Schauer Snubs Snyder
In response to Jack Lessenberry's Politics & Prejudices ("Why Mark Schauer is creeping up in the polls on Rick Snyder," Aug. 6), user "John S." posted:
The proper question is not "Can Schauer win?" but "Should Schauer win?" His main platform seems to be "I'm not Snyder." Is that sufficient? To win, maybe, but not as a basis to govern. Right now it's vague promises: fix the roads, fix education, lower college costs, fix ... but what needs to be fixed in each and how is it to be done? If he worked in the minority and knows how to build coalitions and get things done, what things did he get done?
But the truth is as he says, this is a referendum on Snyder, as the previous was on Granholm, and he will not need to detail anything. If Schauer wins, we will have to wait until he is in office to see what was bought.
And user "JognC80" posted:
Anyone who voted for Snyder shouldn't dare bring up vagueness and anyone else name. What was his stance on issues in 2010? What did he promise? All I remember from those ads is that he was "one tough nerd," that he just wanted to help Michigan. How? Just make him governor and you'll find out. Bernero had to shame him to have one debate, and that one debate was on a Sunday two or three hours after a Detroit Lions' game and an hour before Sunday Night Football on Channel 4.
Snyder has taken credit for jobs that got created from the auto rescue and deals that got cut way before he became governor. Ask him how many jobs that got created after Michigan becoming a right to work state and watch him avoid that question or give some non-answer answer. Snyder is a weak candidate that rode that great racist moron wave in 2010 so he had the luxury of being vague as long he had a R after his name. Tea baggers were going to vote for him and since he wasn't a forming-at-the-mouth wild-eyed right-winger, he managed to get some Democratic voters.
Four years later he's still a weak candidate, but this time around he's a weak candidate with a bad record. And you can view him as a right-wing Republican or a guy who can get bullied by the extreme right-wing in his party. And since Republicans can't paint Mark Schauer as some angry wild-eyed liberal, they're reusing the same points liberals and Democrats made about Rick Snyder in 2010.
Will the media force him to debate Schauer or will they cuddle him and tell him he doesn't have to debate that mean ole Democrat like they did in 2010?
Reader Ronald Horwitz of Farmington Hills wrote:
While I am in agreement with Jack Lessenberry's concerns over the cost of our elections, the fact is that this has been a problem way before the Citizens United case. The costs of our elections have been mindboggling.
Politico estimates that the total cost of the 2012 elections (for all positions) was nearly $6 billion. Washington Wire estimates $5.3 billion for 2008. Can't we just see the PR folks, the advertising agencies, and the popular media licking their chops?
We need a freh look at the entire election process. I suggest we look once again across "the Pond." The Brits must know something to keep their campaigns to generally around six weeks. We should also eliminate the insipid check-off box on our income tax returns for "donations" to presidential campaign financing.
Parking Quest:
In response to the tangent about Ferndale's confusing parking system in Michael Jackman's Burger Quest column(Aug. 6), user "Ryan Meray" posted:
The four-digit numbers are a side effect of the fact that every metered space in Ferndale can be paid for at any of the kiosks. So if you drunkenly stumble over to the Oakland after your burger and beer at the Emory, and need to add another hour to your meter, you can do so in between classic libations.
There are definitely fewer than 999 parking spaces in Ferndale, though, so I'm not sure why a three-digit number wasn't sufficient. But it's the same system that Ann Arbor (and soon Royal Oak) uses for much of their parking system, so get used to it.
As for the burgers, your taste is good. The Emory fries are a beautiful thing, and they really know how to cook a solid, no-frills burger there. I'd recommend learning to love medium or medium rare burgers, because by the time meat gets medium well, a lot of the flavor is leaving the patty.
