Governor Granholm was mightily miffed this morning on Michigan Radio (as well she should be) http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1438218, as is, seemingly everyone I’ve talked to. The pain and widespread worry is especially severe because now it seems that we have been reduced to pinning our hopes on whether that paragon of sensible economic policy, President George W. Bush, will decide to authorize the utilization of TARP funds to extend the ‘bridge loan’ to the Big 3.

At this point, I would hope all his so-called legacy-building includes shoring up the automotive sector so as not to be the President who allowed the manufacturing industry to collapse under the weight of the credit crisis, but… well, you’ll excuse us if our confidence in the sagacity of this current President isn’t exactly registering at or near 100%.

I thought one of the better synopses of last night’s GOP hypocrisy-fest came from Jane Hamsher:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/11/auto-bill-fails-in-senate-53-35-say-good-night-gracie/
“Chris Dodd spoke for working people, and expressed his disbelief that the Senate could let this happen right now (YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHdclj4mjsA&eurl).

Talk about your War on Christmas.

Corker of Tennesee then went on to make an impassioned speech about how close they came to a deal, the only sticking point was that the UAW wouldn’t commit to a date to accept salary parity with what workers in foreign auto companies make. Mind you, the Republicans didn’t ask for commitments from dealers or creditors or bond holders or suppliers, just blue collar workers. So that was really where the only problem was going to arise. Funny, none of these bastards demanded wage and benefit cuts for Wall Street workers in the $700 billion bank bailout.”

This point is, not surprisingly, echoed by Ron Gettlefinger, UAW President
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1438345
“The GOP Caucus was insisting that the restructuring had to be done on the backs of works and retirees, rather than having all stakeholders come to the table,’ says Gettelfinger.”

Which brings us back to Granholm, who pulled no punches this morning calling out the hypocrisy of the GOP, and the purely political nature of this union scapegoating… That is the true canard in all of this that I hope gets more explanation/coverage from those out there who are trying to help Americans make sense of what is happening right now.