Alec Baldwin: "Pull the plug" on Detroit

Alec Baldwin has taken some time away from verbally abusing family members to fire his barbs at the American auto industry. His background in the industry is nearly as impressive as his parenting skills. As he put it, "I was the voice of Chevy Tahoe TV spots for five years in the early 90's. I drove a Tahoe then and loved it. Now, I drive a Prius." I know what you're thinking, just because he picked up a check (and a complimentary Tahoe) for reading a few lines for a 30 second TV spot, it hardly makes him an expert. But when you think about it, that brief brush with the industry equates to more automotive experience then Barack Obama's appointment for Car Czar.

So recently Alec Baldwin used his vast automotive knowledge in a Huffington Post editorial to spew what may be the most ignorant assessment of American automotive products since . . . since Obama said, "I'm not an auto engineer. I don't know how to create an affordable, well designed plug-in hybrid, but I know if the Japanese can design an affordable, well designed plug-in hybrid then, doggone it, the American people should be able to do the same."

Alec Baldwin decided to reach beyond simple stupidity and, like a host of good liberals, turned to a plagiarized potpourri of poppycock to deliver this misinformed indictment:

"I've owned Mercs, Chevys, Fords and Jeeps. I'm in the market for a new car now. I'll probably get a hybrid from a Japanese company . . . I'd like to buy an American car, but I'd feel like a fool doing that now. The leadership of the biggest automakers made sure of that.

"There can be only one legitimate response to this crisis. Let energy conservation and fuel efficiency rule the day. Let the carmakers go under. In the same way we have subsidized Big Oil by destabilizing the governments of petroleum rich countries, or outright invading them, we have subsidized Detroit long enough. Just as every barrel of oil is undervalued because we do not factor in that portion of the defense budget that helped bring that oil to market, so we have undervalued our government's, and therefore our, complicity in producing cars that not only were inferior, but drove Detroit itself right off a cliff.

"From the ashes of such great innovation, hard work, beautiful design and extraordinary branding-as-myth-making, let's have better cars.

"From the ashes of arrogance, greed and corporate cowardice, let's have better cars.

"Until then, pull the plug."

Oh, I could talk about Baldwin's tired left-wing cliche that the "problems" with the American industry falls on the shoulders of those greedy corporate leaders. And I could dissect his absurd contrivance to work in the Iraq war as being a ploy to destabilize the area for the sake of big oil (because we all know how stable the area was with Saddam running amok, what with his invasions of Iran and Kuwait, gassing of the Kurds and firing missiles into Saudi Arabia and Israel). But what annoys me today about Alec's drunken rant (at least I hope he has alcohol to blame for this nonsense) is his unstudied belief that the Japanese are making superior cars to what rolls out of Detroit today.

Rather than actually look at what Detroit is producing, the Democrats and their lackeys continue to beat the drum of their own calculated world view that the Americans cannot compete with Japanese technology. And their ignorance is perpetuated in the current anti-American TV media. Readers note: I did not say that the TV media lacks patriotism, but I have no choice but to call someone anti-American when they persist in claiming that a foreign product is superior to and American version despite evidence to the contrary. Well, come to think of it, I did have a choice. I could refer to them as "jackholes."

Unlike Baldwin, actual industry experts have compared his precious Prius to an American entry into the hybrid arena, the Ford Fusion. The verdict: the Ford Fusion is the preferred car. According to USA Today: "The Ford is much more pleasurable to drive." U.S. News and World Reports says, "OK, let's just get it out there: The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is the best gasoline-electric hybrid yet." And these publications aren't even looking at the fact that the Fusion scored a 5-star crash test rating while the Prius crash testers were seeing stars of another kind. And Fusion offers Sync, the most sophisticated in-car communications and entertainment system available in the automotive world.

But none of this matters to the likes Alec Baldwin. Now I'm asking myself why he matters at all. I guess it's his charm.