A Central Michigan University dean slapped Dennis Lennox, a CMU student and conservative activist, who was video recording a meeting where he presented a Freedom of Information Act Request for information about Democrat Congressional candidate Gary Peters, who is being paid more then $67,000 to teach one class at the university.

WNEM-TV led with this story on it’s 11 pm newscast Monday…

And here’s Dennis’ actual footage of the assault:

At the very least, CMU President Michael Rao should administratively discipline the dean with an official letter of reprimand in her personnel file. He should suspend her without pay or fire her. Contact President Rao (president@cmich.edu) and tell him to take action against CMU Dean Gates. CMU would never treat anyone from MoveOn.org as Dennis was treated.

You can sign it here. 3,100+ of your friends already have.

Things are really coming together for the Oct. 9 GOP Presidential Candidates Debate in Dearborn.

Looks like we will have nearly 300 registered journalists from around the world. Ford, GM and Chrysler are all going to have their newest-soon-to-be-out models on site for the world to see at the debate (maybe even a surprise…shhhhhhh!).

The Detroit News’ David Shepardson has a story today about how the Big Three will demand the candidates’ attention:

GOP debate to spotlight Big 3 issues

In Dearborn next week, candidates are expected to be quizzed about trade, fuel economy, jobs.

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The future of the struggling domestic auto industry will be front and center Tuesday when nine Republican GOP candidates debate economic issues in the shadow of Ford’s world headquarters in Dearborn.

Detroit’s Big Three say it is a critical opportunity to address the future of the industry. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are not only sponsoring the debate, but also, outside the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, showing off their vehicles.

About 1,100 people will get see the debate in person at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center (which, if you have not been there is definitely worth the trip. When we took the NBC folks through the facility in August they were wowed, and these guys have seen everything. One producer said: “This is as good or better than anything on Broadway without the hassle.”)

Hat’s off to Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. and his staff. They have opened the city to this debate and bent over backwards to make it a success. See….Republicans and Democrats can work together!

Alan Keyes…

I awoke this morning to several hundred e-mails in my Inbox from Keyes supporters upset that he will not on stage Tuesday. I have nothing against Mr. Keyes. I like him and respect his principled stance on important issues. But we have a debate to run and when we were deciding who to invite to the debate, our decision was based on those individuals who had active, federally registered campaigns, and who were actively seeking the GOP nomination.

Michigan law requires the chairman of the respective state parties to submit the names of candidates to be included on the Jan. 15 presidential primary ballot. Chairman Anuzis did that as required by law, and, based upon the criteria mentioned above, Mr. Keyes was not included — neither was Newt Gingrich, whom at the time was mentioned as a presidential candidate. It is from that list, which is now official, that the debate participants were selected.

This is a “Republican Presidential Candidates” debate, not a debating society social. Mr. Keyes is not a candidate from what just about any reasoned person would judge as one. Even the AlanKeys.com site is run by a Political Action Committee called “We Need Alan Keys for President, Inc.” It plays itself off as a presidential site, but it is not. Long story short. These are the very sensible and real reasons Mr. Keyes was not invited to this debate. There will be many more in the coming months, and should Mr. Keyes become a serious presidential candidate, I am sure he will be invited to participate.

UPDATE: 1:00 AM Monday, Oct. 1…With Democrat Lt. Governor John Cherry casting the tie-breaking vote (19-19) to pass the Granholm Tax Increase. It now goes to the governor for signature.

Taxes are going up. The Michigan House, which is Democrat controlled, just passed the largest tax increase in a quarter century. Here, you can take a look at vote tally as the vote was finalized late Sunday evening.

HB 5194 passed 57-53. Republicans Rep. Gaffney and Ward joined Democrats in voting ‘Yes.’ Senate is now considering the bill. The word is that the Democrats Dennis Olshove (Warren), Jim Barcia (Bay City) and Glenn Anderson (Westland) will be voting NO.

Anderson represents a vulnerable state senate district that is nominally Republican. Barcia was a state senator (before term limits) in 1983 and Olshove a staffer when the senate passed Gov. Jim Blanchard’s “temporary” personal income tax increase. These two saw first hand the bloodletting that occurred in the aftermath of the vote. For those of you who don’t remember, two senators were recalled over that vote and it resulted in Republicans gaining control of that chamber, which they’ve held held ever since.

Does anybody else in Michigan get the feeling we are in the movie Groundhog’s Day?  Governor Granholm simply gives the same speech over and over again, believing that eventually a light bulb will flick on above our heads, and we will suddenly realize she has been right all along.  But the ending will be the same — more deadlock, no progress, more jobs lost, no hope for Michigan’s future.

We heard that speech again tonight.  Amazingly, she still takes no responsibility for the state of Michigan’s economy and the fiscal crisis.  First she blames the legislature:

The Legislature has had more than enough time to avert this crisis by adopting a balanced budget that’s the one lawmaking-duty the Legislature is given by the Michigan Constitution.

Then, she blames President Bush:

We know our state has been challenged like no other by trade policies that shipped tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas.

And of course, she blames former Governor Engler:

And we know Michigan’s fiscal policies in the 90s turned a billion dollar surplus into a huge deficit, leaving our state unprepared for the economic tsunami it’s faced in this new century.

Governor Granholm tops off the blamefest by sending out blast e-mails with this amazing claim:

Governor Granholm is demanding real leadership and immediate action from Michigan’s elected officials in finding a comprehensive solution to the state’s budget crisis.

Let me get this straight.  She refuses responsibility, blames others, and now demands leadership?  From whom?  Maybe she should look in the mirror.  Granholm demanding leadership is like Britney Spears demanding respect.

Clearly, Granholm and her defenders on the left equate leadership with raising taxes.  But in her speech tonight, she can’t even bring herself to use the “T” word.  Instead, she relies on the innocuous-sounding “revenues.”  If she can’t even bring herself to use the word, how can she expect Michigan’s hard-pressed families to pay them?

Highest unemployment rate since 1993.

PLUS

Highest home foreclosure rate in the nation.

PLUS

Single-state recession.
_____________________________________

EQUALS: One big fat tax increase????

Who came up with that? I mean, just about any poll out today shows there is less the 25 percent support for a tax increase. Heck, the comment board on the Freep.com bears this out (and it’s a liberal rag). Yet, Governor Granholm keeps insisting on a tax increase. She’s even threatening to shut down government to get her way.

Michigan cannot afford Granholm’s government shutdown, and Republicans in legislature have sent her legislation she could approve today that would keep government from shutting down. Why hasn’t she acted? Because she wants tax increase.

“I won’t sign a budget continuation because it only continues spending money the state doesn’t have,” Granholm said live today on statewide TV.

And you know who’s money the state doesn’t have to spend, don’t you? Yep, ours.

Did you listen carefully to her remarks, geared to interrupt the 6 o’clock news? She never mentioned taxes once. That had to send a shiver down the spines of the Michigan House Majority Democrats, who have tried raise taxes four times in the last 10 days — four failed times I might add.

House Democrats, who hold a 58-52-seat majority, cannot even muster the 56 votes they need to pass their governor’s proposal. That she went on statewide TV threatening a government shutdown and didn’t even make the case for her tax increase has got to have Michigan House Democrats in knots.

So, here’s what we are left with:

1) Granholm can’t get her Democrats to pass her tax increase (Last time I checked, Democrats out-numbered Republicans in Lansing.)

2) Granholm couldn’t make the case for her own tax proposal on live, statewide TV.

3) Granholm is threatening to shutdown government to get her way. What a tantrum. She wants a tax increase in the worse way and she willing to pull cops off the streets to get one. Jenny, I am not blown away. I am blown over.

Don’t blame me, I voted for DeVos.

“Is this OK with you,” whispered the clerk at the Secretary of State’s office.  “If not, we can pick out another one,” she said as she furtively tipped the new license plate  in my direction.  It only took me a split second to realize that she was concerned about the number “666″ on the plate. 

 ”It’s fine,” I said.  “Just as long as it doesn’t say Granholm!”

“You got that right,” she replied.  “But you know, I’m mad at all of them.”

And that’s really the Granholm strategy if there is one.  Get the public mad at everybody concerned, so we aren’t just mad at her. 

By the way, my experience at the SOS office wasn’t all bad.  Since I had two plates to renew and my license (had to be in person), I figured I better get it done today since my birthday is only two weeks away.  Arriving at the office around 10:45, I could barely get in the door, there were so many people waiting.  I took a number (36) and glanced up to see what number was being served (72).  Uh-oh, I thought, this will take forever.  But, the staff was efficient and friendly and people adapted to the challenge.  Some got a number and waited.  Others went off to run errands and come back.  Nobody died.  Nobody even cried other than a burly two and half year old who charged out the door every time his mother let him loose.  I was out the door by noon, and as I left, the next number in the dispenser was 99 and the number being served was 42, which translates into a wait time of about an hour.  Time enough to get a number, have lunch and get your business done — all without a tax increase.

OK, this means absolutely nothing, but I find it interesting and mildly amusing…

So far, there are 1,664 blog postings about the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and only 359 stories in the MSM. Now there were about a 100 credentialed media types at the conference, and I talked to most of them, including the bloggers. So, I know a lot others were following the event over the ‘net. Great job, fellow bloggers, for picking up on one of the leading political stories/events of the week.

Technorati Tags: Mackinac+Conference, Republican, Thompson, Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Brownback, Tancredo, Ron+Paul, Hunter

Michigan Republicans got a rare treat tonight — the opportunity to get past the sound bites and hear directly from two of the leading candidates for president.  Fred Thompson got the first at bat and started off with a nice comment about meeting Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor.  He said:  “Isn’t great to have a judge who bides by the Constitution and doesn’t make it up as he goes along?”   Then he followed that by introducing his family and noting that his wife, Jeri, would make a better First Lady than Bill Clinton ever would.  With a good opener and nice leadoff joke, the audience edged forward in their seats, ready for a great speech, but they kept waiting and waiting because Thompson appeared to be making it up as he went along.  His speech rambled along in a disjointed review of his resume from backwoods Tennessee to the halls of Washington and back again.  Thompson’s folksy style may have appealed to some, but he didn’t come anywhere near meeting the high expectations that greeted him on the Island. 

In contrast, McCain’s speech was a work of art.  He was humble, inspiring, patriotic, eloquent, honest, thoughtful, realistic and frank.  McCain was also the only speaker that I saw get a standing ovation during his speech when he blasted the Iranian president and said he shouldn’t be allowed to speak at Columbia University.  In a brilliant twist, McCain said that Columbia should instead “invite the ROTC back on campus to honor the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our freedom.”

McCain made me wish George Bush could speak about Iraq with such clarity and force.  For example, McCain said:

Although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give General Petraeus and the Americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for Iraq and the Middle East, and a more secure future for the American people. To concede defeat — as many leading Democrats now advocate — would strengthen al Qaeda, empower Iran and other hostile powers in the Middle East, unleash a full scale civil war in Iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. The consequences would threaten us for years, and I am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us.

In just a few words, McCain made the case for America to finish the job in Iraq and laid out the consequences of retreat in the starkest possible terms.  While many rank and file Republicans have problems with McCain on issues such as immigration and campaign finance reform, he was in tune with them tonight on the most important issue facing our nation.  And it wasn’t the straight talker of 2004, but the elder statesman of 2007 who wants nothing more than “to use whatever meager talents I possess, and every resource God has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic.” 

There is no better spokesman for conservative values on the national stage than Newt Gingrich.  After his morning presentation to a standing room only crowd in the Grand Hotel Theater, my wife exclaimed:  “Gingrich is my hero.”  Let’s face it.  Gingrich gets it.  Over and over, he quoted Margaret Thatcher, “first win the argument, then win the vote.”  Gingrich knows how to win the argument because he has the facts and he puts the message in terms people can understand.  For example, you should have seen the jaws drop in the crowd when he said that in 1950, Detroit had 1.8 million people and boasted the highest per capita income in the nation.

Only somebody like Gingrich could walk into a partisan crowd and say that “this country is tired of Red vs. Blue — automatic partisanship.  We need to come together for Red White and Blue solutions.”  The all Red Republican crowd loved it.  Who else could say this:  “The reason Ronald Reagan was such an effective communicator was because he wasn’t a Republican.” 

Clearly, Gingrich was well briefed on Michigan’s current fiscal challenges.  He talked about how Granholm had managed to squander the great credit rating she inherited from Engler within 11 months.  He said:  “That’s like your teenager getting a credit card and not realizing they actually have to pay the bill.” 

Gingrich explained that it’s not enough to have just the right policies, we have to have the right language to communicate them.  So regarding the current debate in Lansing, our message should be:  “No government shutdown, no job killing tax increase.  I don’t know why the other side wants to kill jobs.  Isn’t a 7.4 percent unemployment rate high enough?  Do they want to go for a record?  The bottom line is controlling spending in Lansing or average citizens will have to control their own spending to pay higher taxes.”

Gingrich also endorsed a version of Mike Bouchard’s idea to simply pass a budget with exactly the amount of revenue expected and then give Granholm unprecedented authority to spend it.  Though he said, “you might want to allocate it quarterly so she doesn’t spend it all in the first seven months!”  And then he hit the biggest applause of the morning with:  “If Dick DeVos had won the job, we wouldn’t be having this fight.”