Dem Pols In Detroit Blast Romney Praise Obama On Auto Bailout

[bigtree]

November 08. 2011

Detroit— Five Democratic Congressmen from Metro Detroit rallied behind President Barack Obama on Tuesday — a day before eight GOP contenders vying for his job will debate at Oakland University.

The congressmen praised Obama for backing the U.S. auto industry with federal loans for General Motors and Chrysler and blasted chief Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a Michigan native, for opposing the federal aid.

"He turned his back on Michigan," said U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. Also in attendance at UAW Local 7 in Detroit were U.S. Reps. John Dingell, John Conyers, Gary Peters and Hansen Clarke.

Romney and seven other GOP hopefuls will take the stage 8 p.m. Wednesday for a debate centered on the economy. All the candidates have opposed federal bailouts for the auto industry, but Romney, son of Michigan's former government and auto executive, has taken the most heat for his opposition. He favored a structured bankruptcy for the two automakers, which they both emerged from.

Dingell, the dean of the House, said the Republican candidates need to be held accountable when they come to Michigan in defending their position of "let Detroit go bankrupt," he says, referring to a headline on a previous Romney opinion piece on the bailouts.

"Those Republican candidates for president were wrong," Peters said of their opposition to aid for the auto industry, which has since turned around. "President Obama was right."


read: http://www.detnews.com/article/20111108/POLITICS03/111080385/1409/metro

[LonePirate]

1. I don't believe any pollster that says Michigan is a toss-up state in 2012. Obama will win it easily

[Denninmi]

2. Alas, there are a lot of psychos here.

They vote Republican for the dumbest reasons. I used to work with an older, retired guy, UAW and proud of it, everything about him screamed "Democrat" -- except he voted Republican because of his opposition to gay rights. How messed up is that?

[Philosopher King]

3. It appears that the popularity of corporate welfare is dependent upon one's geographical location.

[bigtree]

4. it's a diverse nation

I would note that the effect of a collapsed auto industry affects more than just 'corporations'. Hundreds of thousands of small business offshoots would also lose their stream of job-supplying revenue.

[Philosopher King]

5. When poorly managed companies fail, better managed ones pick up the

slack by increasing their market share. Ford, Toyota, Honda and other auto makers cannot be happy about being forced to subsidize their competition and you really can't blame them.

This was no different than the bank bailouts--except the banks actually repaid their loans.

[bigtree]

6. how many jobs saved with the bank bailouts?

[Philosopher King]

16. If you believe what the ruling class says, the bank bailouts "saved the world."

In reality, both bailouts did little more than save the jobs for those who work for poorly managed companies.

[blue_onyx]

9. Wrong

Ford supported the bailout because of the damage that would've been done to suppliers if GM and Chrysler had closed.

"forced to subsidize their competition"

LOL. What about all those "tax incentives" Toyota, Honda, etc get to build factories in right-to-work state?

[Romulox]

12. Didja forget about "Cash 4 Clunkers," Mr. Friedmanite? Toyota was the top recipient.

In addition, the Federal Government used Nasa (:wtf:) to "prove" that Toyotas didn't suffer from rapid acceleration.

Didja forget, or do you just not know what you're talking about in the first instance? :hi:

[Philosopher King]

17. I get your point...one stupid policy justifies another.

[Romulox]

18. Your outrage seems EXTREMELY selective/ill informed. That's my point. nt

[Philosopher King]

19. Well, the subject of the thread is in fact, auto bailouts..

If you start a thread about the Cash for Clunkers program, you would see me criticizing it as well...same for the banks.

Thus, it would appear that you are the one with the EXTREMELY selective outrage.

[Romulox]

7. Who is John Galt? nt

[hatrack]

11. A cardboard character in a really shitty, boring book

nt

[Romulox]

13. I don't think we ever meet John, actually. He's a mere rhetorical device.

I was just using the phrase as a shorthand way of mocking our "objectivist" poster, above.

edit: wiki disagrees on this point. Oh well, I'm not ashamed to admit I haven't finished the book!

[hatrack]

14. I folded my tent at about page 350. . . . and I have a relatively high pain threshhold!

:hi:

[AtomicKitten]

8. It will be fun watching Romney campaign in Michigan.

Bet he wishes he can take this back: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?ex=1384837200&en=3616fe7f95dd6a7b&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

[Romulox]

10. The constituency Romney appeals to will applaud that. Even here in Michigan.

Michigan is an odd state. There are two poles of power--one Detroit (Democratic, odd mix of African American, White Ethnics, Southern transplants) and the other Grand Rapids (Republican, mostly Dutch.)

The Grand Rapids contingent has long resented Detroit's influence over the state, and many of this lot actively wish the Detroit area to fail.

[AtomicKitten]

15. Detroit has become a virtual ghost town. By design, I think. Ripe for eminent domain vultures.

[mstinamotorcity]

20. They the people that is

don't know anything about Detroit, The Auto Industry or Unions. People beat up on Detroit but can't see anything but the negative bs that they put out their for the public. Detroit has no more or less problems than other big cities. You can get your statistics and numbers and still would be off. Detroit is a backbone of Diversity and Innovation.