The Washington Post has started a new series of their own version of political fact checking of the presidential candidates claims. Their first victim was Scott Walker.
Per the article, Walker is trying to take credit for inspiring the whole #Occupy movement. He is saying that the protests against his Act 10 led to #OccupyWallStreet and other similar movements:
“The Occupy Movement didn’t start in Washington, didn’t start in Wall Street, it started in my capitol.”
— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), speech at RedState Gathering in Atlanta, Aug. 8, 2015
“The [budget] hearing would soon claim a more ignominious place in history — as the moment that gave birth to the ‘Occupy’ movement.”
— Walker’s 2013 memoir, “Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge”
Except that the #Occupy movement had very little, if anything, to do with the Act 10 protests. The #Occupy protests stemmed from the Arab Spring and the European protests more than anything. In fact, Wisconsin protesters were referring their movement as the "Wisconsin Winter," showing that it was stemming from the Arab Spring.
Furthermore, these types of protests aren't even new in Wisconsin. During the Vietnam War, way before Walker even moved to Wisconsin as a boy, protesters were crowding the Capitol in Madison.
As they should, WaPo gave Walker four Pinocchios for his lie:
Act 10 protests clearly defined a lot of Walker’s political history. The issue here is that Walker does not merely say that protests over his budget bill preceded Occupy Wall Street. He actually says that the budget fight “gave birth to” the Occupy Movement. That’s giving himself far too much credit. Any claim that the Act 10 protests galvanized an international movement is simply false.
I learned as a young man, many more years ago than I care to admit, that when someone is really good at something, they don't need to brag about it. Their quality is apparent to everyone.
Walker, however, isn't very good at all, so there is nothing good there for anyone to see. Even worse, Walker doesn't have anything worth bragging about so he is resorted to a continuous pattern of lying to make himself even appear to be relevant in the eyes of the uninformed.
