The candidate of Trump, Bush and Romney has savaged working families

Maine, Pennsylvania and Florida all elected Tea Party governors who didn’t hide their disdain for government. And nearly four years later Paul LaPage (R-ME), Tom Corbett (R-PA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) are among the nation’s most vulnerable governors.

Michigan’s Rick Snyder posed as a moderate and won easily. The economy was so miserable in November of 2010 that it’s possible that even the “Get A Brain! Morans” guy could have won that election. But Snyder’s demeanor and rhetoric promised that he’d govern in a way that favored business but didn’t purposely assault working families.

As soon as he got into office, we found out that having an alleged moderate with no actual political base was the same as having a Tea Party rally running our state. Republicans taxed pensions while eliminating the $600 per child tax deduction, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the homestead property tax credit to pay for huge tax cuts for business.

While continually cutting funding to education and local governments, he’s twice signed Emergency Manager Laws that impose “shock doctrine” governance on people who have suffered the most from globalization. And he’s tried to deliver a fatal blow to the unions who created Michigan’s middle class.

And while Snyder isn’t as unpopular as LaPage, Corbett or Scott, he’s the 7th most vulnerable governor in the nation, according to The New York Times‘ Nate Silver. And that’s no surprise to anyone who follows politics in Michigan.

Democrats have a candidate in Mark Schauer who voted to cut taxes on 98% of Americans, helped reform the student loan system and favored the Democratic auto rescue that is almost singularly responsible for any recovery Michigan is experiencing.

Meanwhile Snyder is completing his “Full Romney” — running as a moderate and governing severely conservatively — by hanging around with Donald Trump and Jeb Bush.

And in this Republican Party, that’s actually considered moving to the center.

[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]