Republican ex-governor Milliken endorses Kerry

In his statement, Milliken wrote: “This president has pursued policies pandering to the extreme right wing across a wide variety of issues that has exacerbated the polarization and the strident, uncivil tone of much of what passes for political discourse in this country today.”

He chided the administration for losing 2.6 million jobs. “To make matters even worse, this president inherited a surplus, but squandered it with huge tax cuts structured primarily to benefit the wealthy and powerful,” Milliken wrote.

Milliken said the president “in a highly partisan, unilateral way rushed us into a tragic and unnecessary war that has cost the lives of more than 1,000 of our young men and women. In this arrogant rush to war, he has alienated this nation from much of the world.”

He said Kerry “has put forth a coherent, responsible platform of progressive initiatives that I believe would serve this country well. He wants to balance the budget, step up the environmental protection efforts, rebuild our international relationships, support stem-cell research, protect choice and pursue a number of other progressive initiatives that moderates from both parties can support.”

<http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0410/19/a01-308120.htm>

What a shining example of a moderate, independent thinker not a lockstep neo-con. Let's hope many of the moderate GOP follow his lead; we are seeing that happen in Ann Arbor.

I say give them a month.

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Of course Milliken knows "that times have changed"....he also knows that we need a real leader, not a neo-con lapdog. This is just more of the same disregard the state Republican party has publically shown Bill Milliken over the last couple of decades.

>>John Truscott, spokesman for Bush’s Michigan campaign, downplayed its potential while acknowledging that Milliken is “very likeable” and served well as governor.

>>“He isn’t part of any organization, and people who are likely to follow him already have their minds made up one way or another,” Truscott said. “What Governor Milliken doesn’t realize is that times have changed and that we need is a very strong leader as president to keep us safe.