Michigan’s Yahoo Republicans
I read with interest Jack Lessenberry’s Feb. 12 article, ”Republicans snub Obama on Michigan visit” and it got a chuckle out of me. I guess Jack expected the Republicans to roll out the red carpet, have trumpets blare and a offer a 21-gun salute. The Republicans in Michigan are members of the same party, the GOP, aka the Grand Obstructionist Party, of which one of its members, can’t recall his name, said to President Obama during one of his State of the Union [addresses], “You lie!” and not one of them called for his censure. They’re the same Republicans who sided with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell when he said, “My main objective is to make Obama a one-term president” instead of offering to work with the president as he saved this country from probably the greatest depression since the crash of 1929. They are the same Republicans who voted against the president’s American Jobs Act bill, which would have put millions of people to work repairing the county’s aging infrastructure. They’re the same Republicans who voted 40-plus times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. And they are the same Republicans who don’t like President Obama because he’s black and is sitting in the most powerful seat in the world, the office of the president of the United States! —Thomas A. Wilson Jr.
The Shameless GOP
Just when I thought it was not possible to be shocked any more about how the Republicans of this state comport themselves, I read Jack Lessenberry’s column. I still can’t believe not one Republican showed up for President Obama’s visit here to sign the recently passed Farm Bill. How can they snub the president, who is responsible for finishing the job of bailing out the auto industry in Michigan? The tepid intervention of his predecessor certainly would not have been enough to keep our economy from freefalling into a depression. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Although, on second thought, after witnessing Republican party politics over the years, I’m pretty sure that “shame” is not a word in their lexicon. —Gail Gilchrist, Berkley
And Now: A Brief Message From the Lunatic Right-Wing Fringe
Hey, Jack!
You asked why none of the Michigan GOP showed up to watch the president of the United States sign the Farm Bill.
The answer is easy: Obama was born in Kenya, therefore he was not eligible to run for or be sworn in as president.
Since he is not really president, ignoring him is not disrespecting the office.
Got it? —Connie Kennedy, Clinton Township
Jack Turns 1,000
Jack, Congratulations on your 1,000th article. It is one of the meatier columns in the magazine. I always want to catch your latest look at Detroit and its residents, and Michigan. The experts you contact to back up your sensible and fair opinions are names I pay attention to. Usually the regular news and other newspapers take notice and begin to follow their activities. Thank you for digging beneath to surface and getting to the basics of a confusing world, city, neighborhood. A thousand articles is not enough. Keep getting them out there. —Rose Slovick, Royal Oak
Question of the Week
I enjoyed Michael Jackman’s cover story two weeks ago about the new hangouts in Corktown, as I used to live there a long time ago, but I saw neither a map nor a single address for any of the places mentioned. (Or did I miss something?)
—Annegret S. via the Internet
Michael Jackman responds: We presented the story as more of a feature than a list or breakdown. We felt that the inclusion of a number of addresses or, say, a map would interfere with the flow of the narrative. Including addresses or a map is something we almost certainly would have done 10 years ago as a courtesy to the reader. But there have been some remarkable developments since then. For instance, did you know that the very Internet you used to send your email can produce a better, more exact map — and all the addresses you seek — at the touch of a few buttons? Surf on over to
http://google.com!
