Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/n3tel/5589202989/sizes/z/in/photostream/">markn3tel</a>/Flickr
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) probably could have picked a better time to come rushing to the defense of Mitt Romney. On Tuesday, a new survey from Public Policy Polling showed the first-term tea partier trailing Democratic challenger and Iraq war vet Tammy Duckworth by 14 points (52–38) in his Chicagoland district. Just 35 percent of voters said they approved of his job performance.
But Walsh, a bombthrower famous for overheated floor statements and dismissive critiques of his political rivals—he recently suggested that Duckworth, a double-amputee, was not a “hero” because she talks about her military service too much—doesn’t appear to be toning things down. While other Republican candidates across the country are distancing themselves from Mitt Romney’s suggestion that 47 percent of Americans are moochers, Walsh came to the GOP presidential candidate’s defense at a campaign stop on Saturday in Roselle, Illinois:
He didn’t say it as probably exquisitely as he should have said it…But what Mitt Romney meant to say was this: Here’s why this is the most important election in our nation’s history: Because we are at a very scary point right now where there are too many Americans dependent upon government right now. Or as a very wise woman told me in the last campaign, we have too many people in the wagon and not enough people pulling the wagon. And if we don’t get this election right, the people pulling the wagon are going to put the wagon down and say, “You know what? I’ve had it, I’m tired.” That’s what this election is all about.
Here’s the video, captured by the liberal super PAC CREDO:
Walsh’s hardline on the 47 percent would make a bit more sense if Romney were at least polling well in the district. But Walsh has hitched his horse to the wrong wagon: Only 40 percent of voters in the 8th district say they’ll vote for the former Massachusetts governor this fall.
