I have resisted writing about this here because I find Saul to be as stupid as he is evil, and I'm tired of having my head in such a negative space all the time. Not good for me.
But, I thought it important to note that the MI GOP obviously has no intention of changing their ways- keeping DeRoche as minority leader, keeping Saul as the head of the party, kind of tells you that they are happy with the nasty, extreme, obstructionist agenda that has marked their existence the past few years.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The push to replace Saul Anuzis as head of the Michigan Republican Party may be over now that the GOP activist who wanted to replace him has backed off.
Third District GOP Chairman Dave Dishaw of Wyoming sent Anuzis an e-mail this weekend and called him to say he would not challenge Anuzis when party delegates meet in early February to elect a chairman for the next two years.
Dishaw said he got into the race because it seemed to be worth having a discussion about possible change, given Republicans' defeats in the state and nationally.
"As I began to see where the support was going to be, it became evident to me that it was going to be a down-to-the-wire horse race," Dishaw told The Associated Press Monday in a telephone interview. "I've endorsed Saul. ... I want the party to function, I want it to work, and if we can do it without tearing the party apart, I'm all for that."
So the discussion never happened, at least not in public. Methinks the big money people weighed in, and it was a done deal. Funny how the Pubs thought Granholm should lose her job over "lack of performance", but here their best boy had a dismal showing and they want to keep him. Hmmm.
The movement to replace Anuzis became public the day after the Nov. 7 election, when it became clear Republicans had failed to unseat the Democratic governor and U.S. senator, lost control of the state House and nearly lost control of the state Senate.
Anuzis defended the job he did leading up to the election, noting that the Michigan GOP held onto all nine of its congressional seats while Indiana lost three seats that had been held by the GOP.
"We made more phone calls, we knocked on more doors, we put out more literature, we identified more Republican voters and we raised more money" than previous GOP party heads in Michigan, Anuzis said Monday.
Yes, weren't the Republican tactics charming this year? Paragons of virtue they were with their numerous daily negative robocalls, divisive and nasty attack literature, endless TV ads that twisted the truth. Wasn't that fun? Wasn't that productive to the debate about our future? Did ya feel the love emanating from the Republican Party?
Race to the bottom, indeed.
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Several prominent Kent County Republicans came to Anuzis' defense, including major GOP contributor and former U.S. ambassador to Italy Peter Secchia; GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos; state Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema; and former Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, who had Anuzis as his chief of staff when he was in the state Senate.
Anuzis also got the backing of Attorney General Mike Cox and U.S. Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.
Notice the far-right names and the big bucks that lead that list. Just a hunch, but I think that when the DeVos family weighed in, Dishaw quickly backed down. Sorry, Chuck. Nice try.
I'm not sure when Dick came to Saul's defense, but I still hold that none of things listed above were done without Dick and Betsy's approval. No way Saul acted on his own here with so much at stake. This campaign had Betsy's fingerprints all over it.
I guess we can expect more of the same from the MI GOP. While that ultimately may be a good thing for Democrats as the public grows increasingly tired of the push towards extremism, it's a bad thing for our state if they decide they want to be the obstructive force they have been in the past. We are facing some serious financial issues and all they can suggest is "more tax cuts!"
Will they continue to hold us back? Does a zebra ever change his stripes?