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William Zimmer's avatar

Jack, tell me it ain’t so!! There’s a lot of conjecture here, and gads, i hope you’re wrong, but if it is accurate then it tracks that the Democratic Party as a whole needs to get tougher and louder. I see 10 dems actually voted for the spending bill yesterday, including Gary Peters!! All i could do is hold my head.

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Jack Lessenberry's avatar

You are totally right!

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Maureen C. McDonald's avatar

I'm really disappointed in Gretchen. Have been since she abandoned auto accident victims for a little spiff from the insurance companies.

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Jack Lessenberry's avatar

Very good point

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Steve Pollack's avatar

I appreciate your perspective, but I'm not gonna bash Gretch for meeting with the guy. She knows that of the voters in Michigan, many of those are more driven by the candidates than the party (at least in the Governor race). We saw how the voters went for trump, then Biden, then our fearless leader again. I'm certainly not a fan, but I can't see him being successfully impeached and with the Supreme Court giving him a pass on probably everything. The midterms can't come soon enough, and the Democrats can't wait until the demographics are in their favor to get a President elected. Maybe she can be the first female president? She can criticize his programs, and while I'd like to see him in jail, these four years can't go fast enough (except I'll be that much older then, if I get to live that long.

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Suzanne Hogan's avatar

Thank you for the reminder. Some of us "will never forget." Wonder who she will be supporting for governor?

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Ken Eatherly's avatar

That woman from Michigan has been a canny player until, apparently, recently. I am not quite ready to count her out. She may be following the time honored strategy of “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

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Cathy Pegg-Owens's avatar

We need continued federal financing for the Great Lakes and for Selfridge. I say she is wise to keep her enemy close. Trump is a snake and unpredictable, Governor Whitmer has been fantastic for our state. I've never seen her as sellable as a national candidate but I am very pleased with her efforts in Michigan. Do what's right for our state and keep fund flowing at all costs.

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William Thomas's avatar

Sad….

No, I’m wrong.

Pathetic.

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Jack Lessenberry's avatar

You always did have a way with words...

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Jean M's avatar

At the very moment when we need a fiercely progressive counterattack, Gretchen bails. She's one of those awful centrists after all, or worse. So disappointing.

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Michael Dunn's avatar

She has become deeply disappointing. I thought that she had more integrity than this. Now she has proven that she is just a fake and it has all been an act.

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Hank Cetola's avatar

Jack, you are so right, again. She has capitulated when we need resistance. Her giving in to him only makes his path to authoritarianism easier. My respect for her has plummeted. Yes, she sealed her fate. Her desire to become President by this maneuver has cost her many more votes than she would have picked up. With everything else that is going on, my sanity did not need this disappointment.

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Ben Sen Dan Foley's avatar

And we thought more women in politics was going to make it a better world.

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Judith's avatar

Saw her wimpy posture standing against a wall in the Oval Office

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Lorraine Alden's avatar

And yet at the time this was published, business-killing tariffs had been announced against Canada. Automotive parts travel back and forth between the US and Canada daily, so what else was a governor invested in the success of her state's key industry supposed to do? I had chalked this up to her attempt to catch more flies by cozening the sexist old orange fart; she could always bring out the vinegar later. In our deeply divided state, Whitmer has long embraced bi-partisanship, even when it outrages progressives. Is that justified? Maybe. But maybe not. Now it's September, and she is in Germany, trying to stoke new business for the state because Canada isn't even speaking to us anymore. Of course, with the NATO snafu, Germany likely has little use for Michigan and the US anymore. Anyway, in April she thought being politic might work, and I'm willing to give her credit for that. At present, I plan to observe how her political direction might shift based on the fire hose flow of events swirling around us before I make up my mind about 2028. She might just say f*ck it and go back to practicing law.

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Donnelly Wright Hadden's avatar

I don't agree with you. I think Whitmer is positioning herself to be a genuine moderate between the extremes of both parties and the ideal person to lead the country out of this insane partisan dichotomy into the land of pragmatic leadership. The presidential primaries are still 2 years away. A lot can happen. Don't count her out yet.

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Nancy Stender's avatar

This makes me very sad. I have defended her against detractors including some family for nearly four years now. I was so proud of ”that woman from Michigan “. I hope there is an explanation but I must agree that she is not ready for the big race.

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