In an April 13 “Opinion/Review & Outlook” column, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal ran this headline: “IT’S STILL AMERICA, CORONAVIRUS OR NOT. Draconian orders and enforcement will undermine public support or social distancing.”
The column starts out with these words:
“Americans by and large have willingly obeyed the government’s shelter-in-place and social-distancing orders, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for some public officials. They’re indulging their inner bully in ways that over time will erode public support for behavior that can reduce the spread of the Coronavirus. One problem is excessive enforcement. Some state and local officials tasked with implementing shelter-at-home orders appear to misunderstand the edicts they are meant to carry out …”
Exhibit A of such behavior by certain state officials is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to the column. That verdict would seem to disagree with former Vice President Joe Biden. At the very least, Michiganders are still waiting for evidence that their governor can succeed at something — anything! — before they render final judgment on her prowess in public office.
As it is, Whitmer’s first 16 months as governor have by and large been marked by failure: To wit:
* She has not fixed the “damn roads.” In fact, she vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars the Legislature sent her that would have taken some small initial steps toward renovating Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure.
* She damaged her frail relationship with the Republican-controlled Legislature by making a shambles of the state budget for the current fiscal year with a record number of ill-advised line item vetoes and inter-departmental fiscal transfers.
* Early this year, she put Michigan government on a path to decades of indebtedness by unilaterally bonding billions of dollars for transportation repairs to state highways and bridges, with little prospect that it will do anything to “fix the damn roads” (particularly local roads) in the short term, and perhaps damage the ability of the state to address the problem in the long term.
* Nearly a year ago, after months of resisting, she reluctantly signed auto insurance rate reform legislation initiated and rammed through by the Republican-controlled Legislature despite opposition by nearly half of her own Democratic Party’s lawmakers.
* In the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, she was slow to request a “major disaster” declaration by the federal government for Michigan (when she did, it was granted by the feds immediately). When she issued her “Stay Home/Stay Safe” executive order on March 23, it was draconian, taking a “one size fits all” approach blanketing the entire state despite evidence showing that some 78% of the documented cases and 85% of the deaths were in densely-populated three-county Metro Detroit while the remaining 80 counties have recorded less than 20% of the state’s Covid-19 cases and deaths. Many outstate counties, especially in the Upper Peninsula, have reported NO cases at all, or only one or two, and no deaths. Meanwhile, the state’s economy already has been severely damaged, and it will get a lot worse. All this while there is nowhere near as much evidence that the “curve” is being “flattened” in attempts to mitigate the virus in Michigan as the Whitmer administration and a supine news media would have us believe — MIRS newsletter has reported that the most recent 24-hour period for which statistics are available has recorded 1,366 new cases, the highest one-day total in about a week, and 166 deaths, the second-highest total since March 19, when the first Michigan life was claimed. Macomb Co. just claimed 53 deaths in a single day, by far its highest ever.
* In sum, Whitmer’s performance in reacting to the pandemic has been too much, too late, and frivolous. Days after the Prime Minister of New Zealand got worldwide props for exempting the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy from shelter-in-place, Whitmer copied her and put it online. Michigan has four times as many cases of Coronavirus as neighboring Ohio, which has 17% more people living there.
Gov. Whitmer, Michigan is still waiting for you to prove that Joe is right.
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I am so proud of all those people that have gone to Lansing to protest Gov. Whitmer’s draconian edicts.
I’ve been watching some of the video’s that people have been putting up on Facebook. I wish that I could be their with them, but physical circumstances and surgeries over the years have put the Kibosh on any such plans.
Congratulations to all those heading to and in Lansing seeking constitutionally protected redress from our Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Yes, more power to the people! She’s just gone to far by following the dem edicts. Good luck to joe if he chooses her. She won’t be re-elected governor.
I sincerely hope that Biden chooses Whitmer for a running mate. That would put her on the campaign trail and the hell out of my state! Take her Joe, we don’t want her !!
Yes, we don’t want her is exactly right!
The Wall Street Journal is a republican publication; no news here. Gov. Whitmer is trying to fix the roads, through bonding, since republicans won’t do a thing and didn’t from 2008-16, when republicans had complete control of Michigan government; no news here. She did sign bipartisan auto insurance rate reform legislation; no news here. All governors were put in a bad way because of the pandemic because of Trump’s incompetence and failure to take responsibility; no news here. Of course, when democratic governors use their executive powers, they’re wrong, but when republican governors do the same thing, they’re right; no news here. Healthcare experts have stated there were at least four reasons why Michigan has had more coronavirus outbreaks than Ohio; no news here. Therefore, rudimentary commentary from a republican journalist; therefore, no news here either.
Ed Haynor – You sound like someone who is hog-tied to the New York Times and who pathetically adores Nancy Pelosi and Adam “Shifty” Schiff.
My comments didn’t mention any publication nor any person in your uninformed reply. I did state facts, you speak of incoherence. Why would any person comment, on any website, if you don’t even have the courage to list your own name?
Gee, Ed, we expected more from you. You’ve mangled a number of basic facts. To smear people and publications that don’t agree with you with inaccurate ad hominem attacks? Say it ain’t so, Ed …
Ah, so Mr. Ballenger, you’ve revealed yourself. How’s it feel without political clothes? All of my comments were based on facts that are readily available on various Internet sites. I didn’t smear anybody, nor any publications. I just responded to others who attempted to revile me, so it was important that I revealed the truth. In your long political career, you do remember the truth, don’t you?
President Trump is not incompetent. In fact, he’s of the best presidents we’ve ever had. He was on top of this right from the start. You need to research the timeline of his response to this virus.
Ms Haverdink, you are the one who should check the timeline before you cast stones.
I agree with everything said by Ed Haynor. I support Gov. Whitmer 100%. I also disagree with Bill Ballenger 100%. Bill is a Republican so it’s no surprise that he is slamming Gov. Whitmer but beyond that, his appearance on Off The Record several weeks ago was less than admirable. He was confrontational with the other media journalists, his behavior was abrasive. Gov. Whitmer is not playing politics with her Executive orders, her only concern is the health and safety of Michigan residents; she has my full support.
Duane Brown – LOL!
Hey, Duane, lighten up. I’m supposed to be abrasive, that’s what I do. Zoe and Chuck love me, and I love them …
Hey, Duane, lighten up! I’m supposed to be abrasive — that’s what I do. Zoe and Chuck love me, and I love them …
Duane,
Most talk show panels — politics or otherwise — typically attempt to feature not only diverse ideologies and background experience among the panelists but also diverse personalities. For example: fiery Stephen A. Smith ‘balanced the ticket’ on ESPN’s panels, just the same as irascible Bob Beckel once did for Fox News panels.
Ballenger has supplied the same personality niche on Off The Record — why else would Tim Skubick continue to invite him decade after decade? Considering that the indefatigable Skubick has been going strong for 47+ years on OTR with Bill Ballenger as its most frequently used guest, perhaps Ballenger deserves some share of the program’s credit?
Ed Haynor is right On !
I think Bill Ballenger needs his
Head Examined!
We are fighting a War Here and all
Bill and His Trump SHEEPAl can do is
Wine and Slap at the Soldiers fighting
To win and save Lives ! like Our
Great Governor .
My head has just been examined, and the doctors found that everything that comes from it is true!
She is such a bad governor. You can buy a lotto ticket, marijuana and get an abortion, but you can’t buy seed or plants for your garden to feed your family. I can’t buy under wear for my grandson. She has no common sense. We need to get back to work now. We can do social distancing, wash our hands and quarantine the the elderly and unhealthy, but let the rest of us get back to work. How can such a person lacking commonsense be governor of our great state.
Bob: you can buy seed or plants for your garden at your local hardware store or online — just not at a big-box store. Underwear? Many stores offer curbside pickup and, again, you can also order online and have it delivered. If you need/want to purchase something, you can buy it … but maybe not from your preferred vendor.
Why? Because we have an unprecedented health crisis with few options available to us.
Social distancing has to be done by all to be effective. When hundreds ignore it to protest at the capitol, and others ignore it. It isn’t just about protecting you from infection. It’s about protecting innocent others from being infected by someone who is asymptomatic. I am truly concerned that today’s activity on the capitol lawn will result in a lot of people becoming ill in the next couple of weeks.
Just because are area is quiet now is no guarantee. South Dakota didn’t have a problem until it did .. now more than 600 are infected at a single meat packer, and those people have in turn infected a lot more people who have likely infected even more. (This is where the phrase “going viral” originated!)
There’s no doubt that this is a horrible situation and causing hardship for many (including me), the thousands of people are dying and thousands more will die unless we stamp out this virus. Until they come up with an effective vaccine, our best chance is strong, united social distancing.
One, with a Republican Legislature that refuses to negotiate there isn’t much to be done.
Two, I hate to see how many people in that crowd end up with Crovid 19. The brought their kids, had no masks, no safe spacing and on top of that blocked the Sparrow Hospital entrance.
Three, obviously money over lives.
If those folks have a death wish fine. But they will go back to their home towns and spread disease to people who work providing our food and to medical staff they will need. Selfish.
Hey Bill,
Rosco and I are living in one of the few counties without any confirmed cases of COVID-19 and we have been sheltering at home since March 21st. However, we believe we will likely have cases here eventually. But the longer our county can holdout, the more likely we will also have better means of dealing with this virus. Yes, we’re not happy about the unavailability of vegetable plants etc in Michigan but as soon as the snow let’s up we expect someone will drive to Wisconsin and pick up needed supplies. So, “draconian measures”? I don’t think so.
Sara Basso
I strive to be as fair and impartial as human capacity permits, but I am nonetheless very bothered by Joe Biden’s pronouncement that, come what may, he will absolutely choose a female as his running mate.
Let me be clear: I am certainly not against a woman being selected as a running mate. What I am against, however, is simply saying that, no matter what, I will choose a woman. So if Washington, Lincoln, or FDR were alive today and willing to be a Vice President, you would say “no” to all of them. . . just because they happen to have an X/Y chromosome imbalance?
Does this not just reek of overt voter pandering? It’s not even subtle. . . and beyond narrow-minded. I find this a troubling and revealing commentary on Biden himself