ABC Showcases Chrysler Workers to Decry Romney’s Opposition to Bailout
Previewing the Michigan primary, ABC’s David Muir found three Chrysler workers to boast of how the Obama administration’s auto bailout “worked” and “it would have been devastating” if Mitt Romney had his way and it didn’t occur. Muir cued up the workers to confirm “all of you had your jobs saved?”
Muir did note that “Romney says it’s the billions in government bailout money that came with it that was a sweetheart deal for the unions,” but countered with a sympathetic “Michigan mother” who declared: “It worked. The results show for themselves. We are on our way back. We are being profitable again.” Muir proceeded to a man who, he relayed, “says it wasn’t just his job saved, it was the police officer, the teacher...”
When the mother contended the bailout worked, Muir at least challenged her on the method: “There is an argument, that it shouldn't have been the government. It should have been a private entity.” But he gave also her time to retort: “Yes, but who? Who has the money? What private entity would have saved an industry? Oprah? Where are we going to get that money from?”
From the Wednesday, February 15 ABC World News:
DAVID MUIR: ....Michigan was once considered hallowed ground for Romney, it’s where he grew up, where his father George was President of American Motors in the 1950s and later Governor...Tonight, Romney is hoping voters remember those roots. But many blue-collar voters here remember something else, what Mitt Romney said about the auto bailout, writing this op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” arguing: “If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout, you can kiss the American automotive industry good-bye.”
MUIR: You’re all from Michigan?
GROUP: Yes.
MUIR: All of you had your jobs saved?
GROUP: Yes.
MUIR: For Romney it’s now a tricky argument after the bailout helped GM and Chrysler turn their fortunes around. Romney says he always backed the automakers going through a managed bankruptcy, which is what President Obama did. But Romney says it’s the billions in government bailout money that came with it that was a sweetheart deal for the unions. This Michigan mother was out of work 14 months. Today, she’s back on the job as an electrician on the assembly line.
STACIE STEWARD, CHRYSLER ELECTRICIAN: It worked. The results show for themselves. We are on our way back. We are being profitable again.
MUIR: But there is an argument, that it shouldn't have been the government. It should have been a private entity.
STEWARD: Yes, but who? Who has the money? What private entity would have saved an industry? Oprah? Where are we going to get that money from?
MUIR: Raising a family, Jeff Klayo says it wasn’t just his job saved, it was the police officer, the teacher, the ripple effect connected to every worker on the assembly line.
JEFF KLAYO, CHRYSLER ELECTRICIAN: For me, three other people would have been effected by it. It would have been devastating.
- Brent Baker's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
And their product dependability is the worst.
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 9:38pm.
Interesting article: http://autos.yahoo.com/news/lexus-tops-as-survey-finds-more-auto-dependa...
Can ABC please tell us how they will survive as a business turning out junk?
Just now got back from picking up a new---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 9:57pm.
KIA .
Hadn't been down to the megaplex new auto dealer area in years.
Place is an absolute ghost town - many, many shut down dealerships.
Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, and KIA, however, are doing quite well.
Wonder why that is?
MD
Gee, md, I don't know
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:06pm.
LOL - Maybe it's because they build a superior product?
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
MD,
Submitted by Trix Rabbit on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:10pm.
I have two Asian cars and as long as uaw/obama-motors is around, I will never buy anything else.
For the MSM: In your pomp and all your glory, you're a poorer man than me. As you lick the boots of death born out of fear.
Ian Anderson "Wind up"
Its mostly PR, PR sells cars
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 12:16pm.
Its mostly PR, PR sells cars and pretty much everything else. PR sold us Obama in 2008.
Yes, imagine them let reemerge from bankruptcy
Submitted by merly1 on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 9:50pm.
It was a total gift to the unions at the expense of the bondholders and taxpayers.
The companies would have survived, and with much lower overhead.
The media, yet again, is totally deceptive in portraying what the GOP wanted
in the auto reorganizations.
Exactly
Submitted by WingletDriver on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 3:13pm.
The bailout put the unions ahead of the bond and stockholders, which is opposite the way bankruptcy laws are designed. There was a legal mechanism for the auto companies to survive, but that would have limited the unions giving to the DNC.
So, we spent $80 Billion to save a few thousand jobs. Talk about a travesty.
Cry me a river and pay the loan back!
Submitted by Injest on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 9:53pm.
"Obama administration’s auto bailout “worked” and “it would have been devastating” if Mitt Romney had his way and it didn’t occur. Muir cued up the workers to confirm “all of you had your jobs saved?”
forgot ta mention a union only parking lot that that the day drunks can go and drink while on lunch, and smoke dope
"Muir did note that “Romney says it’s the billions in government bailout money that came with it that was a sweetheart deal for the unions,” but countered with a sympathetic “Michigan mother” who declared: “It worked. The results show for themselves".
Please explain Ford that did not get a bailout
We are on our way back. We are being profitable again.” Muir proceeded to a man who, he relayed, “says it wasn’t just his job saved, it was the police officer, the teacher...”
"Romney says he always backed the automakers going through a managed bankruptcy, which is what President Obama did".
Proving the bailout was unnecessary.
"JEFF KLAYO, CHRYSLER ELECTRICIAN: For me, three other people would have been effected by it. It would have been devastating".
Would it have been more devastating than it was for people the President didn't bail out?
Let Go Of My Country....
Submitted by JRobertGiles on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 9:54pm.
Strip away the power of their arguments by making them unpopular. The left can't help themselves when it comes to chasing that which is popular or trending. Let's watch them short circuit as they realize they're chasing morality. Please read and share!
http://jrobertgiles.blogspot.com/2012/02/let-go-of-my-country.html
J Robert Giles
when failure is an option
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:01pm.
To say the auto companies were 'saved' because of the bailout is to presume that the original problem that put the companies into crisis was a lack of government funds.
The companies will only be saved when they put out a product in demand and at a profit.
That is unless bailouts become part of an ongoing business plan. If a failing business is too big to fail today why would tomorrow be any different?
All the bailout did for Chrysler was to delay the inevitable
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:20pm.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Yes, see....
Submitted by GregE on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:04pm.
....because, without government, businesses don't know what they're doing.
"It should have been a
Submitted by jdhawk on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:12pm.
"It should have been a private entity.
STEWARD: Yes, but who? Who has the money? What private entity would have saved an industry? Oprah? Where are we going to get that money from?"
The above argument rings hollow given that a Private Equity company Cerberus Capital Management bought Chrysler from Daimler Chrylser in 2007. Private Equity companies have purchased companies for a whole lot more than Chrysler was purchased for.
By the way, this isn't an American company. It is owned by Fiat which is an Italian company. And, given the straights that Italy is in now, it won't take long until Fiat looks to unload this turkey in order to save itself. Of course, we the taxpayers will be right there to loan still more billions.
As we all know GM/Chrysler is
Submitted by Sude23 on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:18pm.
As we all know GM/Chrysler is like any other business, when things look bad for a company they need to act in order to fix internally (Usually where the problem is with any company) and if they don't guess what? They go out of business and close down. I mean if Ford was able to turn things around for themselves with out any government bail out and they did it proudly as well. It only makes sense that GM be able to do the same. The workers do not need to get mad at someone who is pointing out good business sense they need to get mad at the people who put their jobs in danger to begin with. I guess it must be nice to be guaranteed a job when so many are struggling to find one (Points to himself).
Chrysler
Submitted by HudsonRiverGirl on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:31pm.
And these union workers were all republicans before Romney made his statement about the country being better of with a managed bankruptcy of the auto industry.
Sure they were!
not
GM is not the Auto industry,
Submitted by Sude23 on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:47pm.
GM is not the Auto industry, they are a part of it. They are not the only ones in this country that make cars. And I think with less bailouts like GM going around then yes the better off we will be.
Did they opine on whether they'd object....
Submitted by krendler on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:33pm.
Did they opine on whether they'd object to using tax dollars to bail out my company or ANY and EVERY company in the U.S. that was poorly managed, produced products that couldn't compete, and was driven into the ground by unions?
Also might have asked the dopes: Why did you clowns need to be bailed out by taxpayer dollars and Ford didn't?
A glimse
Submitted by American.Patriot on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:36pm.
of what the main stream media will do to carry the obama messiah water. we're in for a lot of this crap in the coming months.
I actually know people who watch this crap and actually believe it?
Sympathy - for slaves?
Submitted by Slyrr on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:38pm.
Notice how fat they all were? No coincidence. They're union 'fatcats', every one.
Of COURSE all the crooks who have their jaws firmly clamped onto the government teat are going to howl with fury at the threat of someone putting a stop to their cushy little scam.
They'll dredge up every sob story they can, but what it really is is a list of all the people who have shackled themselves into the slavery of government bondage.
Each and every one of those sad sacks is a slave. The bailout money and taxpayer money are their slave wages - the crumbs that the government lets tumble to the floor for them to fight over. And fight they do.
Because what is the alternative? And end to their scam. And like most slaves who are used to their captivity (even many Israelites were scared to death of leaving Egypt for an unknown future with Moses in the wilderness), they want to stay 'warm and comfy' in their slavery. They don't want to have to go out into the cold, hard world and get REAL jobs. They want their slave wages because they come easily, effortlessly, regularly.
As long as they vote Demorat.
Whose profit?
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:01pm.
STACIE STEWARD, CHRYSLER ELECTRICIAN: "It worked. The results show for themselves. We are on our way back. We are being profitable again."
That's so nice, because the Treasury Dept recently up the taxpayers' permanent loss on its Chrysler 'investment' to $23 million. How does a company turn a profit without paying off its creditors?
I would've asked this groupf of Chrysler employees this question: "Given that Ford Motor Company took no bailout money and is surviving, would you attribute Chrysler's disastrous losses to (a) poor workmanship, (b) poor management, or (c) both poor workmanship and poor management."
Chrysler is not profitable
Submitted by big.league.slider on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:03pm.
Chrysler is not profitable when one includes its billions in pension liabilities and unpaid loans. Chrysler is no longer really part of the American automotive industry since it is mostly owned by the Italians (Fiat).
The brand is history
Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:32pm.
Years ago, guy talking to the Chrysler sales manager about the Plymouth Brand: "pretty good car, now if they could just figure out a way to keep the door handles from falling off"
Not to mention all the media reports we saw the past few years(NOT) w the guys taking their booze break.
good night all
Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:36pm.
Got to close the garage door on my Crown Vic and the wife's Taurus
lies, damned lies and statistics
Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:49pm.
GM and Chrysler are now coming back in a crummy economy and they went bankupt in a good economy?
feel free to scratch head in wide eyed wonderment
Chrysler- the mark of junk
Submitted by reddog339 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 12:35am.
Local Detroit TV news did undercover story showing workers on lunch hour smoking pot, drinking booze, going to crack house to buy and then TV station did a followup story -same results- Do you want your family in a car built by these people?
Please Uncle 'Bama. Save my job at the Ding Dong factory.
Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 1:25am.
Hostess files bankruptcy, Unions Prepare to strike Dolly Madison parent company to cut benefits, freeze pay wage increases as part of restructuring
Hostess is going through the normal route. We need Uncle 'Bama to step in and save us all.
Don't count on it,
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 1:46am.
Don't count on it, Vet.................it's not Government mandated 'healthy' food.............unless, of course, Moooooooooooooochelle has a penchant for deep-fried Twinkies, in which case, they WILL be bailed-out!!!
My Dad was a Hudson man; I
Submitted by truth_to_hypocrisy on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:00am.
My Dad was a Hudson man; I learned to drive in a Studebaker all gone the way of the dinosaur, having a good business model is important. I’ve owned at least one all the existing “American” made cars in my life time. Never had a good experience with a Dodge/Chrysler product and now that GM (Fiat) has taken government money I won’t waste my time or money.
I can still remember the Chrysler bailout of 1979. I don’t care that they paid back the loan in 1983 they still make a crappy product and didn’t fix their business model, nothing has changed.
I bought two Toyotas in the 70s when gas prices were going up and some service stations were dry; I didn’t like waiting in long gas lines. Today, I own two Ford F150s and a Mitsubishi, door plates on all three say manufactured in good old USofA and if Ford doesn’t keep me happy I can always buy a nonunion American made Toyota truck manufactured in Evansville, IN or a Camry made in Georgetown, KY.
Romney was right and the Motor City can kiss …well you know what I mean.
I'd love to roll down on the
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 2:13am.
I'd love to roll down on the beach in an immaculate Hudson Hornet or Wasp............with my surfboards in the trunk......and park next to the Prius' or the other little Obama-mobile electric death traps.............although, to tell you the truth, most of the surfers drive regular 'fossil-fuel' buring trucks and cars. But it would be cool as hell to roll in, open the trunk, pull out my boards, and go have a surf. I'd do it in a classic Studebaker too!! I'd like to blow a few minds...........especially of the enviromental whackos.
I saw a bumper sticker on an acquaintence of mine's car..............he's a notorious lib who was all about Obama. Now he's sporting a Ron Paul sticker!!! I haven't had the chance to tweak his little lib brain to find out about the 'fundamental transformation' of his thought process!!!
THINK BIAS IS BAD NOW? JUST YOU WAIT.....
Submitted by Sgthulka on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 5:35am.
This is why I haven't laid eyes on a network newscast in years.They aren't even trying to hide their bias anymore.
It's not the Democrats I detest. It's every smug, condescending and pompous news anchor/reporter out there.
Want to find the true enemy? Turn on your TV or open a newspaper.
Chrysler Makes CRAP
Submitted by JEB Stewart on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 11:06am.
JD Powers NEW dependability Survey.......Guess who is at the bottom????????
Bottom (4)
Ram
Jeep
Dodge
Chrysler
Does anyone have a good
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 1:02pm.
Does anyone have a good source detailing the debacle that is the GM and Chrysler bailouts?