question – The Progressive Midwesterner

Wisconsin Governor and likely Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker put his foot in his mouth yet again when he claimed that he didn’t know whether or not President Barack Obama was a Christian:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said on Saturday he isn’t sure if President Barack Obama is a Christian.

“I don’t know,” Walker said when asked about it by The Washington Post at a DC hotel where the National Governors Association was holding a meeting.

Walker’s comment came a day after he gave a similar answer to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about whether he believes Obama loves America. Both questions stem from a reception for the governor that was held on Wednesday night in Manhattan, an event in which former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) told the crowd he doubts Obama loves America.

While the Democratic National Committee (DNC) response to this, which basically amounted to calling Scott Walker “polarizing”, was, in my opinion, pathetic, that’s beside the point. The point is that President Obama is, in fact, of the Christian faith, and the Wikipedia article about Obama includes a section about his religious beliefs which cites, among other sources, an article in Christianity Today magazine and an article that appeared on Time magazine’s website. In a 2008 Christianity Today article, Obama described himself as a “devout Christian”. Additionally, a 2009 Time magazine article, which was published to their website, listed Obama’s primary place of worship as the Evergreen Church on the grounds of the presidential retreat Camp David.

Scott Walker’s attack on the religious beliefs of the sitting president remind me of Republican attacks against the religious beliefs of the late former U.S. Senator Paul Wellsone (DFL-MN) and his wife, Sheila Wellstone. Right before the 1990 U.S. Senate election in Minnesota, supporters of Rudy Boschwitz, then the incumbent Republican U.S. Senator who was in a close re-election race against Wellstone, sent out flyers to the Jewish community in Minnesota attacking Wellstone, who was Jewish, for being a “bad Jew” because he married a Gentile (i.e., a non-Jewish person). Wellstone responded to the attacks by saying that Boschwitz “…has a problem with Christians, then”. Wellstone went on to defeat Boschwitz by less than 50,000 votes, and Wellstone went on to serve as a progressive voice for Minnesota in the U.S. Senate before his life was cut short by a plane crash that took the lives of Paul, Sheila, their daughter, and five others in 2002.

It’s clear to me that Scott Walker has a problem with Christians.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m not a big fan of Jason Rae, one of three candidates (the other two being Joe Wineke and Jeff Smith) who are currently running for chairperson of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW).

However, Rae has proven that he can’t take criticism from political bloggers like me: he’s blocked me on Twitter.

Apparently, Rae blocked me on Twitter after I questioned him over including a link on his campaign website allowing people to donate money to his state party chair campaign. Given that the only significant expenses incurred in a campaign for an office like DPW chair are travel-related expenses (gasoline, etc.) and expenses related to keeping the campaign website online for six months or so, and candidates for DPW chair, if I’m not mistaken, don’t have campaign committees registered with state election authorities that can run paid advertising and do other things that candidates for offices like Governor of Wisconsin and seats in the Wisconsin State Legislature, I think it’s really absurd for Rae to solicit money for a race for DPW chair.

Unfortunately, instead of answering my question, Rae decided to block me on Twitter, something that people like Mary Burke, Susan Happ, and Mike Tate haven’t done despite the fact that I’ve heavily criticized them as well. That proves that Rae, just like Scott Walker and Richard Nixon, is a vindictive coward who can’t take criticism from others, and I would be willing to do anything except move to Wisconsin and run for DPW chair myself to prevent him from becoming the state Democratic Party chairperson in a state that could very well decide which party controls the White House and the U.S. Senate in the 2016 elections. Wisconsin Democrats can not afford to be led by another vindictive chairperson who uses the office of state party chair to play Chicago-style machine politics by undermining progressive campaigns and rewarding political insiders.

The more I learn about Jason Rae, the prouder I am to be on his political enemies list.