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by Tim Skubick
May 1, 2009

The “new” state Republican Party is lookin’ an awful lot like the old one. Despite all the talk about expanding the party base to include more than just rock-bed conservatives, the party in Kent County refuses to talk the talk or walk the walk.

The up and coming governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman Jr., was set to make a pre-2012 swing into Michigan to introduce himself to the Republican grass roots, just in case Huntsman decides to run for president.

This sort of early goodwill visit seldom stirs up much controversy, but turns out Mr. Huntsman’s record on gay rights produced some ill will as some right-wingers went nutso.

Huntsman supports extending some legal rights to gay couples. He also supported civil unions although, according to the Salt Lake City AP, he did not actively pursue legalizing them.

In seeking to clarify his stance, he told a recent news conference that he does not support gay marriage. But even so, a Utah gay rights advocacy group said, “It’s very heartening to know that he’s on our side and he believes in social justice.”

My oh my, when former Rep. Joanne Voorhees, the current Kent County GOP chair, got wind of that, she removed the welcome sign for Huntsman and scrubbed the Grand Rapids event.

She was quoted in the Grand Rapids Press professing, “The voters want and expect us to stand on principles and return to our roots.”

It was those very “roots” that saw Kent County vote for a Democrat for president last fall for the first time in decades.

All of this is just a tad embarrassing for the team of Chuck and John Yob that was pasting together the Huntsman sojourn here.

Chuck says there is a “lot of room” in the GOP for guys like Huntsman, even though the senior Yob does not agree with the governor’s stance on the gay marriage thing.

Another GOP source adds that the decision by Voorhees sends the wrong signal about opening up the party to “listen to various points of view.”

This, of course, was a missed opportunity for the “new” GOP. Huntsman has noted that nationwide, the Republican Party needs to do more to bring in new people if it wants to bounce back from the disaster at the polls in 2008.

“The party isn’t moving anywhere right now,” Huntsman tells the AP.

Coincidently, Huntsman shares the same view with GOP leader L. Brooks Patterson from Oakland County. Patterson found himself in a dogfight with ultra conservatives over opening the GOP tent to more than just the religious right.

Perhaps this is just a momentary flap with no far-reaching ramifications for the 2010 election. On the other hand, the rhetoric coming out of the state GOP shows no signs of expanding the party base.

In fact, it appears that the “new” GOP strategy for next year is to hope that President Barack Obama goes in the tank and Jennifer Granholm fatigue will produce a new GOP governor.

That’s hardly a reflection of a “we need to change” strategy and, oh yeah, that snickering you hear over there in the corner? Those are Michigan Democrats hoping the current GOP stays just the way it is.

Follow up: The new state GOP chairman has apologized to Gov. Huntsman for the treatment he got from Kent County and has invited him to do two more events for the Republican Party here.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972.

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Pass the Soap
Please wash your hands before you read this blog. The writer was in Kansas City last weekend and may have come in contact with the dreaded and media-hyped swine flu. After all, there were two cases in K.C. and maybe both of them were on the plane coming back to Detroit.

You can never be too safe about protecting yourself from being killed.

TIME OUT!!

The news media have fallen in love with the swine flu story and have now overstepped their responsibility to keep the public informed. Instead, the over coverage has created so much fear that you would think somebody put a box of anthrax in every newsroom in the country.

Ignore the story?

Of course not, but unless there are new developments that are newsworthy, the news hounds should take two steps backward and chill the hell out.

The sensationalization of this story came up in the Granholm inner circle on Tuesday, and when she stepped out in public, the governor confessed that the cable news guys “do have to fill some hours” on the air. She added that if you watched over an extended period of time you would conclude, “we are in a pandemic.” She quickly added, “We’re not there yet.”

And until we get there, swine flu is just another story.

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show did a marvelous tongue-in-cheek analysis of the media coverage as he lambasted the overkill.

He showed a clip of John King on CNN reporting there were six new cases in Canada and the graphic had the entire country covered in ominous red. Six cases out of how many millions of hockey lovers north of us?

On a local news channel in this neck of the woods, where the median age of a reporter is about 15 years and six months, viewers were told to stay at home if you are sick, cover your mouth when you cough and, for God’s sake, wash your hands.

In three separate stories all that stuff was repeated…in the same newscast.
Maybe this is a clever attempt by the soap makers to sell more soap?

Or maybe the TV guys are about to move into the May sweeps and they want to boost their ratings?

Naw, responsible journalists would never do that.

Would they?

Sports vs. Politics: No Contest
If you put all the political columnists in a room for a day and asked them if they were jealous of their counterparts who write for the sports pages, the answer would be a resounding yes.

Oh sure, political scribes have a higher calling. Their job is to inform citizens so they can be better participants in the democracy. But tell that to all those citizens and sportswriters who are more inspired by the final score on the field rather than in the political arena.

For example, a ton of readers can tell you whom the Lions selected as their first draft choice. But ask them to name the three branches of government and watch them stumble. (Judicial, Executive, Legislative btw.)

In fact, reader interest in the selection of Matthew Stafford in The Detroit News was off the charts. Four of the most read columns were on Stafford, and in fifth place was how the Tigers crushed the Royals.

Over in the Freep, the Lions/Stafford stuff got eight of the top 10 stories, including numbers one through seven.

Lost in the shuffle was the remarkable story about the kid from Canton who aced the ACT, SAT and PSAT and, oh yeah, some readers actually wanted to know what was happening with GM and Pontiac.

That finished ninth in reader interest.

Just think of all the other compelling stories that have a greater impact on our lives: the first 100 days of the new presidency, our failing urban school system, and let’s not forget Michigan’s economy going to you know where in a hand basket.

None of those made the top 10.

Maybe readers are just tired of all the bad news, and a little escape journey into the sports world is one way to drown out all their sorrows?

Or maybe most readers/citizens could give a hoot about the health of our democracy.

Hence, instead of Mr. Stafford getting banged around playing for the lowly Lions, maybe he should just run for president.