Detroit News – April 12, 2007:
Lee Iacocca, author of the original business management best-seller, is giving President Bush an “F” in leadership.
In a book to be released Tuesday, the former Chrysler CEO — who supported Bush’s first campaign in 2000 but backed Sen. John Kerry four years later — accused Bush of leading the nation to war “on a pack of lies” and lacking the basic components of good leadership.
“I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while,” Iacocca writes, according to excerpts from “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?” released on the Web site of publisher Simon & Schuster.
Here’s my favorite quote:
“We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car…I hardly recognize this country anymore…George Bush doesn’t have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites…he prides himself on being faith-based, not reality based. If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, I don’t know what will.”
This is an insult to clowns everywhere. Bush is more like a Village Idiot but I am sure that they wouldn’t want him in their camp either.
Got it in one, Lee!
I guess Iacocca is going to be on the no fly list as well
To make matters worse It is now being jointly steered by a bozo filled congress. Its time for a third party movement in this country and the internet is the technology to help do it. Now all we need is someone with money, smarts, communication skills and common sense who would want to do it. The silence is deafening.
There’s an excerpt of the book here.
Is he running for President? I think I’d vote for him. He talks about corporate gangsters stealing us blind, but that didn’t stop him from going to the government to ask for billions when he was at Chrysler.
Who the hell is Lee Iacocca? And why should I care?
#4, lol you’ve tipped your hand now
#3…it was a loan, he paid back every dime ahead of schedule. And he saved several thousands of jobs in the process.
Does anyone remember the K-cars?! and he is dissing current autos! Whew “Hello alzheimers meet Mr Iacocca”
#3 – He borrowed money the old fashion way. He paid it back.
#4 “Who the hell is Lee Iacocca? And why should I care?”
1) He headed Chrysler in the 70s and brought it back from the brink with a loan from the G.
2) Unlike duhbya – he paid back the load.
3) Unlike duhbya he actually left a company in better shape than when he found it.
4) Unlike duhbya he’s literate and articulate.
5) Unlike duhbya he has ethics.
In short he’s a man, again unlike duhbya.
Man do all neocons not read history?
#4 – mxpwr03,
Lee Ioccoca was a famous automile executive in the 80s that gave rise to the old joke that will only be understood by old geeks.
Q: What do you get when you cross Count Dracula and Lee Ioccoca?
A: AUTOEXEC.BAT
How many megagroans do I get for digging up that old turd?
#7 – Sounds the Alarm,
Correct on all counts. Except, in point 2, I think you meant paid back the loan, not the load. Or was that a deliberate pun for #2?
As for not paying back a loan, how about dubya’s brother Niel who stole a gigabuck from the S&Ls, along with other thieves of similar stature, causing FSLIC to go under and leaving us with a huge tax burden for the bonds floated to pay off the debt that Niel and others defaulted on. But, with Pappa Shrub in office at the time, we wouldn’t prosecute, freeze assets, or take other reasonable courses of action on any of the shrubs.
In fact, the minute Niel’s name hit the press, “Iraq has 18 hours to get out of Kuwait!!”
I really don’t like agreeing with Al Sharpton, but he had a point when he said, “Stay out the Bushes!!”
Bush is “steering the ship of state right over a cliff?” Now’s there’s a trick…send that one to the New Yorker’s Block that Metaphor column….
Ok, it’s fun to bash, and although I definitely have a great deal of concern over our current lack of appropriate policy, you can NOT state logically that Bush went into Iraq on “a pack of lies”.
The man may be misguided, misinformed, and surrounded by people that are making use of those facts, but he is a kind, caring, dedicated, and committed president. (and yes I use that phrase fully realizing how it lends itself for a snappy retort.)
My point? I wish people would stop bashing the man and argue with his policy instead. Otherwise they are a bunch of strident winers.
Ah, I see. So Lee Iacocca had a similar impact on Chrysler as Robert McNamara did on Ford in the mid-20th century, prior to his stint as Secretary of Defense. If I’m not mistaken, McNamara single-handedly turned around Ford, and yet I think many of you would argue that he got depantsed in the Vietnam War. So apparently, there’s a low correlation between turning around iconic automobile industries and offering intelligent commentary on political affairs.
So perhaps I’ve tipped my hand that I don’t concern myself with public figures who offer jack squat in terms of political insight.
Found this article with a better picture yesterday on Jalopnik. Loved the 2nd comment:
“Iacocca is turning into Abe Simpson.
my soup is salty and the tv is laughing at me!”
http://tinyurl.com/2k69rk
When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty. – (Arthur Ponsonby)
#11, LOL, but i repeat myself
#9 – So much for my own literacy!
Your point is well made – next to Neil the duh looks just stupid. Wasn’t Neil rather fond of very very young Thai prostitutes as well?
Thanks for the ” K ” car Lee. If your book is anything like the cars you made the pages will fall out in a few days.
#14 – Sounds the Alarm,
Hadn’t heard that. Doesn’t surprise me. Just haven’t heard.
So it’s OK if you pay back the loan? Well then, why didn’t he just go to a bank?
#16,
He did. Although he asked the government for a loan and they agreed to lend him up to $3 Billion, HE NEVER TOOK IT !!! Chrysler used commercial loans from banks on better terms then the government offered. Also the banks knew that they were covered by the government in case Chrysler defaulted. So the government loans became more of a loan guarantee then an actual loan. The commercial loans were paid back early
A similar loan was arranged for Lockheed Aircraft who also found themselves in dire straights. Because of all the defense work Lockheed was doing, the government couldn’t let them go under. As well, they couldn’t say no to Chrysler after saying yes to Lockheed.
Two things saved Chrysler from bankruptcy. The first was Iaccoca’s salesmanship. The second was the K-Car and its knock off, the mini-van.
#16. “kind, caring, dedicated, and committed president”
Most caring presidents would interrupt their vacation to show the flag for the inhabitants of major American city that had been flooded in a hurricane … without having to be shown a DVD full of clips of the devastation. Especially if they were willing go interrupt their vacation to sign a special law to keep a single brain-dead woman alive.
Like most recovering addicts, Bush is entirely self-absorbed.
craig…
so where do you get this “kind caring..” yada yada stuff? Cite some urls that backup that position, or otherwise, I’m going to assume you are talking out of your little round puckered orifice.
Forget not liking is POLICY..look at the snide and irresponsible way he speaks to the press, the way he ignores everyone, the way he and his administration parrot the same talking points and how they seem to firmly believe in “say you’re sorry” if something goes amiss.
The man is not a leader, and I don’t care how much he likes his dogs, or his cows, or his pigs…. he’s not kind to people.
#28, meetsy
… he’s not kind to people.
Well hell, he did shake Rumsfeld’s hand on his way out the door. That should count for something.
wouldn’t that be classified as a dog, pig or cow?
Loan guarantees, it’s how we’re stuck with these fannie Mae liabilities right now. That’s still giving Chrysler a favorable rate thanks to government assistance. The government was on the hook if they couldn’t pay up.
Sounds the alarm, that was Jesse Jackson that said “stay out the bushes.” If you were a conservative politician, liberals would now say that is proof positive that you are insensitive with regards to race, a closet racist, etc., because obviously all black men look alike to you as people who should be lynched.