Monday, January 15, 2007

Been there, done that: More obstructionism from MI Republicans and the Detroit News



Sometimes you can just see it coming.



In an editorial from the last Friday that relied heavily on the time-honored right-wing editorial tricks of assuming facts not in evidence, simplifying those facts into catch phrases to support your position, and then accentuating them with some heavy-duty juvenile name-calling, the Detroit News advocates that Mike Bishop needs to "thwart", or, in other words, obstruct, if you will, possible solutions to Michigan's ongoing revenue problems.



But she wants a tax hike, and it will now be up to new Senate Republican Majority Leader Mike Bishop of Rochester to hold his caucus in line and thwart higher taxes.



You have to read the whole thing for the full effect of the spin they're in. Pretty typical, actually- you get to the point of going "what else is new" when reading the Detroit News editorials. It seems they have a computerized random word generator that they plug in and call it a column.



"The Governor is (spineless, clueless, vindictive) and she only wants to (raise taxes, hurt Michigan, duck responsibility)." Use some variation of that over and over and call yourselves the voice of reason.



Yeah, yeah, whatever.



But here is the problem. Watch the fire grow.



If Saul Anuzis is the voice of the Michigan Republican Party, he is indicating that the MI GOP will be happy to oblige this tactic. As Zack at Pohlitics points out, the similarities between the DN and Saul's blog are eerie. Saul, like DeVos before him, uses the school kid tactic of changing a couple of words around and calling it good.



Funny how Saul applauds the line that says the "governor doesn't have an innovative thought in her head", while he continuously rips off the News and any and all extreme right articles he can find. We haven't heard anything from Saul that we haven't heard before. It's like the election never stopped for him.



And that is the dead giveaway to the now stale Republican method of operation- Classic Rovian Projection. This term should enter the permanent lexicon of political strategy. Attack, attack, attack your opponent, avoid responsibility for your actions, while offering no solutions of your own.



"Pay no attention to the foot-dragging that we have been doing for years. Pay no attention to the fact that we are the ones who created this mess in the first place. Pay no attention to the fact that we keep saying the same platitudes over and over while offering no real answers. Pay no attention when we shift blame to others."



Sounds like the current tactic being employed by McCain and Bush when to comes to the war, doesn't it? There is a reason for that.



The Republicans are fond of implying that the Governor is doing the "same 'ol thing" by appointing this panel to study our ongoing revenue shortfall, but yet they are doing the "same 'ol thing" by simply parroting the only words they know, and they are suggesting that perhaps they will do the "same 'ol thing" by obstructing any real progress as they do their best to continue to protect the special interest groups that control the party.



You know in your heart who those special interest are, but here's a hint anyway: it's not you.



So we turn to Mr. Bishop, the one the DN calls on to do the bidding of the "drown government" crowd. His appearance on "To the Point" this last Sunday shows that it's the Republicans don't have an innovative thought in their (collective) head.



Check out these lines, see if the sound familiar.



Albin: Are you going to be able to find enough money from the General Fund to patch that hole in the School Aid Fund?



Bishop: Obviously we have to wait for our final numbers to insure that we have the proper targets in place.



Let me interrupt right here. The caterwauling that I have heard from Saul and the Detroit News about the Governor's lack of "immediate action" on this issue needs to stop right now. Here we have Bishop saying the numbers aren't in yet, and that they can't "target" until then. So knock it off.



Mike goes on to say "cut". The word "cut" has already come up in the conversation before this, watch as Mike continues to lay that concept on pretty thick.



Bishop: But I can tell you that is one of our options, that we'll have to go back and cut where we need to cut, and that's the nature of our state government, we have a balanced budget and we can only spend what we have. Unfortunately based on the numbers, the preliminary numbers we have seen, there has been a shortfall, and we've got to operate with what we have and it's going to take some tough decisions.



Shorter Mike: "Tough decisions about what to cut". As if canning the SBT last year didn't require this already.



They wouldn't lay cuts out then; Mike isn't prepared to identify those cuts now.



Is it such a surprise that Republicans would be asked this question when they are the ones that slashed the revenue last year? And the year before? And the year before? Lather, rinse, repeat. They still have no answer.



Albin: When you talk about tough decisions, there are basically two things you can do, I assume. You can cut spending...



Bishop: Or increase revenues.



Albin: Or you can raise taxes. (Rick frames for him) Your position, I am going to guess, is going to be cut as much as you can, but can you cut enough... are the people in Michigan going to be asked at some point this year or next to start thinking about paying more into the taxes?



Bishop: I can tell you from my caucus perspective that our primary purpose is to find savings in government, to find a way for government to live within it's means, that's our objective and it's been the Senate's objective since I've been there, and really when I was in the House, that's been our objective as well. And we're going to find a way... we'll present to our caucus ways that we can do it without revenue enhancements, which is code for tax increases, and we want to propose as many options as we can to insure that we don't have to go down that path, because really right now our state is in a position that we simply cannot afford to put more of a burden on our state's citizens.



Shorter Mike: "We've known about this for years, we still haven't come up with the solution except to keep cutting, so we are just going to cut anyway, exacerbating the problem, and let the chips fall where they may while we spin this as 'protecting the citizens' from the dreaded option of actually paying the bills".



And I'll add at this point- "If our cuts happen to hurt some citizens, we will immediately blame the governor and use those people in the campaign in '08 as being 'her fault' ".



Bishop focuses on his real agenda, protecting the business community, and goes on to repeat the "one-state recession" line as he simply reiterates the problem that has been before us for years. Tell us something we don't know.



"Live within our means". "We have to figure out what essential services are".



You mean, you don't know by now? Seriously?



Guess all of this blather means we can count the Republicans out when it comes to "innovative ideas", but we can count on them to offer the same vague talking points while they refuse to put the cards on the table as to how they would handle the problem.



Show us what you mean when you say, "cut". Show us what you mean by "living within our means", even as the means themselves keep dwindling.



Show us who you will throw under the bus. When can talk then. Until that time, perhaps we should just tune out the usual white noise emanating from the Michigan Republican Party and the Detroit News.



And here is another thought- the Democrats better be prepared to show what those "cuts" mean, also, before the Republicans do this dance all over again.



Time to thrust a stick in the spokes of the Republican spin and create a spin of your own.