See Dick. See Dick screw up. See Dick cover his ass. Cover, Dick, cover!
WASHINGTON -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos now says that as governor he would continue Gov. Jennifer Granholm's practice of lowering the flag to half-staff when a Michigan soldier dies in service to the nation.
Last week John Truscott, press secretary to the DeVos campaign, told Booth Newspapers for a Memorial Day weekend story that DeVos would fly U.S. flags at half-staff only for elected officials or world leaders -- not fallen soldiers.
After a week of angry letters to newspapers and calls to local radio stations from veterans and their families, the DeVos camp said Wednesday that the candidate's position on flag honors had been misrepresented.
Nice try, Dick.
I don't think it was misrepresented at all.
Here is the original statement.
Granholm's Republican opponent, Dick DeVos, would reverse the governor's policy.
"Dick would take a more literal approach," DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said. "While he certainly believes that honoring veterans who have given their lives is extremely important, lowering the flag has typically been reserved for heads of state."
Is there anything ambiguous about that? No. But that doesn't stop the furious backpedaling.
Truscott said in a phone interview that he had "mischaracterized" his boss' position by failing to "clarify" how DeVos felt on the question of lowering flags for soldiers who are killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He would continue the tradition of honoring fallen soldiers," said Truscott, noting that the campaign will send out letters to newspaper editorial pages to explain the candidate's position. "We want to head off any controversy here by making sure that every daily paper knows his position."
Uh-huh. You guys do that. Perhaps Truscott should resign in the face of such an egregious error.
Reminds me of the famous Medicaid statement a while back- another time when Dick's true colors came shining through and he was forced to retract. Here's the flip-
"Let's look at what Matt Blunt, who's the governor of Missouri did ... he said, 'We're simply going to end the program,' " DeVos said on Michigan Public Television's "Off the Record."
And then the flop-
"I have never, nor would I ever, advocate the elimination of Medicaid," DeVos said Wednesday. "This program needs to be preserved for those who truly need it: that being the poor and vulnerable. It's a very important program for them."
Then why bring it up, Dick, if that wasn't your true intention?
Question now is: Can we believe a word that comes out of Dick's (or Truscott's) mouth? Sounds like they are willing to say anything to get elected, and then we will see the mean-spirited superiority complex that really lies within.