Gov. Scott Walker on Monday said news reporters had created “gotcha moments” that are of little concern to most people and that he would seek to build a campaign that addresses issues important to “everyday Americans.”

“You’ve seen in the media a lot of talk over the last few days about these self-made, gotcha moments from the media,” the Wisconsin Republican governor told a convention of religious broadcasters. “And they want to talk about things that I don’t think most Americans want to talk about. Our commitment is going forward — we’re going to talk about the things that matter to everyday Americans, and we’ll leave the nonsense to the media aside.”…

Mr. Walker, who traveled to Iowa last month and plans to head to New Hampshire in March, said he hadn’t yet decided whether to run for president. In a 14-minute speech that touted his opposition to abortion and his commitment to traditional marriage Mr. Walker said he was waiting to hear from a higher power whether he should seek the presidency.

“I’m still trying to decipher if this is God’s calling,” Mr. Walker said. “You’ve got to be crazy to want to be president of the United States. You’ve got to be crazy. To look at what it does to a person and a family, you’ve got to be crazy. But you should only do it if you feel that God’s called you to get in there and make a difference. We’re still trying to decide, and we’re going to ask for your prayers in that regard.”

The Office of the Governor in Wisconsin has no record of communications between Gov. Scott Walker and any deities, according to the office’s legal counsel.

While it’s on the record that the governor is communicating with higher powers like billionaire and political kingmaker Sheldon Adelson, that’s where the paper trail ends.

The official denial came in response to an open records request from Edward Susterich, a Milwaukee man who is a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation…

In March 2014, FFRF sent a complaint letter about Walker’s tweet “Philippians 4:13” on the governor’s official Twitter account. The New Testament verse reads, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

No doubt there are important policy questions Walker must and will answer in due course, but the following are 10 questions I would like to see the governor answer to get a better understanding of his worldview, and whether it involves embracing the end of the world as described in the Book of Revelation.

1. Have you ever spoken in tongues?
2. Do you agree with your church’s Statement of Faith that the Bible is “without error”?…
4. Do you agree with your church’s Statement of Faith that Jesus “provide[s] the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe and only such as receive Jesus”?
5. If so, do you believe that the 73 million Americans who aren’t Christians – including Jews, Muslims, Hindus, nonbelievers, etc. – will go to Hell?

I see conservatives will not allow us to poke gentle fun at fact that so many GOP prez hopefuls claim God told them to run

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 24, 2015

https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/570329659809800192
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/570319847005016064

Scott Walker: I don't know about Obama's faith.

Media: You doubt his word?!!

Obama: al-Baghdadi is not Muslim.

Media: Works for me.

— John Sexton (@verumserum) February 24, 2015

Bigotry is borne of ignorance and the nasty snark the Political Wire’s Taegan Goddard launched at Scott Walker’s Christian faith Tuesday is a perfect example of a secular leftist who finds everyday Christianity freakish. Sadly, it is also the result of a media environment where bigoted attacks on the faith against conservatives are becoming more and more acceptable…

As Sean Davis was quick to point out, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama have publicly stated that they have sought guidance from God. Neither has ever been mocked by the media…

Just five days ago, honestly and politely, Walker answered “I don’t know” to a question about Obama’s Christian faith. This immediately resulted in an apoplectic media mob eviscerating Walker as a racist, bigoted extremist.

Now that same media is openly mocking Scott Walker’s Christian faith.

A guy on twitter named @johnriverstoo pointed out that Obama just spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast and Political Wire didn’t make fun of prayer then…

Because this guy believes what we all pretty much know to be true– that Obama’s protestations of being a Christian are a sham intended only to maintain his political viability, just like his lies about being in favor of traditional marriage (“God’s in the mix” in marriage, Obama said, hilariously) and that business about keeping your doctor.

We all know this, and the left demonstrates it every day with their open contempt of the Christian God while simultaneously finding nothing mock-worthy in Obama’s very rare allusions to the Christian God; and Bill Maher, a million dollar donor to Obama, openly proclaims Obama to be an atheist, like himself, just pretending to be a Christian For The Rubes.

By the way: I don’t remember the media getting huffy about Maher’s statement.

National journalists cultivate a reputation for digging deeper – it takes national reporters to find out about the real story about that racist graffiti at the ranch and things of that nature, after all – but they display a total lack of shame when it comes to running interference for their political allies, or asking questions along the lines that national opposition researchers peddle about the state-level candidates. This results in out-of-left-field questions that are sometimes probing, but more often times what your average Midwesterner would consider just plain rude…

The Rick Perry 2012 experience is instructive here. So long as a conservative governor is a dark horse candidate, he will receive far less of this storm from the hategoat section of the media. But once he jumps in, a swift rise will be accompanied by a flurry of attempts to crack the new guy. Surviving this storm is often not about vetting at all, because the prior elections have likely put the skeletons out there. It’s actually about testing how capable you are at thinking on your feet, avoiding predictable traps, and turning the media’s assault back on itself.

The omnipresent media makes this a necessary skill to surviving in modern politics, as necessary as hitting a curveball. You can swing and miss, or keep stepping out of the batter’s box – but to play at this level, you need to take questions like that out of the park.