The Republican Primary Election, a.k.a. War of the Clowns, comes now to Michigan. From now until Tuesday, February 28, the Clowns, er-r-r Candidates, will debate, run "factual but untrue" TV commercials about each other, and generally annoy Michiganders no end.
Michigan and six other states hold Republican primary elections in February... two of them, Arizona and Michigan, on the 28<sup>th</sup>. However, although it is one of the last two, Michigan is already hosting candidate visits. Michigan is considered a "swing state" in the general election, and is a heavy labor state that is presently undergoing the second most vibrant recovery in the country by some accounts. In sports terms, Michigan has gone from worst (14.1% unemployment with business and population nose-diving) to first (9.1% unemployment with a rapid rate of recovery in manufacturing, business and population) during the course of the recession. That scenario has every candidate salivating to take responsibility for some part of such a wonder.
The problem is, of course, that none of them had anything to do with Michigan's recovery. About all they can say is that the Obama Administration did it wrong. It will be interesting to see their various takes on "wrong." Romney and Santorum are on record as saying using $81 billion as loans and stock purchase financing for GM and Chrysler should never have happened. Romney, in fact, wrote a New York Times op ed piece entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" after standing in the doorway of a closed factory and declaring that he would do all in his power to help them. Gingrich simply excoriates the administration for anything and everything, and Ron Paul just votes "No." Differentiating themselves on this issue will be difficult. And they seem to have forgotten that Detroit is called Motown for a reason.
As of February 9, Gallup polling showed the following: Romney 34%, Gingrich 18%, Paul 10% and Santorum 22%. Obama and Romney were in a dead heat and Obama led Gingrich 53% to 41%. The primaries percentages had changed by as much as 2% in one day, and Gingrich had dropped by 7%. Despite his faux pas of declaring Obama's bail-out of GM and Chrysler great mistakes and governmental overreach, Romney's father was an auto executive, and he's, therefore, a sort of Michigan royalty. It will take a lot to drop Mitt Romney into the pack in Michigan.
Since it was mentioned, who IS to blame for Michigan's rapid turnaround? Well, Michigan's new Republican Governor Rick Snyder would like some of the blame. After all, he and the Republican Legislature spent a lot of political capital by taking money from the State's poor and elderly and the children by raiding the education fund, and pretty much just gave it to business and wealthy investors. Unfortunately, his Democratic predecessor was unable to be of much help, since the same Republican legislature simply blocked all of her initiatives and waited for the backlash that elected Snyder.
The candidates' angst notwithstanding, the Obama Administration's auto company bailout deserves a significant amount of credit. With a tragic assist from the Japanese Tsunami tragedy, GM is once again the world's largest auto-maker, and Chrysler is introducing new products and growing rapidly. The recent and continuing growth in auto sales is driving production, and auto production is driving much of Michigan's recovery.
Photo Source: Wikipedia Commons
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Comments: 67 ( 1 removed by Chuck Larlham )
Given how bad they are at oratorical finesse, this should be a case of no clowns actually finding a way out of the tiny car. Get ready for a lot of phony tears.
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-auto-bailout-and-the-rule-of-law
The normal process pays back share holders and renegotiates contracts. This meant that the union contracts would have been scaled back to the point where these companies would be able to live within their means. This was not done. In fact the process that this president used, transferred wealth from the share holder to the UAW, but it also made sure that those contracts were not renegotiated. Thus these companies are more likely to repeat the same problems that broke them in the first place, once the money runs out and times are lean, they will cook the books for a while biding time and then they will fail again. It may take 10,20 or even 30 years but it will happen again, because the UAW exists only to grow and left unchecked, it will. Management has proven that it does not or chooses not to exercise its authority to keep things in balance. With that said, few want to see GM succeed more than I do. I have had Both grand fathers, my father, uncles and have worked for GM myself. You may even note that Clark was a partner of Olds and sat on one of the first GM boards of directors. Thus the only way the company will grow strong is under its own power not with an occasional bailout.
Um-m-m-m... No. But if you believe that, my son has a dead 401k full of K-Mart stock he'll gladly sell you for a dime a share.
So's yer old man!
Romney, who like to say he is a risk taker, will regret the day he made that statement. From now until November 2012, I will repeat it over and over and over and over again.
"Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
"I like being able to fire people."
"I'm not concerned about the very poor."
Mitt Romney, leading Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States of America.
BECAUSE HE DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AVERAGE EVERYDAY AMERICAN CITIZENS!
Type Mormon Racism in your search box!
I have noticed that when he uses words like "very" or "very bold" or "really" or "tremendous" -- whenever he stresses something, he's usually lying.
It's not rocket science, Kids!!
Yeah, I thought that too and I wondered why it wasn't obvious to anybody else that of course those kids would lie to make the mistress, that he cheated on their mother with, look bad. He's gross.
Feb 11, 2012 (84% of precincts reporting)
Mitt Romney 2,190 39.2%
Ron Paul 1,996 35.7%
Rick Santorum 989 17.7%
Newt Gingrich 349 6.2%
Other 61 1.1%
Totals 5,586 99.9 %
Source: AP
Once they select their #1 Loser, I'll tune back in. For now? Our DNC phone bank has started up, I continue to work with the shelters in STL, and catch a little Bill Mahr and MSNBC's Mr. Ed. That's enough for me.
I do send my silent by strong sympathy to the MI people during their occupation.
Wilka
Mooch, clowns are not known for adhering to true family values such as that of the Obama family. I feel that Newt Gingrich is a clown for clowning around with other women while being married. I feel that Mitt Romney is more of a clown saying he likes to fire people and that he doesn't care about poor people. I'd say that Ron Paul is a clown claiming he didn't know about racist newsletters written on his behalf.
The person you so randomly call a clown was the first Black person elected to head Harvard's Law Review. The job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School. The person you so callously call a clown is loved and admired by people of all races, creeds and economic status.
When you refer to America's first president of color as a clown it reminds me of the personal attacks that were aimed at many other ground breaking African Americans. I guess in your eyes that Jackie Robinson was a clown, Sojourner Truth was a clown, Martin Luther King was a clown and all the Black people who've made major contributions to the betterment of our diverse nation were clowns.
I'm saddened to see you write about our President in such a manner. I only hope that you see and understand how much of a role model President Obama is, not only to African Americans, but to people across the globe. Now they all know that anything is possible and that through education, hard work and desire anything is possible.
Most clowns don't affect people in that way.
Circus, indeed!