He Said What?
– By Ed Kociela –
If the Federal Election Commission had doctors on the sidelines this election year, I promise you that Herschel Walker, running to represent Georgia in the United States Senate, would be in the locker room undergoing concussion testing protocol.
Clearly, the former pro football player turned politician has had his bell rung one too many times.
Walker has littered the campaign trail with a series of incomprehensible, unintelligible, bizarre quotes.
“Inflation affects women more than men because “they gotta buy groceries,” he has said.
“Cain killed Abel, and that’s a problem that we have,” he said when probed on gun control. “What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things. You know, you talked about doing a disinformation — what about getting a department that can look at young men that’s (sic) looking at women that’s looking at their social media? What about doing that? Looking into things like that, and we can stop that that way.”
“There’s no point in cleaning up the atmosphere because dirty air from China will just float over here anyways,” he said in addressing the environment.
“I think some of the biggest problems going on in our country today we have so many celebrities telling people that they can’t do it, telling a lot of people, ‘Oh, you gotta feel bad for yourself, feel sorry for yourself, which is sad to me because they done it but they telling (sic) you you can’t do it and it’s like, God, you did it why can’t do it? I think that tell all kids that, uh, that you know, they can’t do it or tell our making kids feel sorry for themselves. And, ah, not having it, don’t want to educate. You don’t quit.” Quite honestly, I don’t know what the hell he was addressing with that particular word salad.
If it all has a familiar lilt, that could be because Walker has a longstanding friendship with Donald Trump, for whom he played football when the former president was owner of the New Jersey Generals, a professional team that played in the wannabe United States Football League.
As a result of their brief sports association, Trump has become, over the years, a mentor for Walker and has placed some of his muscle behind Walker’s bid for the U.S. Senate. And, it shows.
Walker has heavily courted the evangelical right despite having four children by four different women, allegedly paying for an abortion for a woman who also gave birth to one of his sons, domestic violence allegations, and a steadfast support of Trump and his claims of the election being stolen. He has lied about having experience in law enforcement, about his education, about his businesses.
He is running against incumbent Raphael Warner, a Democrat who serves as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church where the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor, and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver. He is supposed to take part in a debate this week. I look forward to the highlight reel.
What is most disturbing about all of this is the fact that despite the clear falsehoods and unintelligible mumbo jumbo, he still has a loyal following in Georgia, where Republican diehards are keeping him in the race.
And, curiously, he maintains a hold on the evangelical vote, which seems, on the surface, preposterous. It doesn’t seem to matter to them that Walker, who claims to represent strong family values and a firm opposition to abortion of any kind, reflects neither. Of course, hypocrisy has loomed large in the Republican legend since the ascension of Donald Trump, who still polls well among white evangelicals, some of whom have gone so far as to claim he wears God’s armor. They stick by him even though there is a growing chance that he could soon exchange that armor for prison orange.
While the magnanimous Christian heart is supposed to come forth and be bursting with forgiveness, the offender is first required to repent, show some sort of remorse, a couple of things you will never get from the former president. That page from the Trump playbook was well-drilled into the Walker persona. Long ago I gave up trying to figure out how somebody with supposed deep moral convictions and a foundation in faith could be so supportive of this illusory pose. I guess it boils down to “Do as I say, not as I do.”
So that makes it OK for Walker to say he stands against abortion under any circumstance — including rape or incest or the health of the mother — while, according to allegations and documents presented, he paid for one.
Or to preach family values when his are all over the place.
It drew an angry response from his son Christian who said “Family values, people? He has four kids, four different women, wasn’t in the house raising one of them. He was out having sex with other women. Do you care about family values?”
There was a time when a comment like that would have scuttled any campaign in disgrace. I guess character doesn’t matter at this point, that party affiliation means everything. Scandals are no longer a bad thing, I guess, and the truth is whatever way a politician likes to pretend it to be and the perceptions of their minions. So, maybe Trump was right when he said “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, OK, and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
As pathetic as that sounds, the American electorate has apparently moved in that direction.
Now, we must note that this is not the feeling among the majority of American voters, who twice voted more for Trump’s opponents than for him. But, the numbers are close enough to make a difference in the culture and command of the United States, so maybe these folks have all taken one too many shots to the head.
It’s as good an explanation as any, you know.
Viewpoints and perspectives expressed throughout The Independent are those of the individual contributors. They do not necessarily reflect those held by the staff of The Independent or our advertising sponsors. Your comments, rebuttals, and contributions are welcome in accordance with our Terms of Service. Please be respectful and abide by our Community Rules. If you have privacy concerns you can view our Privacy Policy here. Thank you!
Click here to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or a Letter to the Editor
