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Creep of the Week: Dick DeVos

Finally, Gary Glenn and I are in agreement about something. Well, sort of.
In an Oct. 14 article in the Kalamazoo Gazette, Glenn, who was identified as "chairman of the Campaign for Michigan Families, a conservative, pro-family lobby," said he wanted to see Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos "address social and cultural values rather than almost exclusively focusing on the economy."
Yeah. Stupid economy. Who needs it? I mean, "gay marriage," now that's the kind of thing Michigan residents care about. I mean, how do you expect working families to pay their bills if two guys are lip locking and legal?
But then, right after Glenn's quote in the Gazette, I read something really shocking. "Statewide polls have reported that about half of likely voters were most concerned about the economy and jobs, while only 4 percent named 'morality and family values' as important election-year concerns, according to EPIC/MRA, a Lansing-based polling firm."
Huh. Who saw that one coming?
Well, anybody who hasn't had his or her head buried in the Right-Wing Distraction Tactics Handbook could have told you as much without doing an official poll. Michigan's economy is a mess and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. If that doesn't concern you, you're probably a billionaire or a crack head. Maybe both.
According to Jack Lessenberry in last week's Metro Times, "The only issue that really matters in this state is the economy, and what we can do to avoid looking like a cross between Haiti and the poorer parts of West Virginia in a few years."
Unless you're Glenn or one of the other right wing yapping heads who are so fervently backing DeVos for governor, that is. They prefer issues of "morality," which means issues related, in some way, to sex: homosexuality, abortion, stem cell research, abstinence-only education. The list goes on. And their positions on all of these issues are positions that only serve to harm Michigan's already hurting economy. Driving us back to the Middle Ages isn't exactly what I'd call an economic recovery plan.
So when Glenn says, "Shut up about the economy. Let's talk morality," I say, bring it on. Let DeVos take the lid off this one. Say it loud, you're an ideologue of the religious right who is completely out of touch with the majority of Michigan and you're proud. Will the real Dick Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?
We've already had four years of a GOP dominated legislature that focused heavily on battling gay marriage, taking health insurance away from same-sex families, fighting stem cell research and rolling back abortion rights while the economy continued to tank (remember, Granholm inherited a shaky economy to begin with). They played the fiddle while Rome burned.
Judging from the amount of money DeVos is spending on his campaign, he could buy himself the biggest, nicest fiddle of them all.

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