Please don't make me feel bad for Scott Walker

[BlueCheese]

It seems to have become accepted fact that Scott Walker affirmatively agreed with a demeaning comment about MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. This is according to the transcript released by the Buffalo Beast, which pulled off the prank call (http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045).

“KOCH:” Beautiful; beautiful. You gotta love that Mika Brzezinski; she’s a real piece of ass.

WALKER: Oh yeah.

If this were accurate, it would in fact reflect badly on Walker. He would either be an outright sexist or at the very least someone who is willing to tolerate sexism from his sponsors. But it's not. Not even close. Following a post from the Daily Howler (http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh022411.shtml), I took a listen myself--it happens at 6:55 of the second video. A much more accurate transcript would be this:

“KOCH:” Beautiful; beautiful. You gotta love that Mika Brzezinski.

WALKER: Oh yeah.

"KOCH:" (under his breath) She’s a real piece of ass.

WALKER: (talking over "Koch") "You know, a couple weeks ago..."

I think any fair listening to the conversation shows that Walker made his "Oh yeah" comment well before the fake Koch's sexist comment. Given how quietly the fake Koch makes the comment, and how Walker was already talking about something else, it's not clear that Walker even heard him say it.

So the posted transcript is a clear misrepresentation, and we should stop repeating it. We can't stoop to this level, no matter how tempting or how much others do it.

Hat tip to the indispensable Daily Howler: www.dailyhowler.com

Edit: Things in brackets didn't appear in first try--changed to parentheses; other minor correction.

[Kennah]

1. OK, so he's not a misogynist. Are you now ready to swap spit with the guy?

[BlueCheese]

2. What does that mean?

[shraby]

3. So give the guy a cookie, he's still slime personified.

[Fuzz]

4. On a completely unrelated topic, Hitler loved dogs.