Northwest Indiana Discussion

He has the facts at his finger tips and he can speak extemporaneously.

Here's what the drug addicted leader of the GOP had to say about Obama handing Mittens his ass in the debate.

Here's what the drug addicted leader of the GOP had to say about Obama handing Mittens his ass in the debate.
-Rush Limbaugh

Once I understood the strategy that the Romney camp was employing, then the whole thing made sense to me and the original disquietedness and uncomfortableness and dissatisfaction that I was sensing melted away, and I had an entirely different view. I thought from the get-go Obama looked mean. I thought he looked petulant. I thought he did not look likable. I thought from the get-go that Obama was not helping himself.
But I was curious why Romney was not taking these openings. Obama was begging him to! Even in the second half of the debate, Obama was begging Romney to get in on it and mix it up on Libya. Romney wouldn't go there. If you read the lib media, if you look at these focus groups, like the Luntz focus group last night... There was a CBS focus group in Ohio. I was gonna mention this a moment ago when I got sidetracked describing Snerdley's activities hustling chicks down there.
There was a focus group of eight people in Ohio -- CBS did it -- and six of them thought it was a slam dunk for Romney. Every focus group did. Every focus group that I have read about or seen thought that Obama did better in the sense of debate performance, but that Romney cleaned up. Because what mattered overall to everybody (and these were all independents and undecideds) was the economy.
And Obama still has nothing there, folks. He's got no record. He's got nothing to defend. He has no retort. He has no comeback. He has no explanation whatsoever. All he has is what we saw. We saw Obama the Community Organizer last night. We saw a panicked, I think, Barack Obama. We saw a guy who I think knows he's in trouble in Ohio. Other people have this observation, too.

"We saw a panicked, I think, Barack Obama. We saw a guy who I think knows he's in trouble in Ohio"

Racist pig claims:

No, Mr. Romney: Jeep Is Not Moving All Its Factories to China
By John Rosevear
10/26/12
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a crowd in Defiance, Ohio, on Thursday that Chrysler was considering moving "all production" of its iconic Jeep lineup to China.

That's the kind of line that you can expect to fire up a crowd on the campaign trail, especially a crowd in a town like Defiance, which is home to a General Motors (GM) factory.

There's just one problem: It's not true.

Yes, Chrysler Might Build Jeeps in China. But ...

Here's what is true: Chrysler is indeed considering a plan to make Jeeps in China. But it's not planning to send those Jeeps to the U.S. to sell -- and it's definitely not planning to close the factories that currently make Jeeps in Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.

Why would Chrysler want to make Jeeps in China? Lots of reasons, but one big one in particular: China places heavy taxes on imported cars and trucks. Non-Chinese automakers that want to do business in China's booming auto market are almost always better off building their cars and trucks locally.

Nearly all of the automakers you've ever heard of are either building cars in China already or making plans to do so.

Build Globally, Sell Locally

Ford (F), for instance, has recently invested about $5 billion to build several new factories in China. A couple of those plants are already open and thriving. The Ford Focus, for example, has become one of China's best-selling cars.

Yes, Ford builds the Focus in China -- and in Russia, Thailand, and Germany. But the Focuses you see at your local Ford dealer here in the U.S. were all built in Michigan. That's because Ford, like many automakers, finds it cost-effective to build its cars close to the people who will be buying them.

This is exactly what Chrysler is talking about doing with Jeep. Chinese consumers have been hot for SUVs lately, and Jeep -- perhaps the world's best-known and most iconic SUV brand -- would love to be able to capture a big piece of that market. And that means building Jeeps in China.

A Little Problem of Reading Comprehension

Romney's confusion (or his staff's) apparently arose from a recent Bloomberg article discussing Chrysler's plans. The beginning of the article is, indeed, a little confusing. But later on in the piece the writer makes it clear that Chrysler's plans involve adding factories in China, rather than shifting production away from the U.S.

Chrysler reacted to Romney's remarks with indignation. The company released a statement late on Thursday that made it clear that "Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China." (Those are Chrysler's italics.) Chrysler's PR folks also appeared to chide Romney with this remark at the end of their press release: "A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments."

A Small Gaffe in the Grand Scheme of Things

As gaffes go, Romney's probably doesn't even make the top 10 list for this presidential campaign. In all likelihood, some staffer working quickly made a mistake, and Romney simply ran with it.

Romney Lies About Chrysler, GM
By William Boardman

When the presidential candidates are calling each other liars or something close to that, that's hardly new -- but a major American corporation all but calling a presidential candidate a liar, when did that happen before? Never mind happen twice. In one week.

Widespread coverage of the story of the Chrysler Corporation's flat contradiction of Mitt Romney's campaign assertions, followed by General Motors doing the same, suggests that such sharp corporate responses are unprecedented. Certainly the relationship of these corporations to the Republican Party are far removed from the time when one of President Eisenhower's cabinet members said that "for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa" (although the urban legend version has him saying "what's good for General Motors is good for America").

The catalyst for these sharp corporate reactions came on October 25, in Defiance, Ohio, when Mitt Romney told a campaign rally: "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China." [emphasis added]

Romney's Comment Was Not True

That was not true. The Bloomberg story stated: "Chrysler currently builds all Jeep SUV models at plants in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. [Chrysler] referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China." [emphasis added]

Chrysler executive Gualberto Ranieri responded promptly to Romney campaign comment with a blog statement that used italics for emphasis: "Let's set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China". A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments."

Ranieri called Romney's conclusion "a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats." Romney neither responded not retracted the comment.

On October 28, the Romney campaign came out with a television ad that kept pushing the story, with more carefully crafted language, but continued controversy. Firedoglake reported that the ad is " so false that, as you can see by the title of the video, it's posted on youtube by people opposed to Romney."

Chrysler's CEO Objected At Length

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne went public on October 30 in a lengthy email that began: "Chrysler Group's production plans for the Jeep brand have become the focus of public debate. I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China"." [emphasis added]

After mentioning specifics of Chrysler's production infrastructure, Marchionne concluded his email by saying: "Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand. It is inaccurate to suggest anything different"."

Romney and his campaign have declined to discuss the Jeep statement on the record, despite repeated questions from reporters. Romney continued making variations of his initial claim in stump speeches, and his campaign issued a radio ad that went further, and claimed General Motors (GM) was also shipping jobs to China: "Under President Obama, GM cut 15,000 American jobs, but they are planning to double the number of cars built in China, which means 15,000 more jobs for China. And now comes word that Chrysler plans to start making Jeeps in, you guessed it, China."

"The ad is cynical campaign politics at its worst," said General Motors spokesman Greg Martin: "We think creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back in this country should be a source of bipartisan pride."
GM said: "Campaign Politics at its Cynical Worst"
GM spokesman Martin also said: "We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days. No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country."

By October 31, the Denver Post joined other newspapers around the country, including the Toledo Blade, the Cleveland Leader, the Youngstown Vindicator and two Detroit papers criticizing Romney for "falsehoods and half-truths" (Denver), "blatant lies" (Cleveland), and "[making] things up out of whole cloth" (Youngstown). FactCheck.org called Romney "flat wrong" in his original comment on Jeep going to China, while the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC -- which "promotes ethics in public life") argued that Romney was right and the media are biased.

Although NLPC quotes an ambiguous section from the original Bloomberg story to bolster its argument, it goes on to omit the Bloomberg clarification later in the same story about "adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China."

"It's difficult to quantify a candidate's relationship with the facts, but The Washington Post's fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, has calculated that, for much of the campaign, Romney and Obama were roughly even in their prevarications until the past few months. Back in May, Romney's average "Pinocchio" rating from Kessler was 1.97 on a scale of 0 to 4. Obama was at 1.91. Now, Obama is at 2.11 and Romney is at 2.40 -- putting him at the level of hogwash perpetrated during the primaries by Rick Perry (2.41) and Newt Gingrich (2.44)". Romney is in a whole new category". When is comes to truth, Romney still lives in Defiance."

Morons will believe anything

CHINA: Jeeps to be made in China again

By Graeme Roberts | 23 October 2012

Fiat-Chrysler's Jeep - the automotive brand at the centre of the first joint vehicle manufacturing venture between western and Chinese automakers - will soon once again be made in China, a media report said.

Fiat, now majority owner of the Chrysler Group, plans to start making Jeeps in China and might eventually make all of its models in the country, the head of both carmakers' operations in the region told the South China Morning Post.

Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia, said Fiat was in "very detailed conversations" with Chinese partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group, on making Jeeps in the world's biggest car market. Chrysler has not built Jeeps in China since Fiat took control in 2009.

"The volume opportunity for us is very significant," said Manley, who is also president of the Jeep brand. "We're reviewing the opportunities within the existing capacity" as well as whether the company "should localise the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio", he said.

Jia Xinguang, chief analyst at China Auto Consultancy Group, told the Post Fiat and Chrysler would consider moving some of Jeep's production to China because the SUV was popular in that market.

But Jia said it would be impossible for Chrysler to build all its Jeeps in China.

"Let's set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China". A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments."
- Chrysler CEO