[Cross-posted from Daily Kos.]

SteveinMI and kidfury already covered the announcement by Dick DeVos (R-Scamway) yesterday [at dKos], but the story continues. Below the jump, I've got astounding world-is-flat A=B doublespeak insanity from the Scamway king himself, plus a round-up of Michigan GOP events this weekend. If you're in the area, why not go ask him to clarify his bullshit position? On camera.

Now, as of last night or this morning, the DeVos campaign is sending around a "correction" to the "inaccurate" AP story. It goes like this:

"I've always believed that our children should be provided with more knowledge, not less.  Lots of intelligent people can disagree about the origins of life.  In the end, I believe in our system of local control.  Local school boards should have the opportunity to offer evolution and intelligent design in their curriculums."

And that "inaccurate" AP story? It says:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos says he thinks Michigan's science curriculum should include a discussion about intelligent design. ... "I would like to see the ideas of intelligent design that many scientists are now suggesting is a very viable alternative theory," DeVos told The Associated Press this week during an interview on education. "That theory and others that would be considered credible would expose our students to more ideas, not less."

In other words, how dare you quote me accurately!  

Also: Credible? ID? How about this: would this make the state's schools more credible? At a time when education has never been more important, when Michigan is fighting to remain competitive in the global economy, he finds it important to point out that he thinks schools should be able to ignore the science he doesn't like. Despicable.

Coming the same day as news about a 3.3 million year old skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis, over 100K years older than the famous "Lucy" skeleton, it just looks all the more foolish.

And it reminds me of the big Rolling Stone article this week on the "dominionists" among whom DeVos counts himself. They're the theocrats DarkSyde and Mark Crispin Miller and others have argued represent the truly frightening theocratic vanguard of the religious right. Falwell is a piker. DeVos is the real deal -- this should be a Christian nation governed by Christian laws, dammit, he says. And you don't have to be an atheist to find that vision of America disturbing.

Anyway, the good news is DeVos will be out in public around the state this weekend, as will Mike Bouchard, Saul Anuzis and the rest of the rogue's gallery. If you're in proximity, you might think about walking up and asking them what they think. If you've got a camera handy, you might think about posting the results on YouTube. This could be an awesome chance to do for the MI Gov and MI Sen races what the innovators in Connecticut did during the CT Dem primary - and what made George Allen synonymous with a small South Asian monkey." 

Here are the events I'm aware of, copied from the Michigan GOP emails I'm sure glad I signed up for. But I'm sure there's more:

• Also, you are invited to join Dick DeVos, Mike Bouchard, Congressman Mike Rogers, Saul Anuzis, Betsy DeVos, State Rep. Candidate John Knowles, and Lt. Govenor Candidate Ruth Johnson to a tailgating event hosted by the Michigan Republicans at the MSU vs. Notre Dame game this Saturday in East Lansing. ... Our spot is in the T-lot directly in front of the stadium. Look for the gigantic "DeVos for Governor" sign.




• WHAT:  You're invited to join
  
  Fall Campaign Kickoff Party!
  
  2:30 PM - 5:30 PM
  
  10701 W. McNichols Rd
  
  Detroit, MI 48221
  
  Come and Have fun, food & drinks with the
  
  Team for Change and meet DeVos for
  
  Governor Campaign Manager:

And if you do manage to get there with your camera and put it on YouTube, please post a diary here about it.

There's more...

This diary entry is a summary.  Please see the full analysis for a more in-depth examination.

The Detroit News/WXYZ-TV EPIC/MRA poll just released new information on MI-Gov and MI-Sen.  Here's my election analysis based on the numbers:

Keep in mind that there are a lot of problems with the methodology of polling in general (question wording bias, bias because of the kinds of people who decide to respond, bias in phone ownership, answers differing from actual voting behavior, question order influences).  On top of that, no poll accounts for voter energy and election day GOTV.  Finally, remember what Mark Grebner had to say about ballot proposals.

In this particular poll, 57% females were questioned as opposed to 43% males.  The fact that females were more likely to answer the poll tells us two things.   It tells us that the method used to pick respondents is not representative of the population.  It also explains some of the difference in favor of Granholm and Stabenow (since women tend to favor Granholm and Stabenow by a greater margin than men).

With all of that in mind, onto the numbers...

There's more...