Scott Walker Is Making S— Up, Just Like His Hero Ronald Reagan

3/6/15
 
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By Kevin Drum,

from Mother Jones,

… once again trying to show that fighting against Wisconsin labor unions is pretty much the same as fighting ISIS or communism, Scott Walker repeated his contention that Ronald Reagan’s early move to fire striking air traffic controllers was more than just an attack on organized labor. It was also a critical foreign policy decision.

PolitiFact decided to check up on this:

– Five experts told us they had never heard of such documents. Several were incredulous at the notion.

– [Joseph] McCartin….”I am not aware of any such documents. If they did exist, I would love to see them.”….Svetlana Savranskaya….”There is absolutely no evidence of this.”….James Graham Wilson….Not aware of any Soviet documents showing Moscow’s internal response to the controller firings….Reagan’s own ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, told us: “It’s utter nonsense. There is no evidence of that whatever.”

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “For a statement that is false and ridiculous, our rating is Pants on Fire.” But Walker shouldn’t feel too bad. After all, Reagan was also famous for making up facts and evidence that didn’t exist, so Walker is just taking after his hero. What’s more, Reagan’s fantasies never hurt him much. Maybe they won’t hurt Walker either.

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