Ed Schultz's Pitch for Bailout of Detroit: Do As I Say, Not As I Drive

Hypocrisy, meet Ed Schultz ... What's this, you're already well acquainted?

The nation's top-rated liberal radio host has spent plenty of time this month pitching in favor of the feds lending $25 billion to the ailing Big Three automakers.

Schultz has also been bellicose toward those who disagree with him, singling out Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama for scorn. Here's what Schultz said Tuesday after playing a clip of Shelby describing his rationale for opposing a bailout of Detroit --

SCHULTZ: Just keep in mind, that voice, his party got their ass kicked. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Sen. Shelby from Alabama is protecting interests out of this country. He's an outsourcer. And he's trying to cover it up by bringing in foreign manufacturing to his own state. It is his mission to kill the Big Three ... Look, you're either for American manufacturing, you're either for the middle class, or you're not. I have said this at every union speech I've ever given and been in front of any crowd, you're either with us or you're against us. Sen. Shelby from Alabama is a terrorist on the American worker. He is a terrorist on wage workers.

(Click here to download audio.)

Yes, Schultz actually talks like that. This is what a strict diet of raw meat and Red Bull will do to a man.

What puts Schultz's remarks over the top is that ... wait for it ... he doesn't drive an American vehicle. Heck no, not Big Ed, as he let slip on Nov. 12 (click here for audio) --

SCHULTZ: Toyota makes a good product, I drive one, you know. I mean, c'mon now, we've drive Fords, we've driven GMs, we drive all kinds of vehicles.

When it came to Schultz acquiring his current vehicle, Ford and GM in their hour of peril didn't t make the cut, but Toyota suited him dandy.

If Shelby is a "terrorist" against American workers by Schultz's reckoning, isn't Schultz aiding and abetting "terrorism" by buying a foreign vehicle?  

Note how Schultz also relies on an Orwellian definition of outsourcing in propping up his case against Shelby. The Alabama Senator is an "outsourcer" because he's "bringing" foreign manufacturing to Alabama. But as often the case, Schultz gets it backwards. Outsourcing occurs when foreign manufacturers "bring" American jobs abroad to their countries, not when American politicians compel foreign manufacturers to "bring" their companies to the US.

Notice also how easily Schultz slips into the language of "you're either with us or you're against us," which liberals like him otherwise consider repugnant when used in reference to actual terrorists.

A possible explanation for Schultz's willingness to look far, far beyond the Big Three in his automotive preferences comes to mind. Back in July, Schultz spent considerable time harping on Ford Motor Company's inflexibility in renegotiating a lease for his Ford F150 pickup (click here for audio) --

Well, has Ford considered, maybe I like the truck? Have they considered that maybe we need the truck and don't want to go through the hassle of leasing another one or buying another one right now? That there's absolutely nothing wrong with the vehicle. And wouldn't it be a good thing if I were to continue payments on that vehicle? Oh no, we gotta turn it back in. They're tight as a drum on this stuff, all the paperwork. Send a guy out, they, I mean, they go through the whole thing and they value it, this dent, that scar, scratch, whatever, this that and the other, mileage, and they inspect it and then they sign off on it. And then you gotta turn it back in.

I'm saying that I think that one of the reasons why Ford is losing a bunch of money on their lease portfolio is because they're not going to customers like me, big fat Eddie, and saying, hey, would you like, what do you say we extend this for a year? I looked at the contract, that's not in there. It's either turn it back in or buy the damn thing at $24,000, which I'm not going to do. 

So now Ford's going to take a bath on the truck that I leased a few years ago because the market's turned around, but nowhere in there have they asked me, you know what, hey, dial 1-800 and we'll give you some options. They don't have that. And they can sit there and turn and say to the American people, well, we only lost $8 billion in the last quarter and it's because we got a bad lease portfolio, but they're not doing anything.  I can tell you, I can give you testimony that they're not doing anything to change that. And so their second-quarter loss was $3.88 a share. Anybody like that?

And so when you start talking about, well, it's the damn unions, Ed! It's their health care! You know, that's one of the reasons why we can't build any damn cars in this country, it's the labor costs too much. Let me tell you something, folks, in my opinion and I'm just a consumer and I don't know everything about the car business, but you know what? It looks to me like they got some slow-reacting boneheads in the front office that have no communication with their customer base other than to send me some options, this is what you signed, this is the way it is, you want to buy the truck? No? Turn it back in, we're sending it back to the guy out there to check it out. By the way, it's got to be at the dealership by the 17th of August. End of story. They walked themselves right into a loss.  

Enough so to make a prairie populist like Schultz turn to Toyota.