(Note: For context, you might want to check out this diary at MichiganLiberal first.)
Ladies and gentlemen, I come before you today to mourn the passing of a Manistee icon. You've seen it plastered all over MichLib recently, and if you're a resident of the Michigan 2nd as I am, you've probably grown to see it as a beacon of hope, a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak world. It rides on a smile, and if you stare at it long enough, you might find yourself smiling too.
I'm talking, of course, of Scott Killips' mustache. Scott's mustache suffered an untimely death at the hands of a razor sometime this week, never to be seen again.
Scott's mustache led a happy life, riding Scott's smile all over Manistee for years, never expecting to meet such a grisly end. But last week, things changed.
You see, a few months ago, Scott Killips sat down with some of his friends from the Manistee County Democratic Party (our own AikoAdam and LisainManistee) and decided to do something crazy. Sick and tired of being ignored and ridiculed by the likes of Peter Hoekstra, Scott decided to throw caution to the wind and...run for Congress.
Now, this wasn't an action they took lightly. See, Adam and Lisa are kind of wonkish, and Adam is (dare I say it) slightly nerdy. So they sat down and did some research. Was it possible to win? Who were the voters, and how did the numbers look? Was there support for a Democratic candidate? Would it be possible to raise money and recruit volunteers? In the end it was decided that although this was a momentous undertaking, it was worth doing.
Being a smart guy with smart friends, one of the first steps Scott took was to tap into an obvious-yet-often-overlooked resource in Democratic politics, The Internet (cue ominous music). Adam and Lisa, being stars of the "blogosphere" (cue ominous music again) had a friend named LiberalLucy, who took it upon herself to introduce Scott to some of her friends at MichiganLiberal, the pre-eminent Michigan "blog" (whatever that is). She wrote a fascinating piece about what a great guy Scott is.
And let me tell you, he's a really great guy. I sat down with him for two hours today, and I can't think of enough good things to say about him.
But the folks at MichLib weren't interested. They weren't interested in how Scott Killips is the embodiment of what it means to be a Michigander. They weren't interested in how Scott put in his time as an autoworker and a union steward. They weren't interested in how Scott started as a nobody at Soaring Eagle Casino twelve years ago and worked his way up the ladder in Michigan's Indian casinos, eventually landing a gig as Manager of Slot Operations at Little River Casino Resort in Manistee. They weren't interested in how he and his beautiful wife Sarah have raised three wonderful children, while battling The Three-Headed Hydra--Mortgage, Family, and Bills. They weren't interested in Scott The Outdoorsman's vested interest in a clean environment. They weren't interested in Scott's infectious smile and can-do attitude.
They were interested in his mustache. And it made them laugh. They made snide remarks about his "porn stache" and completely ignored the fact that a really great guy from the middle of nowhere was about to take on Betsy DeVos's favorite Congressman and quite possibly beat him. They were interested in his mustache.
But that was okay. Scott's a great listener, and when people tell him something needs to be changed, he does whatever he can to change it.
Scott knew that in order for anyone to take him and his quest seriously, he had to make a choice. Would he abandon his dreams of a Democratic majority and an unemployed Pete Hoekstra in the interest of saving his mustache? Or would he sacrifice one of his most important friends, his happy little mustache, for the sake of progress?
The mustache will be sorely missed. Scott Killips, on the other hand, can be found at KillipsForCongress.com, and may soon be found in Washington, DC.