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You may find this hard to believe, but the winner of the best political campaign commercial of the year has already been decided.
But you won’t find it on the tube, the radio, the paper or any of your screens if you find your “news” from some of those unreliable sources.
So with a drum roll. the envelope please.
And the winner in the category of best political campaign commercial is…..Iran.
You see that country is responsible for a “commercial” that is seen by every motorist in the state of Michigan at your local gas station. The sign out front showing petrol at five bucks or more a gallon is one of, if not the most important ad right now. TV ads hit a limited audience however the pump price is hitting every driver in the pocketbook. The popular wisdom is, especially in Democratic circles, many motorists blame President Trump even though his supporters, as you are about to read, have a different take.
Some of you amateur political pundits can correctly argue that Mr. Trump is not on the ballot so what difference does this make? Oh how true. But for citizens who are fed up with the war in Iran which has produced this sticker shock, they will still send him a message by rejecting the folks he has endorsed for office in this state.
Are the R’s worried?
The GOP state chair told Michigan Public (radio) last week that higher gas prices scare him the most about this fall campaign. You can take it from there as to what that potentially means at the ballot box.
However former state senate GOP leader Mike Bishop, now out of office, was forced to weigh in on this the other day and when asked point blank if Mr. Trump is responsible, he stumbled a little bit with “I don’t think..I know…I don’t see that being the issue.”
So a reporter wanted to know if that was a “no” answer to the responsibility question?
“No,” he volleyed back. “I don’t think you can pin this on anyone person.”
He was asked from a different angle, “If the president doesn’t go to war, do we have five bucks a gallon gas?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have a crystal ball.” But he does offer a valid point.
“I wouldn’t doubt that the Iranians would do this kind of thing and cause this kind of upheaval just to spite Donald Trump during an election. So who knows what would have happened?”
Fair enough but you have to wonder, do you think the average Joe and Josephine will hear that and conclude they no longer blame the president for this spike in prices?
Meanwhile Michigan Democrats are sitting back wondering what they did to deserve this gas manna from heaven as they exploit it for all it is worth.
And for those R’s that are running for office along with some D’s as well, they are not sitting around waiting for this moment to pass.
They are, not surprisingly, jumping on the “let’s stop collecting the state gas tax (52 cents a gallon) and the federal tax at about 18 cents a gallon.”
And this is a perfect issue for office seekers to proposed but some are not telling the whole story.
They wouldn’t do that. Would they?
The dirty little secret is it’s one thing to call for something but quite another if there is nothing you can do to make it happen. They can’t vote to stop the tax. They can’t sign an order to do it. They can’t do squat, but of course to admit that would take some of the “political pop” out of the message.. Plus there is another element that they conveniently leave out as well.
Mr. Bishop, with 12 years of legislative experience under his belt, explains, the gas tax pause, “is a responsible cut but you have to also purpose some sort of how you’re going to cut the budget to find the money to undo that. You can’t cut off the revenue and expect the state to absorb it,” he correctly asserts while so far at this read, the folks who are using the pause for their own personal gain remain on radio silence on that harsh reality. Accept for Jocelyn Benson, GOP candidate for governor, who opposes the state gas tax holiday because it would “blow” a $561 million hole in the state budget. Likewise House GOP Speaker Matt Hall, running for re-election, doesn’t want road repairs to be retarded by this drain on the road fund budget.
Look it. The good government crowd would concede any candidate has the right to propose any policy change they want to get votes, but to tell only half the story is not being truthful with the audience that is hearing their pitch.
What’s the old saying. “Never let the truth get in the way of a good campaign commercial”…even if the Iranians are responsible for it.