Bailout Watch 322: U.S. Rep Dingell (D-MI): "I Screwed Up"

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Once again, The Detroit News is giving free reign to D2.8 boosters to boost the D2.8 and, by extension, themselves. Today, we get an epistle from Congressman John Dingell (D-Dearborn), who feels obligated to come clean about his role in “enabling” Motown’s hometown heroes’ self-destruction and, perhaps, Uncle Sugar’s $33.4b “take the money and run it the way you always have” auto bailout buffet. (That’s excluding GMAC.) “Americans are angry about what has happened to our country. No one seems to be willing to take responsibility. I will take some. I should have held the automotive companies more accountable for their actions, or inactions, over the years. My colleagues voted to make another member, who views the auto industry in a much different way than I do, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. I find that some members voted against me because I was perceived to be sympathetic to the auto industry.” Translation: if loving you was wrong, I don’t want to be wrong. And I still love you. “I don’t regret fighting for millions of Americans who work in the auto industry, even if that fight might have hurt me. I will fight for those workers, the UAW and others in the industry until they kick me out of this place.” They? I know democracy is a difficult concept for a politician who’s been in Washington since 1955, but shouldn’t that be YOU, as in Michigan voters? Anyway, things are going to be different now…

“I, and the auto industry, must recognize that fighting for those jobs means doing things differently. And while I may occasionally be put at odds with the companies themselves, I will continue my fight to protect the finest, most loyal men and women who work in the industry as well as the need to continue a manufacturing base in this country — whatever the personal cost.”

Would those “most loyal” men and women be, perchance, United Auto Workers members?

So let’s get down to it. Exactly what’s going to change, Mr. I Work For President Change Now Dingell? “This industry needs to change its attitude about Washington and do a far better job of telling its story in all aspects of the business.” Ah ha! Stop fighting the politicians green dreams and spend more on lobbying and PR. Well, at least one part of that would be new. OK, what else?

Nothing. The rest of Dingell’s dietribe [sic] is a sop to the domestic nameplates’ hybrids, the usual plea for national health care (“I have worked all of my 53 years in Congress to produce a bill that would make sure every American had some adequate health care coverage”) and a warm-up for battery producer subsidies for local constituents (“We need to build those batteries here in Michigan”).

Call me cynical, but as long as weasels like Dingell can spend 53 uninterrupted years in Congress, the chances of genuine change for anyone on any level in any aspect of government or industry is somewhere between slim and non-existent. Just sayin’.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Landcrusher Landcrusher on Jan 07, 2009

    Screw Green. What the 2.8 should be doing is automating the car. Do that, and green will just happen because if the car is driving, you don't care about throttle response. When the car is driving, you make the car last longer. When the car is driving, you can enforce insanely tough driver standards for those who actually want to drive. This could be Obama's moon shot. It could get so much support he could ride into his second term on this alone. It hits a million constituencies.

  • Qwerty Qwerty on Jan 07, 2009
    While you are rambling on about Bush and the Constitution, would you please quote the part of Article I or Article II of the Constitution that authorizes the Congress or the President to “bailout” the auto companies. Right after you quote the part that allows the president to put people in secret prisons and torture them. Republicans love quoting the Constitution right up until they sieze power, after which it's "if the president does it, it's not illegal."
  • Carson D At 1:24 AM, the voyage data recorder (VDR) stopped recording the vessel’s system data, but it was able to continue taping audio. At 1:26 AM, the VDR resumed recording vessel system data. Three minutes later, the Dali collided with the bridge. Nothing suspicious at all. Let's go get some booster shots!
  • Darren Mertz Where's the heater control? Where's the Radio control? Where the bloody speedometer?? In a menu I suppose. How safe is that??? Volvo....
  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
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