USA Today : Romney's auto mess shows he is not ready

[blacken700]

Column: Romney's auto mess shows he is not ready
Bob KingShare

It would be nice if GOP candidate would stick to the facts on Jeep and the auto bailout.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/31/mitt-romney-jeep-chrysler-uaw/1672501/
 


6:10PM EDT October 31. 2012 - Mitt Romney's meandering statements and plain falsehoods about the auto industry finally caught up to him earlier this week when he told a big whopper that cannot be squared with the truth during a speech in Defiance, Ohio. He said that Jeep, the American icon and great Toledo institution, "is thinking of moving all production to China."
 
Everyone paying attention to the election called him on it. Chrysler Group LLC has set the record straight, stating it has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America.
 
Defiance is an Ohio auto town whose most important employer is the General Motors (GM) plant that was saved by President Barack Obama. Voters there recognize that Romney's claim is just plain foolish, because Jeep is expanding, not contracting -- it's been all over the Ohio press for a year.
 
Though the fact-checkers and the media unanimously shot down Romney's claims, no one was more stunned at the sheer craziness of Romney's statement than the workers at the Jeep factory, just down the road from Defiance. Chrysler is investing $500 million, adding 1,100 jobs and will actually add new models to one of the Jeep plants in Toledo.
 

[magikusar]

Column: Romney's auto mess shows he is not ready
Bob KingShare

It would be nice if GOP candidate would stick to the facts on Jeep and the auto bailout.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/31/mitt-romney-jeep-chrysler-uaw/1672501/
 


6:10PM EDT October 31. 2012 - Mitt Romney's meandering statements and plain falsehoods about the auto industry finally caught up to him earlier this week when he told a big whopper that cannot be squared with the truth during a speech in Defiance, Ohio. He said that Jeep, the American icon and great Toledo institution, "is thinking of moving all production to China."
 
Everyone paying attention to the election called him on it. Chrysler Group LLC has set the record straight, stating it has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America.
 
Defiance is an Ohio auto town whose most important employer is the General Motors (GM) plant that was saved by President Barack Obama. Voters there recognize that Romney's claim is just plain foolish, because Jeep is expanding, not contracting -- it's been all over the Ohio press for a year.
 
Though the fact-checkers and the media unanimously shot down Romney's claims, no one was more stunned at the sheer craziness of Romney's statement than the workers at the Jeep factory, just down the road from Defiance. Chrysler is investing $500 million, adding 1,100 jobs and will actually add new models to one of the Jeep plants in Toledo.
 

Uh Libya or jeep which is bigger mess? LOL

[tu_holmes]

Uh Libya or jeep which is bigger mess? LOL

Jeep being made by TATA in India would have been a bigger disaster.

[Straw Man]

Flailing in Ohio, Romney rolls out Jeep ploy: editorial
 By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board The Plain Dealer


Mitt Romney is desperate to convince Ohio voters that he's the candidate most committed to the U.S. auto industry -- no matter how much confusion he must sow to do it.

Last week, Romney recklessly told a large audience in Defiance that he'd read that Chrysler's Italian owners -- that would be Fiat, which has controlled the American automaker since 2009 -- were planning to move all Jeep production to China. The Republican presidential nominee's statement predictably drew groans in Northwest Ohio, where the auto industry is critical to prosperity. He pledged to keep American jobs in America, if elected.

But apparently Romney had been reading a blogger who misunderstood reports that Chrysler was looking to again make some Jeeps in China for that expanding market. The news is a sign of Chrysler's health, not of some sinister intentions by its management. The company is investing $500 million and hiring 1,100 workers at its Toledo Jeep plant. The day Romney misspoke, Chrysler announced plans to add 1,100 employees in Detroit, too. A company spokesman called any suggestion that Chrysler is abandoning its U.S. plants "a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats."

Ah, but not for a presidential candidate who needs a wedge in auto-dependent Ohio. Romney is now running an ad that reinforces the erroneous perception he laid out in Defiance, but in language that is technically true: "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China."

In one sentence, Romney presses hot buttons about bankruptcy -- though he, too, favored that route, albeit without direct federal investment -- foreigners and outsourcing. It's a masterpiece of misdirection.

The Romney campaign clearly is being hurt by the fact that Chrysler and GM were saved by the decisions of President Barack Obama. So Romney and his surrogates claim that Obama essentially followed their blueprint for the rescue or that it really wasn't a good deal -- because some plants and dealerships closed -- or, now, that the wolf is back at the door.

It won't work. Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss -- and it wasn't Romney.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/10/flailing_in_ohio_romney_rolls.html

[MCWAY]

Flailing in Ohio, Romney rolls out Jeep ploy: editorial
 By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board The Plain Dealer


Mitt Romney is desperate to convince Ohio voters that he's the candidate most committed to the U.S. auto industry -- no matter how much confusion he must sow to do it.

Last week, Romney recklessly told a large audience in Defiance that he'd read that Chrysler's Italian owners -- that would be Fiat, which has controlled the American automaker since 2009 -- were planning to move all Jeep production to China. The Republican presidential nominee's statement predictably drew groans in Northwest Ohio, where the auto industry is critical to prosperity. He pledged to keep American jobs in America, if elected.

But apparently Romney had been reading a blogger who misunderstood reports that Chrysler was looking to again make some Jeeps in China for that expanding market. The news is a sign of Chrysler's health, not of some sinister intentions by its management. The company is investing $500 million and hiring 1,100 workers at its Toledo Jeep plant. The day Romney misspoke, Chrysler announced plans to add 1,100 employees in Detroit, too. A company spokesman called any suggestion that Chrysler is abandoning its U.S. plants "a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats."

Ah, but not for a presidential candidate who needs a wedge in auto-dependent Ohio. Romney is now running an ad that reinforces the erroneous perception he laid out in Defiance, but in language that is technically true: "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China."

In one sentence, Romney presses hot buttons about bankruptcy -- though he, too, favored that route, albeit without direct federal investment -- foreigners and outsourcing. It's a masterpiece of misdirection.

The Romney campaign clearly is being hurt by the fact that Chrysler and GM were saved by the decisions of President Barack Obama. So Romney and his surrogates claim that Obama essentially followed their blueprint for the rescue or that it really wasn't a good deal -- because some plants and dealerships closed -- or, now, that the wolf is back at the door.

It won't work. Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss -- and it wasn't Romney.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/10/flailing_in_ohio_romney_rolls.html

Romney's up in Rasmussen, 50-48. He's beating Obama with independents in Ohio, even in polls with Dems oversampled by 8. And the early voting turnout for Romney is going better than it is for the Dems.

That doesn't sound like flailing to me.

Not to mention, there's more to Ohio's economy than the auto industry. There's a coal industry there, too. I wonder how those folks are going to vote.

[Straw Man]

Romney's up in Rasmussen, 50-48. He's beating Obama with independents in Ohio, even in polls with Dems oversampled by 8. And the early voting turnout for Romney is going better than it is for the Dems.

That doesn't sound like flailing to me.

Not to mention, there's more to Ohio's economy than the auto industry. There's a coal industry there, too. I wonder how those folks are going to vote.

You should probably contact the editorial board of The Plain Dealer