In the few months that he has been unofficially officially running for president, Walker has punted on softball questions such as if he believes in evolution, his stance on foreign policy, or whether President Barack Obama loves the United States or if Obama is a Christian.
On Monday, while campaigning in Michigan, Walker punted on another question. This time it was whether he would have bailed out the auto manufacturers (emphasis mine):
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Monday joined the list of politicians who've deflected this question from Michigan reporters: Would you have supported the U.S. loans to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to get through their 2009 bankruptcies?
“That's a hypothetical question in the past. We're going to talk about the future,” Walker said after speaking to 120 Lansing Republicans in an Oldsmobile car museum where he touted less government, less taxation, and more U.S. aggression toward Islamists in the Middle East. It was the first of two appearances Walker planned in Michigan as part of a national tour to build support and money as he explores a presidential run. He was scheduled later to speak to Republicans in Oakland County, the state's second largest county.
Unlike the other questions that he's punted on and contrary to Walker's statement, it is not hypothetical and one that we know the answer to. Walker would have let the car makers go bankrupt and would have allowed hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear with them:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took on MSNBC’s panel covering the night of the Republican National Convention. Walker defended his assertion that a private bankruptcy would have been better for the auto industry than a publicly funded bailout. He met resistance to this claim from panelists Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.
Scott Walker was asked by Maddow if Walker thought the auto bailout was not effective. “It wasn’t in Wisconsin,” said Walker. “What we need is true prosperity and that comes really more effectively trough the private sector.”
“You run down the American auto industry at a moment when it really has come back,” said Maddow. “To see such a bright spot in the economy being talked about as if things hadn’t worked out in the auto industry since the bailout is a surprise, Gov.”
“It could have come back more effectively and sooner had they taken the advice of Mitt Romney early on and done a managed bankruptcy instead of spending all those dollars of taxpayers’ money that otherwise could have been done more effectively in the private sector early on,” Walker replied.
“Was there private sector credit available to save the auto industry,” Maddow asked.
“A managed bankruptcy is something that could have been quite effective,” said Walker.
“It was not Barack Obama’s economic policies that closed that GM plant,” said Schultz. “It’s in the Washington Post right now, Gov. Walker.”
Walker said that the entire auto industry could have been more efficiently saved if they had gone through the private sector.
It's pretty obvious why Walker is so scared of answering questions. All he has going for him are his handful of memorized talking points. Asking him for honesty or to think on his feet is just asking too much of the man.
