Last night outside of the WOOD TV 8 studios in downtown Grand Rapids where a debate between Michigan gubernatorial candidates Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos was taking place, supporters of Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm, Republican candidate Dick DeVos, and Green Party candidate Douglas Campbell gathered outside of the television station to support their respective candidates. In many ways, the gathering outside the studio was indicative of the political process as a whole in both Michigan and the United States, with the various people and groups in attendance reflecting the paucity of substantive political discourse within the corporate media and generally within the US citizenry that relies on the corporate media for their information. Rather than supporting their candidates because of a clear stance in favor of or in opposition to a specific issue, supporters instead engaged in an absurd shouting match consisting of simplistic chants repeated ad nauseam. Granholm supporters chanted “Four More Years” while DeVos supporters chanted “We Need Jobs,” in addition to other similar exchanges such as “Granholm” followed by “Go Home” on behalf of the DeVos supporters. Signs being waved and chants shouted across the street were largely devoid of issues and instead reflected an intense partisanship that came at the expense of any issue-based discussion. Even the Green Party, who of the three parties represented outside of the debate, has a truly innovative platform for Michigan, waved signs that read “Green Party” rather than communicating a specific stance on any issue to those passing by the WOOD TV studio.
The gathering outside of the studio was also instructive in terms of what it said about who is supporting the two major party candidates. Granholm’s supporters appeared to be primarily from the Michigan Construction Laborers Union, with the majority of supporters holding red and yellow signs that stated that they were paid for by the union. The union appears to have both spent a considerable amount of money supporting Granholm and in mobilizing her supporters, even as Granholm has expressed support for a stronger US role in the World Trade Organization (WTO), an institution that exists to promote the interests of neoliberal capitalists at the expense of workers both in the United States and abroad. The fact that Governor Granholm is not calling for the abolition of the WTO—or at the minimum a serious restructuring of the WTO, as unions such as the AFL-CIO have in stating that governments and the WTO need to “reexamine the fundamental assumptions and objectives of the WTO”—is an indication of how Granholm might take the support of organized labor for granted should she be elected. As was the case in the 2004 presidential elections, it seems that many unions, progressives, and others are supporting Granholm without making any serious demands just as Senator John Kerry was supported without anything being asked of him simply because he was not George W. Bush. Granholm supporters—at least those outside of the Granholm campaign—have long argued that DeVos is a candidate of the Michigan and national far right and this was shown to some degree by the supporters who attended. A prominent group among the DeVos supporters held signs blaming Granholm for abortions and for having an immoral stand on the issue. Some of these supporters were with These Last Days Ministry, a Lowell, Michigan group who is connected to a somewhat obscure Catholic group centered around religious visions allegedly seen by housewife named Veronica Lueken in Bayside, New York. In addition to supporting the authenticity of these visions in light of their dismissal by the Catholic church, These Last Days Ministry is opposed to abortion and attributes their beliefs to statements that they believe came directly from Jesus during the 1970s and 1980s, believes that there is a “clash of civilizations” between Christianity and Islam, is anti-communist and publishes news articles blaming Russia for a host of global problems, and is opposed to homosexuality—with all of the positions “supported” by statements that they claim came directly from Jesus or other religious figures within the past 30 or so years. One person at the gathering commented that the initial DeVos presence was mainly high school age youth that appeared to be drawn from area youth groups.
Before arriving at the event and finding that there was no corporate media covering the event, and indeed while a couple of WOOD TV 8 employees mingled with the crowd and officers from the Grand Rapids Police Department, there was no reporting on the gathering outside. Consequently, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Douglas Campbell scrapped plans to enter the WOOD TV studios to gain access to the debate. At the last gubernatorial debate in Lansing, Campbell was turned away from Michigan Public Broadcasting station WKAR-TV as he attempted to check-in for the debate. Despite meeting ballot criteria even before the Democratic and Republican candidates, Campbell along with Libertarian Party candidate Gregory Creswell and Bhagwan Dashairya of the US Taxpayers Party, have been denied access to the debates. Campbell has criticized the debates as being nothing more than a re-airing of the major party candidates’ political commercials. The agreement governing the debates makes no mention of candidates outside of the major party, nor does it make any mention of serving the public by assisting them in becoming informed about all candidates on the ballot. The debate schedule and participation in the two debates are determined by the two major political parties and the corporate media and consequently third parties are excluded.
