September 10, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential nominee John McCain was “not truthful” and “insulting” when answering questions about whether he paid for his daughter’s Toyota Prius, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said today.
Gettelfinger, whose union has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama, leapt on comments McCain made in a TV interview Sunday when asked about the Prius hybrid driven by Meghan McCain. In two newspaper interviews last year, McCain had said he bought the Prius for his daughter -- joking at one point, "I ought to know the name of it; I paid for it," according to The New York Times.
But McCain told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) on Sunday, “Actually she bought it, I believe, herself.”
“To us, it’s a credibility issue,” Gettelfinger said today. “It’s very insulting to try and skirt something as simple as whether or not you bought a particular vehicle.”
Gettelfinger said McCain was free to buy foreign or domestic vehicles, but argued that buying models from domestic automakers supported more U.S. jobs than buying from overseas companies.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080910/BUSINESS01/80910068/1014/business01