For those of you who aren't aware, the Metro Detroit area is underwater.
No, seriously. Don't believe me? Take a look at these (credit to the Detroit News):
Those are some of the major freeways that some of you may have driven over (and under) getting to and from Netroots Nation last month. Look at those photos, then think about what's happened in the basements, attics, garages, etc. of tens of thousands of residents in the area.
Considering that two of the biggest outrages that Detroit has had to deal with this summer have to do with 1) WATER (as in, a lack of it being provided in a clean and drinkable fashion) and 2) ROADS (as in, they're crumbling all around the state and the GOP-run legislature refuses to fund any repairs), you'd think that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder would be very careful about how he chooses to address the flooding over the past couple of days, right?
Guess again:
The transcript:
I’ve been through a lot of things like that, Frank. We just recently had holes in our roof from storm damage to our lake house. We have a vacation place and we had a limb come down on the roof and had water running through the whole place; those experiences are not pleasant ones and they had to take some trees down.
Yup. Snyder just made Mitt Romney seem like a Regular Joe.
This incident has gone viral so quickly that "Weird Al" Yankovic has already produced a brand-new song and video* to mark the occasion:
Something tells me that Democratic candidate Mark Schauer, already neck-and-neck in the polls, is about to release one hell of an attack ad.
UPDATE: Thanks ot Peregrine Kate in the comments for pointing out that Snyder's quote is potentially even worse for him than that...because these photos aren't even from Detroit itself; they're from the surrounding suburban areas:
1. Dearborn - 6.31 inches
2. Southfield - 6.25 inches
3. Berkley - 6 inches
4. Troy - 5.46 inches
5. Warren - 5.2 inches
6. Dearborn Heights - 4.97 inches
7. Rochester - 4.9 inches
8. Woodhaven - 4.66 inches
9. Shelby Township - 4.63 inches
10. Detroit - 4.57 inches
11. Romulus - 4.57 inches
12. Fraser - 4.5 inches
My point is that probably at least half of these cities (Troy, Warren, Rochester, Shelby Township, Fraser are my guesses) are typically cities that vote Republican and would have gone for Snyder in 2010. For him to make such a callous remark regarding a disaster befalling Detroit alone wouldn't make him any new opponents. But in this case, it might.
I hope that Schauer's campaign quickly throws him an anchor, pun fully intended.
It's also important to note that the radio host Frank Beckmann is a hard-right conservative himself; not only was this about as friendly a venue as Snyder is likely to find at the local level, Beckmann even served up the question in the friendliest, most helpful way possible. Listen to the full transcript:
"See, a lot of people look at you, Governor Snyder, and go "here's the rich nerd who's always had it well because he's successful; he's never been impacted by this flooding stuff!"
Beckmann basically
warns Snyder that the next words which come out of his mouth had damned well better NOT make him sound like a filthy rich, out-of-touch, insensitive jerk.
So what's Snyder do half a second later? Take a guess.
*(For the snark-free among us: No, of course Yankovic didn't produce this song/video specifically in response to the Snyder quote. Yeesh.)
UPDATE x2: I realize the Ferguson mess is kind of overwhelming everything, but for anyone interested in a lighter break, #JustLikeTheDetroitFlood is currently trending on Twitter.