Tea Party candidate praises Russ Feingold

And unwittingly affirms a prophetic Feingold press release

Tea Party Republican Ron Johnson, who heeded the Fox "News" Channel's principled call for a "rich guy from Wisconsin" to run against Senator Russ Feingold, is off to a compelling and convincing start, appearing over the weekend on Up Front with Mike Gousha:

Mike Gousha: Does Russ Feingold get any credit for voting against TARP, in your opinion?

Ron Johnson: Sure. Yeah, I'll give him credit for that. He was right on that issue.

Then, having done only less than half his homework, this complaint:

Ron Johnson: As a matter of fact, three days before [Feingold] voted for the [federal stimulus package], he issued a press release saying that in the first year, there'd be 2.4 million jobs created.

Feingold's figures relied on the Congressional Budget Office, and what Feingold wrote on February 10, 2009 was that the ARRA "was expected to create up to 2.4 million jobs in the first year."

Mike Gousha: I know you're a reader of the Wall Street Journal.* They did a story this week on the latest study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office which said in the first quarter of 2010 the stimulus package had created between 1.3 and 2.8 million jobs. It was more than they expected when they passed the bill, seeming to say that the stimulus had worked. Do you think they're wrong when they say that? This non-partisan budget office?

Ron Johnson: First of all I haven't seen that study. Where's the evidence?

Lo and behold, it's right here on the internets.

Video: Ron Johnson blows his Fox News dog whistles on WISN-12

Mike Gousha's subtle eviscerations are quite entertaining, although it's too bad he didn't ask Ron Johnson what was up with Johnson and his posse's tearing down off the wall the campaign signs of his two political rivals at a recent Republican jamboree in Milwaukee.

Also, "Obamacare" is an "assault on our Freedoms," says Ron Johnson. Johnson claims they don't have our Freedoms in Canada, which is why a fellow rich guy from Newfoundland had no Freedoms to travel to the U.S. for a cardiac procedure and then recuperate comfortably at his Miami condo in a Freedom-ly rich guy fashion.

* Most likely a reader solely of the WSJ's bias-confirming right-wing op-ed pages and not any of the paper's actual reporting.