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The Diary of Stuff: Wednesday gab barg

by: Eric B.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 09:51:16 AM EST


A bunch of stuff has happened. It's all probably worthy of mention, but not anything I can really muster the energy necessary for individual posts. So, we'll go with this:

*--Ask and ye shall receive: Bart Stupak has a primary challenger over his role in the health care debate. I like Stupak for a lot of other things he does, but this isn't terribly surprising.  On the other hand, it's one thing to challenge someone in a primary, it's another thing to mount a serious challenge.  Anyway, some of you have been agitating for someone to run against him, and here is your chance.

*--Some dude rips apart Sen. Roger Kaaaaahn!'s speech (was this the one where he described the color of partially digested blood?), defending Michigan's unique drug maker immunity law. He called it,"inaccurate, irrelevant, or both."  On the other hand, dude teaches in Ann Arbor, which is practically San Francisco.  Will these revelations help move this legislation? Not in a hundred, billion years.

*--Lessenberry's weekly Metro Times column sets his readers up by letting them down.  He goes through everyone running and mentions why they aren't terribly good candidates. Oh wait, there's one guy he didn't mention ... Joe Schwarz. Lessenberry wraps up promising to provide an alternative, by the way.

*--Monica Conyers gets sentenced today.

A couple of housekeeping things here:

*--For Android users, have I mentioned that the MichLib Android app is available for free?  I know at the start that there was talk of charging a buck for it, but that's not the case. You can get it for free.

*--A new addition to the blogroll is the Michigan League of Conservation Voters' new blog, MI Eye on Bishop. It's part of their accountability project. If you follow MichLib by regularly visiting this page, you've probably already seen the interview Bruce Fealk did with them. Otherwise, here's a link to his diary.

Eric B. :: The Diary of Stuff: Wednesday gab barg
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Stupak challenger (0.00 / 0)
From the West side, the challenge highlights a potential rift in the party.  As many know, we have a strong pro-life contingent, able to run winning campaigns, and with three very capable members on the County Commission (Brandon Dillon, Carol Hennessey, Bob Synk); we also have a no-less equally vigorous progressing, anchored in the Progressive Women's Alliance.  The Stupak mess threatens to take the tension between these wings and make it something far worse, to the long-term detriment of both sides.  

Yes, we need each other.  


Stupak has done... (0.00 / 0)
a fairly reasonable job, although I don't like the fact that Dave Camp seems to have become the Michigan leader in the House on the Asian carp issue--that has Bart written all over it, but Bart doesn't seem to want to get involved.   He was elected as a home grown boy in a very conservative part of the state.  If he is defeated in the primary I doubt the district will remain on the Democratic side of the aisle.

Northern Michigan & The UP (0.00 / 0)
Stupak's district may be conservative, but it's one of those rare areas where conservative doesn't automatically equal "Republican."  Congressional and presidential elections show that much of the UP is still very much Democratic.  In fact, it was one of the most consistently Democratic areas of the state during the 2008 presidental elections.  This isn't necessarily an argument saying that a Republican couldn't win up there, but rather an argument to say that if Bart lost, it wouldn't automatically go to a Republican.  The area is about as anti-war (among other liberal things) as it comes.

BTW, I loved Lessenberry's column, with my favorite line being this one because it's SO true:

"Next is Pete Hoekstra, the conservative, Dutch-born congressman from west Michigan. Pete, who knows a whole lot about homeland security, stands ready to protect us from any new thigh bombers. He actually seems to think our 701,000 officially unemployed workers are more worried about homeland security than finding a job. I think he might be shocked at what would happen if Osama bin Laden showed up in Pontiac and announced he was opening a factory and was ready to hire."

LOL!  It's funny because it's true.


[ Parent ]
What we need is a better class of Democrats. (0.00 / 0)
All having a (D) next to your name means is that you're MORE liberal than the Republican candidate, but our whole political system has shifted so far to the right that if a republican from 1968 (who had been put into suspended animation) was thawed out today -- he'd think he was in a conservative paradise.  I know I've said it before and I know I'll say it again -- Bill Clinton is more conservative than Eisnehower was (don't take my word for it -- look it up).  Anyone who spouted Nixon's viewpoints today (Pro-ERA, creation of the EPA, giving land back to Native Americans) would be considered "too liberal" to get elected even as a Democrat.  What we need is a better class of Democrats.


Kent Dems Endorse Jocelyn Benson (0.00 / 0)
At last night's meeting, the KCDP unanimously voted to endorse Jocelyn Benson to be the party's nominee for Secretary of State. The endorsement means that the County Party is encouraging all MDP members, especially all those from Kent County, who attend the Endorsement Convention on 17 April to vote for Benson.

a little more info at WMR.

West Michigan Rising: The Progressive Blog for Our (future) Left Coast


Primary challengers (0.00 / 0)
I don't think Bart Stupak should be tossed just because he's pro-life. But he should be tossed if he sabotages the health care bill pending in Congress. If a primary challenger helps him focus on the importance of that bill passing, it's a good thing. If Stupak actually loses the primary, then he's so out of touch with a core portion of his constituency that he deserves to be voted out of office. I would hate to see Dems lose that seat but it will be Stupak's fault alone if that happens.  


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