Just yesterday, we discussed Scott Walker's bigoted comment about the Boy Scouts waiving their ban against gays becoming leaders. Walker had this to say about it:
“I was an Eagle Scout, my kids have been involved, Tonette (Walker) was a den mother.
“I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values.”
Walker sought to clarify what he said by saying that his comment wasn't anti-gay. He was worried about the kids being exposed to (gasp!) politics:
But during a Wednesday press conference in South Carolina, according to the New York Times, Walker said his comments had been misunderstood.
“The protection was not a physical protection,” he said, according to the Times. Instead, it was about “protecting them from being involved in the very thing you’re talking about right now, the political and media discussion about it, instead of just focusing on what Scouts is about, which is about camping and citizenship and things of that nature.”
Wow! That just clears everything up!
But in his rationalization for his bigoted comment, he ends up burying himself deeper in the hole he dug for himself.
The Boy Scouts do have a merit badge for American Heritage, which Walker said that the kids should focus on. However, the description for said badge includes - you guessed it! - politics:
Do the following:
Select a topic that is currently in the news. Describe to your counselor what is happening. Explain how today's events are related to or affected by the events and values of America's past.
Y'know, I think that maybe, just maybe, the historic decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution and allow gays to have rights would fit that requirement.
Even better, there is a badge for Citizenship in the Nation, to which Walker referred. This badge includes requirements such as:
Watch the national evening news five days in a row OR read the front page of a major daily newspaper five days in a row. Discuss the national issues you learned about with your counselor. Choose one of the issues and explain how it affects you and your family.
Discuss each of the following documents with your counselor. Tell your counselor how you feel life in the United States might be different without each one.
- Declaration of Independence
- Preamble to the Constitution
- The Constitution
- Bill of Rights
- Amendments to the Constitution
So does this mean that Walker wants to protect the kids from earning these merit badges? Or could it be that Walker simply coasted his way through the Boy Scouts and didn't really grasp what they were trying to teach him?
It is also odd that Walker would want to spare kids from politics, since he has no problem using them as political pawns, such as his push to privatize education and cut kids off of publicly funded health care.
Hmmm, I wonder if the Boy Scouts gave Walker merit badges in bigotry, waffling and hypocrisy. If not, they should have, He sure has earned them.
