John Kerry has the "Clinton disease" he shades the truth when a straight answer would better serve him. To wit the SUV flap:
Kerry Says His 'Family' Owns SUV, Not He
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Does John Kerry, who supports higher automobile fuel economy standards, own a gas-guzzling SUV? He does, but says it belongs to the family, not to him.
During a conference call Thursday with reporters to discuss his upcoming jobs tour through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, the Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether he owned a Chevrolet Suburban.
``I don't own an SUV,'' said Kerry,
[...]
Kerry thought for a second when asked whether his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a Suburban at their Ketchum, Idaho, home. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns the Chevrolet SUV.
``The family has it. I don't have it,'' he said.
Kerry said it's important for his family to buy American cars and pledged to keep car manufacturing jobs in the country if elected. He said he is interested in a hybrid car, and has talked to Ford about making it the ``campaign car.''
``We're going to keep jobs in America and help the industry be more competitive with foreign manufacturers that are building those cars today,'' Kerry said.
``I want cars to be made in Michigan, made in America, made'' by the United Auto Workers, Kerry said.
WTF? The Chrysler 300M is made at DaimlerChrysler's Ontario, Canada plant.
Maybe Kerry missed this story in 2000 about his choice of "American" automobile manufacturers and saving jobs.
DaimlerChrysler to cut thousands of jobs in North America
The discussion of mass layoffs followed an emergency meeting in Stuttgart, Germany where management fired several leading executives at the Chrysler division, including unit president James Holden, who was replaced by longtime Mercedes Benz executive Dieter Zetsche. Within days the company announced that four plants would be idled during Thanksgiving week and the next because of large inventories of unsold cars. The temporary layoffs affect some 17,000 workers.
Schrempp, who laid off more than 40,000 employees after taking over Daimler Benz in 1995, picked Zetsche because of his reputation for slashing jobs to cut costs. In September, Zetsche directed the layoff of 20 percent of the US workforce at DaimlerChrysler's truck division, Freightliner, eliminating 3,800 jobs after orders fell. In a recent letter to Chrysler employees Zetsche said the division faced “far-reaching structural problems” that required “painful, but necessary actions.”
Once again Kerry doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. The UAW must be cringing.