By Debbie Schlussel
Tonight, on the 10th anniversary of Drudge breaking the Monica Lewinsky story, Hillary Rodham Cankles Clinton goes on “Entertainment Tonight,” to play “poor little me” to get the sympathy of America’s female Democratic primary voters. The promos running on TV show her saying that it’s the worst thing that ever happened to her, being cheated on by her hubby.
Will it work? Well, that depends on who the “Entertainment Tonight” viewers are. Are they merely stupid, vapid, celeb-obsessed women, or are they stupid, vapid, celeb-obsessed women who vote?

Hillary must think they are the latter, since she’s been doing a whole lot of these celeb tabloid show interviews. Most recently, she did an interview with “Access Hollywood” and told Maria Menounos that she cleans places around the house for “relaxation.” Does anyone really believe that anyone other than a minimum-wage housekeeper cleans anything in the Clinton abode? Does anyone believe Hillary actually touches cleaning fluids or that she has touched a cleaning item in decades?
Like I said, this is aimed at the vapid chick whose degree of gullibility is a ten on the Richter Scale.

By Debbie Schlussel
This is hilarious.
Some aging hippy-dippy artist chick has invented a strange new high-brow mode of respect for illegal aliens. Their discarded wrappers, gloves, ripped jeans, and other trash is no longer “trash,” except maybe to you lowly, the lumpenproletariat, who is too unsophisticated to understand that a used condom covered in desert sand and who-knows-what-communicable-disease is actually advanced, brilliant art. These are “pilgrims” on a “journey,” after all.
No lie:

AMADO, Ariz. — Valarie James looks for art in the desert. On a recent evening stroll with her three dogs, she gathered up a soiled bandage, a discolored hand-stitched cloth and ripped jeans.
She recognized it all as items abandoned by people sneaking into the U.S. on foot.

Lost & Found at the Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink? Nope, It’s “Migrant Artifacts” “Art” on Exhibit. . . .

“For most everybody, this is trash,” says Ms. James, a 53-year-old artist who maintains a collection of migrant artifacts, mostly belongings discarded by illegal border crossers here. “You can see the migrant’s journey in these jeans,” she says, pointing to the holes made in them by cactus needles in the Sonoran desert.
Ms. James, an art teacher, collects all sorts of stuff on her desert treks. She treats with care the Tweety Bird backpacks, tattered hand-embroidered cloths and faded photographs she finds half-buried in dry creek beds or hanging stiffly on trees. Some discards are literary; for example, an anthology of Shakespeare plays and the “Diary of Anne Frank,” both in Spanish. Other things, ranging from bandages to binoculars, are more ordinary. “It’s like the pilgrims’ journey,” Ms. James says. [DS: Insert finger down throat.]
Litter left by illegal immigrants has long been a nuisance, but lately it has become a particular burden for Arizona. . . . The Bureau of Land Management estimates that each migrant dumps eight pounds of trash. In 2006, the agency and its partners in southern Arizona collected more than 300,000 pounds of migrant refuse in the 100 miles north of the border.
Immigration was already an emotional issue in Arizona. Litter is making things worse. Ranchers, hikers and environmentalists all bemoan the “migrant trash,” as an eyesore and a threat to desert wildlife and vegetation.
So-called staging areas, where migrants change into clean clothes and wait for rides at the end of their crossing, become “hazardous-waste zones,” says Roger DiRosa, manager of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
For Arizona residents as far as 30 miles north of the Mexican border, migrant trash is a daily annoyance. “I can’t stand the mess,” says Dick Riester, who typically returns home from his mountain hikes hauling a 40-pound garbage bag stuffed with plastic water bottles, backpacks and other things he finds on migrant trails.
Ms. James first encountered migrant trash in 2004, on the open range across the road from her ranch. As she was walking her dogs, she tripped on an abandoned bag. In it, she found two infant dresses, a little girl’s birth certificate and a Johnson & Johnson “No M?°s L?°grimas” (“No More Tears”) shampoo bottle. Next to the bag was a set of women’s clothing.
“What happened to this woman and her child?” she wonders. “Did they stagger to the nearby road? Were they picked up by the border patrol? Or, are they living somewhere in the U.S.?” She made a candle-lit shrine to the unknown mother and child in an unused building on her spread. [DS: Oh, how touching.]
As she encountered more castaway items, her collection grew. Neighbors and friends started giving her things, too, including a tiny crocheted baby mitten stuck with cactus needles. [DS: Awwww.]
Today, a makeshift gallery on Ms. James’s ranch holds her large collection. In the middle of the room sits a pile of 30 rolled-up blankets. In one corner, Ms. James keeps dozens of children’s backpacks — most of them with familiar logos — Scooby-Doo, Barbie, Batman. A medicine table features acetaminophen tablets, tubes of antiseptic cream and rubbing alcohol. Most of the labels are in Spanish, including one for an herbal remedy to treat snakebite. Among the display of shoes, sneakers and boots, a man’s black leather loafer stands out. Tucked inside are several pages from “Hamlet,” in which Shakespeare’s tragic hero ponders his own mortality.
“Was he a teacher?” Ms. James wonders.
A work by Valarie James called ‘Winter in the Sonoran Desert’.
Ms. James has washed and restored many items, including fine embroidered cloths. But she has left many items exactly as she encountered them, including a stiff, rolled-up child’s leather jacket.
Bibles and other books abound. Birth certificates and ID cards adorn a wall. There are airline and bus tickets, and deportation documents. Inside one wallet is a bundle of Florida business cards, job contacts, she figures. A message in Spanish — “Give it all you got so you can return quickly” — was written on the back of a family photo. A child’s drawing depicts the journey many illegal immigrants expect, starting at a hostel on the Mexican border and ending at a perfect little house with a well-tended lawn.
Ms. James has encountered migrants themselves, often on the verge of collapse or hobbling along on blistered feet. “For those of us who live close to the border, the humanitarian crisis is not an abstraction,” says the artist. Each year, hundreds of migrants perish in the desert. In 2005, a migrant woman died of dehydration in the arms of her son less than half a mile from Ms. James’s house.
Ms. James was inspired to make three life-size sculptures of mothers to honor the dead migrants. In collaboration with sculptors Antonia Gallegos and Deb McCullough, she created, “Las Madres: No M?°s L?°grimas,” which have been on display for more than a year at Pima Community College outside Tucson, where Ms. James teaches. Each sculpture is made from jeans and other articles found in the desert. Each mother’s arms are crossed over her heart and the eyes are closed in contemplation.
A separate exhibition of Ms. James’s art features a series of open wooden boxes, or “assemblages of the journey,” which incorporate items left behind by migrants. Ms. James curated the show at El Ojito Springs Center for Creativity in Tucson and it also includes mixed-media installations and photographs by other border artists.
Many people react strongly — and not all positively — to the assemblage of “junk” art. Gallery owner Randy Ford says the exhibit hasn’t been as well attended as he had expected. He believes area residents are tired of the immigration issue.
One visitor, Ursula Hollis, said migrants have ruined the pristine mountains near her home in Sierra Vista. “When somebody told me they see hopes and dreams in there, I laughed. To me trash is trash.” [DS: Right on, sister!]
Later, however, Ms. Hollis recalled that she had saved some immigrant trash herself — pictures and letters from children to their migrant father, which she had found in the desert and stashed in a drawer. “This young man and his children touched my heart,” says Mrs. Hollis. She mailed the belongings to Ms. James.

Of course, they touch her heart. They never took her job, lowered her wages, took her Medicaid, raped her daughter, killed her son, etc. . . . That, they did to other people.
Notice the “Diary of Anne Frank” reference. Do you really believe she found that in the desert? Do you really believe drug smugglers and illegal aliens from Mexico and Arabia sneaking in through our Southern border are reading “The Diary of Anne Frank”? Hello . . .?
When I saw some of this “art,” it reminded me–as is her obvious purpose–of the collections of belongings on exhibit at Auschwitz. But these are illegal alien lawbreakers who are lowering wages and bringing a crime wave upon our nation, not innocents rounded up by the Third Reich and destined for ovens and lampshades. The obviously intended comparison is nauseating.
Oh, and by the way, there actually is no art exhibit of illegal aliens’ used condoms. I made that up. That and an exhibit of discarded shell casings from illegal aliens guns and weaponry don’t make Ms. James’ “art”. Because that would remind us of what’s really going on. These are criminals, not Auschwitz death camp inmates.

By Debbie Schlussel
I’m 100% behind the free exercise of our Second Amendment rights.
But don’t expect the NRA to call him for a spokesmodel position anytime soon, but Dr. Jack Kevorkian a/k/a Dr. Death endorsed strong and healthy Second Amendment rights for all Americans at a Florida speech, at the campus of the famous John Kerry/”Don’t Taze Me, Bro'” “oration.”
You know what they say about broken clocks and their incidence rate of telling time correctly. Here’s the first of the assisted suicide champion’s two times, but as you can see, he also functioned like a well-oiled broken clock for most of the rest of his oratory:

Jack Kevorkian was paid $50,000 to speak at the University of Florida on Tuesday, telling students that he did nothing wrong and that people should be allowed to carry Uzis down the streets.

Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, Endorses the 2nd Amendment

Kevorkian, who says he assisted in at least 130 deaths, said he didn’t cause death, but ended suffering. . . .
The 79-year-old Michigander said he was limited in what he could say about euthanasia because of the terms of his parole after serving eight years in prison for second-degree murder. He was released last year.
But he found plenty of other controversial topics to discuss in the hour-long speech, which earned a standing ovation.
“We have a criminal group in Washington. We have a bunch of cruel dictators,” he said. “Everyone should refuse to vote. That would send the tyrant a message.” . . .
Kevorkian said assisted suicide was a medical procedure — something the law shouldn’t be concerned with it.
“It’s got to be decriminalized and the law has to step out of the picture,” said Kevorkian, wearing his signature blue cardigan.
He also urged students to take advantage to their right to bear arms, enshrined in the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
“You should be able to carry an Uzi down the street if you aren’t threatening someone,” he said. . . .
The university received almost 2,000 e-mails protesting the Kevorkian speech, although most came from out-of-state and were form letters.

Like I said. Broken Clock. Twice. Day. And only one of those times was in this speech. $50K for this kookery. Nice work, if you can get it.

By Debbie Schlussel
I am scheduled to be on FOX & Friends at 7:15 a.m. Eastern, tomorrow (Thursday) Morning, to discuss the indictment of my former boss, former Congressman Mark Siljander on charges of money laundering, obstructing justice, etc. in helping an Al-Qaeda charity, the Islamic American Relief Agency.

By Debbie Schlussel

*** UPDATE, 07/09/10: My Former Boss, Mark Siljander, Pleads Guilty in Islamic Terrorism Case ***

**** WILL BE ON FOX & FRIENDS, THURS. MORNING, 7:15 A.M. ET, RE-THIS TOPIC ****
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
In general, nothing shocks me about Islamic terrorists and which American politicians are aiding and abetting him.
But today, I am truly shocked beyond belief as I read that my former boss, former U.S. Congressman Mark D. Siljander, was indicted in an apparent scheme to help an Islamic charity fund Al-Qaeda and the Taliban against Americans, to the tune of $130,000:

A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

My Congressional Staff ID From When I Worked For Indictee Mark Siljander

The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

Read the shocking Justice Department press release here.
Mark Siljander, who represented a Congressional district in Western Michigan, is the last guy I’d think would do this. I hope the allegations are not true, but it sounds like he is involved in a very bad scheme to help fund Islamic terrorists and their schemes to murder Americans. It’s so shocking. What happened to my former boss in the years since he was the most pro-Israel, the most anti-Islamist Congressman on Capitol Hill?
I don’t know. But here’s why I’m so shocked. When I worked for Mark Siljander, in the summer after my junior year of high school, and again when I was headed to college, I was just 16, but more than an intern. I wrote speeches for him, I helped tutor him in Hebrew, which he learned to speak and write, and I accompanied him to many events.
What makes the allegations in the indictment so shocking, is that Siljander is a Born-Again Evangelical Christian. We had fast days in his office. There were prayer circles. So deeply religious and so deeply against the Islamic threat, Siljander was known, at the time, as the most pro-Israel Congressman on Capitol Hill, with many Jewish and pro-Israel Evangelical contributors from all over the world. My father was one of those contributors. His Chief of Staff, Robin Luketina, even served in the Israeli Defense Forces.
Mark enlisted me to help him write a tough bill espousing sanctions against the Soviet Union because of its persecution of Soviet Jews. And he enlisted my help in pro-Israel and anti-PLO legislation.
That’s why it’s so hard for me to read that he may have played for the opposite team–for the enemy.
I’m truly shocked. And I hope it’s not true. But–while I have a lot of distrust in the Department of Justice–on this one, I think there must be something there. It’s crushing.
I don’t know if he knew the ultimate destination of the money. It’s not apparent, since the Islamic charity “secretly” sent the money to Al-Qaeda. But what was he even doing lobbying for an Islamic charity? And he apparently lied about it to the FBI. That’s not the Mark Siljander I knew and worked for over two summers and several spring breaks.
It boggles my mind. It must have been the money, as I know that, after he lost his re-election bid (he was replaced by liberal Republican and pan-Islamist Fred Upton), he was engaged in a million different business endeavors trying to make a success of one.
If Mark Siljander was helping Islamic terrorists against America, then no-one is immune from succumbing to these forces of evil. If true, it’s extremely disappointing and demoralizing to me.
It tells me you never really know anyone for sure. Like I said, Mark Siljander is the last person I’d ever think would do this.
**** UPDATE: Siljander was representing the Al-Qaeda front charity Islamic American Relief Agency, which was shut down by the FBI and is represented by sleazy lawyer-for-terrorists Shereef Akeel, who lives in the Detroit area and filed a phony grievance against me with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.
That my former boss, Mark Siljander would take money from this group–and it’s a fact that he did–is outrageous and shocking to me. That he apparently lied, twice, to the FBI about it, is even more so. That he lied about writing a book about “bridging the gap” between Islam and Christianity is even worse.
This is the Congressman–who when I worked for him–was decades ahead of his time in understanding the Islamist threat worldwide and to America. That he’d reverse course sickens and saddens me.
I think this was about money. Since he lost his Congressional seat, he was hard up for money and was involved in many failed business ventures, including an AIDS-Test-By-Mail. (He also ran, unsuccessfully, for Congress from Virginia.)
Desperation and money do bad things.

By Debbie Schlussel
Uh-oh. More bad news for Elton John, George Michael, the ghosts of Liberace, Mr. Brady et al:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.
They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.
Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to be infected than their heterosexual neighbors, the researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable,” said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. “That’s why we’re trying to spread the message of prevention.”
According to chemical analyses, bacteria are spreading among the gay communities of San Francisco and Boston, the researchers said.
“We think that it’s spread through sexual activity,” Diep said.
This superbug can cause life-threatening and disfiguring infections and can often only be treated with expensive, intravenous antibiotics.
It killed about 19,000 Americans in 2005, most of them in hospitals, according to a report published in October in the Journal of the American Medical Association. . . .
It can be passed by touching other people or by depositing the bacteria on surfaces or objects.
The bacteria can cause deep-tissue infections if they enter the body through a wound in the skin.
Of those people who carry staph, most carry it in their noses but community-based MRSA also can live in and around the anus and is passed between sexual partners.
Incidence of MRSA is rising along with the resurgence of syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections partly because of changes in beliefs about the severity of HIV and an increase in risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use and having sex that abrades the skin, Diep’s team wrote.
“Your likelihood of contracting each of these diseases increases with the number of sexual partners that you have,” Diep said. “The same can probably be said for MRSA.”
Staph infections often look like raised red dots on the skin. Left untreated, the areas can swell and fill with pus.
The best way to avoid infection is by washing the hands or genitals with soap and water, Diep said.

Legalized gay marriage won’t stop this. Time to avoid those Donna Summer concert VIP Lounges. Thanks to reader Ari for the tip.

By Debbie Schlussel
As most of you know, I don’t really like any of the Presidential candidates too much. None is a true down the line conservative who also has a proven track record in opposing Islamofascism. As you also know, I like Giuliani the best because of his strong anti-terror stands and record. I don’t like his social agenda or his record on and flip-flopping vis-a-vis immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens, but I’m willing to look the other way on those (because I believe and hope that he won’t push amnesty and will get tough on border security as Prez), if he picks up speed again after horrible campaign moves in neglecting Michigan and other early states.
That said, even though John McCain is not my candidate–and I’m troubled by many of his positions on issues, I’m disgusted by the actions of Vietnam Veterans Against McCain:

John McCain’s campaign blasted as “garbage” a mailing sent out by a small band of Vietnam veterans that accused the Arizona Republican of betraying fellow prisoners of war.

POW John McCain in Vietnam

The two-page mailing, which began arriving in South Carolina mailboxes Monday, includes a cartoon showing McCain in POW garb, sitting in a prison cell. Scrolled on the cell wall are, among other things, “songbird” and “The POWs I helped leave behind.”
“These two pieces of paper are a collection of half truths and misinformation and simply done to try and destroy John McCain,” former POW Orson Swindle said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters that McCain’s campaign arranged.
Swindle is part of what the McCain campaign is calling its “Truth Squad” to debunk negative attacks against the GOP candidate in advance of the upcoming South Carolina primary. . . .
A group called Vietnam Veterans Against McCain, formed early last year by Garnerville, N.Y., resident Jerry Kiley, 61, distributed this week’s mailing. . . .
Among other things, Kiley’s group believes McCain gave away confidential information during his time as a POW, received preferential treatment from his captors and, since returning home, has turned his back on fellow POWs whom Kiley believes were left behind in Vietnam.
Swindle dismissed such notions as the ideas of a “a very few zealous conspiracy theory people.”
In 2004, Kiley led a similar effort against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and even staged a protest at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
The anti-McCain mailing was sent to 80 newspaper editors in South Carolina, Kiley said.

I used to like John McCain a lot, when he really was a conservative, as an Arizona Congressman. (He “moderated” as a U.S. Senator.) At that time, I was in high school, and I met John McCain. If you’ve ever seen him in person, his arms hang in a weird way from his body. That’s because he was tortured by the VietCong for, among other things, refusing to attend an anti-U.S. Jane Fonda rally. His arms and legs were broken, and with no medical treatment in captivity, they never healed correctly. I’d love to know how that constitutes “preferential treatment” from the VietCong. It’s the exact opposite.
I do agree that full normalization with Vietnam should have included more stringent requirements for locating and releasing American POWs, something I don’t think McCain pressed enough.
Still, that these alleged Vietnam Veterans would defame McCain’s POW experience is nauseating. But the question is: Who is behind it? Are they Romney supporters? Or Fred Thompson supporters? It’s apparently one or the other. Defaming the troops is New York Times territory, not the action of any legitimate Republican would-be President.
It’s truly outrageous. Um, sorry, but John McCain is no John Kerry. He didn’t throw away his medals. He served with honor–even in amidst torture and risk to his life.

By Debbie Schlussel
Will he take credit for the loss when Hillary Rodham Cankles gets the nomination?
That’s not clear, but Black actor Dennis Haysbert–who played President David Palmer on “24,” until he was assassinated–is taking credit for “paving the way” for Obama’s success, thus far:

“As far as the public is concerned, it did open up their minds and their hearts a little bit to the notion that if the right man came along — I do believe Barack Obama is the right man — that a black man could be president of the United States,” Haysbert says in the January 21 issue of TV Guide (on newsstands January 17).

Dennis Haysbert: Was He the First President Obama?

“People on the street would ask me to run for office,” says Haysbert, who was greeted with “Mr. President” by secret service agents, pages and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) during a visit to Washington. “I’d get that reaction around the world when I went to promote the show.”

There may be something to Haysbert’s claim, assuming a lot of “24” fans are also Obama voters, and that’s a steep assumption. On the other hand, I definitely believe that viewers are heavily influenced by TV, which is why–to those of you who always say, “it’s just a show”–pan-Islamist propaganda in so many TV shows is dangerous and annoying.
So, if Barack Obama truly resembles President Palmer–and he doesn’t, as President Palmer was far to the right of Obama on national security and responding to terrorists–then what does that say about Michelle Obama?
Remember First Lady Palmer? . . .
Oh, and I doubt that President David Palmer needed Oprah to get elected. He’d have laughed at the idea.

By Debbie Schlussel
As I wrote last night, one of the big reasons my prediction of a McCain victory didn’t come to fruition was that there simply wasn’t the Democratic crossover that had been expected. That’s due to last minute confusion over the “Uncommitted” vs. Hillary issue on the Democratic Primary side of things.
And the numbers bear out the lack of crossover. Here are some exit poll numbers from Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International of New Jersey, as reported in today’s Detroit Free Press. These are the categories in which McCain won voters–Mitt Romney won every other category. It does show evidence of the Daily Kos effect, since Romney still took a significant percentage of these Kos-esque voters:

* Among self-identified Democrats voting in the Republican primary:
McCain–41%
Romney–33%
* Among self-identified independent voters or something else:
McCain–35%
Romney–29%

* Among self-described moderates:
McCain–40%
Romney–34%
* Among those who view the Bush administration negatively:
McCain–37%
Romney–28%

But then there are these interesting figures–interesting only because McCain has made his Iraq war support the focus of his campaign (but not surprising, because he appeals to Dems, even those who oppose the war):

* Among those who approve of the Iraq war:
Romney–42%
McCain–27%
* Among those who disapprove of the Iraq war:
McCain–36%
Romney–29%

A story in today’s Wall Street Journal also bears out my comment about Michigan voters buying into the “Mitt-y Fantasy Talk” vs. McCain’s more pessimistic “Straight Talk”:

[Romney] belittled Sen. McCain’s self-professed “straight talk” that many Michigan jobs aren’t coming back . . . .
That stance was a winning one for many voters. Keith Lombardi, 45, came to a Romney event in Taylor [DS: a working class Detroit suburb] Sunday undecided between him and Mr. Huckabee; he left favoring Mr. Romney because of “what he can do for Michigan.”

You keep thinking that, Mr. Lombardi. If only it were the case.
And finally, I was right about the “favorite son” claim by Romney having no effect. An exit poll by Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV/Local 4, found that 56% of Republican primary voters said they were unmoved by Romney’s hollow “favorite son” talking point.

By Debbie Schlussel
Well, I can’t be right all of the time. And tonight, I was proven very wrong in my prediction that John McCain would take Michigan, with Romney barely taking second place over Huckabee. Wrong on all counts.
With about 70% of the vote counted in the Great Lakes State as I write this, Romney won by almost 10 percentage points over McCain. The count is currently 39% for Romney, 30% for McCain, 16% for Huckabee.
Even Romney didn’t think he’d win, as evidenced by his many backtracks about needing to win Michigan and expecting it. We were both wrong.
So, why were my predictions wrong and why did Romney beat McCain? Here’s what I think happened:

* The Daily Kos: Say what you want about far leftist blogger Markos Moulitsas, but he is THE most influential blogger on the other side of the aisle. His over-the-weekend urging of Democrats to vote for Romney in Michigan (reasoning that Romney will be the weakest viable GOP candidate) worked to some degree, helping Romney over the top.
* Romney’s Deep Pockets: Mitt Romney outspent every candidate geometrically. We saw ads from him over and over and over and over for several months, without any other candidate crowding the airwaves. Romney finally dropped his ads cheerleading China and produced more sympathetic ads appealing to down-and-out Michiganians, of which there are many, especially among blue-collar Reagan Democrats, who were more likely to vote in the GOP Primary.
I don’t believe people bought into his “native son” pitch. We know he isn’t one. He hasn’t lived here in decades and no-one remembers his ineffective RINO Governor father. Romney’s win had nothing to do with his campaign consultants, the sleazy Packer family and Sterling Corporation. They lose pretty much every campaign they run in our state. And Romney dropped a huge chunk of cha-ching with them which was wasted.
* Anti-Huckabee Club for Growth Ads: In the week or so, we saw a lot of anti-Mike Huckabee ads on TV. They were very effective comparing the high-taxing Huckabee with Bill Clinton as Arkansas Gov. This took away votes from Huckabee, and I believe, drove many of those religious Christian voters away from Huckabee and into the Romney camp, where they like his values versus McCain’s more “moderate” ones. Romney did well in the Western part of the state, where Evangelicals have their base. So much for the view that Evangelicals are “intolerant” and won’t vote for a Mormon. Don’t believe it.
* Disarray in the McCain Michigan Campaign/Mike Cox’s In-and-Out-and-In: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the guy who allowed illegal aliens to get Driver’s Licenses in Michigan for five years, was John McCain’s campaign manager. That is, until he jumped off the campaign, last year, when it looked like McCain’s campaign was washed up.
Cox is not a very faithful guy–to his wife (he held a press conference about one of his apparently many extramarital affairs) and his candidates. Suddenly, when it looked like McCain would win again, Mike Cox was back with McCain, taking credit and mugging for the cameras all over the place. With constantly unfaithful “leadership” like this running his campaign, it’s no wonder McCain’s campaign didn’t do as well as expected.
* Confusion over the “Uncommitted” v. Hillary slots on the Democratic Primary Ballot reduced Crossover by Dems: Last minute pushes by prominent Democrats and Obama/Edwards supporters about the “Uncommitted” slot on the Michigan ballot (other than Hillary and Kucinich, that was the only other choice–Obama and Edwards were not on the ballot) were effective. Senator Carl Levin and Obama backers but also pushed for people to vote against Hillary by voting “Uncommitted,” but Hillary backers raised questions about where the “Uncommitted” percentage of delegates would go. I didn’t think that would work and was too little, too late. But I’ve come to learn that you can’t underestimate the effectiveness of disenfranchisement conspiracies in Detroit and within key Democratic constituencies. A lot of elderly Blacks, who favor Hillary (versus younger Blacks who go for Obama but don’t vote in big numbers), got scared that “Uncommitted” delegates would nix their votes for Hillary. Because of this, Dems who’d have crossed over stayed in their own primary to ensure no shenanigans. Because of that, there simply wasn’t the crossover vote I had predicted there would be, but for the Daily Kos constituency. Hillary voters and her Obama/Edwards opponents slugged it out–at this time, she gets 58% of the vote with uncommitted at 37%.
* “Straight Talk” vs. Mitt-y Fantasy Talk About the Auto Industry: Michigan’s economy relies on the auto industry fifty times more than any other state’s economy relies on any single industry. With so many auto workers laid off and unemployed and with the nation’s highest unemployment rate, people want to believe not only that things will get better but that they will return back to the way they were. Mitt Romney fed into that with his Walter Mitty-style fantasies that the jobs will come back. John McCain told the truth when he said those jobs will not come back, a negative message. And I don’t think voters wanted to face that cold, hard truth. They’d rather vote for Mitt whose more positive message of a deceptively rosy outlook was more appealing.
So, I was wrong, and that’s why. While I don’t like that Romney’s pan-Hezbollah allies got a boost here in Michigan and that Romney wasn’t defeated, it makes it an even more exciting, wide open race–and a boost to Rudy Giuliani’s Florida strategy.
Yes, we have democracy here. And democracy is not always predictable.
But remember, Romney had to win here. It’s not a huge victory, but a relief for his campaign. Will it give him any momentum? Very limited, I predict.