Way to go, MSNBC! After this story broke earlier in the day -- BREAKING: Gov. Scott Walker Punked By Blogger Posing As David Koch -- does anyone think their audience might have wanted to hear what he had to say about it? Apparently MSNBC didn't think so because they cut away from his press conference just before he started taking questions from reporters. Neither did CNN or Fox, who also cut away just as questions from the press were coming. You have to expect it of Fox, considering how much they've invested in demonizing the protesters, but CNN too?
I didn't include the entire press conference MSNBC aired, just the last couple of minutes before Thomas Roberts broke in. Walker was explaining how wonderful it was going to be for their workers not to be forced to pay their union dues. In other words, how he's planning to break their unions financially by turning the workers into free-riders. And he claims this is not about busting unions. Every time he opens his mouth he proves this is all it is about.
I really have to wonder why the national political press is so unwilling to engage on this Walker/Koch story. Both MSNBC and CNN allowed Walker to give his prepared statement (which included an absurd statement that his budget will save workers' money because they won't have to pay union dues!) --- and then cut away from the Q and A when the Wisconsin press tried to ask him about his statements in that prank call today. Have they been scared away from this story by Republicans calling it a "Breitbart" hoax? Or is it that the evocation of the Big Money Koch brothers makes them squeamish. (After all, going after ACORN and Planned Parenthood only affect a bunch of low income women, so who cares?)
I don't know about that but the Wisconsin press is very, very interested.[..]
The bigger question Walker has to answer now is why he's taking calls from millionaire out-of-state donors and coordinating strategy with him. Even if it's not illegal, his constituents might not find it quite as benign as the jaded cable news networks.
And then there's the fact that he admitted that his goal wasn't to balance the budget but to break the unions. You'd think that would be newsworthy.
