Analysis: Shuttered Chrysler Dealers Heavily Anti-Obama In Election | Bucks Right — This thesis could be bogus, but if it holds up there will be hell to pay for the Democrats. I was personally baffled by some of the closures of successful dealerships in Washington State. Many needed rural dealers (generally Republican) were shuttered while multiple urban Seattle (Democrat) dealers were left alone. In other words the dealers were not being spread out. It made no sense to me.
An analysis of the list of Chrysler dealers closed down by the Obama-run auto maker show that many were donors to Republican candidates and Democrat rivals of Barack Obama during the 2008 election cycle.
Many observers were confused by the list of 789 Chrysler dealerships that were ordered to close their doors before June 9, as the closings seemed to follow no pattern based on sales volume or profitability. Two preliminary studies found on the Internet seem to have located a common thread: Donations to politicians and political causes at odds with Barack Obama.
A document outlining campaign contributions by various shuttered dealers is posted here.
The question remains. What was the exact criteria for shuttering one dealer over another? We have not been told.
Found by Chris Hollman.
Phhht… *All* car dealerships were in the tank for Bush — as was the industry in general (minus the unions) — which is why they thought it was a great idea to shove SUVs down everyone’s throats and bankrupt themselves.
Why no Bullshit Meter Rating for this story? It is obviously Republican propaganda.
Wow!!! Talk about grasping……..at…….straws.Desperate for dirt on a popular president that you don’t like.Get over it, the Dems won the election.
I notice no one actually addressed the main points of my post, #22.
For example, #23 and #28, “10:1 Republican”
Apparently you didn’t catch 788 Republican dealers closed to ONE Democratic. That is a 788:1 number. 78 TIMES higher than the average!
And what about the obvious favoritism to Democratic dealers?
What about the “forced by the White House”.
Obamapologist, where art thou?
(Why isn’t there more transparency? It’s obvious, the dealers were selected among party lines. I bet this policy was directed by the Pres himself.)
I have a question that I haven’t seen adequately answered anywhere. How exactly does a dealership affect the profitability of Chrysler? From what I’ve been able to piece together, it’s my understanding that most dealers own their property and take out a loan to purchase the vehicles from Chrysler.
I read a comment somewhere else that said the idea behind the closings is that fewer dealers will reduce price variability between dealers, which has a tendency to decrease consumer confidence. Is that really the reason, or is it just somebody trying to fit a theory to the actions? How exactly do these closings make Chrysler more profitable?
Exactly right, curious. But with a catch: “Dealers for decades have relied on a form of inventory financing called “floorplan” funding that allows them to buy cars from the manufacturer on credit and pay back the debt only after the cars are sold. Without a floorplan agreement, a dealer can’t operate. Franchise contracts require one.”
So, if the dealer is financing through the car company, and the car company is unwilling to finance, then the dealer goes bust. But this doesn’t account for the closed dealerships. Many apparently had good credit.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/qzaxm8
I’m really hoping BO renames GM to BM!!!
My BULLSHIT meter just pegged!
They closed the one in my area and it was also very successful – ask yourself why you have to read this on a blog, INDEED!
John has the right question. What was the exact criteria for shuttering one dealer over another? If we don’t have that answer, we don’t have the whole story.
Again, no one challenging my post.
It’s one thing to say “bullshit”, another entirely to prove it.
Whereas, in this case, it’s relatively easy to prove something’s very, very wrong.
Nate Silver at 538.com disagrees
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/news-flash-car-dealers-are-republicans.html
#22
–A lawyer representing a group of Chrysler dealers who are on the hit list deposed senior Chrysler executives and later told Reuters that he believes the closings have been forced on the company by the White House.”–
ya’ and I believe that Cheney is the Antichrist and don’t believe Jesus or obama were or are divine
I believe the sky at is purple.
I believe the Chrysler 6000 SUX is good car “I’d buy that for a dollar!”
believing doesn’t make it so.
I’ll hold back my disappointment unless some proof comes out like with Gonzales and Dismissal of U.S. attorneys. Until then its all just statistical manipulation spin.
You know this reminds me of military base closings everyone agrees that many bases need to be closed but as soon as one is put on the “close it list” all the locals will cry foul and claim the party in power has singled them out.
The “most dealers are Republicans” argument says that if 90% of the closed dealers are Republican-owned, but 90% of total dealers are Republican-owned, then there’s no problem.
But it’s possible to keep the ratios while closing dealerships in a way that benefits those that are Dem-owned.
We need a geographical analysis. Someone could whip up a google map real easy.
If only 10% or whatever of dealers are Dem-owned, and the closings aren’t politically motivated, then the locations of the Repbublican-owned dealers should have no relation to the locations of the Dem-owned dealers.
If you plot this on a map and see that the closings cluster around Dem-owned dealers, so as to eliminate their competition, there’s a problem.
It wouldn’t matter what the ratios were. Conspiracy theory helmet on, that would be the perfect foil – make sure the closings match the that of market ownership, so you could say, “but 90% of dealers are owned by Republicans!”
Ah_yeah,
Here is a little quote from Fox News:
“A preliminary study by FOXNews.com found that the data do not support the charges. Among the dealerships set to close, 12 percent of a random 50 selected for review donated to Republicans and 8 percent to Democrats. Of the dealerships remaining open, 14 percent of a random 50 selected donated to Republicans and 10 percent to Democrats. In both samples, the average size of donations was similar for both parties.”
This is pretty lame. Who was the one who decided which ones to close? Was it a government official or was it Chrysler?
If, as one comment mentioned, a lot of rural dealerships were closed, then it makes sense since the rural areas tend to be more Republican.
Also, I would imagine that a lot of these dealerships were owned by old white men who also tend to be more Republican.
There are lots and lots of reasonable explanations here.
lol.. i hope this is BS.
otherwise it will ignite one hell of a
firestorm.
however, if true, this seems more like something Hillary would instigate
#46:
Like I said, we should look at the locations of these dealerships.
There’s a way to close dealerships with statistically insignificant changes in the ratios while still benefiting one over the other.
#41, Ah Yea,
Again, no one challenging my post.
It’s one thing to say “bullshit”, another entirely to prove it.
No, you don’t get it. You make a claim then YOU back it up. Wild hypothesis are just that, hypothesis. Basing your assertions on a right wing blog doesn’t give your story any credence.
yes, we need to prove Obama was born in Hawaii, not Kenya. Since it’s a known fact that his Grandmother (who he had never met) said he was born in Kenya. And his other grandparents doctored his birth certificate and put a birth announcement in the local Hawaii paper, knowing that 40+ years later, this would give perfect cover for his becoming president. Amazing how they coordinated this.
Great work, investigative bloggers! Let’s make a wild accusation, then have it proven true when no one takes you seriously. BUT THEY DIDN’T DISPROVE IT SO IT MUST BE TRUE!
Why would the government have anything to do with the dispersion of Chrysler?
Bankruptcy is to give a company time to re-organize and put itself on a solid footing. Note, the operative word there is “company”.
Bankruptcy proceedings are held before a Judge who must approve any plans. All creditors are given a voice and may object to the re-organization plan.
My most significant question about all this is “why the eff have the right wing nuts got their paranoid little testicles all up their butts?” Did they forget they were the ones saying “LET THEM FAIL !!! THAT IS HOW AMERICAN BUSINESS WORKS”. Do I note a touch of hypocrisy here?
sigh. where obama was born is irrelevant. He is the son of a US citizen so he is a US citizen. If where he was born was relevant then McCain would be ineligible too since he was born in Panama.
Yet again, John’s dragging an anti-Obama non-story out of his large ass. Dealerships in the rural areas shutting down… oh, the horror… could it be that they were deemed to not be able to be profitable in the future??? In other words… DEAD DEALERSHIPS.
This just in… Rich people (read: “rich car dealerships”) tend to vote Republican.
Holy. Shit.
No story here folks, move along.
#6
Well it looks like Scott Bourne decided to join in the conversation. It is him. You can tell it’s him as he reads as boring as he sounds on Mac Break Weekly.
You couldn’t help but bring up Iraq and not address the question at hand. And your point is what exactly Scott Boring?
Stick to your photography, overpriced computers and lackluster comments on Mac Break Weekly!
Once again, Dvorak proves himself to be a completely gullible asshat. What a surprise.
Old Russian saying…You can tell same lie 1000 time but not change truth!
Difference between USSR Communist media and USA “mainstream media”
In Russia government make media say what they want – even if lie.
In USA “mainstream media” try make government what they want – even if lie..
…..eventually they become same thing?!
I Igor produce Obama Birth Certificate
I’m still confused about the part where somehow closing a dealer will save Chrysler money.
Dealers sell cars. When they sell cars, Chrysler makes money. If they can’t sell cars, then the dealer goes out of business anyway.
My other point is that not all these dealers will be “shuttered”. They won’t be selling Chrysler any more. But they can still remain in the car business – to compete directly with Chrysler. So all Chrysler has done is create a bunch of motivated, pissed-off competitors.
I expect to see this on Snopes in the next day or two.