval shows little signs of recovering, bouncing somewhere around 10% to 14%. This bodes well for Walker since voters will be looking for a leader who takes action, rather than someone whose voting record can be picked apart. A governor is likely to fill this role. There is, of course, one exception — U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.

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Yes, he has some weaknesses. He's not a great orator, and he can be a little dull at times. Most active Republican Party members can still recite his campaign speech from 2010. Some pundits have compared Walker to Tim Pawlenty who was a solid conservative but not the inspirational leader they were looking for in 2012. But here's where Walker and Pawlenty differ: Walker passed bold legislation that incited the liberal half of the state to camp out at the Capitol for months, forcing him into an intense recall election. There's a reason Democrats love to hate Walker: He may not be the most engaging speaker, but primary voters could overlook this because his actions prove that he is a transformational leader.

Gov. Scott Walker has too many liabilities to make a run for president

As a Republican, I voted for Scott Walker for Milwaukee County executive and for governor. But I would not vote for him for president. This is not to say Walker does not have his strengths. Clearly he does, or he wouldn't have emerged victorious from an onslaught of union-inspired attacks after the passage of Act 10. The man acts on political principle (whether you agree with him or not) and keeps his cool under fire. Further, Walker has cultivated a substantial base of support as he has battled his adversaries. Yet, these strengths are not enough to compensate for his shortcomings — shortcomings that don't matter much or can be managed at the state level — that would plague him if he were to run for president in 2016.

First is Walker's noticeable lack of foreign policy experience or even an indication of what he thinks on foreign affairs. OnTheIssues.Org, which touts "Every Political Leader on Every Issue," indicates that it has no recorded stance for Walker under the heading of foreign policy. This is troubling at a time when we face threats throughout the Middle East, from Iran, Russia, North Korea and China. On-the-job training isn't good enough. Not now.

Yes, Walker, like other governors who became president, could appoint experts to get advice. That, however, is not his strong point, as Kimberley Strassel recently noted in an otherwise complimentary Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. She wrote, "The Wisconsin dynamo (Walker) is good, but the knock on him is that he knows it. He has a reputation as a one-man band, serving these past four years as his own chief speechwriter, chief policy aide, chief fundraiser and chief political analyst. He is...for the most part anti-team effort."

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Now consider U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012 who held his own in that role and at least got a glimpse of the responsibilities of the highest office. In regard to fiscal policies, Ryan leads the way for Republicans nationally, having served as the House Budget Committee chairman and now selected to be chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Any recent Republican proposal dealing with tax overhaul, reform of entitlement programs, balancing the federal budget or addressing poverty has Ryan's stamp on it.

Gov. Scott Walker won't follow Jeb Bush's lead by voluntarily releasing all of his emails from his first term in statewide office. "I don't see any reason why to do that," Walker said at a Milwaukee press event on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Bush said he would make public some 250,000 emails from his two terms as Florida's governor and publish a new e-book in the "interest of transparency." Bush made the announcement a day before, saying he will "actively explore the possibility of running for president."

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Of course, thousands of Walker's emails have already been made public as part of a secret criminal investigation of his aides and associates during his time as Milwaukee County executive. But those records cover the period only up until November 2010, when Walker won the governor's seat the first time. Last year, additional emails were released — some accidentally and some intentionally — as a result of a federal lawsuit challenging a second John Doe probe of the Walker campaign and conservative political groups in Wisconsin.

Those records showed an out-of-state company hoping to set up a mine in northern Wisconsin gave $700,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a nonprofit closely tied to Walker, during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Walker has said he did not solicit the money and doesn't think he knew about the donations.

“There’s no doubt that at home and abroad America is at our best when our actions match our values,” Clinton said as she was honored at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights gala in Midtown Manhattan.

“Yes the threat of terrorism is real and urgent - scores of children were just murdered in Pakistan. Beheadings in the Middle East. A siege in Sydney. These tragedies not only break hearts but should steel our resolve and underscore that our values are what set us apart from our adversaries. I am proud to have been a part of the Obama administration that banned illegal renditions and brutal interrogations.

“Today we can say again, in a loud and clear voice, the United States should never condone and practice torture anywhere in the world,” said Clinton, adding that it should be reflected in “both policy and law … if that requires new legislation, then Congress should work with President Obama to quickly enact it and it should not be an issue of partisan politics.”

Where is Hillary Clinton on torture?
12/09/14 04:32 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald

Now a private citizen herself, Clinton has not spoken often on the subject since stepping down as secretary of state early last year. But during a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations sponsored by HBO in June, Clinton called for the release of the Senate report, but said she did not support prosecuting CIA interrogators.

“I am hopeful it will get released,” Clinton said of the report, which was hung up in negotiations between the administration and Senate. “I was not one of those who thought it was necessarily wise to ignore everything that had happened. I thought we needed more transparency … I think the American people deserve to see it.”

But Clinton continued that she “didn’t want people to be criminally prosecuted, people who were doing what they were told to do, that there were legal opinions supporting what they were told to do.”

In new her memoir about her time helming State, “Hard Choices,” Clinton adds: “There was no denying that our country’s approach to human rights had gotten somewhat out of balance” after the Bush administration. She also praised Obama’s order “prohibiting the use of torture or official cruelty,” using the term the Bush administration refused to use for the harsh interrogation tactics.

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In an editorial board meeting, she added that there “are very rare” circumstances when an exception to the no torturing rule would be needed, and “if they occur, there has to be some lawful authority for pursuing it.”