Friday, November 20, 2015

Agenda Setting


Considering that Scott Walker’s campaign has been suspended, his website is no longer up and running. Now, if you look up his campaign’s website you are still able to donate and the page simply says “Thank You”.  Here is his retired webpage: 


For this blog post I decided to analyze another candidates webpage. I decided to look at Ben Carson’s webpage. 


I wanted to learn a little more about him and the issues that his campaign is focusing on. Under his “Issues” column he lists the issues that you can learn more about on his site, these issues include: Protecting Innocent Life, Balanced Budget Amendment, Education, Keep Gitmo Open, Health Care, Keep Faith in Our Society, Russia and Lessons Learned, Protect the Second Amendment, Stand by Israel our Bulwark Middle East Ally, and The American People Deserve a Better Tax Code.

It seems as though Ben Carson is very passionate about all of these issues. I think that one of his main focuses is on Protecting Innocent Life. I believe this because not only is it the first issue listed, but he also describes himself as “unabashedly and entirely pro life”.  I can also tell that a Balanced Budget Amendment is very important to Carson as well. This issue is the second issue listed on his website. Along with this issue, Carson shows that he knows his facts. He knows what the debt was in 2009 as well as what he thinks this economy needs to do moving forward to never reach that point again. 

Next, I decided to look at another front runner’s webpage. Donald Trump. There was no specific “issues” tab on Trumps page, but I decided to look more into what he calls his “positions”. His positions include, U.S.-China Trade Reform, Veterans Administration Reforms, Tax Reform, Second Amendment Rights, Immigration Reform. Under each category, he gives a small description on his stance towards the position as well as an opportunity for the viewer to read more. 



Although the issues that Trump and Carson talk about are very different, they are all very important and relevant in the 2016 presidential race. Trump and Carson’s pages are similar in the way that they both show how informed and passionate they are about the issues at hand. Issues that they both include on their page as well as see eye to eye on are Tax Reforms as well as Second Amendment Rights. 

As a whole, I think that Ben Carson does a great job of setting his agenda. He specifically lies out the issues at hand that he is well educated in and feels strongly about. His issues are not only relevant but widespread meaning that he is a candidate that could essentially please a large audience. His website is also very easy to navigate and find exactly what you are looking for. 

Maybe Scott Walker should have taken notes on Carson’s campaign strategies...  


Sources: 

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Press Coverage

It is easy to say that Scott Walker is not all over the news right now due to his dropping out of the 2016 presidential race a few weeks ago. However, he is still an important figure in America and more specifically in the State of Wisconsin. That being said, he is not 100% absent in the news. 

I went to Google News and searched Scott Walkers name. The first article the came up was from the news source, New York Times, and it was titled “Highlights From the Fourth Republican Presidential Debate”. Although Walker was not the main focus of this article, he did have his moment to shine. The beginning of the article pointed out, “Scott Walker and Paul Ryan, Looking On What Might Have Been” and showed them in the crowd of the fourth Republican presidential debate on November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee. The images shared showed Walker and Ryan laughing and having a good time. The article continued on and focused on important events during the whole of debate. 



I then wanted to see if Walker had any news coverage that was more focused on what he was doing after dropping out of the race. I continued my search and found more about the fourth debate, but also found that Walker just signed a new bill. Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Journal Sentinel shared on Wednesday November 11, 2015 that Walker signed a bill criminalizing ‘upskirting’ photos. Founded in this article Patrick Marley states, that Walker signed legislation making it a crime to photograph people under their clothes without their permission in what has come to be known as upskirting.

My search showed me that Walker is still in the news. However, he is definitely not the face of news right now. What is being reported about Walker is still important but does not necessarily concern the whole population or in better words, America is not focused entirely on Walker’s actions. Instead, naturally people are much more concerned about what is going on with the current 2016 Presidential candidates still in the race. That being said, Walker was once in the race and is still an important figure. Jeb Bush made a statement in which he was seeking Scott Walker’s support saying, “I’d love to have his support, of course”. I think that this looks good for Walker and shows his credibility. 



Overall, Walker is still being covered in large news sources, but he is definitely not the main focus. I think he will be more present in smaller media sources in the near future and remain in the background of large media sources as the 2016 presidential debate continues on. I do believe that his presence in media, although small, will work in his favor in the future if he continues on keeping a positive image. 


Sources: 




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Friday, November 6, 2015

Pop Culture & Politics

Considering Walkers dropout in the 2016 presidential election, his name is not showing up
much in the news and media nearly as much as it had been before. However, it is still easy to find current and past information about Walker if you find the right news source or search the web. Looking at Walker in the media and in todays pop culture, I can honestly say I feel like he was a candidate that was very easy to poke fun at, especially for those who were not in favor of him. Exhibit A: 




But then again, that is the case for almost all of the candidates. There is always somebody who is going to make a joke. These jokes turn into entertainment and the American people love them (for the most part). 

I found a video clip of Scott Walker being made fun of on the popular show Saturday Night Live or better known as SNL. SNL is known for poking fun at a variety of different people who are popular in the media, politicians being one of their most common topics.  In many cases, the actors on SNL will actually act out scenes and portray a specific person. This clip is unique because they are simply just making fun of Scott Walker using real clips from his speeches and his now infamous Khol’s story: 



This clip shows Walker talking about the exact same scenario, wording the story the exact same way on four different occasions. How the clip was put tother was hilarious and shows the viewers that Walker is literally repeating himself again and again. I don’t think that this is particularly good for Walker’s image. It shows that he is repetitive and it also shows that a story he deems as important is comical to the American people. That being said I think this clip pushes back at his strong image he wished to portray and flat out makes fun of it. I do not however think that this clip changes Walkers image as much as it just pokes fun at his image. 

This next clip portrays Walker on The Colbert Report, another comical show very similar to SNL. In this clip, I believe his image is definitely portrayed in a negative way, but through a comical approach.



This clip had a much larger negative impact on me versus the first clip. Walker was trying to make a point and make it known that he is accepting to the Jewish religion, but most importantly he did not make a point of making sure he knew what he was talking about. He instead made the mistake and closed his statement with, “Thank you again and Molotov” where he should have said, “Thank you again and Mazel Tov”. Although he did not mean to say molotov he should have made sure he had his words correct. Throughout this clip Colbert mocks him by butchering several different words such as calling Hanukkah, hannu-kunna-matata. As a whole, I think that this clip is a huge embarrassment to Scott Walker. 









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