Scottenfreuden has arrived.
I wrote a bit about this yesterday saying I would keep an eye on the story.
Governor Scott Walker (R-FitzWalkerstan) lives in a RW bubble. He's a rock star to the right wing and enjoys his celebrity. He talks to RW radio show hosts both nationally and at least once a week locally. His staff and supporters live in that bubble, too. And when, due to a lack of responsible journalism in our state, tens of millions in advertising, lying to the public, and serious promotion done by our RW media that saturates the state he not only was elected governor, but survived a serious grassroots effort to recall him from office, that bubble grew an extra solid layer of insulation.
So he lives in that RW bubble and acts according to the information that filters through it which means he believes all the propaganda and baloney he hears is true. He was so convinced by it that he made a serious blunder last year and it's coming back to bite him in the ass.
The blunder I refer to doesn't involve his extremist legislation and budget passed through a Republican dominated Legislature, successful efforts to discredit official government economic numbers by inventing his own to hide the devastating effects of his budget and policies, or his phony baloney meme of "It's Working" when it clearly isn't. The major blunder he made didn't even involve legislation.
Walker announced in December 2011 that his administration was stopping work on a Wisconsin exchange until the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled on whether the federal law was constitutional. Facing criticism from conservatives wanting nothing to do with the health law, Walker also ended up turning down $38 million in federal money that could have gone to implementing it in the state.
In 2011, amid the chaos of recall and protests and ramming through his extremist agenda and signing those bills as quickly as he could get a pen in his hand, he "knew" the US Supreme Court would strike down the ACA or that Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats would be defeated in Jovember, 2012, and, because of that, Obama Care would be repealed.
He decided to reject $38 million in federal funds to begin implementation of the state portion of the Affordable Care Act. He opted out of setting up state exchanges.
He and his administration have until November 16, a week away, to do what they had over a year to do and they don't have the $38 million dollars the rejected last year.
Even after the Supreme Court ruled that the ACA was Constitutional, Walker listened to the voices in his bubble that told him the GOP would win the Presidency and full control of Congress, doubling down on his "certainty" that the ACA would be repealed.
When President Obama was re-elected and Democrats retained (and enlarged) their majority in the Senate, Scott Walkers RW bubble burt and reality rushed in.
As Bubbanomics would say: hahahahahahaha!
Walker decided late last year to stop planning to implement the health care law in the state, preferring instead to hold out for an Obama defeat and a repeal of the law.
Now the state is scrambling to decide by a Nov. 16 federal deadline whether Wisconsin wants to take charge of a virtual marketplace, or exchange, required by the law to allow consumers and small businesses to purchase health coverage. In just over a week, the state will have to say whether it can get that exchange running by January 2014 or will leave that task to the federal government.
And, let me say again, they don't have the $38 million in federal assistance to do it because Scott Walker rejected those funds because the voices inside the bubble told him Obama Care was definitely going to be repealed.
He still hears those voices:
"They (the federal government) won't review that until as late as January," Walker said of the proposal. "Even after notifying them, we have until next fall to make modifications as we see fit."
Nope. The deadline of November 16 is for real.
State Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Legislature's budget committee and a strong supporter of the president's law, said the Obama administration might not have any leeway under the law to waive any deadlines that the Walker administration fails to meet.
"They mistakenly thought that there was some flexibility in these deadlines, and there isn't . . . those deadlines are baked into the federal law," Richards said of Republicans. "They wasted an entire year on this, and I really think it's a mistake. I think they need to sit down and get a bipartisan plan that's right for Wisconsin and written by Wisconsinites and stop the political posturing."
Sooooo, even if the federal government believed the Scott Walker dog-ate-my-homework-so-may-I-please-have-more-time-to-do-it-over excuse, they may not be able to waive the deadline.
There are 3 choices: accept the federally established exchanges, rush through state-run health insurance exchanges, or use a combination of federal and state exchanges.
And, did I mention, they don't have the $38 million in federal funds to set up the state exchanges?
Scott Walkers arrogance and RW bubble are again going to cost the "hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin", a group Walker always claims to be working for, a whole pile of money to pay for his blunder. It's a repeat of the same messes he always makes and then sticks taxpayers with the bill (ask anyone in Milwaukee County how much they have paid to clean up the mess he left behind when he became Governor).
So, as Scott Walker and his cronies scramble to cobble something together or create some lie as to why they need more time, I'll enjoy the Scottenfreuden now and deal with the pain in my tax bill later.
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PS: As you can see, my original avatar is back after a whole lot of struggle getting it to "take" on my profile. I originally chose to use a picture of Rocky, who I rescued from the shelter over 20 years ago and passed away a few years ago at the age of 17-19, because that single picture is almost a reflection of me reading the news and blogs on my computer. All that leaning forward intensity comes through in that single image. If avatars are our digital representation to the outside world, I couldn't do better. Besides, Rocky looked a whole lot better than me anyway.
Thanks, Obamacat. You were awesome as an avatar.
More: Good news. It seems that the judge that overturned Scott Walkers union busting law
might be running for our State Supreme Court.
Judge Maryann Sumi told the weekly newspaper Isthmus that she is working with a nonpartisan group of people helping her explore the possibility of a run against conservative Justice Patience Roggensack.
Rossensack is one of 4 RW justices in the majority on our State Supreme Court. Efforts last year to replace David Prosser resulted in an election so close a recount was necessary and even today we remember how Waukesha County Election Clerk Kathy Nicklaus "found" just enough ballots 3 days after the election to hand the seat back to David Prosser.
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