Sometimes mistakes work in your favor.
LANSING, Mich. -- A leaflet being mailed to union members in the state says GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos has been a major contributor to President Bush and once used his influence to win a tax break benefiting Amway Corp.
There's only one problem with the leaflet prepared by the Michigan State AFL-CIO: It says the tax break was "signed into law by President Bush in 1997."
The former Texas governor, a Republican, didn't become president until 2001. Democrat Bill Clinton was in the White House in 1997.
Denise Cadreau, political director for the AFL-CIO, says the union made a mistake.
"The date is correct, based on Common Cause. It's just somehow a `by President Bush' got tossed in there," she said Tuesday.
Oops! That was silly. Gee, sorry. But you have to ask yourself, would this have made the news if the leaflet had been correct?
The colorful leaflet displays the headline "The GOP's Culture of Corruption" over images of Bush, DeVos and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay, a Texas Republican, stepped down from the House last week and is awaiting trial on money laundering charges he says are politically motivated.
Or this?
The leaflet says the DeVos family has been a major contributor to Bush, that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been a longtime friend of the DeVos family and that Dick DeVos gave DeLay $5,000 for his legal defense fund.
Or how about this-
DeVos and his family have been major contributors to Republican causes for many years, including the Bush campaign.
According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the DeVos family _ which includes Dick DeVos's father, Amway founder Richard DeVos _ gave nearly $2.6 million to federal candidates and political parties from the 1989-1990 election cycle through the 2005-06 cycle. All but 4 percent went to Republicans.
That includes $5,000 Dick DeVos gave in 1999 to DeLay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, and $1,000 he gave to DeLay's campaign committee in 2000, according to the center.
"This guy's been a huge political player for a long time. He's one of the major funding families for the Republican Party," Cadreau said. "He's not a newbie to politics, that's for sure."
So, even if a slight error was made on one sentence, the truth of the leaflet was spread in black and white print and living color on your TV set all over Michigan.
All because of a simple mistake. Heh.
Shame on you guys. Don't ever let it happen again.