Never Forget?

Who did you choose to remember on Memorial Day?

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and was celebrated to remember the sacrifices of the Union soldiers who gave their lives during the Civil war. After WWI it was expanded to honor all of the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. It has expanded further over the years into a day of remembrance of lost family as well.

Many politicians use Memorial Day as a day to issue a press release. Rep Roger Roth adopted a somber yet thankful tone.

“As Americans, we benefit from a distinctive brand of freedom which
makes us the envy of the world, fully absent the authoritarianism and oppression
that has so often plagued the rest of the globe.

Like anything worthwhile, the freedom we enjoy had to be earned; and it
has only been made possible by the brave men and women who have given their
lives on the battlefields of Lexington and Concord to Iraq and Afghanistan so
that we can all continue to live free and prosper.

House candidate Sean Duffy stressed the shared values of all Americans.

But what unites all Americans, however they choose to spend Memorial Day, is
a solemn reverence for the sacrifices our country's brave men and women, and
their families have endured. Let's take a moment to give thought to the families
and the friends of the fallen. We cannot measure the depth of their loss, nor
comprehend the true measure of their sorrow.

Rep Kagen's presser was a little heavy on "I" strain for my taste but he still showed a basic empathy for the nature of the day.

This Memorial Day, we will come together again to join in celebrating the
lives of those who have given their full measure in the defense of our nation
and our way of life. As one nation under God, we believe in keeping the memories
of our fallen soldiers alive, especially during annual Memorial Day
celebrations.

Tom Barrett's statement emphasized that the sacrifices continue, that Memorial Day should not be a once in the year event.

We can honor them by never forgetting their sacrifice, and by paying tribute
to the 430,000 veterans in Wisconsin – including 30,000 courageous Wisconsinites who have served in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But one candidate for Governor chose to make his press release on the day after Memorial Day to show us where his head was on the day of remembrance. Rather than keep quiet and honor the dead or speak up and offer a tribute to them Scott Walker chose to celebrate something else entirely.

Over 75 volunteers visited 40 parades across Wisconsin on Monday. The
volunteers delivered over 40,000 Scott Walker brown bags with the phrase “I have to brown bag it to pay Wisconsin’s taxes",

So it was more important to Walker that his followers had handed out 40,000 recycled paper bags with his recycled message than it was for him to take one day away from campaigning and just be a grateful American. No message of gratitude or remembrance, no honor or grace; just the same-old, same-old tin-ear, graceless Walker puffing out a quick, "Look at me!" on a day set aside to celebrate others.

But, lest you think he is only capable of a lack of grace, Walker also manages to offer up one of his patented twists of fact in the same release.

On the previous weekend, Scott Walker received the endorsement of thousands
of grassroots supporters at the GOP state convention with 91.3% of the vote.

The high estimate of attendance at the WisGOP was 13-1500 and the bulk of those attendees were, as is usual at every political convention, party insiders and hangers-on. How Walker manages to make that out to be "thousands of grassroots supporters" is a mystery.

Scott Walker just can't see how others see him.