Friday, January 27, 2006

mlive.com: NewsFlash - DeVos declines to be specific on economic plan
Here's a more detailed, accurate story from Kathy Barks Hoffman, who does a great job of covering stories in Lansing. Much better than the teleprompter blurbs I get from WOOD.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)- Republican Dick DeVos said voters will see a sharp difference between him and Gov. Jennifer Granholm in this fall's election, but declined to give any details on where he actually differs from the Democratic incumbent.

DeVos told reporters after taping public television's "Off the Record" program Thursday that it was too early for him to offer specifics.

This tells me that he probably plans to run a "negative only" campaign. A candidate with plans and vision would be eager to get those ideas out in the public to see how people react. It's not about "ideas" with the Republicans, it's about power.

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said Granholm was debating ideas with her Democratic primary opponents at this point in the 2002 campaign, and that DeVos should be ready to say what he would do on issues important to voters, such as the economy and creating jobs.

"He's been campaigning for eight months and it's long past the time he should have a plan," Brewer said. "The governor put forth a lot of innovative proposals last night. And we hear nothing from him."

Granholm had a primary to deal with. All the other chickenshit Republican candidates dropped out when they found out Dick was going to run. They knew that he has the money to bury them, and that the machine was beholden to Betsy and her power. They were toast the second he announced.

One issue we can look at is stem cell research. Widely supported by the public, but yet denied here in Michigan by extremist anti-abortion groups.


DeVos said Granholm's speech was long on rhetoric and short on specifics, then declined to say what he would do to improve the economy or where he stood on embryonic stem cell research or raising the minimum wage.

DeVos, who opposes abortion, said he supports research done with adult stem cells but needs more time to consider whether he backs research done with embryonic stem cells, something the Catholic church opposes.

Right to Life of Michigan said Thursday in a release that Michigan law prohibits human cloning and the destruction of live human embryos, but does not prohibit research on embryonic stem cells.

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said again Thursday that changes are needed.

"That legislation removes existing restrictions on research and deletes references to embryo in several places," she said.

Right to Life is being disingenuous on this point. You can't do research without destroying the embryos, therefore, no research. I wonder why they chose to mislead people on that. The Oakland Press reported last year on scientists leaving the state because of our laws.

ANN ARBOR - Housed in one of the nation's top medical schools and the new Life Sciences Institute, the University of Michigan's Human Embryonic Stem Cell Center is one of just three federally funded facilities of its kind in the United States. Its researchers hope one day to help pioneer new drugs or even cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Yet despite the cause for optimism, and the weight and resources of one of the nation's top research institutions behind it, the program, just 2 years old, has already lost some of its top scientists to other states.

Michigan is one of eight states to explicitly limit embryonic stem cell research. Laws passed alternately in 1978 and 1999 prohibit the destruction of an embryo in research and make it a crime, punishable by a $10,000 fine, to clone a human embryo capable of becoming a human being.

State Rep. Andy Meisner, DFerndale, said polling he has solicited showed support at about 73 percent of Michigan residents, with traditionally anti-abortion Roman Catholics supporting stem cell research at 72 percent.

He has introduced legislation that would authorize stem cell research, allow therapeutic cloning while banning cloning done for reproductive purposes. Meisner says current state law is taking Michigan off the front line of an emerging life sciences field.

"We have lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs, and we have a need to diversify our economy," he said.

Yet his bill has received no consideration in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Matt Resch, spokesman for House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, said stem cell research hasn't been an issue in the Legislature and shouldn't necessarily be thought of in terms of economic benefit.

"It's very dangerous to have money as the driving factor behind moral issues," he said. "And human cloning and embryonic stem cell research is a very divisive issue."

Seems to me only a small percentage of rabid right wingers are against this research. Roman Catholics support it by 72%. Other groups have voiced their support also.
The Michigan Manufacturers Association supported lifting the restrictions.

"The governor's push to encourage stem cell research in Michigan may be something we, as a state, need to look at to ensure we are not losing important investment and high-paying jobs in the emerging biotechnology sector to other states with more relaxed laws," MMA President and CEO John MacIlroy said in a statement.

The moderate Republican Main Street Partnership in Michigan also said it supported the governor's proposal.

"If we, as a state, wish to diversify our economy, we cannot lose the intellectual assets we have or artificially limit explorations which could make us a leader in this emerging medical field," the group's president, Susan Steiner Bolhouse, said in a statement.

Right to Life has already endorsed Dick for the 2006 primary.

Why is Dick trying to hide his views on this subject? I highly doubt that he "needs more time to consider whether he backs research done with embryonic stem cells". I think that his past support of anti-abortion groups clearly points out who Dick sides with on this issue, and now he's trying to back-pedal and obfuscate so he doesn't appear to be on the wrong side of popular opinion.

Conservatives have to hide their true agenda.