Is Vermont Auditor Tom Salmon channeling Alan Simpson?

Did Vermont’s frequently tongue tied state auditor Tom Salmon borrow and awkwardly Salmon-ize a “folksy” themed comment made last August by former Sen. Alan Simpson co-chair of the White House's Commission on Fiscal Reform?
Simpson said this regarding recipients of Social Security benefits: “We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits!”

This recent remark by Salmon appears to feed off of Simpson’s theme and original quip.

In a recent “Barre-Montpelier Times Argus” article, Salmon said the following about Governor Shumlin’s election to office in 2010, ‘“Peter Shumlin promised everything to everybody in the primary and he was ultimately elected because there are a large number of people who live off the government milk,” Salmon said. “They in some way, whether it’s a school district or nonprofit, they feed off the cow. And the cow is a Democratic cow. And, unfortunately, too many people are feeding off the Democratic cow to vote for Republicans at this point.”’

Patois of Salmon

I think he's going to run...
Vermont’s own Auditor Tom Salmon got a little mention outside of Vermont on Politico.com the other day and, what the heck, I may as well share it here with the recent stuff on the likely Salmon run.
Remarking to Politico.com on his impending decision to challenge US Senator Bernie Sanders, Salmon explained that he is 65% in. "Right now, I am 65 percent in. When I hit 75 percent it will commence exploratory."

He continued attempting to clarify his position:
"I am not attached to the 2012 outcome, my odds, or my political career. I don't need to be senator, or governor, or stay put as state auditor — I need to be an authentic self-utilizing power along the lines of excellence. I am deeply concerned that we address risks of economic, political and spiritual significance through a new brand of leaders that communicate effectively from the sincere center."

The 68-word quote from Politico.com was picked up at Slate.com by David Weigel, who carefully lays out the daunting practical challenges Salmon might face, then throws it aside and says:
"But let's ignore all that. Let's focus on Salmon's completely incomprehensible quote. It sounds like a No Labels manifesto translated into Laotian and back into English."
He declares Salmon’s quest The most doomed campaign of 2012.
I might differ only with Weigel’s English-to-Laotian-to-English theory. I think Salmon’s phrase “I need to be an authentic self-utilizing power along the lines of excellence” reads more like self-help-comic-super-hero-patois.
Commence exploratory! Kapow! Go for it!
Is he getting better and better or what?

Salmon takes a turn,again

My father often reminds me, writes Vermont State Auditor of Accounts Tom Salmon:

"It's not what you say, it's what they hear," so I'm hoping you hear what I say in the spirit intended.

So begins Tom Salmon’s rambling Burlington Free Press My Turn op-ed feature Blame no one and engage everyone.The opening quote used here like some type of editorial Miranda warning puts the reader on notice that any possible misreading is the fault of the reader not the author.

Auditor Salmon keeps demanding to be listened to. People may still be listening, but what is he saying ?
A few years ago as states' revenues fell dramatically nationwide, he proposed that Vermont allow in casino gambling to cover budget shortfalls, ignoring that gambling revenues were in drastic decline. More recently, as the desire for government transparency has grown, he proposed boundries be placed on public information requests.

Salmon’s recent My Turn winds like a car out of control swerving down several paths,veering at, then away from, topics as they might come into focus and ultimately running up on the sidewalk.

Blame no one. He notes post-election opinion columns popping up titled ‘Where do we go from here?’ then proceeds to blame Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post for misreading the political situation surrounding the President’s Commission on fiscal Responsibility and Reform report. Marcus says both sides must listen to what they don’t want to hear. Salmon asks: What if there are more than two sides? Reform Salmon declares will require new players. He hints that he may be one of these players because, as Vermont Auditor of Accounts,

I warn of dangers, and the loss of "listening" is a real danger.

Will his next party be a tea?

Then spinning his tires and laying a little more blame on the pavement, he says:

Ms. Marcus fell prey to the same inclination many big brains do; they speak of the problem as if it lay under a glass case .

Salmon then steps on the gas and speeds away to other issues.
Clutching a favorite quote:

"People do not lack strength, they lack will."

Salmon now steers our attention to single payer health care, claiming he didn’t hear much about the fact that 70 percent of our health care costs are attributable to preventable causes. (Was he not listening?) While vaguely alluding to preventable causes of illnesses(lack of will?) he fails to engage us with any positive proposals but finds fault with those who find it easier to blame: teachers, schools, MacDonalds and soda for childhood obesity for missing the mark.

He sums up by looking over his shoulder back to the campaign and shouting,

“I could dazzle you with financial facts that are all big and bad”.

Engage everyone. At last, braking to a shuttering conclusion of sorts, he posses several unanswered policy questions in rapid fire,demands more involvement, and skids headfirst into a dire warning:

We need participation, and the time of good intentions and "hoping for volunteers" is over. It's time to get in the game, or watch our country, as we've known it, vanish.

Has the airbag mercifully have gone off ?