Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Lansing Mayor, Ed Schultzl Shoot Down Boycott Idea

The right-wing proposal that Americans punish Michigan workers by boycotting Chrysler and General Motors isn't going down well with Ed Schultz of MSNBC. That's putting it mildly.

On his show on Tuesday (June 9, 2009), Schultz could barely contain his anger at the proposal, calling it un-American. And he vowed to bring his show to Lansing, Michigan, to let workers speak for themselves. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero called the boycott "sick" and did a terrific job of sticking up for American workers, as he has in previous appearances on national television.

Watch it yourself here.

1 comment:

Jordan G said...

I don't understand. Isn't a boycott supposed to have a reason? Something they want the company to do or change?

I'll save brett the effort and respond for the conservatives: 'Wouldn't this be similar to an environmentalist group on the liberal side calling for a boycott of Hummer (when it was still an American brand)? So how would the Michigan Democrats respond to that?'

Well, as a Democrat, I guess my answer would be that I would not support the boycott, but I would sympathize with the group's intention.

Now it would be very interesting to see the Michigan Republicans take that stance with this boycott. Why? Because there is no cause to sympathize with. To be a legit boycott, it has to have a reason that the company can respond to. There is nothing that GM or Chrysler can do at this point to appease these boycotters. They want nothing other than for these two companies to go out of business, and all of their employees to lose their jobs.

With the fictional environmentalists, victory would be when Hummer started making more fuel efficient versions. With these non-fictional conservatives, the only victory possible would be if GM and Chrysler fail.

For that reason, I hesitate to even call this a boycott. I can't even think of an appropriate noun to call this, just several adjectives to label the action as anti-American, hate-filled, illogical, envious, despicable, and worse.