Sharon Day, co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), recently insulted Wisconsin voters while speaking about the tight governor’s race at a Republican Party field office in Waukesha.
On Monday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Day told the audience, “It’s not going to be an easy election; it’s a close election. Like I said, much closer than I can even understand why.”
“I don’t want to say anything about your Wisconsin voters,” said Day, “but some of them might not be as sharp as a knife.”
Maybe part of the reason why the race is closer than Day can understand is because the voters have actually paid attention to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) record over the past four years. He has fallen short of his campaign promise of creating 250,000 new jobs in the state. After making that statement, Politifact told Walker they would be keeping track, to which he responded, “Bring it on.”
As of last month, Politifact’s tally, which uses the “Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages” and combines “that with monthly survey data to provide the most up-to-date-look at where things stand,” shows that Walker added 102,195 jobs. That’s about 40 percent shy of what he promised.
Voters might not like hearing Gov. Walker talk about minimum wage either. Earlier this month, Walker’s office said that the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour was a “living wage,” despite the fact that a single parent working a 40-hour week still falls below the federal poverty threshold.
Also this month, Gov. Walker said in a Journal Sentinel interview that he doesn’t think the minimum wage “serves a purpose,” and has repeatedly claimed that raising it would hurt job creation. The Congressional Budget Office, however, has reported that cities with higher minimum wages have seen strong job growth in recent years.
Wisconsin’s voters aren’t as dumb as the GOP wishes they were. The RNC simply thought it could throw millions of dollars of their super PAC money at an election and people would ignore Gov. Walker’s failed policies. And insulting their intelligence while the race is essentially tied certainly isn’t going to help the Republicans win any new friends.
