Right-wing bloggers uncover Obama's Enemies List (And it comes with a seven year warranty!)
May 28, 2009 12:08 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
One of the questions I get asked most often as I do interviews about my new book, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press, is why is it that conservatives trail so far behind liberals when it comes to building their side of the blogosphere into something important and influential. The simple answer is that so many right-wing bloggers aren't serious people and the nonsense they blog about revolves around loopy conspiracy theories that, aside for providing comic relief, aren't really good for anything.
Which bring me to the budding Obama scandal that's been hatched this week within the right-wing blogosphere, and which has all the hallmarks of previous failed Obama conspiracy theories that bloggers excitedly chased. The latest to be embraced is the idea that the Obama White House, as part of the restructuring that the auto maker has been forced to undergo, personally selected which Chrysler dealership would be closed. Not only that, but the Obama White House punished dealerships whose owners who gave campaign contributions to Republicans.
It's just like Nixon's Enemies' List!
Go here if you want to read the pained analysis, where bloggers excitedly claim that their research proves a massive conspiracy's afoot. What is the research? It's a laundry list of name of dealers who have indeed given money to the GOP and have indeed been closed down as part of the GM restructuring. So why doesn't that prove Obama has a hit list? First, because nearly 800 dealerships are being closed down, yet bloggers only detail campaign contributions for less than 10 percent of those dealership owners.
Second, all the bloggers actually prove is that lot of dealership owners are Republicans. Does that surprise anyone?
So rather than uncovering massive White House conspiracy to throw thousands of auto industry workers of work simply as a way to "punish" GOP donors, all the bloggers have proven--I'm repeating myself, I know--is that car dealership owners tend to write checks to Republicans. And all this time I had thought of dealerships as a bastion of progressive politics.
The only way GOP bloggers could get this whole soggy mess off the ground is if they can prove, definitively, that Chrysler dealers who survived the cut were all massive, across-the-board, Democratic donors. But bloggers don't and I suspect they cannot because local car dealership owners tend to give lots of money to Republicans.
Thanks for the news flash.
P.S. And no, bloggers don't even pretend to produce any evidence that the Obama White House somehow peered over GM's shoulders and picked which dealership got canned and which ones survived.
UPDATE: When Michelle Malkin of all people urges people not to get carried away with an anti-Obama conspiracy theory, you know the story's going nowhere.
UPDATE: Malkin's changed her mind and now thinks the Obama-closed-Chrysler-dealerships is a big, big story, which means more comedy is bound to ensue.
At first, Malkin urged caution on the story but apparently after Fox News producers invited her on to discuss the (pseudo) scandal, Malkin decided it was legit. Ah, right-wing bloggers....
UPDATE: Nate Silver demolishes the right-wing Dealergate with, y'know, actual research. He also notes this:
It shouldn't be any surprise, by the way, that car dealers tend to vote -- and donate -- Republican. They are usually male, they are usually older (you don't own an auto dealership in your 20s), and they have obvious reasons to be pro-business, pro-tax cut, anti-green energy and anti-labor. Car dealerships need quite a bit of space and will tend to be located in suburban or rural areas. I can't think of too many other occupations that are more natural fits for the Republican Party
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
Contrary to media hype, Sarah Palin is very unpopular
BTW, bad link under "nearly 800 dealership..."
First of all, every single article and story on Dealergate since yesterday has referenced the fact the Democratic donors' dealerships are staying open, and that the Republican donor dealerships that are closing weren't universally failing.
Do some research, man.
Second, you make several statements that are at best ignorant of the stories out there, and at worst bald-faced lies. Your first PS is bunk, because most of the stories reference an attorney suing on behalf of the dealerships as believing that the closings weren't Chrysler's decision, but the White House's.
Finally, Nate Silver's piece is the same as yours: It ignores the actual research that has been done with respect to remaining-open dealerships, and attacks the straw-man that remains.
Grow up, man.
How stupid are these people? And then they wonder why they keep getting trounced in elections.
Apparently, he's with the law firm Kettleman, Savage and Dipstick. He works out of Limbaugh's garage.
Please link us to them.
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/05/dealergate-statistical-evidence-that.html
This is the summation of "every single article and story"???
LMFAO.
Chrysler embarked on a program to close dealerships, Project Genesis, all the way back in February 2008. Obama had nothing to do with it. Blaming Obama is just a usual right wing trick. I heard Rush Limbaugh say the whole thing was Obama's idea.
http://www.carseek.com/news/february2008/Chrysler-announces-Project-Genesis/
Now there is an accusation that he had a role in choosing WHICH dealerships were closed. I haven't seen the evidence, but most of the closed dealerships were in small towns. That's where Republicans lurk so one would expect the dealers there to donate to Republicans. If the people pushing the accusation could come up with comparable lists of closed and open dealerships and show that all the open ones donated to Democrats and all the closed ones donated Republican they'd have an anomoly we could look at. They still wouldn't have proof.
Also, in the South, big cities have a higher concentration of Democrats, so dealers in big cities are probably more likely to be Democrats.
But, again, we're talking logic, which bounces off of Troglodytes like rubber bullets off an Abrams Tank.
Your article is "comic relief" and shows how ignorant you are of the facts. Chrysler is NOT even a GM product! Why is it even an issue to close dealerships. This will not save the manufacturer anything. The dealerships are independantly owned. The more dealers, the more sales. One day you will see the light but it may be too late.
Go back to sleep!
There are two issues here. One is about Chrysler dealerships, and Obama supposedly picking them, and the other is GM dealerships, and the fact that the ones being cloced are donors to Republicans.
Then you display even more of your ignorance, and say that the more dealers, the more sales. That's crazy. Just because there are more gas stations doesn't make people need more gas, and just because there might be more dealerships doesn't make people need more cars. More dealers does not equate to more car sales! More dealers creates more market share at times, but not more sales. Car makers are making fewer models and cutting whole brands to save money, and so they need fewer dealerships to sell those fewer brands.
As there is no list of GM dealerships, as far as I know, being examined, "Dealergate" deals exclusively with Chrysler dealerships, at least for now.
But you wouldn't know that, because you haven't actually read the research.
What could they possibly gain by doing so? Do car dealers give so much money to the Republicans that it will make a huge difference in the next election?
But, I realize that logic is not the Troglodyte's friend, so this urban myth will join the Birth Certificate story and Glenn Beck's ACORN Marxist Takeover fabrication in the WingNut Hall of Fame.
Honestly, these loons are more fun than going to a comedy club.
Wouldn't these car dealers be MORE likely to donate to Republicans in the future if they felt Obama closed their dealership? That could lead to even larger donations against Obama in the future from these businessmen.
Also, if Obama was so hell-bent on targeting Republicans, why pick a Republican as TRANSPORTATION Secretary? Why pick a Republican to run Defense? Why pick a Republican for Commerce Secretary? Were these Republicans part of the go-after-Republican car dealers plot too?
If Obama is so vehement about going after Republicans any way possible, why isn't he launching major investigations of the Bush White House? Why all the outreach to Republican lawmakers? Why invite Schwarzenegger to the White House and basically give him credit for the raised fuel efficiency standards? If anything, rather than target Republicans, Obama's efforts have all been about uniting with them on various issues. With all that evidence, we're supposed to believe Obama is secretly targeting Republican car dealerships??? THAT is the one area he chose to finally become a radical lefty?
If that's not stealing, I don't know what is... it doesn't matter how much you dislike hedge funds.
Now he's destroying the evil capitalists that didn't support his fraudulent, disingenuous campaign?
The White House says there's "no evidence"- note that Hitler was careful to only give verbal orders, too... and Obama's not new to this sort of thing.
Obama's completely out-of-control. But what did anyone expect with a neutered press, compliant congress, and cabinet full of sycophants?
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
Sopranos?
Hitler?
Out of control?
Seriously?
Here's a quarter...go buy yourself a clue.
So someone is finally forcing the US car companies to pay attention to the future of their companies and their markets, not just the quarterly profit margin and their next bonus.
The fun is, even if a Republican had won the White House, this is how it would have turned out. The alternative is an extra 3 million out of work, and several states bankrupt. And, of course, your ilk (ReagaNazis) forced to acknowledge that what was good for Republicans wasn't good for America.
BTW: "neutered press, compliant congress, and cabinet full of sycophants": See also "Bush Administration."
Were these closing done well? Certainly not, and I hope some of these dealers find redress in the bankruptcy court.
Political conspiracy? Please. Ineptitude is far far more prevalent than malevolence.
Timberline Dodge smack dab in the middle of Portland, Oregon is on the chopping block.