This is rich

I propose a new group blog project

on how Tim Skubick and other right wing commentators damage Michigan politics.

I say any writer / commentator on any politician or issue is fair game.  But I think Skubick deserves most of the attention, since he is the self-appointed master of Michigan politics.

I will start sometime this week with how Tim Skubick set up the candidates to fail in the first debate, followed by how Frank Beckmann flat out lied about Gov Granholm in his disgusting "Mud Fight" article.  I have already done pretty good groundwork on both of those issues.

I think if everyone here did one analysis about Skubick or other right wing smear/spin, it would build up quite a good body of work.  We post here and on our regular blogs.  I will then blog the project on the DetNews.  I can get a couple of good articles out of it.

What do you think?

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by: Christine @ Tue Nov 28, 2006 at 23:35:50 PM UTC

i was going to do a post on skubick soon

I've been one of Skubick's most fervent defenders, but I am beginning to realize that he really does have biases.  It isn't necessarily liberal or conservative, but as a pundit I think he is out of touch with popular sentiment.  He makes the same mistakes that a lot of pundits make:  underestimating the sophistication of voters, and attributing ideological causes to voting behavior.

Recently, I took offense to some of the things he said in the article that Eric B. linked to, as well as the most recent Off The Record:

He called Granholm disingenuous for proposing an SBT replacement plan after the election that was similar to her old plan.  I thought that charge was ridiculous because such a politicized issue wasn't going to get resolved before the election, the issue has been discussed long enough where I think everyone has a good idea of what it is about (a solution wouldn't really be "rushed"), and these legislatures committed to finding a replacement as they eliminated it.

In the article that Eric B. links to, Skubick implies that Granholm only won because of China (that's just out of touch), and some of his other statements really rub me the wrong way.

Skubick really knows Lansing and has a lot of great insights into the political process, but he and his colleagues put so much emphasis on the "process" of politics that I think they lose touch with what these issues actually mean to people.

Christine, that is an amazing idea.

Check out my mediocre blog.

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by: nirmal @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 00:03:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great with perceptions

I think Tim's talent lies in drilling through the perceptions being cast by a candidate. I actually think Tim leans Democrat, but I guess it doesn't really matter as long as he gives both sides a pretty fair dose of reality with his questions.  Is he out of touch?  Yeah, he's a legend in his own mind - but a damn good reporter still.  I encourage y'all to hear him speak to a small group about Michigan politics if you have the opportunity.

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by: jimwhitaker @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 05:13:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good reporters...

All the knowledge of process and political insights are no good if you can't translate that into something useful for your readers.  That is, if you're out of touch with your readers, you're not a very good reporter.

I don't know that I'd call him biased one way or the other, but I do think he's heavily afflicted by insider's disease.  Like David Broder, I could see him sitting around a Lansing bar (or over lunch) in four years, complaining that Jennifer Granholm came in and trashed his town.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 07:32:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh, baby!

I am so on that Gravy Train.  Tim Skubick needs to put a lid on it.  I've been railing on him for about 2 years.

Pah.  Tim Skubick.  He was such a DeVos weenie it was enough to make you hurl.

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by: quaker21 @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 01:08:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I thought about making my own blog....

About psuedo-Christian radio host Bob Dutko.  But throwing them all in a pot and skewering all of them would work, too:).

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by: djtyg @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 01:34:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Awesome DJ

I didn't even think about radio. 

Doh!

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by: Christine @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 02:53:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

This is the spot...

These kinds of things have more impact when gathered in one place.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 01:40:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I go after Rick Albin all the time

From WOOD TV 8- you guys don't see him, but believe me he is a master spinner.

I've actually had people call me up and go, "did you hear what Albin just said? Can you believe that?" So, it's not just me- others see it, too.

I don't know how well known he is outside of West Michigan though. Might not fly with a Detroit audience.

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by: wizardkitten @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 03:41:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

He's right....

at least according to the research article my University of Michigan alumni email sent as a link today:

http://www.ns.umich....

Hate it as much as we do, folks vote based on whims.

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by: jimwhitaker @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 05:05:14 AM UTC

I don't doubt the general idea, but...

The interesting thing about the article you linked to is that candidate charisma is a better predictor of who will win than campaign advertising or the economy.  It presents a compelling counterargument to Skubick's China ads schtick.

But, regardless, here we have Tim Skubick teeing off on uninformed voters, who make their selections based off soundbites.  The same Tim Skubick who awarded the second debate to Dick DeVos because he thought that the "fire the governor" line was such a great soundbite.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 07:23:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hear, hear!

Exactly.  This is what I said in some comments within my "China Ad" diary on Skubick.  I can agree with him fundamentally on the importance of symbols in a campaign.

But where that agreement stops is when he implies that voters don't vote with their brains and slavishly follow sound-bites.  And worse -- Skubick is the KING of soundbytes, as he constantly utilized DeVos' soundbites in his campaign to bolster editorial support.

So I'm with ya, Eric.  Right on the money.

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by: quaker21 @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 08:05:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

California Governor race 2006

In California, I don't think anybody heard a bit of the Democratic Gubernatorial candidate's message because of the way he looks.  See him here: http://www.angelides...

Sad to say, but looks go a long way .... we're all biased based on looks.

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by: jimwhitaker @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 21:55:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If DeVos were a game-show host

The show would be "I've Got a Secret." He didn't divulge his far-right-wing views, the wheelbarrows full of cash he donated to Bush/Cheney 2000 and 2004, his family's contributions to anti-civil unions and pro-school voucher movements, the prominent role of Lady McAmway in the Michigan Republican Party, Amway's sleazy business model, his quitting the State Board of Education, and his truancy as a member of the Grand Valley State Board of Governors.

For crying out loud, his TV ads, his yard signs, and the front page of his website didn't even disclose the very material fact that he was a Republican.

Aside to Tim Skubick: If you seek a deceptive campaign, look about you.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

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by: Hy Dudgeon @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 08:17:21 AM UTC

Ahh..Duh..Who we votin' fer...?

"I voted for Jenny.  She's purdy.  She won the swimsuit competition...didn't she?"

I guess we are stoopid.  However, there is some truth in what Timmy says.  That was not the deciding factor though.  I seriously think that Granholm won on DeVos's "connection" to the Whitehouse.  People realized that he is a big supporter of the President.  He accepted his comparison to Bush in the debate when they asked him that question. (I believe it was the morphing ad that prompted the question.)  I honestly believe the race would have been closer if not for the Iraq war.

Charisma? Did that play a factor for Granholm? You bet.  Nothing wrong with that.  It pushed JFK over the edge in 1960. Just imagine if Nixon won back then. Would we have been knee deep in Viet Nam much earlier? Would there ever been a Civil Rights Admendment in 1965? I seriously doubt there would have been one.  You think the civil riots on the late 1960's was bad...just imagine how "BAD" they would have been without the Civil Rights Admendment. What about the Space Race.  Would we have walked on the Moon? 

Governor Granholm's Charisma is true. It is not something that is faked.  She has a general affection for the everyday people.  We are alot better off with her in the chair then DeVos. 

Guys like Timmy like to hear themselves speak. He needs to be taken seriously.  I would love none other then to put the Pundits in a Debate.  Have the everyday people ask them questions on how they do their jobs.  Make them squirm and spit out their justifications for their lack of journalism.  Wouldn't that be darn right FUN!

Benjamin Franklin: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I WANT MY HABEAS CORPUS BACK!!

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by: Old Dood @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 12:30:08 PM UTC

Timmeh Timmeh Timmeh

Whoever said above that Skoobs suffers from Insider's Disease is right on the money.  It's not that he's right or wrong about uninformed voters and Granholm's charisma.  He's right if he qualifies his statements with "some but not all voters," but of course he won't do that, because it's better for his career to make these sweeping, slightly outrageous (at least in prim Timmeh's eyes) statements that he imagines will command front page top half headlines and drive millions of Michigan readers to Worship What He Says.  Look at his cackling over his "fire the gov" line.  I bet he pees all over himself every time he sees a bumper sticker on the freeway (and yes Timmeh, your lame little soundbite did become a DeVos bumper sticker.  Should we pin a medal on your chest?)

I've watched Skubick out of the corner of my eye since I got to Lansing 18 years ago, and I feel safe going out on a limb here and saying his biases lie somewhat with democrats.  But his real bias is All Timmeh All The Time.  He wants to be a kingmaker--to look back on his career and say, "I was so powerful that I put X in the governor's office just by raising my voice."  He does have a smidge of integrity in that he doesn't want gobs of money or diamonds or beautiful women.  What he wants is More Access so he can be even more powerful and make or break even more political candidates by squinching up his mug and barking, "DO YOU FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR RICKY HOLLAND'S DEATH???"  The really disgusting thing is that he would have foisted Dick DeVos upon the state of Michigan simply to further his career.

Skoob isn't any different from Judy Miller or David Brooks, or any of the other MSM pundits who worship their own power.  He just lives in a smaller town and isn't as sophisticated.

I'm not that eartha - or that one either

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by: eartha651 @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 13:08:06 PM UTC

!

Excellent, EXCELLENT observations, Eartha!  I agree fully.

And, I must confess, I LOLed and snorted(!) when I read this:
"I bet he pees all over himself every time he sees a bumper sticker on the freeway"

;D

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by: quaker21 @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 14:50:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

He's an easy target

All media prima donnas are easy to make fun of.  They also take themselves very seriously and get all bent out of shape when the rabble (that's us) make fun of them.  That's why it's such a pleasure to do so.

But these media whores (and that's what they are) are actually a serious problem.  Since the election I've had plenty of time to think about the larger problems this country faces, and I think that commercialization of the media (particularly TV, which has a brainwashing effect) is just as big a problem as high-dollar lobbying in politics, maybe bigger.  At least with politicians we know what we're getting, but the pundits and news snoops try to pass themselves off as people of integrity, guardians of the public trust.  In reality, they're so drunk on their own power that they don't even see what the lies and distortions they're spewing are doing to our country.  In many ways, they're more powerful than our elected leaders, and that's what many of them want to be.  Skubick definitely wants it--watch his preening when the TV cameras are turned on him.

So what's the solution?  One good place to start at the national level is to use the dems' control of congress to build NPR back into a credible news organization like the British have in the BBC.  We can't completely nationalize the media, or we'd get Pravda, but we can study Auntie Beeb and learn how to offer a nationalized media as the most reliable news alternative available.  State public radio orgs could then follow suit--until its recent shakeup, Michigan Radio was easily the best news org in the state.

The question I'm wrestling with right now is how to communicate with our elected leaders in a language other than money.

I'm not that eartha - or that one either

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by: eartha651 @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 15:56:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Lansing Area Skubick Alert

Apparently he's going to be flogging his quickie book at Schuler Books in Okemos tonight--any rotten tomatoes about?

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by: jmgear @ Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 21:07:34 PM UTC

Heh.

Dude, if it were 3 years ago, we'd have a never-ending tomato supply.  All of my friends worked at the Chapbook Cafe in that Schulers back then. ;)

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by: quaker21 @ Thu Nov 30, 2006 at 00:02:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]