As a worldly American and car nut, on one of your world travels, there will be a time when you fall in love with a car in a foreign land. The crush on that thing will be so big that you will want to take the irresistible beauty home with you. Just ask Sajeev or Frau Murilee.
The Detroit News reports that the only Republican in Washington with subpoena power, Rep Darrel Issa has written a letter asking Ford CEO Alan Mulally for “a full and complete explanation of Ford’s decision” to stop running an advertisement that was critical of the TARP-funded auto bailout.
In a letter, Issa asks Ford if any White House, Treasury or other federal employee discussed the ad with any Ford employee “at any time via any manner of communication” and asks the automaker to turn over any documents connected to any discussion by Oct. 12.
Spokeswoman Meghan Keck said Ford will cooperate, but reiterated that the White House didn’t pressure the Dearborn automaker.
I just got off the phone with Detroit News managing editor Don Nauss. “We stand by our column,” he told me. “It was based on multiple sources. It’s written by a busines columnist who can draw conclusions based on the reporting that they do.”
The story contains no attribution for the central charge of White House calls to Ford. Asked about this, Nauss declined to comment.
Asked to clarify if the column was alleging any White House pressure on Ford (the story hints at it up top but quotes someone later saying there was no pressure), Nauss declined to say. “The story speaks for itself,” he said.
When contacted about his column, Howes referred me to Nauss’s comments above.
[UPDATE: Ford has restored the video to Youtube. More details here.]
Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes reports in a column that Ford has pulled its controversial “bailout ad” after the White House asked “questions” about it. And apparently the take-down decision makes this a threatened piece of footage: in addition to yanking the spot from the airwaves, the version of the video we posted two weeks ago has been taken down from YOutube as well [a home recording of it can still be found here]. So what happened that Ford would throw its most popular ad in ages down the memory hole? Howes is cryptic…
Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early ’09 and again when the ad flap arose…
With President Barack Obama tuning his re-election campaign amid dismal economic conditions and simmering antipathy toward his stimulus spending and associated bailouts, the Ford ad carried the makings of a political liability when Team Obama can least afford yet another one. Can’t have that. (Read More…)
My commitment is to the American taxpayer. My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed… We want our money back and we’re going to get it.
Without even getting into the politics of President Obama’s proposed “financial crisis responsibility fee,” it’s easy to see that the initiative holds a wealth of implications for America’s TARP-recipient automakers. In Obama’s new rhetoric, taking TARP money put businesses in a new category of special obligation to the taxpayers. Though the fee is targeted at financial institutions, the principle applies just as much to Detroit.
Hummer - Golden, that depends, One can easily get at or over 25mpg on a slightly tuned mid-late 90′s Dodge with the cummins, compared to the gas getting 8-10...
golden2husky - Zackman, the excessive bloat of cars is certainly not limited to American ones. All vehicles have simply gotten too heavy. Even Honda, while doing OK on...
golden2husky - Part of the problem with diesel is that although it give higher mileage from a tank of fuel, it costs notably more. I never ran the numbers but around...
Summicron - ” they relentlessly ground everyone else into the mud as their products improved” I wish Honda all possible success, but Gulfstream, Cessna, Embraer et al....
golden2husky - and psilocybin made me see the dash of my friends Fiat Brava fall apart in great detail..and then he pushed it back together and looked at me and said...
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Hummer - Golden, that depends, One can easily get at or over 25mpg on a slightly tuned mid-late 90′s Dodge with the cummins, compared to the gas getting 8-10...
golden2husky - Zackman, the excessive bloat of cars is certainly not limited to American ones. All vehicles have simply gotten too heavy. Even Honda, while doing OK on...
Bowler300 - I would still be driving my Smart if it had three pedals.
Hummer - If the technology has potentional then manufacturers will make it, there is NO CAPITAL N_O reason to produce something that will not make...
golden2husky - Part of the problem with diesel is that although it give higher mileage from a tank of fuel, it costs notably more. I never ran the numbers but around...
Summicron - ” they relentlessly ground everyone else into the mud as their products improved” I wish Honda all possible success, but Gulfstream, Cessna, Embraer et al....
Xeranar - They could use a specially designed internal combustion engine but yes, odds on they’re using electric motors.
Shawnski - Market leadership can be admired and admonished – just look at F stock… Personally i like what Ford is doing,...
Xeranar - Seriously? Buyers? Have you wver seen how economics actually work? If you make desirable technology exceptionally more expensive people...
golden2husky - and psilocybin made me see the dash of my friends Fiat Brava fall apart in great detail..and then he pushed it back together and looked at me and said...