Tweety: "Don't go after this guy...we're talking about his tuition, food for his family."

[Atman]

He's obviously defending the little guy, right? An assembly worker in Detroit probably, right?

Guess again. That was the way Chris Matthews just shut down a segment with Pat Buchanan and some tool from the Heritage Foundation. The guy was saying that no one should be making $75 and hour (lie, btw: the popular figure being thrown around is an average of the TOTAL of all money GM pays out for benefits, pensions, retired workers, etc. No one on the line is making that, but it helps sell the "Unions BAD!" meme). Chris said "But you negotiate for your salary, right? Right? Don't you negotiate? They negotiated their salaries, too."

Heritage Dude says something like "Well, yes, but I assume the Heritage Foundation has the money to pay me."

At which Pat pipes up, raising his voice as usual. "What do you PRODUCE at the Heritage Foundation? You're entirely subsidized!"

They had some back and forth and when finally it wasn't looking good for Heritage Guy, Chris didn't seem to see the irony to his not wanting to go after the poor little rich Heritage Foundation spokesman in his quest to disseminate right wing bullshit to the masses. Nooooo. We wouldn't want the poor wealthy opinionatti to go hungry, lose their jobs talking about the actual working people who really are losing their jobs while the idiots in Washington bicker like fucking grade school children. No, that wouldn't be proper.

Thanks for shutting 'em down, Chris, and sparing the union-buster any discomfort.

.

[goclark]

1. Yea for Chris ~ I may have to stop caling him Tweety

He has been on the money lately.

[w4rma]

6. Pat Buchanan was defending the union workers. I'm not sure Tweety was. (nt)

[rvablue]

21. No keep calling him Tweety....I have a feeling

he used the googles to look himself up and saw himself referenced a little pesky parakeet and it straightened him out a bit.

Viva Tweety!

[Lumpsum]

23. I've always thought of "Tweety" as a term of endearment.

I call him Tweety because I love him. And because his hair is unnaturally yellow.

[ipfilter]

2. It's called a Collective Barganing AGREEMENT

for a reason.

[sandnsea]

3. He was defending union negotiations

I didn't even watch it and based on your comments alone, I can see that Matthews was standing up for the workers. Maybe I don't understand your post.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Chris Matthews is still Paul Bunyans axe.

A big fucking tool!

[Barack_America]

5. Matthews didn't shut it down, he eviscerated the guy.

"tuition and food for his family"?

Matthews just reminded this guy that his concerns are no different than your average assembly line worker. He put him in his place.

[JuniperLea]

7. The unions are getting a raw deal

And those who are pushing for this bailout don't have a clue... the loan, bailout, whatever, isn't going to help the workers. There are already layoffs going on and more planned.

Fucking Bush. I'm sick of our world! He broke our fucking world!

:banghead:

[Pathwalker]

9. Not a clue? I live in the town where GM has just announced

thousands and thousands of lay-offs, shut down plant after plant, and now they're "stripping production" at the last 2 plants - the next to last step before total shutdown. My husband is in this industry; everyone we know has either worked there for decades or has retired, and yet WE don't have a clue? They're not just planning more lay-offs - they're planning on SHUTTING THE DOORS. That's the "back story" here in Michigan. The executives have decided they will let GM go under rather than file for bankruptcy and they're NOT bluffing. They're freaking serious and it's what they're PLANNING!
But what do I know - just the wife and friend of the people who will soon find themselves without a job...or54 anything else. Clueless.

[JuniperLea]

12. Yes, sorry, you are... here is what your precious auto company wants to do...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4502735&mesg_id=4502735

[Pathwalker]

14. They are not MY precious car company - GM belongs to the rich

folks up top. The people I know are/were assembly line workers, and local executives - the ones who will be most devastated. And GM won't be going anywhere else if they shut down the company. Personally, I would like to see many of the top executives in prison garb for what they've done to GM. Until they came on board, GM was a great company, and they've almost finished raiding it into destruction. My town, my State is dying - to some of this matters far more than a sniping contest online. I've watched people work their entire lives, wrecking their bodies in the process, so I don't want GM saved for the executives, but for the workers. THEY are my "precious".

[JuniperLea]

15. They won't close GM completely...

They will move them to another country. I feel very badly for all the people involved, but I'm not going to stand behind a loan when these rat bastards that dug the hole will be in charge of that money.

[Pathwalker]

17. Then make it so they don't get to profit from the loan.

Make the rat bastards work for $1 a year, like Iaccoca did. Make them resign! I ONLY care about the ACTUAL union workers who are going to lose everything after a lifetime of hard, hard work.

[JuniperLea]

13. The bailout/loan will not help

As long as they are blaming others and doing stupid things like flying private jets to a beggar's banquet. They are not concerned about you or your husband or your town or anything. All they care about is themselves. The bailout would be a bandage, nothing more. It would only delay the inevitable.

[Pathwalker]

16. And it will start by destroying those I love most.

Secretly, I'm hoping those executives will soon see a mob breaking down the gates of their estates, pitchforks in hand, but that will take a while longer. They are the ones who raided GM, they are ones who destroyed GM. ON PURPOSE.

[JuniperLea]

18. I believe you are correct...

They saw the writing on the wall, so they started the pilfering, and now, much like their King Bush, they are trying to take every last dime they can carry as they run away from the disaster they created.

I'm so sorry. And I'm sorry for getting so heated... you didn't deserve that. I see it now, and I truly am sorry.

:hug:

I know people who work for Toyota in the Port of Long Beach who are being laid off too. No one is selling cars. This is worse than anyone expected, methinks.

[Pathwalker]

19. Thank you for that. So many people here are already losing their homes

and just disappear, seemingly overnight. Michigan's unemployment rate went to 9.3% last month, but that only represents those collecting benefits, not those who've already used them up. It's really closer to %20. The IT company where my son works is adding jobs, but when the Works! program came to interview them to see what skills were required, one of the interviewers left in tears, because they didn't have a single worker who could do that job. The bastards just destroyed the company, and they really don't care - everyone here knows that.
I hope some one writes a book, or makes a movie about "Who killed GM?" because it would make a lot of people realize how and why GM was destroyed -from the inside - on purpose. America needs to know about ALL of it.

[JuniperLea]

22. You should take down some notes...

It would help you to get it all out, and you might just write your way into something. Things happen when passions take over, and your love of your family, city, and state could make this happen for you. I bet Michael Moore could be swayed... easily... if he isn't already on it.

[firedupdem]

8. I can't believe I almost agreed with crazy Pat today and I understood

what he was saying. The other guy was an ass. It was all about busting the unions. Tweety wasn't protecting him...he was trying to say he had bills etc just like the rest of us.

[Atman]

10. Maybe I saw it wrong. In the whole context of the interview, yes, Matthews was pro union

I caught that exchange, though, and all I could think was "Matthews, you tool, remind him that feeding the family is what this is all about!" He did, but I think I'm so sick of hearing him blow with the wind, I wasn't even sure what side he was defending!

:rofl:

"My bad" (One of the Oxford most annoying phrases runner-ups)

.

[pnwmom]

11. "Little guys" pay tuition for their kids and themselves. Community college tuition,

state university tuition -- even parochial school tuitions (which are much lower than most private schools).

Having said that, I'm confused about who is the "little guy" here. At first I thought you were talking about union employees -- rereading it, apparently you're talking about the Heritage Foundation speaker?

[qanda]

20. My bil was just telling me about the effects of one of the Chrysler plants closing

He works for the credit union as the CFO and said he spends a good portion of his day helping these people do resumes. I was almost in tears as he said they tell him that all they've ever known is working for Chrysler. Most of them don't know what they're going to do now.