1. Bankrupting the automakers WILL be a step in breaking contracts, and possibly the union as a whole. This is the goal of many of the GOP (including one of the Mitt Romneys) that think autoworkers make way too much money and want autoworkers to have lower wages and no healthcare like their Toyota and Hyundai counterparts. So this is what is “good for America”? Aren’t we trying to fix healthcare, not get more people to be uninsured?

2. Just who is then going to save all the little companies and creditors that are now going to get left holding the bag on the Big 3 debts? Just because a company declares bankruptcy, their debts don’t disappear, somebody (well in this case probably a lot of somebodies) will be writing off a whole lot of money. probably leading to other bankruptcy cases, and more lost jobs. Does everybody think these losses are going to just “disappear” if the Big 3 go bankrupt? It is an over simplified “solutions” that doesn’t even take a peek down the road to what the effects of this action will be.

No, while throwing the whole thing into receivership sure sounds quick and easy and neat, it is none of those things.

People continue to say people “aren’t buying American cars” but that is a myth considering the fact that GM sells more cars than even Toyota. They are hobbled by the fact that healthcare and other costs are payed BY THE GOVERNMENT and it should be noted that:

Just about every one of the European automakers, apart from Mercedes, have had a rescue of some sort or another,” Rhys said. And Toyota has benefited from Japan’s “incredible low cost of credit,” he added. “It wasn’t technically state aid, but it certainly wasn’t the sort of conditions companies in Europe or North America could borrow at.”

So, all these “spectacular” car companies that are “so much better” than the big 3 are getting government loans at special rates that aren’t available to others. We are putting them behind the 8 ball to begin with and then complain they are not more like their Japanese counterparts. Well, maybe if we gave them some of the same tools to work with. No, throwing Detroit under is not the easy answer everybody would like it to, and I am bit disappointed that Progressives are picking up some of these talking points and running with them without thinking about the consequences of them.

As I said previously, I don’t know for certain what the right answer is, but saying that bankruptcy is easier because it frees them of debt… that just becomes another wrong reason, since it won’t be.

According to one automaker lobbyist who asked not to be identified because of the current negotiations: “I think Bush’s economic team was hoping the automakers would get weak enough to bust the UAW.…It’s no secret that they have no love of organized labor.”

And there it is. They don’t necessarily want the automakers to fall apart entirely. They simply want the union to get busted, because unions force companies to “spread the wealth.” Oh, there are some with their own agenda. Southern States (without a UAW presence), that have benefited by having Toyota, Hyndai and BMW build factories there want to be the “new Detroit” and oppose the bailout because they see the failure of Detroit as a boon to their States.

Of course, the Union doesn’t win itself any friends when as everybody is warning about imminent collapse and the potential loss of many jobs, that union President Ron Gettelfinger says Congress must do the bailout, and that the union will make no more concessions, even while President Elect Barack Obama’s advisors are saying that workers are going to have to take a pay cut.

On a side note, to be honest in my 43 year, the UAW has been held up as a model by many people as to what is wrong with this country from a competitive standpoint, how under skilled workers made above average salaries to the detriment of the economy because of unions that were “too powerful” like the UAW. I am not saying it is true, but I will say, that making such a blanket statement, when the options are potentially make concessions or everybody is out of work… well it just appears quite arrogant to be taking such a stance right now. Unemployment is high, people are feeling the financial pinch all over. It just gives more ammunition to those that see busting the union as the “first step” more ammunition to work with.

Update: Think Progress has also picked up on this and has a video compilation of Conservatives Politicians blaming the unions for Detroit’s woes

It goes on to tout all the “wrongs” done to poor Sarah, and how it “wasn’t her fault” and in fact she was the only bright spot. She was the one that gave the campaign “a chance” (even though polls at the end showed that she was in fact a drag on the ticket).

We are asked to believe that Mrs. Palin was not ready for a national campaign. On what evidence from any part of this election are we to conclude that anyone on the McCain campaign team was ready for a national campaign?

Let’s stipulate that Mrs. Palin was not perfect. Regardless whose idea the Katie Couric interview was, it went badly and left some damage. The phone call she took from a comedian pretending to be French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t help. Neither did her assignment as campaign attack dog, the traditional role for any vice presidential candidate.

Yet there are other, more salient points. In the treatment of Mrs. Palin by some of the McCain staff, there is the clear whiff of condescension. That’s something a sitting American governor might understandably find hard to stomach coming from a bunch of young professional Republicans who have never themselves run for office.

So, that is it? It was just a couple of bad incidents, and her feelings were hurt because she felt that those who were running the campaign were condescending? Is Saracuda really so thin skinned?

I guess, the Mr. McGurn didn’t catch Sarah’s latest interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, where Palin says she regrets not giving more interviews, while demonstrating exactly why the campaign kept a leash on her.

On Africa, “So we discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent. I just don’t know about this issue. So I don’t know how they took our one discussion on Africa and turned that into what they turned it into,” said Palin.

“I don’t know, because I remember the discussion about Africa, my concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue, as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars, I wanted to make sure that that didn’t happen anymore.”

I think if the McCain campaign owes anybody apology, it is the American people at large, for even proposing that she be within a heartbeat of the Presidency. The presented her and promoted her as a viable candidate, when it seems that even they (behind closed doors) knew the truth.

One promise of his victory is that perhaps we can put to rest the myth of racism as a barrier to achievement in this splendid country. Mr. Obama has a special obligation to help do so.

The MYTH?  While this is certainly a historic moment in history and one that probabaly couldn’t have happened not even all that long ago, th booing at McCain’s concession speech, and racist remarks flying everywhere from a bitter right wing, racism no longer exists?  Are you kidding me?

A collegue (who apparently thought I was a Republican, like most in my place of work), forwarded me the following “funny” e-mail on Election Day.

Early polls show that Obama is leading during the morning vote.  Just wait until 5 PM, when the whites get out of work.

This is wingnut statement is passed off as “humor” (and you wonder why their “answer” to the Daily Show and Colbert Report did not fly).  But it is one thing to see such stupid statements in a e-mail, we should be able to expect more of periodicals like the Wall Street Journal.

With a war to contend with, with an economy in ruins, with all sorts of issues, Mr Obama’s “priority” and “obligation” it to ensure that the “myth” of racism is removed.    Really?  Sounds like the WSJ needs a timeout to get its priorities straight.