Available courtesy of Michigan Liberal. I'm not going to publish it all because it would take up the whole page- go read the whole thing here. You will see that the Governor has solid plans and a way to pay for them, Dick can only attack her, attack our state, and speak in generalities.
For example- here is health care- she launched into this from a question on smoking-
JG: But I also think this is a moment to speak about our health plan for the state of Michigan as well. I have proposed a universal access to affordable healthcare plan, it's called Michigan First! I'm in the final stages of negotiating with the federal government to be able to do bit of what they did in Massachusetts, if any of you saw that. They are providing universal access to affordable healthcare there. In partnership with the federal government, we're going to do the same thing. For those who are at 300% of poverty and below-200% of poverty and below! We're going to provide a no-frills benefit package that is subsidized by both the state and the federal government. For those who are above 200% of poverty, we'd offer the same benefit on a sliding scale, depending on income. This would all be administered by the private sector. The state would be a connector- connecting people to these plans. It's very exciting. we want to show the nation how we can lead the way in providing health care because we need it. We are, as a nation, one of the only nations in the country that does not provide some assistance to business with respect to health care. We put the full burden on the business community and it makes us uncompetitive. Our automobiles now have sixteen hundred per vehicle embedded in those kind of costs. Now my opponent, I would challenge him to tell us what his his health care plan is cause previously he has said that his health care plan is get a job.
CS: Time. Mr. DeVos?
DD: The governor has talked about a health care plan and after four years, there still is no plan, there still is no legislation, there still is no results, and in fact, fifty-three-thousand less people in Michigan have health care than when this governor took office- fifty-three-thousand less, not more. Once again, we're going backwards. Once again, Michigan is not leading in the nation, Michigan is trailing in the nation. And once again, the Governor is promising what is going to happen in 4 years. But..uh... we haven't seen results in the 4 years that have passed already. We can do better. We need results Governor.
Notice that Dick never, ever says what he would do, how it would be different under him. Can you name any one, specific thing that Dick would do for health care?
Granholm asked him how he would pay for all the tax cuts, too-
JG: And again, I would ask my opponent to address how he is going to possibly balance this budget, increase funding for higher education or any of the other things he says he wants to increase spending on, including K thru 12, when he's cut another billion dollars from the budget. This is not Washington D.C. Two plus two in Lansing still equals four. We cannot print money. You have to balance the budget.
He never answers. He never does.
And that is your whole debate, once again.
WXYZ has the video if you prefer to watch.
She took command of the stage right from the beginning by taking away one of his attacks- and the media is picking up on it. From the AP-
The tone of the final debate Monday night suggested there may be plenty of hits yet to come in the final three weeks of the campaign. DeVos again said the state needs a change in leadership because it has moved backward under Granholm, while the governor said DeVos has made promises he can't keep if he plans to cut business taxes.
The negative comments came quickly, with Granholm accusing DeVos of using the images of dead children for recent political attacks.
Granholm was alluding to criticism DeVos has launched against her over the deaths of children, including Ricky Holland, a 7-year-old Williamston boy whose adoptive mother is on trial for his death in the summer of 2005. Republican supporters showed a picture of the boy outside the WXYZ-TV studios where the debate was held.
"If you have a beef with me, bring it on," Granholm told DeVos. "I can take it. Use my name. But let's leave the names of deceased children out of it."
DeVos and the Republicans were going to exploit this kid- how could they possibly know to bring pictures if they weren't tipped off by the MI GOP? By calling him out first, she set the tone on this issue- and Matt heard a rumor that he was very upset about this. I have a feeling that was the next commercial- and now it will be rightfully called what it is- exploitation.
UPDATE 5:10PM- How did they know to bring pictures? The Michigan Republican Party printed them up! From Peter Luke's story on the debate-
After the debate, DeVos said he hadn't seen Michigan Republican Party posters featuring the photos of dead children and titled, "Another Granholm victim."
Yes, that's the Republican leadership for you. They try to throw kids off of welfare, or cut the social programs that help keep them safe, and then they turn around and exploit them when they are gone.
These are some vile and despicable people.
Back to the debate, Hoffman mentions the Bermuda bombshell.
But the governor went after some of DeVos' activities while he was president of Ada-based Amway Corp., saying the company incorporated an Amway subsidiary in Bermuda to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
"It's taking advantage of the Bermuda loophole," she said.
"You know that's not true," DeVos shot back.
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said after the debate that Amway incorporated a company called Amway Asia Pacific Ltd. in Bermuda. The subsidiary, formed in 1993, was a public company at the time but later was taken private.
"The reason you go to Bermuda is to evade taxes," Brewer said. "It's a well-known tax haven."
Rob Zeiger, corporate communications director at Alticor Inc., Amway's parent company, said the company incorporated several foreign subsidiaries in Bermuda that it had used to raise capital.
With these two things, Granholm has controlled the media message of this debate. WZZM's report said the same thing, in the same order this morning- kids, Bermuda. Bang, bang.
Now Dick has two huge issues to address- and no more debates to address them with. He plays defense from here on out. And he has to do it in the noise of the Tigers in the World series.
Good job, Governor. That is exactly what needed to happen.
The Disembodied Head agrees, although he won't admit it. Just like Bermuda.