Unholy Alliances

When government gets involved mandating business decisions for businesses, the results are never good.

Now that the government has ordered the shutdown of 25% of all Chrysler dealerships, it appears that the selection of dealerships to be shut down was not based on typical business variables such as profitability, location and demographics.

The determination appears to be based heavily on the political contributions of the dealership owners. This from World Net Daily:

As part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy , Chrysler is terminating one-fourth of its franchises – but some say its catalog of doomed dealerships looks more like a hit list that specifically seeks to put Republican donors out of business.

WND reviewed the list of 789 closing franchises and databases of political donors and found that of dealership majority owners making contributions in the November 2008 election, less than 10 percent gifted to Democrats while 90 percent gave substantial sums to Republican candidates.

The first dealership on Chrysler's list of facilities marked for termination by June 9 is located in Venice, Fla., and belongs to Republican Rep. Vernon G. Buchanan. The dealership's operating partner, Shelby Curtsinger, said he was astonished by Chrysler's decision because the location has been profitable – selling more than twice the stock of an average Chrysler dealership every year. Read more…

Unbelievably, 34 Republican senators voted for the auto bailout, while 15 Republican Senators voted against it. How is it that more than 2/3 of the Republicans serving in the U.S. Senate do not understand the proper role of government?

Pro-Life Majority

From Gallop: A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

PA-GOP: With a majority of Americans identifying themselves as pro-life, can we finally support pro-life conservatives without being told that we must "moderate" our views?

Dumb Is as Dumb Does

From Chris Stirewalt of the Washington Examiner: It took Democrats far less time to learn what Republicans needed decades to understand, namely, that Specter’s allegiances are situational.

Take a moment and let the above statement sink in.

The Democrats learned in less than a week that Specter can’t be trusted. What does that say about our party and those who constantly lectured us about supporting Specter to “keep the seat”?

Those of us who did not support Specter were accused of not having political acumen to see the obvious. No, we did see the obvious, Specter has always been about Specter.

Over the last 10 days, Pat Toomey effectively knocked off Specter, and “moderate” Tom Ridge in short order.

Yet as I type this, Republican Party leadership is still scrambling to yet find some so-called moderate to challenge Pat Toomey. Based on the Republican Party leadership’s lack of faith in conservative principles, perhaps they should join Specter.