Tired of presidential campaign talk, replayed sound bites and idiocy yet? GM and Chrysler are. Both companies have decided against hosting any sort of campaign events this fall in front of the November 6th election. Instead of subjecting themselves to political grandstanding, GM and Chrysler have helped save the auto industry the headaches that likely would have accompanied visits by the Democratic and Republican parties. The infamous auto bailouts of 2008 definitely would have been revisited, rehashed and re-spun (like everything else presidential candidates like to talk about), giving unnecessary attention to the healthily recovering industry. It’s still a good bet that the bailout will be discussed, but better that it happens away from the plants and workers.
GM is going a bit further to avoid political entanglements this year. The company has long been a provider of automobiles to both Republican and Democratic conventions, but is now ending the practice. Instead, according to James Davis, a Republican National Convention spokesman, a fleet of 450 buses have been hired to transport delegates and citizens in Tampa this week for the event. Hopefully the RNC has invested in umbrellas to hand out at the buses’ exits; the remnants of Hurricane Isaac may influence where all those happy Republicans are going, and how they talk about all those stimulating political topics that get everyone all riled up.
Good for GM and Chrysler to avoid the nonsense.
