Labor Day has come and gone, and as you probably well know, that means the fall campaign season is "officially" under way, so far as the Beltway media is concerned. So to kick things off for the fall, I thought I'd give a rundown on where the Jennifer Granholm reelection campaign stands vs. Dick DeVos, one of the creepiest and most dishonest candidates in the country. This election has been called the closest race in the country, and it's one I've been following closely, though from afar, through the summer.
And there's a lot to tell. It's a story of fraudulent get-rich-quick-scheme cults, shady paramilitary mercenaries, lie-riddled TV ad transcripts, pay-for-play, and a disembodied head. Follow me below the jump:
Michigan Dems sure know how to come off a long weekend! Check out
this ad they're running for Granholm, hitting DeVos on his Amway ties, outsourcing jobs to China, and wallowing in his own crapulence. (P.S. I can't seem to get YouTube embeds to play here... any idea why?)
So how does DeVos respond? He hires a LAWYER and tries to get the spot pulled. Well it seems Dick got a little too much rest over Labor Day weekend because they have been thrown totally off message. Amway (or Alticor) is running ads defending the company FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 17 YEARS.
In politics it's never a good day when you're stuck responding to your opponent. DeVos is defending himself with lawyers, more TV ads, and a page on his website, basically saying "Jenny lied!" Welcome to politics, Dick. She isn't lying, she just has better op research and her message people have tightened up their operation.
Anyone else giddy about all ammo available against The Man from Scamway?
Meanwhile, If you're not reading Michigan Liberal, you're missing a lot. One thing you've really got to see is a Google Video segment broadcast by Dateline NBC on the ripoff that is Amway. Watch this and boggle at how someone in charge of this organization could get ANY major party nomination in this country. (Again, lousy embed not working. Tell me what I'm doing wrong and I'll fix it.)
But the Amway stories don't stop there. Only just this week a major lawsuit was filed against the unholy trinity -- Amway, Alticor and Quixtar. What were the charges? Let's try...
Count I: Antitrust Violation - Group Boycott
Count II: Antitrust Violation - Allocation of Customers
Count III: Antitrust Violation - Price Fixing
Count IV: Antitrust Violation - Conspiracy to Monopolize
Count V: Tortious Interference
Count VI: Injurious Falsehood
Count VII: Civil Conspiracy
Count VII: Violation of Title 18, U.S.C. 1962 (having to do with racketeering)
Price fixing? Conspiracy? Racketeering?! In some small way, I'm almost impressed.
Believe it or not, that isn't the only suspect company in the DeVos family. So far the Michigan media hasn't lifted a finger to ask about Blackwater USA, which DeVos has very strong personal ties to (his brother-in law is the head honcho). Blackwater supplies the same mercenaries that are going into Iraq to play military one more time and expand our "footprint" to the point of continually enraging regular Iraqi citizens. There is even less oversight over them than over our actual troops, and in fact no one knows how many of them are over there. They even showed up in New Orleans with M-16s last year. And this is no familial guilt by association - DeVos has brought campaign supporters to Blackwater. For what, exactly? And would DeVos like to tell us if Blackwater is part of his investment portfolio? Well, he hasn't released those financial records. So I guess the answer is "no."
The DeVos family is one of the Bush's biggest donors. His father and his wife were both "Rangers." So how has Bush repaid him this season? Easy -- by staying the hell away from him. Apparently that's what $200,000 buys you these days. Bush IS actually coming to Michigan, but to raise money for Debbie Stabenow's opponent. Guess he should have paid more money! Granholm and Stabenow have been calling on Bush to come meet with the Big 3 for a long time, and it sounds like he will. Only thing is, he's waiting until AFTER the election. Gee, think that's a political decision?
And for all the smack Michigan's Rethug chairman Saul Anuzis is talking over at Red State and Town Hall and even the Hotline Blog, he's still spending his time trying to buck up the Wingnut sites. Far from making advancements into new territory, the guy who's IN CHARGE of the state party is busy talking up DeVos to people who should already agree. You have to love that.
And last, but certainly not least, if you're not reading The Disembodied Head of Dick DeVos, then you can't say you're really up to speed on this race.
Am I missing anything? Feel free to clean up after me in the comments.