The Spring Hill Saga: Put A Corker In It
USA Today reports that Tennessee’s 2 Republican Senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander and GOP congresswoman Marsha Blackburn received a rather frosty reception when they went to Spring Hill on Friday to toast GM bringing jobs back to the Ex-Saturn plant. They got booed and heckled. Why the frosty reception? Well, if you remember, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker (along with the unnamed Congresswoman) were very vocal opponents against the bailout of GM and Chrysler. So, for 3 politicians to come back to their state and welcome back the very jobs which they would have been quite happy to see lost in the name of free market economics, probably stuck in the craw of the electorate. Namely, the UAW.
As USA Today reports it, “Sen. Bob Corker, was heartily booed by the largely United Auto Worker members on hand and a UAW official told them members won’t forget who supported them at election time.” Ouch! The USA Today article then goes on to quote our friends over at Jalopnik about a small comparison Jalopnik did with Sen. Corker’s comments before and after the bailout:
“Then: ‘This administration has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process, how to deal with these companies…This is a major power grab’ – March 30, 2009.
Now: ‘At the end of the day we all have to feel good about what we did,’ said Corker, who did attempt to negotiate the failed 2008 aid package. “I contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country.'”
Maybe Senators Corker and Alexander shouldn’t get too attached to their jobs, eh…?
More by Cammy Corrigan
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Typical politician, out of touch and self important enough to think they can always "sell" something to the public. They are in the same class as TV preachers and actors.
Corker is such a hypocrite he reminds me of the line "the day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA".
Cammy, I don't know if you vote Labour but as a Brit you likely have a feeble grasp of American political and economic culture. Most Americans have a strong aversion to socialistic schemes (admittedly, as long as the social security benefits keep rolling in. ;-) ). Probably a majority of well-informed Americans would have agreed with Corker and Alexander's stance on the GM and Chrysler bailouts: no taxpayer support for companies that have failed in the marketplace. We know the US government is broke. Contrary to your sarcasm, I'm sure they were distressed by the prospect of losing Spring Hill jobs. I applaud their standing on principle for for what they saw as the greater societal good. Again, I must emphasize that GM and the UAW were living in denial. The auto giants and UAW prospered as a result of an oligopoly for manufacturers and a monopoly for labor. Increased costs could simply be pushed onto the consumer via higher prices or cheapened product. That world came to an end. Despite taxpayer assistance, GM has had to change and the UAW eventually will too as the coddled old employees fade away.
Everybody's opinion of this guy is 100% true. I lived under the insufferable schister/developer when he was mayor of Chattanooga. If you can think of a means to try and score quick cash off the government he has probably at least tried it. All of this was in the name of economic development for the city which is totally unsustainable without pounding more taxes down the throats of the low-waged hard working folks who live there. He is a lying hypocrite, plain and simple.