GOP: Don't blame us, blame the UAW

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16545.html

By MANU RAJU | 12/12/08 7:49 PM EST


As General Motors announced the temporary closure of 20 plants Friday, Republicans who fought a White House-backed bailout plan want Americans to blame the United Auto Workers and think about Rod Blagojevich.

The GOP strategy, previewed in an “action alert” sent by a Republican lobbyist and outlined by Republican aides, is based on the idea that the best defense is a good offense — and the hope that the taint of the Illinois governor will rub off on organized labor.

“This is the Democrats’ first opportunity to pay off organized labor after the election ... a precursor to card check and other items,” said the memo. “Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it.”


Republicans who fought a White House-backed bailout plan want Americans to blame the United Auto Workers and think about Rod Blagojevich.
Photo: AP


Hours after that memo was circulated Wednesday, five GOP senators went before TV cameras to declare their opposition to a $14 billion bailout for GM, Chrysler and Ford. The House approved the plan Wednesday night, but it died in the Senate Thursday night when only 10 Republican voted for a procedural motion to allow passage.

With world markets plunging on the news, the Bush administration quickly opened the door to using money from this fall’s $700 billion financial-market bailout to keep Chrysler and GM alive into next year — an idea it had previously rejected.

Some Republican senators are resistant to that plan, too, saying the White House shouldn’t do anything to help the automakers without imposing the restructuring requirements that would have been included in the congressional bailout plan.

FULL 2 page story at link.

[JuniperLea]

1. This has always been about union busting...

The workers didn't do this; the C-level did this. The workers do what they are told; the C-level do the telling. It wasn't the workers who failed to keep up with the market; the C-level decision makers failed.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. !!!

:thumbsup:

[fascisthunter]

3. basically, republicans want Americans to work for the same wages Chinese do

that's what they thing of Americans. They think Americans are there for their bidding. No rights, no real freedoms...

Unions aren't the problem... If companies gaurenteed good pay and treated their employees better, there wouldn't be a need for Unions. But history shows us all that there is a need. Hell, the very countries us companies outsource their jobs to, are a prime example.

[JuniperLea]

4. Yep, what history shows us is there's no such thing as a self-regulating company...

If there were, we'd not be in the mess we are now.

Left to their own devices, most companies would break the backs of their employees on a daily basis... oh, and a day would be 12-hours long.

[Third Doctor]

8. I agree totally

I've seen company/power abuses all of my life.

[sakabatou]

5. Once agan, the GOP shows it's colors

and they are again unions.

[spoony]

6. So it's not enough to screw us all over, they've got to

use the dying body of labour as a shield. Sons of dogs. Utter scum.

[gizmo1979]

7. They screwed the donkey

this time.I just read yesterday that the key to them making a comeback is to get a couple of the rust belt states to flip.That's not gonna happen anytime soon.

[Kansas Wyatt]

9. Democrats need to re-frame the republican message about blaming unions to....

'Republicans demand Americans work for less money and compete with Chinese wages and conditions.'

[Gman2]

10. This makes it fucking WAR. Now it is clear. I was feeling guilty for wanting to

persecute and prosecute the neoconjobs. Like they said, the best defense is a good offense. Let's roll!

[opihimoimoi]

11. Thee World is falling apart...oceans rising, people w/o food, people w/o water,

Coral reefs dying, Ocean Acid Levels climbing, Economy crumbling, Depression staring us in the face, loss of millions of jobs, loss of homes, Devalued real estate, etc etc

The PLANET is FUCKING DYING...and they worry about saving their own shit...bust unions to get it....WHO THE FUCK are these ASSHOLES??

Don't they worry about the big picture? Can they comprehend the SCOPE of a DYING PLANET??? WTF is so hard to see OVER POPULATION?

DUMB ASS PUBs always looking for self interest.....