Sorry for so much MI-07 blogging lately but there's just too much goodness emanating from my humble little Congressional District these days. This one actually made it to the front page of Daily Kos:
Tim Walberg ain't exactly a Harvard-trained surgeon. He only beat one in 2006.
But the former Bible salesman turned one-term congressman oddly seemed determined to prove this fact at a Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce forum last week for 7th District GOP candidates.
[snip...]
"With the 9/12 movement, the Tea Party, people are standing up really for the first time in history," Walberg declared.
Now much of the debate was the Republicans trying to out-crazy each other, essentially arguing the government caused the Wall Street financial meltdown of '08 with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, hippie bike trails are the reason why Michigan doesn't have the cash to patch roads and Romney-style health care reform will enslave Americans in way Joe Stalin would envy.
But this beautiful bomb of historical ignorance really took the cake.
There have, of course, been many other movements in American history, from the 19th Century progressives to the turn-of-the century suffragists to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. All of these were large-scale efforts that permanently transformed society -- not just for an election (and the jury's still out on 2010).
"Bomb of historical ignorance." I don't know blogger Susan J. Demas personally but I do like that turn of a phrase, I must say.
I also love that Tim Walberg has to read the list of things he stands for off his Blackberry. This guy wants another bite of the apple? Perish the thought.
So, in 2008, Republican Joe Schwarz endorsed Mark Schauer for the MI-07 race and, of course, Schauer ended up narrowly defeating Tim Walberg. There has been very bad blood between Schwarz and Walberg ever since Walberg got the Club for Growth to kick the crap out of him (financially- and negative campaigningly-speaking) in the contested 2006 GOP primary.
"I think he's the best choice because he served in the military, has a very good legal background and he has a broad view of what the problems are, and what the solutions are with the economy," Schwarz said.
Another reason why Schwarz said he is backing Rooney is that his focus is on the economy, "as opposed to very narrow social issues."
Yeah, right, Joe. Sure. We believe you and that those are your real reasons. No, really.
"Tomorrow, former Congressman Joe Schwarz is hosting a fundraiser for Republican Congressional Candidate Brian Rooney. Former Congressman Schwarz endorsed Mark Schauer for Congress in 2008, who has voted for trillion dollar deficits and the government takeover of health care, and said he will likely support Schauer again this year.
"As reported in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, 'Schwarz said if Rooney wins the primary and faces off against Schauer in November, he will then evaluate whom he would support.' The Citizen Patriot further reported, 'If Walberg wins the primary, Schwarz said Schauer will have his support in the fall.'
"'Granted, Brian Rooney moved into the 7th District from Wayne County the same day he signed his candidacy papers, but he should know better than to let Congressman Mark Schauer endorser Joe Schwarz raise money for his campaign. Congressman Joe Schwarz has said he will support Congressman Mark Schauer in the general election if Tim Walberg is the Republican nominee, so Brian Rooney should disavow Joe Schwarz' support and cancel the fundraiser,' said campaign spokesman Joe Wicks."
Honestly, this is the funniest damn Congressional primary pie fight I have ever seen.
What's next? Walberg pulls down Rooney's pants and runs away yelling "nana nana boo-boo"? Or maybe Rooney gives Walberg a hot foot at a debate?
Meanwhile, Congressman Mark Schauer is kicking serious financial butt, financially-speaking. He raised almost a half million dollars last quarter and has $1.65 million cash on hand. Together Rooney, Walberg, and the other GOP candidate, Marvin Carlson, only raised about $275,000 in Q2 and, collectively have only $785,000 on hand.
He's also acting like an adult and a leader by taking strong stands on Wall Street reform, health insurance reform and leveling the playing field for American companies competing with Chinese companies.
Or maybe I should title it "Free to tea you and me".
Yesterday, I published a diary titled "Tea Party in Michigan terrified of being an official party" which talked about a petition in Michigan to put the "Tea Party" officially on the Michigan ballot in November. The so-called leaders of the "Tea Party" proceeded to flip out claiming "Dirty Dem Tricks!"
That meme, that the Democrats are behind this and it's all a big conspiracy, continues today. Here's a bit more on the ensuing and most-hilarious freakout.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting this morning that Tea Party "leaders" from around Michigan are blaming the Democrats and other liberals:
Michigan Tea Party activists were agitated Monday, convinced that a shadowy group of left-wingers was trying to hijack their identity and run faux Tea Party candidates for office to siphon votes from authentic, limited-government conservatives.
"A shadowy group of left-wingers"! Oooo! Sounds scaaa-ary, dunnit?!
An article in the odd "Canada Free Press" goes further:
"This effort is in no way tied to the Tea Party groups that I'm aware of," says Wendy Day, President of Common Sense in Government. "This sounds like a liberal Democrat effort to split the conservative vote in Michigan."
Democrats. They must be behind this. We don't need no stinkin' proof. We just need our accusations!
(By the way, the Canada Free Press is an illustrious group with an associate editor that contributes to Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, & Glenn Beck and 9th grade boy as their "Social Network Editor" so you can be sure that they are legit.)
Over at American Thinker, essayist Thomas Lifson has this to say:
They're at it again. Democrats are caught red-handed playing dirty pool, in this case, spending substantial sums to gin up a decoy Tea Party in Michigan, in order to siphon votes from GOP candidates. Chetly Zarko, of the site Outside Lansing, uncovered the dirty trick op, with reports in two posts...
This is the year we conservatives can go on the offense and paint a narrative of the Dems as the phony manipulators they are...these people are out of touch, incompetent, devious, and need to be thrown out of office.
The red-handedness that Lifson refers to is that the group that is being paid to circulate the petitions has done work for Democrats in the past. And if that's not solid evidence -- ironclad PROOF! -- well, I don't know what is.
(It should be noted that Lifson has seen a Democratic conspiracy to disrupt the Tea Party movement before when he wrote about the Coffee Party. He's also a guy who equates the term "neoconservative" to an anti-Semitic slur. So, again, you know he's got cred on this issue.)
Over at the award-winning, well-respected, frequently-linked basically unheard-of Ballot Access News, editor Richard Winger has this self-explanatory headline:
Ah, yes, the Fox News-inspired "some say..." gambit. As long as "some say" it, it MUST be true! The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the uttering. Also, it's in the fact that "the same petitioning company that is circulating this petition has worked in the past for the Democratic Party". That's all the proof I need. Howzabout YOU?
The Detroit News is reporting on this as well. They talked to a yet another Tea Party leader:
Gene Clem, who is active with the South West Michigan Tea Party Patriots, said: "Our suspicion is this drive is being done by Democrats who want people to think this is the real tea party and to siphon off votes this fall."
Gene's "suspicion" = news. He suspects it, it's so. Q.E.D.
All of this goes back to the utter fear the Tea Party leadership has of actually, you know, leading. Rather than having to put together an effective organization with stated electoral goals and qualified candidates who can govern and legislate based upon their declared political platform, the Tea Party prefers to stay on the sidelines flinging poo at those who actually ARE legislating and governing. This isn't some subtle decision on their part. They are proud of this. From the Detroit News article:
Eighteen groups associated with the tea party movement issued a statement today saying they are not behind a move to establish a political party in Michigan.
"The history of third party movements in this country is one of division and defeat," the statement says. "We believe that it is instead time for all Americans to rise up and demand appropriate reform within the existing political structures. The mechanisms exist for citizens to participate in their parties, and to drive their parties in the right direction."
In other words, they are co-opting the Republican Party (apparently with Mitch McConnell's blessing) rather than doing the heavy lifting of forming their own organization. Here's the funny part: the Michigan GOP is having none of it:
A Michigan Republican Party spokeswoman said the Tea Party petition drive was an act of desperation.
"They can't even field their own slate of candidates," said spokeswoman Jennifer Hoff, "and now they're trying to form another party?"
Since the Democrats clearly can field a slate of their own candidates, it's obvious that Ms. Hoff is speaking of our friends in the Tea Party.
So the Tea Partiers are freaking out. They don't want to be an official party but they're being called on it by this petition drive. And because they don't like that fact, they are running around screaming "THE DEMOCRATS ARE BEHIND THIS! THE DEMOCRATS AREN'T PLAYING FAIR!!!
Two things on that particular point. First, "dirty tricks" like this are hardly something only the Dems are capable of as the Detroit Free Press hilariously points out:
If Democrats are behind the effort, it would not be entirely without precedent -- for Republicans, however. In 2004, Michigan Republicans circulated petitions to place Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot.
Second, and this is actually pretty big, the entire outrage is based on the fact that they claim the Democrats are behind it. Unfortunately for them, real journalists doing real journalism actually contacted the head of the Democratic Party in Michigan, Mark Brewer. They asked him point blank if the Dems are behind the petition effort to put the Tea Party on the 2010 ballot. His response?
"We have nothing to do with it."
Wah waaaaaah. Sorry. Game over. Thanks for playing.
UPDATE: Strangely, Susan Demas posted a blog entry over at MLive 90 minutes after I posted this essay on Daily Kos and about 50 minutes after I posted it here. It has the same obscure link to the Canada Free Press and reaches many of the same conclusions as I did here and in my diary yesterday. Guess I should be flattered???
Popcorn time once again as far-right Tim Walberg and farther-right Brian Rooney battle it out for who wants to deny women their legal right to choose to have an abortion most. Yesterday, Walberg sent out an email that said this:
Voters Never Have to Question Where I Stand
Voters never have to question where I stand, my principles or priorities. I am a pro-freedom, pro-America and pro-life conservative. I did not just move into the district solely to run for office. I represent the conservative principles that made this country great and that is why we are winning in the polls and will defeat liberal Mark Schauer.
Yesterday, we were surprised to receive a copy of a letter from pro-life leader Kathy Potts, who announced she is stepping down as president of Jackson Right to Life to concentrate on working closely with our campaign. Our campaign continues to gain momentum. Kathy wrote, "I have always supported Tim because of his proven, trusted pro-life conservative record. The fact that I am choosing to ally myself again with him over Brian Rooney is also because of what I do not know of Mr. Rooney. The letter below we sent to Mr. Rooney speaks for itself. The stakes are high and I must go with a known and trusted candidate. I hope you will join me."
I love the second sentence. Hey, everybody! Guess what?! Tim Walberg is PRO-FREEDOM!!! And PRO-AMERICA, too!!! Woo hoo! Unlike all those other candidates, eh, Tim?
I love the third sentence, too. Tasty swipe at Brian Rooney who has rightfully been categorized as a carpetbagger having just moved into MI-07 for the sole purpose of running for office here. I actually think it is significant that he's never once cast a vote in MI-07.
But the letter Jackson Right to Life sent is the most tasty smack down of Rooney of all. Read it for yourself:
Dear Mr. Rooney,
We were disappointed you missed the Jackson Right to Life annual dinner. We know you recently moved into our district from Wayne County and have never actually cast a vote for Congress in the 7th District, so this event may have been new to you, but it is a very important to the pro-life cause. What is even more troubling to us is we learned you skipped our annual Right to Life dinner because the former president of the liberal Michigan Main Street Partnership was hosting a fundraiser for you. The Main Street Partnership actively supported taxpayer-funding of embryonic stem cell research, frequently attacks pro-life Republicans, praised Republicans who worked with President Obama to develop the stimulus plan, and actually blamed the Republican Party's sticking to core principles for liberal U.S. Senator Arlen Specter switching to become a Democrat. Yet you made the choice to skip our dinner and attend one held by a liberal organizer.
Mr. Rooney, your decision to associate with the leadership of the liberal Main Street Partnership instead of Right to Life speaks volumes and is very revealing of your priorities. We know where Tim Walberg stands, he attended our event, and he stands with us and never waivers. We now know where you stand.
Sincerely,
Michael Buratovich
Beth Thorrez
Tom Green
Kathy Potts
It's pretty hilarious to watch Walberg and the Jackson RtL folks calling the Republican Main Street Partnership "liberal". Hell, in Michigan in 2009, they gave money to (.pdf) Representatives Dave Camp, Thad McCotter, and Candice Miller among others. Not exactly a bunch of dirty effin hippies there, eh? But to Walberg and, frankly, much of the Republican Tea Party base these days, even glancing blows with centrism are enough to brand you with the dreaded "LIBERAL!" tag. And it's enough to make actual liberals laugh!
Well, Brian Rooney didn't take this laying down, no siree. First, he got "longtime Right to Life and Jackson County Republican Party activist" Lola Peterson to stick up for him in her own letter to the media:
Brian Rooney has and does demonstrate his complete dedication to Life through his and his family's approach to a special needs child. This man is walking the walk. For anyone to suggest otherwise is a scurrilous attack which I cannot stand by and allow to go unchallenged. And, for the record, local Right to Life chapters do not have the authority to endorse, even through the back door.
Oh, snap!
But the funniest part was that literally 28 minutes after Walberg's email hit my inbox, I got one from the Rooney campaign with this press release:
Rooney 'Meets Endorsement Criteria' for Right to Life of Michigan, 'Certified Pro-Life' by Pro-Life Federation of Michigan
(Jackson, MI) - Today, Right to Life of Michigan announced that Brian Rooney, Republican candidate for Michigan's 7th Congressional District, "meets the endorsement criteria" for Right to Life of Michigan.
"Throughout my life, both personal and professional, I have been and continue to be an avid supporter of the pro-life movement," said Rooney. "Through my work at the Thomas More Law Center, I worked on numerous pro-life cases. My experiences with my special needs son taught me a great deal about what it truly means to be pro-life. It is a great honor that I meet the criteria to be a Right to Life of Michigan candidate."
Rooney was also pro-life certified by the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan.
"Brian Rooney has been certified as a pro-life candidate by the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan," said Jerry Zandstra, President of the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan. "His work at the Thomas More Law Center on pro-life cases, as well as his personal experience with his special needs child clearly demonstrate his commitment to pro-life issues and his passion to make sure that those rights are defended."
Brian Rooney is a proud member of Right to Life of Michigan, National Right to Life, and the Knights of Columbus.
Okay, first of all, I didn't even realize that there's a pro-life certification process. Getting certified as being judged adequate in the fight to deny women access to safe, legal abortions just seems so weird to me. But, let's just back up a minute here. Rooney is certified by Michigan Right to Life? The same group that Jackson Right to life is affiliated with??? So the Jackson RtLers are "going rogue"? Because, and this still cracks me up, Rooney is pal-ing around with liberals?!
A month ago, I blogged about how proud -- really proud -- Brian Rooney, candidate for the GOP nomination in MI-07, was that he had received the endorsement of far-right wingnut Erick Erickson.
This week, Erick Erickson said on his radio show that he would threaten census workers who came on his property to ask him questions with a gun.
This is crazy. What gives the Commerce Department the right to ask me how often I flush my toilet? Or about going to work? I'm not filling out this form. I dare them to try and come throw me in jail. I dare them to. Pull out my wife's shotgun and see how that little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door. They're not going on my property. They can't do that. They don't have the legal right, and yet they're trying.
What's the American Community Survey? From their website:
The American Community Survey is a separate part of the 2010 Census program. Some households and group quarters (such as college residence halls, skilled nursing facilities, group homes, barracks, and correctional facilities) will receive both the American Community Survey and the 2010 Census this year. Response to both is required by law.
This is not the first time Erickson has advocated violence or threats of violence. In a Red State post a few days back he wrote:
"At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?"
Like I said before, if Brian Rooney and Tim Walberg keep hitching their wagons to the Crazy Train, they just keep making Congressman Mark Schauer's reelection that much more likely. Knock yourself out, boys.
Taking a cue from the Frank Luntz School of Media Savvy, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) sent out an rather interesting email this past weekend. It says, in part:
Washington - Despite a myriad of polls showing that a vote in favor of a government takeover of healthcare would be directly at odds with the interests and values of her constituents, Mark Schauer, instead chose to stand with President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
And later, in the same email:
"By ignoring the overwhelming majority of her constituents, and voting in favor of Nancy Pelosi's government takeover of healthcare, Mark Schauer has fueled a level of anger and frustration within the constituency he claims to represent," said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain.
Congressman Schauer (MI-07) is, as you have probably already figured out for yourself, a man.
I'm pretty danged proud of my Congressman just about now. I believe he cast an historic vote this past weekend and I, for one, am impressed by his leadership, his thoughtfulness and his position on the reform of our nation's health insurance system.
Meanwhile, as they play cutty-cutty, pastey-pastey with their emails and send them out across the country, the NRCC can't even get the sex right of the person they are trying to slam.
How do you motivate a Republican whose Congressional seat is being threatened? Well, if you're Incumbent Retention Czar Mike Rogers (MI-08), head of the NRCC's "Patriot Program", you give 'em a colonial soldier bobblehead.
I'm totally not kidding.
Rogers uses not just the stick, but also the carrot. Make that the bobblehead. He gives a Colonial soldier bobblehead doll to the "patriot of the week" who has worked hard to meet his or her goals.
"It's a huge success," Rogers said. "I get members now going, 'Hey, man, when am I getting my bobblehead?' I love that thing."
I hate to give Brian Rooney more attention than he deserves because the only thing that would be worse than Tim Walberg regaining his seat in MI-07 would be if Brian Rooney were to succeed in defeating Mark Schauer. But his latest "press release" screams to be addressed.
It is a nauseating example of exploiting one's children, in this case a child with a serious medical condition, for personal political advancement.
Meet Brian Rooney. Brian Rooney is running for the Republican nomination in MI-07 this year. He has only lived in Michigan since 2007 and he recently moved into MI-07 in order to run for this seat. Even his main Republican opponent, Tim Walberg, doesn't have much nice to say about him:
Walberg questioned if Rooney runs whether he can win over voters if he's just moved into their district.
"He is going to have to move in as a carpet bagger," Walberg said. "Unless you are a Kennedy or a Clinton, you don't do well as a carpet bagger."
At the Western Washtenaw Democrats meeting last Friday, Mark Schauer came out strongly in favor of pushing the Democrats' health care bill through the Senate without the standard requirement of 60 votes.
Ahhh. Finally. A Republican admitting that the threshold to pass legislation through the Senate in this country is no longer the Constitutionally-mandated 51 votes. Now it's 60.
For a Republican liar, you gotta give the guy credit for a brief moment of honesty.
My former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers stopped by the offices of the Livingston Press & Argus in Livingston County, Mich. this week to throw some poop on health care reform. Not only did he throw poop, he told several bald-faced lies including this one:
He said a government-appointed panel's conclusion that women need fewer mammograms at certain ages would be incorporated in the bills.
Rogers, himself a cancer survivor, said the government shouldn't dictate who has access to mammograms.
"I said, 'Oh, my gosh. They just sentenced to death 36,000 American women.'"
McCotter is either crazy or one of those professional conservative liars Steve Benen warns us are busy conning the country. Actually, crazy liar is probably more accurate.
So, what did McCotter say this time? According to MLive, McCotter "issued a statement last week expressing concern that Democrat's proposed health care legislation may encourage assisted suicide."
"This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law."
"...With three states having legalized physician-assisted suicide, this provision could create a slippery slope for a more permissive environment for euthanasia, mercy-killing and physician-assisted suicide because it does not clearly exclude counseling about the supposed benefits of killing oneself.
"This is very dangerous," McCotter said Friday. "We, in Michigan, have already fought back an attempted assisted suicide several years ago. And yet you see that the people who support this are trying to use this bill to advance this agenda."
What nonsense. Here's the bill, McCotter. Try reading it. There's no mention of assisted suicide or euthanasia, but there is a provision that would "provide Medicare coverage for the work of doctors who advise patients on life-sustaining treatment and "end-of-life services," including hospice care."
MLive points out that FactCheck calls the claim nonsense too.
In truth, that section of the bill would require Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling sessions helping seniors to plan for end-of-life medical care, including designating a health care proxy, choosing a hospice and making decisions about life-sustaining treatment. It would not require doctors to counsel that their patients refuse medical intervention.
Furthermore, the bill would not make these sessions mandatory. Counseling would be patient-initiated and voluntary.
The only slippery slope McCotter needs to worry about is the one leading to the unemployment line. His constituents deserve professionalism and honesty, not baseless scare tactics.
Republicans think the Democrats' health care plan is a Faustian web of Washington bureaucracy. To make their case they're doing exactly what they did in 1994, when President Clinton unveiled his plan, they're circulating a chart with lots of pretty colors, boxes, lines and acronyms. It's meant to confuse people and make light of the Democrats' plan.
It might make for a lovely board game but it makes for horrible health care system.
McCotter obviously never had to deal with HMO's, referrals, denial of claims, etc. Or, as Jonathan Cohn put it:
But these charts--and, more important, the Republicans who use them as propoganda--tend to ignore one inconvenient fact: American health care is already complex. Ridiculously complex. Thanks to decades of haphazard, disorganized growth, it's evolved into a mind-numbing web of institutions, agencies, businesses, and individual actors. And while that may be self-evident to anybody who's ever had to deal with, say, a billing dispute between an insurer and hospital, it's easy to lose sight of that when the discussion is all about what reform might do--rather than what health care would be like without it.
TNR developed their own chart (with the help of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation) illustrating just how byzantine our system has become. McCotter should check out.
Actually, if bureaucracy is a problem for Republicans, they might want to get on board with single-payer.
Single payer reform... would eliminate the bewildering patchwork of private insurance plans with their exorbitant overhead and profits, as well as the costly paperwork burdens they impose on providers. These savings on bureaucracy - nearly $400 billion annually - are sufficient to cover all of the uninsured and to provide first dollar coverage for all Americans.
Sen. John Ensign's confession that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff is a good news/bad news story. It's good news for Romney, Gingrich, Palin and other Republicans hoping to unseat Obama, but it's bad news for a party that continues to lose voters.
The Republican Party didn't make a deal with the devil.
It made a deal with God, or at least people who said they were God's representatives - a certain class of very political and ideological preachers.
The deal, engineered by Republican operatives such as Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, went like this: Be against gays and abortion and for prayer in the schools, and in return, those preachers would proclaim the GOP the party of God and deliver millions of suburban and rural voters - enough to win elections for three decades.
But the deal carried a risk: Any behavior by Republican officeholders or public figures that seemed at odds with a certain kind of Old Testament morality - a tryst in an airport bathroom, a painkiller addiction, a sexual harassment lawsuit - and voters might feel betrayed and manipulated.
And the deal would collapse.
The last couple of elections show that the deal has been collapsing for sometime, and it's not just among Bible believing Republicans. As the LVS points out, voters are leaving the party because of their one unforgivable sin: Hypocrisy.
You are cordially invited… Join the 9th, 12th & 14th Congressional District Republican Party organizations at the SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN SHOWDOWN IN MOTOWN: GOP Michigan Secretary of State Candidates Town Hall Forum Master of Ceremonies: Republican National Committeewoman Holly Hughes Join Republicans from across Southeast Michigan as we come together to hear from GOP candidates running for Michigan Secretary of State in 2010.
The candidates will take your questions during this live town hall panel discussion about how & who can win in 2010. Senator Cameron Brown, Senator Michelle McManus & Clerk/Register Anne Norlander will attend this complimentary event. Snacks/goodies will be provided by the Executive Committees of the 9th, 12th & 14th Congressional District Republican Party organizations. Event date: Monday, March 30th. Social hour/meet the candidates: 6:30 – 7:30 PM. Event starts at 7:30 PM. Event location: Trott Financial Center (former McCain-Palin ’08 Great Lakes Regional Headquarters), 31440 Northwestern Highway (between 13 Mile & Middlebelt Roads – east side of road), Farmington Hills. Bring your friends!
Over the last decade, General Motors has given $1.50 to Republican candidates for every $1 it has given to Democrats. That same pattern has been followed by Chrysler and Ford, which year after year have favored the right side of the aisle, sometimes by more than a 3-to-1 ratio in dollar terms.
Since 1990, the auto industry as a whole -- including suppliers, dealers and manufacturers -- has cut $100 million in checks to Republicans, compared with just $34 million to Democrats. [...]
"Carmakers have always leaned Republican," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "But it'll be interesting to see whether what happened this week changes that pattern."
Judge will hear motions in "Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote" case
By Clarence William Cromwell
We may never know exactly what transpired when a reporter from the Michigan Messenger interviewed James Carabelli, chairperson of the Macomb County Republican Party, but on Monday a federal judge will have to consider which version of the truth is more believable.
Read on to find out what we learned when we dug into this case.
With Senate Republican Floor Leader Alan Cropsey leading the Senate Obtructionists' faltering crusade to say thanks but no thanks to a bridge to somewhere, here's some "Alaska-style fiscal responsiblity" that Mike Bishop (R-Tanning Salon) can believe in.
How do you motivate a Republican whose Congressional seat is being threatened? Well, if you're Incumbent Retention Czar Mike Rogers (MI-08), head of the NRCC's 
Cross-posted at 
My former 
