In My Opinion
Shawn McCuan
Issue date: 11/6/06 Section: Opinion
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The first gubernatorial debate occurred on October 2, 2006 for the State of Michigan. During the "no holds barred" debate, many key issues were discussed, and much was learned about each candidate. It is my opinion that the incumbent candidate, Governor Jennifer Granholm, clearly beat her opposition, Dick DeVos.
During the debate, Granholm was able to fully answer almost every question she was asked with minimal lag in her response time. However, when DeVos was asked a question, he often used many "filler words" such as "the people of Michigan…" and, his favorite word, "disappointing." Each of these words were used four times within the first five minutes of the debate, of which he was only speaking approximately half of the time, causing him to sound like a broken record.
DeVos also avoided directly answering the questions that were asked to him. He would use the previously mentioned "filler words" and then proceed to vaguely make a reference to the question and move on to an entirely different subject.
The first question in the debate was given to Dick DeVos, "Would you make it illegal to lie in commercials while campaigning?" His response was, "We've seen disappointing rhetoric...I hope we move forward...we need to improve ethics..."
During his response, he never made any statement about the legality of lying in commercials. Moments after this question was asked, they moved onto talking about creating jobs in Michigan. The Governor stated, "...when Mr. DeVos become CEO of Amway, there were fifty-three-thousand employee's in the company; when he left there were only thirty-nine-thousand employees remaining." DeVos then started saying "From the time that I took over as vice president to the international market..." To which Granholm interrupted, "No, sir. As CEO." He then started his statement over again, at which time one of the debate officials said, "Were her numbers true?" He again avoided answering the question, and then moved on to making statements about providing one-thousand jobs at Amway, and then listed various other companies he is involved with.
During the debate, Granholm was able to fully answer almost every question she was asked with minimal lag in her response time. However, when DeVos was asked a question, he often used many "filler words" such as "the people of Michigan…" and, his favorite word, "disappointing." Each of these words were used four times within the first five minutes of the debate, of which he was only speaking approximately half of the time, causing him to sound like a broken record.
DeVos also avoided directly answering the questions that were asked to him. He would use the previously mentioned "filler words" and then proceed to vaguely make a reference to the question and move on to an entirely different subject.
The first question in the debate was given to Dick DeVos, "Would you make it illegal to lie in commercials while campaigning?" His response was, "We've seen disappointing rhetoric...I hope we move forward...we need to improve ethics..."
During his response, he never made any statement about the legality of lying in commercials. Moments after this question was asked, they moved onto talking about creating jobs in Michigan. The Governor stated, "...when Mr. DeVos become CEO of Amway, there were fifty-three-thousand employee's in the company; when he left there were only thirty-nine-thousand employees remaining." DeVos then started saying "From the time that I took over as vice president to the international market..." To which Granholm interrupted, "No, sir. As CEO." He then started his statement over again, at which time one of the debate officials said, "Were her numbers true?" He again avoided answering the question, and then moved on to making statements about providing one-thousand jobs at Amway, and then listed various other companies he is involved with.
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