Schauer Ducks Media After Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Debate

After his rehearsed talking points fell flat and his lies were exposed, Mark Schauer ducked out of last night's gubernatorial townhall like a ref who just blew a huge call during a playoff game. Schauer wouldn't even talk to the media afterwards, instead leaving that job up to surrogates.

Elaine Cromie | MLive

It's hard to imagine Gretchen Whitmer doing that if she were running-and fittingly, she was one of Schauer's surrogates, sent in to clean up after his mess. Perhaps this is why Bob King seemed to have wanted Whitmer to get in to the race months ago? What kind of gubernatorial candidate gives a giant middle finger to the Michigan press corps while trailing an incumbent Governor 23 days away from the election?

The hour long debate, moderated by Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press and Nolan Finley of the Detroit News, had many interesting moments.

 In one exchange, Snyder talked over Finley to address Schauer's lies about a contract Snyder's cousin received prior to Snyder even becoming Governor. Snyder continued as Finley attempted to cut him off.

Despite the fact Schauer's education lie has been debunked again and again, Schauer repeated it, leaving Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press shocked.

On WXYZ Channel 7 last night, Henderson said:

"Mark Schauer remarkably repeated the billion dollar cut to education after we at the Free Press have spent a lot of time dissecting that and showing that it's not true. I was a little taken back by that. I wish we had more time to get into why is the math not right here."

Elaine Cromie | MLive

Elaine Cromie | MLive

Schauer spoke with rehearsed talking points-lacking in substance and short on style, he seemed like an anxious high school kid struggling to give a stump speech in pursuit of being Class President. And those hand gestures doe! Apparently Terri Land is not the only candidate who likes to "talk with her hands."

Perhaps this is why Schauer refuses to hold townhalls, like Gov. Snyder has.

Snyder looked calm, confident, and passionate. He was wonky when he needed to be, and did a great job of countering Schauer's rhetoric-especially while talking about the fake "Senior Pension Tax."

With three weeks to go until the election, this event probably won't make a huge difference. For the 140,000 households who watched though, their was a clear choice on display: the professional politician, or the professional problem solver. Michiganders will choose the latter.

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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com

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Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson