Integrity matters, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got "punked," as it is fashionable to say. It seems he took a call from a liberal blogger pretending to be conservative billionaire David Koch, a patron. Read Dana Milbank's witty take on the episode here. Anyway, during the chat, Walker praised Tim Cullen, a centrist state senator, as a "pretty reasonable" chap, for a Democrat. A principled man would have stopped there. But the blissful Walker chose instead to swan-dive over the proverbial cliff: "But he's not one of us. ... He's not there for political reasons. He's just trying to get something done. ... He's not a conservative. He's just a pragmatist." Like Milbank, I, too, wondered when “pragmatist” became an epithet. I’ll make two predictions. Cullen's epitaph will read: “An honorable man who got things done.” Walker’s epitaph will read: “A charlatan who was one of us.” I hate to say this, Wisconsin, but you elected this cheesehead. Now you’re reaping the whirlwind. The lesson: Brains and integrity do matter, regardless of party. And the higher the office, the more it matters.