SCOTT WALKER HAS HIS SCRIPT MEMORIZED

Here's Scott Walker in a "tele-town hall" on Monday, as reported by the Des Moines Register (emphasis added):

During a question-and-answer session, a Des Moines man mentioned that when Mitt Romney officially bowed out of any 2016 speculation on Friday, the 2012 nominee said it's time for fresh leadership in the Republican party.

"What do you think he meant by that and is that you?" the caller asked Walker....

"I thanked him specifically for pointing that out," Walker said. "I think, you know, there's others -- my friend Sen. (Marco) Rubio is about the same age and so in terms of fresh faces I guess he and I would be in a similar vein," Walker said....

"If we're going to if defeat someone like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the fall of 2016," Walker told the listening Iowans, "I just believe if we're taking on a name from the past, then we can't have another name from the past. We need a name for the future."

But the key isn't just a fresh face, Walker said, it's someone who can offer "big bold ideas and we need the courage to act on them," Walker said.

And here's Scott Walker the day before, being interviewed by Martha Raddatz on ABC's This Week:

RADDATZ: Mitt Romney dropping out this week said, "I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders who may not be as well known may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee." Is he talking about you?

WALKER: I think there's a whole number of people. I mean, folks like my friend Marco Rubio. I think fit that bill as well, but I think what he's heard is what I've heard across the country, is that people want new, fresh leadership with big, bold ideas, and the courage to act on it. And if we're going to take on a name from the past, which is likely to be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, I think for the party we need a name from the future.

Yes, Walker clearly has these bullet points committed to memory, so he can recite them even in seemingly casual conversation.

And there's more. Here's Walker on Monday:

"I see a president who seems to feels success should be measured by how many people are dependent on the government," Walker said.

Now here's Walker in a National Republican Governors' Association speech last fall:

"I believe (Obama) measures success in government by how many people are dependent on the government, on how many people are on Medicaid, on how many people are on food stamps," the Republican presidential nominee wanna-be proclaimed. "I personally believe we should measure success in government by just the opposite, by how many people are no longer dependent on government."

And Walker in his book Unintimidated:

"Washington measures success by how many people are dependent on government. I measure by how many people are no longer dependent."

Well, that's not exactly an original sentiment on the right. But Walker likes working other people's material into his script. In Monday's call, there was this:

Under Obama, government assistance has become less of a safety net and more of "a hammock," he said.

That, of course, is a cover version of a song Paul Ryan recorded but no longer plays in concert.

Oh, and there was this, in Walker's now-legendary Iowa Freedom Summit speech:

"There's a reason we take a day off to celebrate the 4th of July and not the 15th of April," he said, almost yelling as his voice grew hoarse. "Because in America we value our independence from the government, not our dependence on it."

That's awfully similar to something Ronald Reagan said about Walter Mondale during the 1984 presidential campaign:

He sees an America in which every day is tax day, April 15th. But we see an America in which every day is Independence Day, July 4th.

(Reagan fans usually reduce that to "Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July. Democrats believe every day is April 15.")

The key to beating Walker is going to be to knock him off script. Because he clearly likes scripts.