Ron Johnson's Flip-Flops Highlighted Through Song

Last Friday on “End Insight,” musician and commentator Peter Leidy joined the show to share a new song. Leidy sang in “first person”… as candidate Ron Johnson. 

This song touches on a theme that we have seen countless times when it comes to Ron Johnson: flip-flopping. The song outlines some of Ron Johnson’s biggest flip-flops during this election season.

Watch the full episode. See more Here and Now.

The first flip-flop discussed is drilling in our Great Lakes. On July 12, the Johnson camp issued a statement that said he would not support any efforts to overturn the 2005 Energy Bill that outlawed drilling in the Great Lakes. Then shortly there after, Johnson announced his support for drilling oil in the Great Lakes.

WisPolitics asked Johnson:

“Would you support drilling, like in the Great Lakes for example?”

Johnson replied:

“You know, the bottom line is we are an oil-based economy.  There's nothing we're going to do to get off of that for many years.  I think we have to be realistic and recognize that fact and, you know, I, I think we have to, get the oil where it is, but we have to do it where it is.”

As a side note, Leidy could have mentioned a connected flip-flop, Johnson’s ultra-rare double-triple flip-flop on BP. Initially, Johnson’s campaign said he would keep his BP stock. Then he flipped and told supporters and the media that he had planned to sell his stock in order to help pay for his campaign. He flipped once more for the third time and said he now wasn’t certain where he would sell his BP stock.

The last flip-flop mentioned in the song is evident of Johnson’s double talk and hypocrisy. Focusing on government loans, new reports revealed that Johnson has taken a federal government grant to start his business and $4 million in government-subsidized bonds after he had said he had never taken any government assistance.  Johnson opposes the American Recovery and reinvestment act and he opposes funding for emergency aid to the jobless and supports cutting off unemployment insurance for people still looking for work, yet his business took a $75,000 federal government grant for a rail spur and took $4 million in government subsidized loans with below market interest rates.

Another flip-flop highlighted in the song was Johnson’s stance on Medicare. When it comes to Medicare Benefits for seniors, Ron Johnson speaks out of both sides of his mouth. One side, he supports repealing and ultimately cutting Medicare benefits for more than 870,000 Wisconsin seniors but on the other side, his campaign put together a release where Johnson said, “Our seniors deserve the peace of mind and certainty that the programs they’ve been planning their retirement around will remain intact and be the safety net they’re meant to be.”  The flip and the release came the day Johnson spoke to Wisconsin seniors at the Coalition of Wisconswin Aging Groups’ annual convention in Green Bay.

The transcript and the video of the song be seen below:

[music]
Well, hello good people of Wisconsin
I’m running for Senate, name’s Ron Johnson
I’m here today to clarify my views
Some people have a real attitude
Things I’ve said have been misconstrued
Maybe you’ve heard about it on the news
Now, hold on, people, don’t have a cow
You say I’ve been on both sides now
Of issues like drilling in our Great Lakes

Well, let me set the record straight
First I said, hey, that’s great
Then I changed my mind, for goodness sakes!

See, if I waffle on a position
Well, heck, I’m no career politician
I’m a businessman, I don’t like how government is growing

If I find that a flip is a bad idea
Then maybe I’ll flop to make myself clear

Sometime a fella gotta see which way the wind is blowing
Vote for me, vote for me

I’m Ron Johnson
Won’t you vote for me
Privatizing, seems to me, something like social security
Well, I think the time has finally come
Unemployment benefits, in my mind
Just keep people sitting on their big behinds
Government handing out money to everyone

And though it’s true my own company
Got a government loan, I just can’t see
Why the government should be involved at all
Now you can call me a hypocrite
But there’s one thing you have to admit
I just might buy me an election yet this fall

The liberals think that you and me
Cause climate change, what lunacy
Everybody knows the sun is hot!
So it’s okay for me and you
To keep on producing co2
The real problem?  Sunspots

Actually, the earth is cool, now follow me here
Because I ain’t fooling
There’s evidence and I’ll tell you what I mean
That big old island called Greenland
Is icy now but understand, it’s called Greenland
Because it used to be green

Well, that’s it for now
I got to go
I just thought you all might want to know where I stand
Without my detractors meddling. 

And please keep a watchful eye
For my press releases, they’ll clarify what I meant to say
And now I’m backpedaling.