In his February 20th Opinion for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank accurately calls Wisconsin Governor and presidential wannabe, Scott Walker, a "coward" and "spineless" for his equivocal response to Rudy Giuliani's recent statement saying President Obama doesn't love America.
Milbank calls Giuliani stupid and a once respected public servant who has gone over edge to become one of the fringe "nutters." But he saves his most stinging criticism for Walker, who was sitting silently just a few feet away from Giuliani when he made his now infamous comment in a speech at a dinner featuring Governor Walker.
And Walker, just a few seats away, said . . . nothing. Asked the next morning on CNBC about Giuliani’s words, the Republican presidential aspirant was spineless: “The mayor can speak for himself. I’m not going to comment on what the president thinks or not. He can speak for himself as well. I’ll tell you, I love America, and I think there are plenty of people — Democrat, Republican, independent, everyone in between — who love this country.”
But did he agree with Giuliani? “I’m in New York,” Walker demurred. “I’m used to people saying things that are aggressive out there.”
While relegating Giuliani to the dust heap of fallen national figures, Milbank holds currently serving leaders with eyes on national office to a higher standard, and therefore expects them to condemn outrageous rhetoric loudly and unequivocally. And as Milbank points out "Walker failed that fundamental test of leadership."
Certainly don’t look to Walker, who, in trying to establish himself as the man to lead the country after the 2016 election, is avoiding anything that might resemble leadership.
Last week, in London during the annual Darwin Day observance, he refused to answer a question about evolution. “I’m going to punt on that,” he said when asked about evolution at a British think tank. “That’s a question a politician shouldn’t be involved in one way or another, so I’m going to leave that up to you.”
Milbank notes that Giuliani at least prefaces his accusation admitting it was "a horrible thing to say . . ." and closes with: "Walker surely knew it was horrible, too, but he refused to say so — and in this failure he displayed a cowardice unworthy of a man who would be president."
Well said Mr. Milbank. This idiot Walker wants to do for America what he has done for Wisconsin. Thank you for calling him what he truly is: a spineless coward.