Scott Walker Pretends That He Might Need a Degree to Run for President in 2016

scott walker

Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) is making noise again about maybe getting his college degree before the Republican primaries really get going.

James Hohmann at Politico reported that Walker told reporters today:

Walker, who dropped out of Marquette University in 1990, told reporters Monday that he is interested in using the University of Wisconsin System’s FlexOption program to get the final credits he needs.

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“But at some point, hopefully by next school year, they might start offering other courses beyond those,” Walker said at a media availability, the transcript of which was shared by his office. “None of those are in my area of expertise, but I’d love to in the future be one of the students.”

The 46-year-old dropped out of Marquette with enough units to qualify as a senior.

Walker refuses to release his transcript, so the question of why he left college can’t be answered definitively, but it is true that he left after losing a race, being deemed “unfit” after violating campaign rules and being accused of stealing the newspapers which announced he was unfit for office (early shades of his later recall campaign). PolitiFact reported on the campaign rule breakage and subsequent “unfit” ruling and loss:

It was gentle stuff, but the Trib took offense, publishing an election-day editorial headlined, “Walker unfit.” It decried his “mudslinging” and said another factor in its reversal on Walker being qualified was the alleged theft of papers, which Walker’s camp denied.

The next day’s vote wasn’t close; Quigley won 1,245 to 927.

It’s unfortunate for Governor Walker, but due to his own party’s insistence on seeing President Obama’s long form birth certificate as well as demanding his college transcripts, Walker is wide open for massive criticism for refusing to release his.

Walker has been making noise about finishing his degree for a while now. Back in November, we heard rumblings about this same thing, but we were also told that his lack of a degree makes him likable. His lack of a bachelors degree is a selling point among Republican voters.

Nothing says winning like hating on education and claiming that you don’t need to know anything to be President. While it’s true that a bachelor’s degree is not required, nor does it determine in any sense the intelligence or lack thereof of the holder, it is important that a President has a solid grasp of history and civics. One doesn’t get the idea that Scott Walker likes to settle down at night with a good, non-partisan book of history — rather, he champions the Poujadist juvenile rebellion against authority that works so well when one is selling fools gold to the voters.

Scott Walker would do anything to please the Koch brothers, and if he runs for President, that audio of him trying to suck from the wind from beneath their wings is going to harm him much more than his lack of college degree. It also appears that he is under investigation yet again.

Most people don’t operate under a constant cloud of suspicion, and don’t need to erase all of the hard drives from their previous government office as Milwaukee County Executive. So Walker can wave his “I don’t have a degree, I’m just like you” flag all he wants. He’s fooling himself if he thinks a national campaign will be as easily bought as the recall campaign was.

But ultimately, it would be a mistake for Scott Walker to get his degree. Without it, he can run on resentment of the elites much better, and any accusation from Democrats that he’s not qualified will be more fodder for his self-described victim status, which is like crack to the Right.

They love nothing more than a seeming victim of the elite, never mind that Walker is a puppet for the most elite of the elite. Walker should definitely keep dropping hints about his degree, trawling for Democrats to take a swing at him over his lack of one, so that he can avoid discussing things like his horrific record on jobs and the way his policies have ruined Wisconsin.

This is a the Republican Party, where the more misinformed and uneducated one is or seems to be, the more they are liked. If only Scott Walker could pretend to be from Texas or Alaska while he dodges learning anything that might be valuable in the White House…

Don’t fall for this troll bait, Democrats. He’s dying to be attacked over this so he can win the martyr vote.


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