Two Peas in a Political Pod

The first Presidential Debate is over, with the overwhelming ass-whipping of Donald Trump by his smart and well-prepared opponent. Now the country's political geeks anxiously await next Tuesday's Vice Presidential debate.

Like Trump, Mike Pence is no Brainiac. He had a number of very bad moments during last year's furor over Indiana's "OK to discriminate against gays" law. However, Pence was a talk-radio personality in Indiana and his calm media demeanor is much better than Trump's (he called himself Rush Limbaugh on decaf). And unlike Trump, he is taking the debate seriously, actually preparing for it.

As part of his preparation, Pence is going through mock debates. The person that he chose to stand-in as his opponent, Tim Kaine, is none other than his good friend and soul-mate, Scott Walker.

Tim Kaine graduated with a Harvard Law degree. He has deep political experience as a mayor, governor, senator, and DNC Chair. Selecting Walker to play Kaine is simply bizarre. Intellectually, Scott Walker is to Tim Kaine as Beavis is to Sir Issac Newton.

However, there is a deep bromance between Pence and Walker. In Pence's first Wisconsin trip after the GOP Convention, Pence called Walker the "best governor in America". And the admiration is reciprocal. After Pence became Trump's running mate, Walker gushed, "Mike’s just someone that’s very well respected, certainly amongst governors, Democrat (sic) and Republican alike, highly regarded, and he’d be a great vice president."
 
During Trump's first post-convention trip to our state, Walker was busy washing his hair. But Mike Pence was welcomed with open arms. Buddies Walker and Pence hang together at the quarterly meetings of the Republican Governors' Association. They are both frequent speakers at far-right "God, guns, and gays" meetings such as CPAC and the NRA National Convention.

There are many parallels between the two with respect to sponsors, ideology, and actions. For example, both Pence and Walker endorsed Ted Cruz over Donald Trump in their states' late GOP primaries.

Due to bumbling incompetence and a far-right agenda, both Walker and Pence are unpopular in their own states, with approval ratings hovering around 40 percent.

Both are wholly-owned employees of the Koch brothers. The two were among the four prospective Presidential candidates invited to a secret January 2015 meeting of Koch donors. Koch money and organizations were integral to the election of both governors.

Neither believes in science. In 2001, Pence said on the House Floor, "... I also believe that someday scientists will come to see that only the theory of intelligent design provides even a remotely rational explanation for the known universe." Walker brought shame to our state when he "punted" on the question of evolution during a trip to the UK.

Walker and Pence are using taxpayer money to push their extremist agenda, acting in concert to sue the federal government. Both Indiana and Wisconsin sued to stop workers from getting a raise through new overtime rules. Both sued to stop new pollution rules pertaining to coal-powered power plants.

Pence and Walker both greatly increased taxpayer funding of for-profit and religious schools through voucher give-a-ways. Pence ended Indiana's use of Common Core state standards, while Walker, pushed by his Tea Party base, is headed that way. Both have attempted to grab power from their independently-elected state Superintendents of Public Schools.

Both have signed some of the county's most restrictive anti-choice laws. Both have signed some of the country's most lax gun laws.

Both are against LGBTQ rights. Walker refused to let the state defend our civil union registry. He has fought against gay marriage much of his career. Pence once stated that gay couples "signaled societal collapse". Scott Walker even defended Pence during the Indiana "OK to discriminate against gays" fiasco. He said the widespread anger was the result of "people who are chronically looking for ways to be upset about things instead of really looking at what it is."

Mike Pence and Scott Walker are like two peas in a political pod. They are owned by the same billionaires, follow the same "God, guns, and gays" ideology, and have same delusions of competence. If you like Scott Walker as Governor, you will love Mike Pence as Vice President. 

Paul C. Adair