Nolan Finley Falls Down the Reality Rabbit Hole

by: LiberalLucy

Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 09:42:28 AM EDT

I didn't make it up to Mackinac for the famed Policy Conference put on by the Detroit Regional Chamber this past week, but looking back, there looks to be one event that sounds like it took the cake - Detroit News Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley going down in flames.

Finley's always been pretty out of touch with most of the state, I mean the man does oversee all of the opinion crafting for the Detroit News for goodness sake, but his antics at Mackinac Island clearly plummet him to a whole new low. Now he's even ignoring his much-beloved base, the business sector.

In Sunday's DetNews, he blathered how Mackinac Island was full of GOP candidates, and while poor Democrats had only Lt. Gov. John Cherry, and woe is us. As Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer rebukes just this morning, it's the GOP who has cause to worry.

The Detroit Chamber recently polled 500 business executives as to their choice for governor, and as they just published (page 10) Cherry came in top, ahead of all of the Republican candidates. Of course, we can't forget that GOP-authored white paper that spells out their demise, but clearly Finley chooses to ignore that too.

But if all of that wasn't enough, here's the icing on the cake. Finley actually started yelling at First Gentleman Dan Mulhern while moderating a panel at Mackinac, and what he said just proves it, the man's clearly lost touch with reality, and the crowd there just re-enforced that.

From Crain's Detroit Business Weekly -

Finley led panelists...in a discussion focusing, to some extent, on what he said were the failings of Gov. Jennifer Granholm to effect comprehensive statewide change.

During the question and answer portion of the session, Mulhern stood up to defend his wife’s track record.

Michigan residents are tired of conflict and negative talk, and some of Friday’s conversation topics were slanted, Mulhern said, as Finley started to talk over him.

“It’s ironic that you are running this show when you are on a ship that has been sinking for years,” Mulhern said.

“If I’m sinking, you are the captain,” Finley fired back.

Mulhern finished his statement, concluding that Michigan residents want “more listening and less interrupting.”

“And more action,” Finley retorted. “We haven’t had action for the last six years.”

The crowd erupted in boos and hisses. (emphasis mine)

There you have it. Finley not only brilliantly brandishes that well-known axe to grind with Gov. Granholm and Democrats in general, but he does so with a sad dramatic flair that clearly shows he no longer is interested in pretending to be representing the interests of the business community, or most of our state's population.

But then again, we are talking about the chief opinion maker for the Detroit News. It's not like they were really ever in the business of representing mainstream Michigan to begin with.