Thursday, December 4, 2008

Big 3 Congressional Hearings Pt. 2 Open Thread

[originally published earlier this week, 'member? that's right, i bumped this thread back to the top for the length of its news cycle. i can do that now that i'm responsible for such an overwhelming majority of the content on this once-far-more-diverse, once-blossoming weblog ("blog"). i can also commit my characteristic layout atrocities with impunity (and aplomb.) is this the new regime? are you really going to let it come to this, Wobs?]

Hearing's not until Thursday...? well yeah, I'm already tailgating, apparently. By "tailgating" of course, I mean, scoping the FLSA for and listening to records with MSNBC muted in the old background.

Are "we" going to get the $25 billion this time (update: ABC says Harry Reid'll introduce the bailout bill on Monday)? Can we expect some primo, public declamations about "the unions" from the minority party? 'Hope to hear from those of youse who're (mebbe or mebbe not) romancing East Lansing, weak-kneed in Ypsilanti, or erstwhile in Webberville!

For starters please see

67 comments:

lex dexter said...

The more I watch Richard Shelby (R - AL), the more I think of frequent OG commentator Kyle M'cCaterbear (sp?).

Sure, they're both from Alabama. But the commonalities run so much deeper than that. It just so happens that I have framed portraits of both men here at my workplace desk. And lemme tell you - the two men are practically indistinguishable. - P

lex dexter said...

Menendez, who (believe me) never comes off as the most loveable dude in the room, just acknowledged how the UAW has offered up more serious plans and shown more flexibility than any of the Big 3.

not crap, Bob Menendez.

lex dexter said...

mike crapo (R-ID)
mike crap-o (R-Craptown.)

lex dexter said...

i'm prolly just having an auditory hallucination, but I thought I just heard Charles Schumer (D-NY) refer to the witnesses as "You Fucks."

it was prolly "You Folks," heh?

dave3544 said...

I'm late to the party, but I'm here.

lex dexter said...

i don't know if we're exactly gonna draw a huge crowd to this party.

i mean, you gotta figure some of the people out there have "real jobs."

lex dexter said...

Bob Corker (R-TN) - what a buttface.

dave3544 said...

The auto-industry "marriage" metaphor is troubling.

lex dexter said...

where did gettelfinger get that southern accent, btw? were there Southern UAW shops i don't know about that housed his rise to the top?

or am i naive to think he's somehow from the rank and file?

lex dexter said...

yeah, who'd expect sex metaphors from Bob Corker? Poor Chrysler.

lex dexter said...

and the "father" and "parent" metaphors for the (Private Equity firm) Cerberus!

and now the Chrysler guy is saying "we got a divorce from them!"

lex dexter said...

"we're busting our guts"!

lex dexter said...

(for those viewing this thread retrospectively - right now Bob Corker is going on a self-righteous diatribe against the guy from Chrysler. he's doing it within an entirely Judeo-Christian/psychosexual frame - and in all seriousness, the Chrysler guy doesn't know what to do about it.)

dave3544 said...

Wall Street -- who we shouldn't begin to trust! -- agrees with me, so you can clearly see, I am right!

lex dexter said...

seriously, Uncle: you don't think it would be awesome if Chris Matthews got a Senate seat and got to conduct his brand of cross-examination in this context?

dave3544 said...

[high pitched] Ha!

lex dexter said...

is Bob Corker getting briefings from Wall St.? are these marriage metaphors and "haircut" references real inside baseball i dunno about?

lex dexter said...

hopefully Ron G. wasn't caught daydreaming about the NYU campaign when Bob Corker started going after him about VEBA!

lex dexter said...

did Corker extend his remarks, or is he just somehow entitled to thrice more time than everybody else?

dave3544 said...

He's got lots of complaints.

lex dexter said...

Ron G. is not up to the task before him.

lex dexter said...

Shit, Casey is actually talking about "the scapegoating of the men and women of organized labor."

lex dexter said...

if I had my way, Senator Casey, i'd've asked for "monthly reporting" on the TARP handoffs, too.

but apparently that was too much to ask for, when we were handing a far larger sum of money to the "men and women of" Finance Capital.

lex dexter said...

Bob Casey (D-PA)

lex dexter said...

Ron G [Head of the UAW]

dave3544 said...

As long as we protect the taxpayer. That has to be paramount.

I would like someone to point out that what the automakers are asking for is two-and-a-half months worth of the War in Iraq. We're getting value for money there, that's for motherfucking sure.

dealers "throwing their keys it." Someone should be shot for that.

dave3544 said...

"keys in" of course. my fingers are too fat for this keyboard.

lex dexter said...

don't bring your negative body image to my house, Uncle. i was just in a sauna with three other men, two of whom were perfect strangers.

lex dexter said...

now there are Protesters chanting "the Bailout is a Set-up!"

lex dexter said...

i just googled "the bailout is a setup" and it didn't take me to a website w/ a manifesto.

(obviously this is amateur hour. fucking clown school.)

lex dexter said...

alright, i gotta make some concessions to my own "Real job" pretense.

by which i mean "make a sandwich," of course.

dave3544 said...

"Put the money in the food bank where people need it."

Ok. I mean, I think we're all in favor of food banks, but are these people really advocating not funding middle-class jobs in favor of food handouts.

dave3544 said...

Yes, let's make sure we don't close down any unprofitable rural dealerships. Heart of America. Keep local television stations alive with crappy commercials.

lex dexter said...

see, it's not just the crappy dealerships that make crappy commercials.

it's the JOBS that those crappy commercials create for video technicians who know how to shoot medium-fidelity straight onto VHS tapes. (which brings the conversation back to distinguished Alabama videographer Kyle McCaterbear).

dave3544 said...

Of course, but when we get down to the level of protecting even the most unprofitable of rural dealerships, then let's just nationalize the goddamn industry.

dave3544 said...

Not sure detroit building cars that are too good is the real problem here.

lex dexter said...

Sen. Bennet (R-UT) just let loose into the hot mic with a wet, luscious, gutteral coughing sound.

Now he's dropping the term "shotgun wedding" and calling out Ron G.

lex dexter said...

"Not sure detroit building cars that are too good is the real problem here."

lex dexter said...

i'd make that last gem the Masthead Quote for the OG, but UnionFacts'd likely penalize me for it.

lex dexter said...

sherrod brown (D-OH) = not crap.

dave3544 said...

It really is weird that UAW is answering most of the questions. UAW is, apparently, the no-to credible witness on the US auto industry.

lex dexter said...

oh God, here's Corker. AGAIN.

lex dexter said...

from the Corker wiki:

Corker supports broad Second Amendment rights, "appointing Federal judges who practice judicial restraint," making the 2001 tax cut and the 2003 tax cut permanent, and increasing security on U.S. borders by hiring more border agents and constructing barriers in high traffic areas.[12]

Corker has expressed skepticism regarding the claims of human-caused global warming; supports continued U.S. involvement in Iraq; and has shown interest in replacing the federal progressive income tax with a flat tax.
___________________________________
[now that's what I like to call the "Dave3544 Platform."]

lex dexter said...

he just said "haircut" again.

now he's calling Ron G. an "honest broker," then violently ravishing him.

when i say "violently ravishing," i of course am using a metaphor. or whatever that is.

lex dexter said...

good thing Dave and I both had Labor Notes subscriptions during what we could retrospectively call the Year of the VEBA. i can talk VEBA all night.

dave3544 said...

Corker has been sleeping during all the discussion of UAWs concessions, am I right?

lex dexter said...

"haircut," "toast," "UAW."

that's all this guy's got.

oh, and "VEBA."

dave3544 said...

Oh jesus, "I was a card carrying union...person."

lex dexter said...

Corker was a card-carrying union member, tho, so apparently we're obliged to nod earnestly while he spews out this crap. What a dolt.

Anonymous said...

Bob Corker. Man, he is horrible. I can't believe my mom voted for him. She did vote for Obama.

dave3544 said...

I'm assuming that all the Republicans have ceded their time to Corker.

lex dexter said...

Sucks to be Chrysler Guy today.

dave3544 said...

What's the downside of the Chrysler guy telling Cocker to stick it up his ass? It's not like there going to be getting more than three or four GOP votes.

lex dexter said...

You're right. Chrysler guy should be like, "Fuck You, Corker!" And throw a chair across the room. And then the chair can quietly slide across the room, rattle, echo...

Can't wait for the House hearings! Barney Frank (D-MA), people!

lex dexter said...

I still haven't made that sandwich, btw. I am transfixed.

dave3544 said...

Go make yourself a sammy, lex

lex dexter said...

great hearing.
time for the sandwich.

thanks to the Minx and the Cecil - looking fwd to ex post facto commentary from the folks.

lex dexter said...

'had the sandwich. 'sucked. bread was stale. oh, and of course there's the whole "soy-based fake cold cuts" problem, too.

but at least i'm not Chrysler Guy.

lex dexter said...

so i'm watching Hardball right now, and all the reporting I've seen so far casts today as if it was a big defeat for the potential bailout.

can this be? how can we possibly get EFCA if we cannot win in the court of public opinion on shit as obvious as the fact that this economy will modulate from recession to near-Depression if we lose 3 million fucking jobs right now? (suggested further reading = Dave's George Will post on gbor today.)

lex dexter said...

oh yeah, Chris Matthews is having.... (wait for it).......................
CHRYSLER GUY on Hardball, coming up Next.

Dave, favor us with a "boom"???

lex dexter said...

CHRYSLER Guy is praising (UAW) Ron G's "professionalism."

You think auto execs praised Walter Reuther a lot along similar lines?

lex dexter said...

Chris Matthews just landed a real gnarly punch on Chrysler Guy, asking him why congresspeople won't buy his cars.

lex dexter said...

david gregory just reminded us of CHRYSLER GUY's "we're busting our guts" line.

here comes Erin Burnett, boom!

lex dexter said...

the aforementioned David Gregory being somebody who doesn't mind having no pro-Bailout representation on his panels, btw.

dr said...

David Gregory is a pile.

EZ said...

great "coverage".... I was "working my day job".... I will stop with the "quotations"....

I nominate Lex for post O' the day for his riff on crappy commercials:
see, it's not just the crappy dealerships that make crappy commercials.

it's the JOBS that those crappy commercials create for video technicians who know how to shoot medium-fidelity straight onto VHS tapes. (which brings the conversation back to distinguished Alabama videographer Kyle McCaterbear).


classic stuff, sad I missed it live, glad it is etched in the proverbial stone if you will....

can't wait for the liveblog of the house hearing tommorow...I will see you there.

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