[mgkeith]

I'm no rabid feminist, but it is coming across that some here are bothered by the fact that our governor is female, whether they realize it or not. (It's not always easy to see in oneself.).There is a lot of criticism that wouldn't be equally dealt for a male.
For one thing, men aren't judged as much by their clothing and general appearance. Women still are, so she has to be more conscientious of this.
Also, I think she just has a nasal MI accent, and her voice is higher than a man's so it sounds more... unpleasant.

[michikawa]

Originally Posted by mgkeith

I'm no rabid feminist, but it is coming across that some here are bothered by the fact that our governor is female, whether they realize it or not. (It's not always easy to see in oneself.)

Well I don't really appreciate being accused of being a crypto-misogynist in a very polite, passive-aggressive tone, but I respect your opinion. I don't think I'm a misogynist for my reasonably objective observations, and that's really the only opinion that matters to me.


I also don't think that the "rawr rawr, you go girl!" mentality is universal to all women, nor do I believe that mentality should be given much weight in our political discourses. Of course there are people who view it differently, which is why we go to the polls.


The voting record will decide if Gov. Witmer's chosen public persona keeps her politically relevant, not the gripes of a soon-to-be middle-aged man on an internet forum.

[mgkeith]

Mine was just a straight-forward opinion based on observation and experience with a whole lot of people, over a whole lot of years. I am not a middle aged man, but a past middle aged woman!!! Not sure why... well never mind. That's funny.

[Sparrow_temp]

I can't see why anybody would think this. The governor of SD - Kristi Noem - has done a great job with Covid. Whitmer has been a disgrace. She was obviously trying to see if she could get the VP slot by doing the most extreme and arbitrary lockdown measures as she could. The evidence regarding lockdowns though is that at best they simply postpone the inevitable with respect to Covid while causing huge economic and psychological harm in the process. The only governors that seem to have done worse are those in CA, NY, & NJ.

Originally Posted by michikawa

Gov. Whitmer has done an OK job handling the COVID situation, but I don't think anyone can do a great job trying to suppress a new strain of the common cold, unless you consider forcible locking people in their homes like the CCP a great job.

[Gator Fan 79]

Originally Posted by Sparrow_temp

I can't see why anybody would think this. The governor of SD - Kristi Noem - has done a great job with Covid. Whitmer has been a disgrace. She was obviously trying to see if she could get the VP slot by doing the most extreme and arbitrary lockdown measures as she could. The evidence regarding lockdowns though is that at best they simply postpone the inevitable with respect to Covid while causing huge economic and psychological harm in the process. The only governors that seem to have done worse are those in CA, NY, & NJ.

The data shows that on a per-capita basis South Dakota ranks among the worst in the world. More than 10% of the population has now been infected. In New York, New Jersey, and Michigan that number is less than 5%. Additionally, despite a huge head start based on location and population density, South Dakota now ranks in the top 10 worst states in deaths per-capita.

I appreciate your opinions but would love to see them substantiated by objective facts.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

You can sort columns by clicking on the headers.

[ram2]

I recently made a trip to Ohio. Had lunch and dinner at restaurants, something I cannot do now in Michigan. Looks like Ohio has a leader with some common sense.

[Cabezablanca]

Originally Posted by PacificaViews

The first thing the governor should do is continue to make public announcements. Laws can be put into effect, but enforcing them is problematic and often not effective. Then the MOST important thing to do is to lead by example. Case in point, Gavin Newson, governor of CA, went to birthday party at the French Laundry restaurant in San Francisco last week - a group larger than 25 unrelated people. That's a very big slap in the face for everyone in CA that is trying to stay safe, while witnessing a hypocritical governor partying. People tend to follow trends and roll models.

Same with Donald Trump. As long as he is in office, he ridicules those that wear masks, continues to hold rallies, and encourages anti-masking. What's amazing is that his grandfather died from Spanish Flu when his father was only 13 years old. But Trump either lied or was clueless not knowing that: "When I was hearing the amount of people that died with the flu, I was shocked to hear it," Trump said while touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters. "Over the last, long period of time when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying. I've never heard those numbers, I would've been shocked. I would have said, 'Does anybody die of the flu?' I didn't know people died from the flu." - Donald Trump.

I'm so glad our president-elect Joe Biden is a good roll model, wearing a mask when not public speaking, and encouraging mask wearing and not participating in activities that cause spread. His press conferences were set up with safety measures not seen at Trump rallies. In fact, Biden didn't even hold "rallies" like Trump did because of the risk of Covid19 spread. Having the right roll model at the helm will help all our governors, and will help and protect all of us.

I know I'm very late to the thread. I do agree with just about everything you have said here. But, please, the expression is "role model." "Roll Model" would be a great name for a bakery, though! And while I'm picking nits, FWIW, sorry, the French Laundry restaurant is not in San Francisco. Great comments you made all the same.

[RayHammer]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Whitmer is quite unpopular in my county and lost it by 8 percentage points in 2018, and that was even pre-COVID, she would lose by more here now if the election was today. It's interesting too, because I don't live in some rural county up north, our county is fairly populous and borders some of the Bluest and most liberal counties in the state (Wayne, Washtenaw) and a Blue county in Ohio (Lucas) and there are many residents who are transplants from those counties. We also went for Trump in 2016 by quite a surprising margin, Trump 52%/Clinton 36%, considering this county went for Obama in 2008 and 2012. We just seem to be getting Redder with time.

Anecdotally, I see more than a few "My Governor is an Idiot" signs around. LOL.

You and everyone else. There's a reason the communists have to cheat. They know they are in the minority except in a few entrenched cities and university towns. Heck, even if you just want to monitor polling stations they chalk that up as "suppressing the vote". My o my how language gets distorted....

Once people become adults, have families to provide for and work that needs doing....they tend to not want to give the fruits of their labor away to those who refuse to pave their own way and to be responsible for their debts and their actions. In other words: people who grow up tend to grow conservative over time. We all have the agency to make choices.....be responsible for them.

There's an old saying that if you're young and conservative you don't have a heart, but if you're old and liberal you don't have a brain. I think that people on the far left haven't experienced real life yet, haven't earned money or had to work hard for it, haven't had real responsibilities like maintaining their own house (because calling in tradesmen gets expensive) or providing for a family (without handouts).

I also think one of the reasons the far left seeks to control everything is because it's largely made up of people who are very depressed, anxious, and insecure. They don't have control over their own lives and thus seek to control others. Normal people want to be left alone to go about their private business, interact with people they choose to interact with, and seek happiness on their own terms. I don't have the time to "oppress" anyone, so I don't know why the left thinks that's what normal people are just itching to do. Maybe it's a bit of projection on their part.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by RayHammer

You and everyone else. There's a reason the communists have to cheat. They know they are in the minority except in a few entrenched cities and university towns. Heck, even if you just want to monitor polling stations they chalk that up as "suppressing the vote". My o my how language gets distorted....

Let me introduce you to something called facts. The majority of people under 55 are liberal. If we use Presidential approval as a proxy to liberalism (which tracks, conservatives approve ~90/10, liberals disapprove ~90/10), 62% of 40-55 year olds are liberal, 71% of 25-40, 70% of 18-25 year olds. There are 233.7M Americans under 55.

RE: Michigan getting more conservative.
My theory:
1 - weakened organized labour. And somehow organized labour that's left now votes for anti-organized labour politicians...
2a - weakened education. I know you don't know this because you aren't in Michigan, but since 2000, real state funding for higher ed has been slashed by 50%. And that's just higher ed. Primary education has been gutted by the top - cutting state and local funding - and the bottom - privatization local schools. Both are directly due to the current Sec of Ed (I know Michigan residents already know this). A less educated population is conservative.
2b - prolonged weak economy. College grads leave. Michiganders with at least a bachelors is 3% below national average, ranking in the bottom 33% of states. And almost no Americans immigrate to Michigan, ranked 49th

[Sno0909]

Originally Posted by mgkeith

I'm no rabid feminist, but it is coming across that some here are bothered by the fact that our governor is female, whether they realize it or not. (It's not always easy to see in oneself.).There is a lot of criticism that wouldn't be equally dealt for a male.
For one thing, men aren't judged as much by their clothing and general appearance. Women still are, so she has to be more conscientious of this.
Also, I think she just has a nasal MI accent, and her voice is higher than a man's so it sounds more... unpleasant.

Friendly reminder that the only people we are allowed to criticize are straight, white males. Everyone else is off limits.