Outside the mainstream is not debatable

From Mike Thompson.

I watched most of last night's Michigan gubernatorial debate between incumbent Democrat Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos (R-Scamway). Neither one said much that was particularly convincing, spending most of the time desperately spinning either his/her own record or that of the opponent. Granholm was, as usual, fairly slick, while DeVos was nervous and disconcerting. Both were dancing around the records of their own parties. DeVos blamed Granholm for the sorry state of Michigan's economy, trying to ignore the huge deficit left her by the previous Republican administration, the scant help she gets from the Repug-controlled legislature, and the huge cuts in federal aid to states pushed by the Repugs in Washington. While Granholm pointed out these oversights, she also tried to blame (correctly) NAFTA and the other so-called "free trade" agreements for Michigan's woes. While these were supported by DeVos and worked to his company's benefit, they are also largely the responsibility of Bill Clinton and the Democrats who controlled Congress in 1993. And Clinton has been campaigning for Granholm.



Most annoying was when both candidates, when discussing abortion and stem cell research, claimed that the other's position was "outside the mainstream." This is the stupidest non-argument in politics, an attempt to get voters to follow you like lemmings, rather than presenting them with substantive arguments supporting your case. Anytime you hear a politician accuse an opponent of being "outside the mainstream" on a particular subject, it means either "I have nothing intelligent to say on this topic" or "I don't want to talk about it."

A video of the debate is here.