RNC may sell democracy

It appears the Republican National Committee (RNC) is taking a cue from the Livingston County Republican party and charging a fee for democracy.

CNN is reporting that the RNC is considering selling the broadcast rights for debates between its presidential sacrificial lambs to news outlets. That’s not at all surprising from the party of big money. It was something the local party did but on a much smaller scale in the 2008 primary when it charged admission to a debate for the two open Michigan House seats as a fundraiser.

The RNC is more than $22 million in debt from the 2010 midterm elections, despite millions of dollars coming in from corporations, both foreign and domestic.

Not only that, but the Republican Governors Association spent more than any of the major non-party spenders in federal campaigns through its network of state political action committees in the last election cycle. The RGA spent $113.7 million - just in calendar year 2010. It spent $131.8 million over the two year election cycle. In fact, it spent more than rightwing cash cows the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Action Network, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS spent combined in 2010.

It remains to be seen if the RNC's sale of democracy is even legal under the law, and whether any network, other than the official propaganda arm of the GOP - Faux “news,” will make a bid. However, considering almost all of the current GOP candidates are already on the Faux payroll, it may be a waste of money.

Republican candidates afraid of voters and refuse to debate

Republican political candidates in Michigan continue to hide and do everything possible to avoid debating their opponents and avoid a side-by-side comparison as they try and run the clock out because they believe they have a large lead, bought with a massive influx of cash from corporations.

For the most part, journalists have let them get away with it, but WDIV-TV4 anchor Devin Scillian called them out Sunday on his weekly political program “Flash Point.” He invited the top of the ticket – Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State – to debate on the show. But as usual, only the Democrats accepted.

Scillian relented and allowed GOP nominee Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder to appear separately on a prime-time Flash Point last week, and WDIV made sure big, mean Lansing Mayor and Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero got no where near the Outsourcer.

But When the Republican AG and SOS candidates declined to appear on the set at the same time with the Democratic nominees, Scillian - to his credit - held his ground, and said whoever shows up will go on the air in the state’s largest media market.

Predictably, only AG Democratic nominee David Leyton and Democratic SOS nominee Jocelyn Benson showed up to defend their positions and went on the air, and the Republicans chickened out.

On Sunday’s “Two guys named Joe” podcast, Joe DiSano and Joe Munem summed it up best. They said that if the Republicans refuse to debate then they can’t talk about transparency, they can’t talk about openness and they can’t talk about being accessible to voters. They can talk about those things, but they will be hypocrites.

The rest of the conservative, corporate media has failed to point out this hypocrisy. Let’s hope the voters see the truth.

Fact checking Steele’s lies in the debate

Tebagger Republican candidate Rob Steele is a proven liar, and that was on display Wednesday when U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, bested him in a debate at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater on the campus of Monroe County Community College.

Steele, basically, stuck to his standard false, teabgger talking points, and when he had to go off script, like on questions on foreign policy, he looked like someone who has no experience.

Steele has tried to back away from his stated position in the primary election; like that he wants to privatize Social Security, but unfortunately he included it on candidate questionnaires he filled out. Last night, he does often when caught in a lie, doubled down and repeats it.

“I’ve never once talked about privatizing Social Security,” Steele said last night.

When Steele speaks, fact checking is called for.

In the Ann Arbor.com voters guide he wrote this: “The most important long term issue is social security and Medicare. They must be restructured for those under 35. Let them have their own accounts.”

Steele also claimed that, “…people talk about the deficits under Bush, they exploded when Pelosi took over in 2006.”

Not true. At the height of the Bush Administration the deficit was $413 billon or 3.5 percent of GDP, a year after Democrats took control of Congress, the deficit was reduced to $248 billon or 1.9 percent of GDP. This is a result of instituting PAYGO, ensuring new spending is offset, and cutting waste and fraud in our programs through vigorous oversight. If a disaster occurred and Steele was elected, he would make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent, which would add $700 billion to the deficit in just a decade.

Steele is running on the pipe dream of repealing the historic health care insurance reform bill, and he wants to allow your insurance company to deny you coverage for a pre-existing condition, drop you if you get sick and not allow your children under age 26 to stay on your policy. Steele said during the debate that the historic Affordable Care Act does not address the problems of waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. Again, not true.

The Affordable Care Act includes an unprecedented effort to fight waste, fraud and abuse in the healthcare system. The bill strengthens Medicare and Medicaid’s existing compliance and enforcement tools, reduces fraud and abuse and saves billions of tax payer dollars.

Now we know why Steele is lying about wanting to have debates, and why he wimped out of a candidate forum hosted by the Washtenaw County Medical Society last week.

Fact checking the lies of Rob Steele

The latest victim of U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, - extremist teabagger Republican Rob Steele - continues to lie about his positions and the historic health insurance reform bill.

His latest lie, according to his Facebook page, is that “Congress being too busy to include necessary Tort Reform in the Dingell-Pelosi Health Care bill.”

Ah, the favorite Republican false talking point. As a physician, paying for malpractice insurance may cut into Steele’s already huge profits, but it has almost zero effect on health care costs.

The health economists and independent legal experts who study the issue say that malpractice liability costs are a small fraction of the spiraling costs of the U.S. health care system, and that the medical errors that malpractice liability tries to prevent are themselves the real cost; both to the injured patients and to the health care system as a whole. In fact, alleged “tort reform” ads less than one-half of 1 percent to health care costs.

Tom Baker, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and author of “The Medical Malpractice Myth” said alleged “tort reform” is really just a distraction.

“So we’re not talking about real money,” he told the Washington Independent. “It’s small relative to the out-of-control cost of health care.”

Republicans like to point out that doctors do extra or defensive medical tests to protect themselves from malpractice and lawsuits, but I’m at a loss as to why that’s a bad thing. Don’t we want doctors to be more careful? That’s why they get sued; because they were careless.

Baker also says that’s not a bad thing.

“Like defensive driving, some defensive medicine is good,” he said. “To change behavior. When you drill down those studies, you see that what it means is, doctors are more careful with patient records. They spend more time with the patient. They’re more careful to say hello and goodbye to the patient. That’s good.”

Steele also continues to try and fool people into believing he has the support of labor and the United Steel Workers (USW) union by calling his volunteers “SteeleWorkers” despite the USW sending him a letter earlier this month asking him to cease and desist from misrepresenting them, adding Steele "is not a friend to working families,” and is “only trying to deceive voters.”

Just on Saturday he posted photos on his FB page saying, “My SteeleWorkers were out again working hard at Homecoming, Saturday.”

When Steele was busted, and the Detroit Free Press ran a brief on Steele trying to misrepresent himself, his campaign manager blamed the volunteers; claiming it was “coined by volunteers spontaneously and isn't meant to mislead anyone,” even though Steele made up a logo and asked them to use it. This latest use of it proves he is continuing to lie.

Don’t forget the debate between Dingell and Steele at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow October 20 at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater on the campus of Monroe County Community College, 1555 S. Raisinville Rd. Steele has already chickened out of one debate, but he should be shamed into showing up this time.

Speaking of events, former Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Lynn Rivers is co-hosting a fundraiser for Dingell from 2-5 p.m. Sunday Oct. 24 in Ypsilanti. Call (202) 347-3042 for further information.

You will recall that when Michigan lost a congressional seat after the 2000 Census, Republicans gerrymandered the districts to pit the incumbents Rivers and Dingell together in the new 15th District in 2002. Republicans knew then and now that the only way to beat Dingell was with another Democrat.

Dingell won that race, and it was the closest race Dingell has had in many years. But Rivers thinks enough of him to host a fundraiser for the man who retired her.

Steele continues to lie about debates

Teabagger Republican Rob Steele is hoping voters in the 15th Congressional District are stupid, but judging by the 19 point lead the Dean of the U. S. House holds – U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn – they are not.

Steele has been falsely accusing Dingell of ducking debates and forums, but last week Steele chickened out of a candidate forum sponsored by his peers, the Washtenaw County Medical Society. Surely you would think there may be one or two friendly faces among those of his profession. In fact, a teabagger State Representative candidate took up for Steele, giving the crowd of doctors discovered what teabagers are really like. But, Steele was a no show.

On his Facebook page, Steele responds to an opinion column by my former boss, News Herald managing editor Karl Ziomek, on a bogus poll Steele has been pushing and other things. In response, Steele not only clings to the lie that Dingell is ducking debates, but he doubles down on the lie, saying:

“Note to Karl: I've asked for three debates. It (sic) getting late in the game for more than the one Dingell has consented to participate in (sic) He has ignored requests from other organizations to sponsor debates, including the Southern Wayne Regional Chamber of Commerce,” Steele wrote.

Steele, you are a bold face liar. If you want to debate, simply show up at candidate forums like the one sponsored by your peers. There is no sin in being afraid to debate Dingell; after all, he is smarter and much more knowledge on the issues than Steele. But Steele continues to lie and say that it is the Congressman ducking debates when the only one who did duck a debate was Steele.

Bernero accepts debate invitations, the outsourcer chickens out

Despite calls from media all over the state and undecided and independent voters for more debates after last week’s gubernatorial debate, GOP nominee Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder is sticking to his guns and staying away from voters as much as possible and letting his millions do his talking.

But that’s not stopping Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero, and he’s going to debate the outsourcer even if it’s an empty chair instead of just an empty suit. Bernero has accepted an offer from a group of Detroit clergy to debate on Oct. 21 at Renaissance High School, located at 6565 W. Outer Drive in Detroit, sponsored by “Clergy United for a Detroit Gubernatorial Debate.”

The group of 100 clergy that represents half a million people said that they want to make a clear choice, one that they say will, among other things, “lend to small business that create jobs in the community, fight against foreclosure and support the health care bill that President Obama has fought to deliver to the people.”

The group consists of some well known clergy, such as Bishop Charles Ellis III, Horace Sheffield and Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony

Predictably the outsourcer's mouthpiece Bill Nowling said no more debates; not now or ever, and the Outsourcer will continue to hold invitation only “townhall” meetings and pay for 30-second TV ads to push the false image of him. In the debate last Sunday the Outsourcer claimed a healthy Michigan needs a healthy Detroit, but he refuses to even go there and engage its citizens or their leaders.

“Any candidate that is not willing to speak directly to the citizens of Detroit in an open and unfiltered debate with minority journalists and the community they are to serve is not worthy of the vote from its people,” the group said in a statement.

I think that should include the entire state, and that’s why people should vote for Virg Bernero on Nov. 2.

Steele wimps out

There was an empty seat next to U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, last night at a candidate forum hosted by the Washtenaw County Medical Society; that of his opponent, teabagger Republican Rob Steele.

This after months of public posturing by Steele that Dingell was afraid to debate him, and he even used that lie in a fundraising letter the very day Steele finally accepted a debate offer set for October 20 at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater on the campus of Monroe County Community College.

Steele is an outrageous liar, and he has been silent as to why he chickened out, even though he said he would attend. What really makes it ironic is that Steele has been lying about the historic health care reform bill passed last March and hammering Dingell about it with false attacks, and that’s what the forum was about. But Steele could not defend his lies, so he chickened out.

Dingell spoke to the medical professionals from the community about his successful fight to improve the doctor-patient relationship and remove insurance companies from the decision making process.

“I guess my opponent didn’t want to talk about his backward agenda of taking away the protections patients now have with the Patients’ Bill of Rights,” Dingell said. “His right-wing agenda would increase the federal deficit, put control of health decisions back in the hands of insurance companies and increase the number of people without health care.”

Steele is an out of touch doctor who has gotten rich from a broken health care system he does not want fixed. No wonder be blew off his colleagues.

“With an out-of-touch agenda like that, I guess I’m not surprised he doesn’t want to talk about it with his colleagues in the medical field – they certainly don’t support him on that,” Dingell said.

Steele fund raising letter full of lies and discrimination

We already know teabgger Republican Rob Steele – the next victim of the Dean of the U.S. House, U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D - is an outrageous liar, but now we know he apparently hates senior citizens.

A friend of mine from Monroe, my hometown, gave me a copy of Steele’s Oct. 4 fundraising letter, and in it, Steele continues to go after Dingell because of his age, saying “the 84-year-old incumbent has been a Washington insider for 55 years…Longer than I’ve been alive,” Steele wrote.

When you combine that with the fact that Steele wants to kill Social Security, it’s clear he hates senior citizens.

Then the dishonest Steele doubles down on the lies when he falsely claims Dingell will not debate him.

“True to form, incumbent Dingell says he’s too busy to debate me (sic) but I’m thinking that someone like you, who is fed up with the Dingell-Pelosi Status Que (sic), might not be too busy to make a difference in this all important race,” Steel wrote.

That’s an outrageous lie. Perhaps Steele forgot about the debate set for 6:30 p.m. October 20 at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater on the campus of Monroe County Community College. Steele accepted the offer the very day he sent this letter out, so he knew he was lying.

In fact Dingell sent a letter to Steele right after he won the August primary election congratulating him and asking for debates, but all Steele did was lie and cry that Dingell was avoiding him. After a month of blustering from Steele, Dingell finally sent a letter on Sept. 14 asking that Steele commit to as many debates as possible, and Dingell says he looks forward to appearing at voters forums put on by various groups like the AARP and others. Dingell accepted the invitation from Monroe Community College to debate weeks before Steele finally accepted.

Steele continues to falsely claim that Dingell is out of touch and is not accessible. Steele is actually describing himself, and it simply does not apply to Dingell. I don’t think you will find a more accessible Congressman.

The fact is, and anyone living in the15th District knows this, Dingell is home every weekend as well as whenever Congress is out. In fact, it has been Steele and his teabagger supporters that have gone out their way to restrict the voter’s access to Dingell, and they have done it by staging protests, rude badgering and total disruptions at any public event they know he will be at.

I personally got a taste of Steele trying to provoke a confrontation.

Steele and his hard core teabagger supporters have make it impossible for people to have the traditional townhall meetings Dingell is famous for. The most recent examples were in Flat Rock and at Pte. Mouillee. Who can forget the townhall meeting in Romulus back in August of 2009 that teabggers disrupted, yet Dingell held a second one to accommodate all the people waiting outside who could not get in, despite the abuse he was taking.

In a letter filled with so many lies, it’s hard to single them all out, but this one caught my eye, “…a mere 37 percent of Congressman Dingell’s constituents believe he deserves re-election,” he wrote.

Like all of the other Steele lies, he pulled that one out of his ass because the best independent poll gives Dingell a double digit 19 point lead at a 49-30 percent.

Snyder’s lies helping Bernero cut into his lead

Outsourcing and killing American jobs is bad enough, but now Rick “The Chief Executive Outsourcer (CEO)” Snyder is doing that and lying about it.

During the first and only gubernatorial debate on Sunday, the outsourcer lied to Michigan voters when he told them one of his newer companies, Discera, did not have a facility in China – in fact, not only did Discera create jobs in China, they are sharing technology to help arm Chinese businesses to better compete against American companies. After the debate he contradicted himself and said there was an office but that it was only a sales office.

“Rick Snyder has tried to run from his record of offshoring jobs, but when confronted with it head on in a one-on-one debate, he flat out lied to Michigan voters,” said Mark Brewer, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. “The facts are there. Snyder cannot say he had no part in creating jobs in China and worse, making Chinese businesses more competitive against Michigan. He’s proven he’d rather invest in China and Chinese workers than in Michigan workers.”

Discera, a high-tech company Snyder founded and is currently a board director, and which is funded through his venture capital firm, opened a new state-of-the-art facility in China in July 2010. Discera officials have said that through technology sharing and funding researching and development in China, their business is helping Chinese businesses become more technologically advanced. In fact, in a Discera news release announcing the company’s new facility, the company’s own Chief Technology Officer actually said: “Discera is helping Chinese businesses compete and win in the global marketplace.”

In other words, the outsourcer is now not just shipping lower skilled factory jobs off shore, he is outsourcing highly skilled and educated research and development jobs from a state that has some of the best research universities in the world, and from a state trying to ensure those high intelligent and skilled young graduates from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University stay in Michigan.

Even before the debate, Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero was beginning to close what some pundits said was an insurmountable 20 point lead, but the largest independent poll to date has the Mayor of Lansing closing the gap to 12 points. The gap should close after people get wind of the debate and the outsourcer’s bold face lie.

“This is still a competitive situation,” Eric Foster, president of Foster McCollum White and Associates, told the Detroit News.

In fact, it has led the outsourcer to again spend some of his millions on TV ads that created the false image of a “tough nerd.” He has not paid for an ad since the primary election. He also lied, indirectly, on Sunday when he said he had not received any PAC money. That may be technically true, but the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has been spending millions on his behalf on false attack against Bernero.

This is the same RGA that got $1 million from the Faux “news” and from foreign corporations. They have been blackmailing Michigan TV stations into not reveling how much they are spending on ads by refusing to buy ads on their station if they tell the truth.

Editorial board displays hypocrisy over debate

The hypocrisy of the Republican leaning editorial board of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus is just stunning.

Today’s editorial bemoans the fact that Sunday’s gubernatorial debate where Democratic nominee Virg Bernero scored a decisive victory over Republican candidate Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder suffered from a lack of “substance” and we need more debates with better moderators than rightwing Detroit News Editor Nolan Finley and Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson with better questions, saying:

“…one can only wonder if one or two additional debates would have allowed more depth and more probing questions. As it was, the two moderators asked what appeared to be carefully scripted questions that elicited predictable, unenlightening answers. The follow-up questions that were asked were gentle and seemed designed to show equal treatment rather than forcing each candidate to defend or define his position.”

Of course they were “carefully scripted questions.” They went in prepared, and Henderson even asked a question a reader sent in. That is what debates are all about, and they are also about the two candidates standing side by side answering questions and defending their positions where voters can compare and contrast.

But that’s not where the hypocrisy comes in. Last month when the outsourcer was doing everything possible to duck the debates, continue to hold scripted townhall meetings in front of friendly audiences and let his millions and the millions of PAC money buy 30-second TV ads the paper editorialized that “Debates are of questionable value.”

“Debates are of questionable value?”

The fact is if the conservative mainstream media like this newspaper had held the outsourcer more accountable we would have more than one debate with different formats. Perhaps we would have a real townhall meeting like Bernero suggested in the debate on Sunday where you can ask tough questions.

The hypocrisy is just stunning.

Bernero scores clear victory in the only Gubernatorial debate

Now we know why Rick “The Chief Executive Outsourcer (CEO)” reluctantly agreed to only one debate and at a time when most people are not watching TV.

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero scored a decisive victory in the only debate Sunday evening; he was clear and articulate in telling voters why he would be the best choice for Governor, and the Outsourcer relied on short, vague answers sprinkled with meaningless corporate buzzwords.

No one, not even the panel of pundits on “Off the Record” following the debate, had any idea what “value-based budgeting” that the Outsourcer continually rambled about really was.

Te fact is that Bernero balanced the budget as the Mayor of Lansing for five straight years with no tax increases, as well as when he was a State Representative and Senator.

Bernero was on the attack, and he was effective; the attacks were effective and factual but not over the top. The most devastating was when Bernero brought up the unreported fact that one of the Outsourcer’s companies, Discera, Inc., was creating jobs in China with a new high-tech facility. These were not just low level and low-skilled manufacturing jobs, but high-skilled R & D jobs being outsourced.

The outsourcer said that was not true. That makes him a liar or so clueless that he has no idea what goes on in his own company. Either way, that makes him unfit for running something as large and widespread as state government. The only thing the Outsourcer is good as it making himself rich, not creating jobs.

When confronted with those facts, the Outsourcer blew it off and made the false claim that his campaign is positive and not negative, and that he is not accepting PAC money. He is, of course, ignoring the fact that the Republican Governors Association (RGA) is hammering Bernero with false attack ads that allows the Outsourcer to keep his hands clean.

One of the most telling questions came when one of the moderators said Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was foregoing his salary as Mayor of Detroit, and asked the Outsourcer if he would forgo his salary as Governor. After hemming and hawing, the answer was a resounding, hell no.

Snyder is worth more than Bing, yet he wants state workers to take a pay cut while he makes not a single sacrifice.

No wonder the Outsourcer only wanted one debate and only plays to friendly audiences at staged townhall meetings.

Plenty of places of to watch the Michigan Gubernatorial debate

Hopefully, Michiganders will take a break from watching “Football Night in America” and MLB Divisional playoffs on Sunday evening to watch the Michigan Gubernatorial debate between Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer (CEO)” Snyder.

Unfortunately, this is the only debate, and the Outsourcer has done everything possible to avoid it and make sure that as few people see it as possible.

The hour-long debate will take place at the Detroit-area public television station (PBS) in Wixom at 7 p.m. Sunday, and it is sponsored by the Center for Michigan. Commercial and public television stations around the state will have the opportunity to show the debate live or on tape delay. It also will be available online on the Center for Michigan website.

Make sure you urge friends, relatives and co-workers of all political stripes to watch it. Seeing a side by side comparison between the two candidates will paint a clear picture on how unqualified the Outsourcer is to run state government and his lack of a plan to move Michigan forward.

Many people are sponsoring debate watching parties, and here are a few:

The Livingston County Democratic Party is sponsoring a party at Memories Lounge & Restaurant, 1840 S Old US Highway in Brighton Township. I watched the Presidential debate there, and you can order their excellent food off the menu and watch Virg destroy the Outsourcer.

The Monroe County Democratic Party is hosting a party with pizza and “pop” at the Monroe Coordinated Campaign Headquarters, 920 S. Telegraph Rd. It’s in the strip mall across from Great Lakes Skateway.

North Oakland Organizing for America is hosting a party at the Crofoot Ballroom, 1 Saginaw St. in Pontiac. Before the event, there be canvassing and phone banking for GOTV. Call Melissa at (586) 764-3344 for details.

The Macomb County Democratic Party is hosting a party beginning at 6:30 p.m. at J. Baldwin's Restaurant, 16981 18 Mile Rd in Clinton Township. Light Refreshments will be served.

The Oakland Democrats are hosting a party beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Woodward Avenue Brewery, 22646 Woodward in Ferndale. Light Refreshments will be served. For more information, Please call (586) 576-1636.

I’m sure there are many more, and I’m sure there will also be plenty of house parties. Please ad yours. If you decided to stay home, make sure you watch it with as many people as possible. Add it even if it’s a party sponsored by the local Republican Party; I most definitely want Republicans to see this debate.

Snyder supports transparency unless if effects him

Despite the con Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder” has spent millions of dollars he earned outsourcing American jobs putting over on Michigan voters that has is not a career politician or he is not practicing politics as usual, the flap over the attacks on his behalf by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) proves otherwise.

The RGA - which has received a $1millon donation from that News Corp., which owns Faux “News” and millions of foreign money from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – has been running false attack ads against Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero, allowing the outsourcer to keep his hands clean and claim he is above the fray and save his campaign cash. In fact, the Outsourcer has not paid for a single commercial since the primary election.

Earlier this week Rich Robinson, the director of the non-profit Michigan Campaign Finance Network, uncovered information that the RGA has been "bullying" Michigan television stations into not revealing to the public the size of their substantial ad buys. The one TV station that did stand up to them and released the info to Robinson was cut off from the millions in ads money for doing so.

In a story in today’s edition of Gongwer, Snyder claims that “he cannot stop the Republican Governors Association's efforts to push Michigan television stations not to release information about the size of the organization's ad buys, yet in the same breath he claims he supports transparency.

“I'm always in favor of more transparency and disclosure," the Outsourcer told Gongwer. What he really means is he is in favor of more transparency and disclosure unless it affects him.

Is that the height of hypocrisy?

You will recall that the Outsourcer chickened out of the Republican debates during the primary after he was criticized by fellow Republican Gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox on his record of outsourcing jobs while at Gateway. Because he had no defense for that, he ducked out of the remaining debates and instead held staged townhall meetings in front of friendly crowds, using the lame and false excuse that he is “above the fray of politics as usual.”

He is using the same tactic in the General election, and he is only allowing one single debate with Bernero next Sunday, between NFL Football and the Major League Baseball playoffs. He is also trying to limit the audience as well as only allowing one debate.

It’s politics as usual with the Outsourcer, and he has proven that he is not capable of running anything.

Hune gives voters the finger over stem cell research

Livingston County voters got another glimpse at how really out of touch Joe Hune, the Republican Senate candidate for the 22nd District, really is with a front page story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus where he said he wants to ban embryonic stem cell research, which Michigan voters approved in 2008.

This arrogant but not new news comes when the international World Stem Cell Summit is taking place in Detroit through Wednesday that is bringing together scientists, patients, advocates, business people, investors, educators, ethicists, policy makers, government representatives and others to network from more than 30 nations. It also comes at a time when the University of Michigan researchers announced they have created the state’s first human embryonic stem cell line, achieving a long-sought goal that provides the foundation for future efforts to develop innovative disease treatments. That was only possible because of the 2008 voter approved constitutional amendment.

But what is really stunning is that Hune knows better than voters and scientists, and he wants to invalidate an election. The amendment passed in Michigan with 52.6 percent saying yes, but what is even more startling is that in conservative Livingston County, more people supported stem cell research, and it passed with 53.1 percent of the vote.

Hune’s opponent, Green Oak Township resident Chuck Fellows, supports the will of the voters, and he said Hune is just pandering to the rightwing extremists who have taken over the Republican Party. In my opinion, that’s one reason he has been endorsed by teabaggers. In fact, he is a teabgger. Traditionally, candidates veer back to the center after appealing to the base after a primary to win in the general election, but Hune doesn’t have to, he thinks, in a Republican gerrymandered district like the 22nd.

This is where we really see Hune’s arrogance. According to the paper,

“In mid-July, Hune told a standing-room-only audience at the Howell High School Freshman Campus that he doesn't support embryonic stem cell research. He told some 200 people that he didn't agree with Michiganders' vote on the ballot measure during the debate moderated by the Daily Press & Argus.”

The part about his position is true, but there was no standing room only crowd. The fact that Hune gave the voters the finger got lost in his more outrageous comments, like he thinks a black helicopter from the UN is coming for his gun, he didn’t know what he was voting on when he helped approve the film tax credits or that a gay man will steal his wife and break up his marriage

But back to Hune’s arrogance. Hune said “he has no need to pander to voters in the 22nd Senate District.”The funny thing is I've already got those folks in my corner. I don't need to appease anybody," he said.

In other words, go to hell, I don’t have to listen to any voters or constituents.

Vote for somebody in November who cares what people in his district think and respects the voters; Chuck Fellows is that man.

Public pressure finally forces Steele to accept debate with Dingell

Like Republican Gubernatorial nominee Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder, public pressure has finally gotten to Rob Steele, the teabagger Republican Congressional candidate for the 15th District, and he has reluctantly agreed to one debate with the dean of the U.S. House Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn.

Even though Dingell has asked for debates and has accepted every opportunity to speak at forums since Steele won the primary election, Steele has done nothing but posture; until now. In fact, Dingell sent Steele a congratulatory letter when he won the GOP primary that also asked for as many debate as possible, but Steele’s response was to stall and falsely accuse Dingell of not wanting to debate.

In a press release designed to spin the truth, Steele has agreed to a one hour debate beginning at 6:30 p.m. on October 20 at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater on the campus of Monroe County Community College, 1555 S. Raisinville Rd., according to the press release by the Steele campaign.

That’s the only debate Steele has agreed to, and as he continues to duck debates, he continues to lie and say Dingell is the one ducking debates.

“Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder’s hypocrisy is business as usual

I hope no Michigan voters are buying the BS that Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder is “above the fray” or a different kind of politician who doesn’t believe in attack ads.

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) – the same RGA that News Corp., which owns Faux “News,” gave $1 million - has been running attack ads against Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero on the outsourcer’s behalf to keep his hands clean. The third one is a cheap knockoff of the well known MasterCard "Priceless" ads.

Apparently, the RGA and the outsourcer are trying to paint Bernero as a dreaded “career politician,” and it also tried to slam Bernero for wasting Lansing – where he is the Mayor – tax dollars by – get this - spending money on food, pencils and an office aquarium. The ad, of course, has no information on where it got that info. It should have.

Subscription only MIRS that covers the Capitol had a story yesterday that illustrated how stupid the ad really is.

It turns out that “MIRS has learned the fish tank was put in by former Lansing Mayor David Hollister, and, according to a City Hall source, is one of the most popular stops for school kids on their City Hall field trip.”

“The pencils were part of a joint effort with the Lansing school district to promote recycling and provide a small school supply to Lansing school kids. The pencils were green and encouraged kids to recycle.”

The fact is Bernero cut government 20 percent, cut the mayor's office budget every year, cut his own pay and health care and gave up a city car to cut expenses when things got tough, and he never raised taxes.

When times got tough at Gateway, the outsourcer cut 20,000 jobs and pocketed a cool $14 million for doing it.

Don’t believe the crap about no more “business as usual,” and stop letting Snyder use that lame excuse to duck debates.

Check out the Great Debates for the rare opportunity to see Republicans debate

In my opinion, there is perhaps no better way for voters to get the true measure of a political candidate and see if their views and positions can stand up to scrutiny than a political debate, so that’s’ why I’m happy to see that the Center for Michigan and Detroit Public TV are again teaming up to televise debates between state House and Senate candidates.

The Great Debates are 30-minute debates scheduled between August and October. All debates will be taped in studio without a studio audience, and they will be moderated by professional journalists. Public television stations throughout Michigan will broadcast the Great Debates, and they will also be available online and at MiVote.org.

It’s very telling that Republicans are afraid to debate, and that’s because they know their positions can’t stand up to any kind of scrutiny. It starts at the top of the ticket where Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder only agreed to a single debate with Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero after constant public pressure to do so.

Secretary of State Candidate Jocelyn Benson has challenged her opponent to debate - who has ran for just about every political office in the state and therefore an experienced debated - but her opponent continues to duck and stall. The only statewide candidates to debate were the Attorney General candidates, and Democratic Attorney General nominee David Leyton had to fend off constant personal attacks from his opponent on a debate on WKAR’s “Off the Record” show.

Leyton is the Genesee County Prosecutor, and he has tried hundreds of criminal cases with a more than 90 percent convention rate. His opponents exploited two families who had loved ones murdered in an attempt to smear Leyton. This from a man who has never stepped foot into a criminal courtroom.

People grieving are usually angry, and want to blame someone for the senseless murder of their loved ones getting a lesser sentence or an imagined possible accomplice getting away. Unfortunately, a Prosecutor has to go on the evidence the police give them.

In most cases we get bluster from a Republican challenging their opponent to a debate, and once it is accepted they do everything in their power to get out of it. We saw this when the Chief Outsourcer challenged his opponent to a series of debates, and as soon as Mayor Bernero accepted the CEO tried to weasel out. Other Republicans are taking up that tactic.

For an example, we have the case of Rob Steele, the teabagger Republican Congressional candidate for the 15th District, who is set to be the latest person to be defeated by the dean of the U.S. House, Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn.

After whining that Dingell will not debate him, it turns out its Steele who is afraid to debate and is ducking. Dingell sent a letter to Steele right after he won the August primary election congratulating him and asking for debates, but all Steele did was lie and cry that Dingell was avoiding him. After a month of blustering from Steele, Dingell finally sent a letter earlier this month asking that Steele commit to as many debates as possible, and Dingell says he looks forward to appearing at voters forums put on by various groups like the AARP and others. Dingell has already accepted an invitation from Monroe Community College to debate.

No word from the usually loud and obnoxious Steele crowd.

The Outsourcer breaks down and will give voters one debate

It appears public pressure helped Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder get over his cowardice and radio Station WWJ is reporting that he has agreed to one debate with Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero.

According to WWJ, “the debate will take place at the Detroit public television station in Wixom and be sponsored by the Center for Michigan. It will be available to be shown live on commercial and public television stations around the state and be available online. It’s not clear if the debate will take place in prime time or during the day like Snyder wanted in order to limit how many people actually see it.

Bernero wanted eight, but Snyder agreed to three before he started looking for excuses to back completely out.

UPDATE: Subscription only Gongwer is reporting that the debate will take place at 7 p.m. the panelists asking the questions will be from The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.

The Chief Outsourcer breaks another promise and still ducking debates

It appears a promise by Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder is as good as a promise of job security at Gateway Computers.

Snyder told Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero to his face and in front of about 100 handpicked Snyder supporters at a “townhall meeting last week that he would sit down with Bernero to come to an agreement on debates. Another broken promise from Snyder, and we are still waiting for that to happen.

How long are the public and the conservative media going to let him chicken out and duck the debates? At least some in the conservative media and fellow Republicans are beginning to notice what a coward Snyder is.

In an editorial in the Detroit Free Press on Monday, they called for an “independent, nonpartisan debate commission -- made up of public interest groups, media organizations from around the state” as well as maybe even party representatives to handle the debates, much like how the Presidential debates are done, or the debate commission in Indiana.

“Debates are critical to voter education and civic engagement in a democracy, the Free Press said. “That dates to the Greeks, and has its own rich history in this nation.”

Former conservative Republican State Representative Larry Julian sponsored a bill back in 2003 that would have mandated that any candidate who accepted public funding should participate in at least one public debate.

House Bill 4290 was co-sponsored by some of the more conservative House members, like
Tom Casperson and Jack Brandenburg. It passed the Republican controlled House, but, like most good legislation, it died in the GOP controlled Senate.

Julian told subscription only MIRS that he stands by the legislation today.

“They asked me, 'Why do we need this.' Now we see that we still need it," Julian said in MIRS. “Now somebody is going to have introduce it again because next time this happens someone is going to wish we had."

Julian, predictably, stopped short of condemning Snyder’s cowardice, but he left no doubt that the Chief Outsourcer should debate.

“The issue isn't getting people to vote. It's getting people informed so they can vote," Julian said in MIRS.

The problem is Snyder doesn’t want informed voters.

Teabagger Republican Congressional candidate adds hypocrisy to his resume

Rob Steele, the teabagger Republican Congressional candidate for the 15th District, continues to amaze with his arrogance, dishonesty and hypocrisy.

After whining that the incumbent - the dean of the U.S. House Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, - will not debate him, it turns out it’s Steele who is afraid to debate and is ducking. Steele cried almost daily on his Facebook page that Dingell is only going to events where people support him, and avoiding debates or meetings with non-supporters. Steele said he was “Continuing Congressman Dingell's strategy to avoid public forums with his constituents, he met with "about a dozen" handpicked small-business people.” He even made the absurd claim that Dingell is never in the district or accessible to constituents.

It turns out that Dingell sent a letter to Steele right after he won the August primary election congratulating him and asking for debates, but all Steele did was lie and cry that Dingell was avoiding him. After a month of blustering from Steele, Dingell finally sent a letter on Tuesday asking that Steele commit to as many debates as possible, and Dingell says he looks forward to appearing at voters forums put on by various groups like the AARP and others. Dingell has already accepted an invitation from Monroe Community College to debate. It’s unclear if Steele will appear.

The only response from the Steele camp has been silence.

Not much is really known about Steele, other than he is rich, arrogant and dishonest, so the Michigan Democratic Party launched a web site this week to let people know who the real Steele is.

What’s was Steele’s response? He hijacked the name “John Dingell for Congress” for a web site to attack Dingell for his age. This is where Steele’s hypocrisy is on full display.

Earlier this month Steele made a big stink with the false claim that Dingell’s web site redesign copied Steel’s web site. It even led to a story in the online “newspaper” Ann Arbor.com. with the claim that Dingell copied Steele. Well, Steele clearly copied Dingell.

I would ask Steele if he has no shame, but I already know the answer to that question. So, I’ll ask him this one: when are you going to accept the challenge and debate instead of stalling and blustering?