So, How About Those Closed Dealerships?

May 28, 2009

We’re getting closer to mainstream acknowledgement that this has to be looked into: the Examiner is on the case, and Glenn Reynolds has suggested that it’s time for some scrutiny from the Public Integrity Section at the Department of Justice.

If we don’t get answers soon, it might be time to start writing letters.

After all, we now own the company; we should probably have a say in how it’s run.

UPDATE: More from the Instapundit entry—”A reader notes something about ‘car czar’ Steven Rattner: ‘Rattner is married to Maureen White, the former National Finance Chair for the Democratic Party.’ The comment: ‘So one of the guys advising SecTreas on this thing is married to someone who used to be one of the people in charge of fundraising for the Democratic Party. This explains so much it’s scary.’ Well, it bears a close look.”

Indeed.

UPDATE II: Malkin has another update; from the beginning, she’s been urging caution in avoiding overheated rhetoric, though she seems to understand that we’re going to get painted as kooks no matter what we say about it:

I talked about Dealergate on Fox and Friends this morning. Will try and get the video clip up later today . . . .
As I’ve stated from the beginning, there is still much to be researched on this issue. Given Obama’s Chicago gangland propensities, anything corrupt is possible.
Some professional journalists, however, have shown obstinate unwilligness to get to the bottom of the decision-making process.

The Washington Post’s business columnist Steven Pearlstein was asked about the story yesterday in an online Q&A. He scoffed:

Boonsboro, Md.: A bit off the topic, but have you or anyone at the Post investigated this? Chrysler dealers shut down in Obama bankruptcy are mostly Republican? It seems a crosscheck of dealerships to be closed versus donations shows almost all the dealers to be closed donated to Republicans. http://hotair.com/
Steven Pearlstein: Oh, please. What percent of all auto dealers are Republican? I bet its (sic) pretty high.

Well, why don’t you use all your professional journalism training and find out the answer, Mr. Pearlstein? And why don’t you look at the flip side of the question — as “amateur” bloggers have been doing — and investigate the circumstances of the protected dealers?

Pearlstein is not alone in dismissing the blogosphere out of hand. The impulse to denigrate blogs
is borne of professional protectionism.

Ace reflects on the conservative blog-MSM dynamic:

Here’s a dilemma for conservatives. The MSM will not investigate any of these claims, ever. So what is a conservative to do? If a conservatives admit that this line of inquiry seems unlikely to turn up malfeasance, the MSM uses such statements as pretexts to not bother to even check, and uses such statements against conservatives who are agitating for additional investigation — “Even conservatives think this is unlikely, so you guys are obviously crazy…”

Of course I want this looked into, of course. It’s my guess it’s a non-story, not my expert opinion.
But the MSM is so ridiculously biased that they make honesty a dangerous and politically counterproductive business.

The only way to even get the MSM to do their jobs and take a look is to pressure them by claiming Worst Scandal Eveh, even if we don’t all necessarily buy that. But we have to claim that in order to spur any sort of media interest whatsoever. (That interest, of course, coming in the form of stories like Conservatives Now So Crazy They Think Obama Is Closing Chrysler Dealerships for Political Advantage, which isn’t exactly the headline we seek, but that’s the best we can hope for from the MSM.)

A few quick points: I do think that eventually, the MSM will come around to investigating. If they find anything at all that confirms the politicizing of the process, they’ll either whitewash it, downplay it, or take credit for exposing it with little or no credit to the bloggers who first started digging. They’ll also ignore the fact that some of us early on have made the caveat from the start not to make too-broad claims.

I also don’t think it’s necessary to over-sell the story in order to get more mainstream coverage. The fact is, Missouri senators have already pressed the White House for more transparency on the closure decision-making process.

Do the rest of the MSM’s business journalists take Pearlstein’s arrogant “Oh, please” position that the answers are not even worth pursuing?

Damned if I know; I just want this to be pursued, and the only way to get anywhere does seem to be to emphasize the angle that there may be an “appearance of impropriety” in the matter. I’m not happy about it, but it seems to be the only way it will receive any scrutiny whatsoever.

So: worst. Scandal. Evah.

UPDATE III:Dan Collins has more, and manages to tie this issue to the Sotomayer confirmation. Hm. Perhaps he’s right: if political contributions/activism were factors in the “survival rate” of Chrysler dealerships, it might not be what it looks like. Perhaps it was just affirmative action: a sense that American car manufacturers needed more perspectives from “wise Democrats.”

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Drive-By Media, Economics, Media, Obama Administration, new media