BREAKING: Terri Lynn Land is a mom with two kids
Last Friday, Terri Lynn Land spent an hour doing a radio call-in show Michigan Radio’s Rick Pluta. Pluta should be given a journalism medal after his Herculean effort to get Land to actually answer a question, any question, in a substantive manner. She repeated some version of the phrase “I’m a mom with two kids” ad nauseum, and uttered nonsensical things like, “We have the ability to not to have great roads here in Michigan” and “I’m a big fan of mail, I enjoy getting mail”.
The fact that the biggest news to come out of the interview is that she thinks we need a travel ban from countries with Ebola lets you know how little actual substance there was in her comments. All Land needs to do is to wink at a camera at some point and her transformation into Sarah Palin will be complete.
Her embarrassing public implosion hasn’t gone unnoticed by the media, either. Brian Dickerson at the Detroit Free Press had some very choice words:
Republican senatorial hopeful Terri Lynn Land emerged from the protection of her handlers Friday to take voter questions on a call-in radio show.Probably that was a mistake […]
But for voters hoping to divine whether find Land supports dispatching U.S. troops to the Iraq or Syria, how she’d slash federal spending, or what her alternative to Obamacare might look like, her rare, live appearance on Michigan Public Radio Network’s “Michigan Calling” show was a maddening exercise in evasion, obfuscation and incomprehensibility.
She invoked a handful of talking points (“the president needs to lead,” “Isis is a terrorist organization”) with almost metronomic frequency, like reflexes triggered by electronic shocks applied at regular intervals. Her maternal status (“I’m a mom with two kids”) came up no fewer than seven times, and twice in one rambling answer to a question about Ebola. […]
[Land is] a woman who loses ground every time she opens her mouth, a candidate so inarticulate that even voters ideologically disposed to support her aren’t sure what she’s saying.
I actually counted eight mentions of the “mom with kids” thing.
Despite statements to the contrary in the past, Land said she supports equal pay for equal work for women, access to contraception, and is against a “personhood amendment” to the Constitution. She continues to want to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act but, despite the heroic effort by Rick Pluta to get Land to describe what her replacement plan would look like, all we know is that it involves “choice” in some way. Otherwise, like a kid’s doll that utters a set of pat phrases when its string was pulled, Land had nothing close to specifics. In fact, she didn’t even have any nebulous ideas, just predetermined, prescripted platitudes.
Land also says she opposes embryonic stem cell research and thinks it’s okay to teach creationism in schools if the states decide that’s what they want.
Based on this performance, it’s clear why Land’s team continues to duck debating Gary Peters. With the election four weeks from tomorrow, Land’s team seems intent on sabotaging talks with Peters’ team about a debate. Here’s the latest report from John Cherry who is heading up the talks for Peters:
I’m sad to say that I am surprised, and more than a little troubled by the behavior of the Land campaign and their negotiator Richard McLellan.Terri Lynn Land’s campaign broke the cardinal rule they asked us to abide by in debate negotiations – no discussion of debate negotiations in the media.
This week, the media reported blind sources discussing the ongoing negotiations, which I voiced concern were coming from the Land campaign, and thereby breaking the trust we agreed to as a group with WXYZ.
What is particularly concerning to me is that the last email our group received today was from Chuck Stokes confirming that we would meet again as group on Monday. I was confident that we would continue negotiations next week – that is, until the Land campaign decided to flaunt the progress we had made and make wild, unfounded accusations about ending this process.
I was glad to be named Peters’ debate negotiator and I entered this process with respect and trust for the principals involved. It is hurtful and transparently dishonest that the Land campaign would leak a private email that confirms our good intentions to continue productive debate discussions.
The Land campaign’s press release betrays their negotiator, Mr. McLellan, and it betrays a handshake that I considered on my word.
In June, more than 100 days ago, Gary Peters tried to get Land to sit down at the table in order to begin these negotiations. I now believe I was naïve to think Land and her allies ever wanted to debate or negotiate in good faith.
BACKGROUND:
The Peters campaign released a copy of the rules Land debate negotiator Richard McLellan insisted upon before any conversation took place on Saturday, September 27, 2014 in a meeting at WXYZ.
Mr. Richard McLellan’s Rules for Debate Negotiation:
1. There is no deal till there is a deal.
2. No negotiations in the media.
3. The agreement will be in writing.
4. Agreement released to the media jointly and at the same time.
5. One person negotiates only.
Mark my words: when this election is over, Land is going to be defeated by her Democratic opponent by an even wider margin than Pete Houkstra got beat by Debbie Stabenow in 2012.
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey for Eclectablog. Adapted from: Wikipedia – State of MI / HHS – Chris Smith]
