Gangster government targets Toyota

Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner has one of the best editorials we have read about the Toyota gas pedal problem that the Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pictured below is pushing. We also believe LaHood is trying to hurt Toyota sales in favor of Government Motors. He is also still mad at Ford as well as they didn't take the GM/Chyrsler deal so we figure foreign car non-union automobile manufactures are next. What is he going to do to Ford next to push Government Motors. Without the "Cash for Clunkers" the domestic UAW car companies would not have done so well.

His statement yesterday to drop everything and go get your Toyota fixed immediated smacked of scare tactics on his part. Now today we read as CNN Breaking News, the brakes on the Prius by Toyota could have a brake problem. This man is nothing but a union stooge of the UAW and a grandstander to boot.


Been driving a Toyota Highlander since it was bought new in 2006 and love it -- best car I have ever driven and yes it is an SUV. Do a lot of driving to other states and this SUV is by far the most comfortable vehicle I have ever owned. We took it to the Sun Bowl in El Paso and when you get out of the car you are not tired and achy like you are in most sedans. Would I recommend a Highlander to any one looking for a new or used car -- absolutely. Would I recommend Toyota dealerships? Absolutely -- best people we have ever dealt with.

Our Family knows all about Government Motors and poor quality that went into the engine of our Buick. The radiator was undersized for the vehicle. How do you manage to do that? Then we went to Ford which had a brake problem after 2 1/2 years on a new car and then we stupidly bought another Taurus which also needed a lot of work long before it should have. After that when looking around we decided to try Toyota. We ended up getting my SUV and two other Toyota Matrix for college graduations. The amount of problems we have had with all three Toyotas, you could put in a thimble.

Mr. LaHood doesn't understand most Toyota owners if he thinks this is going to stop us from buying Toyota. If I was looking for a brand new car, I would buy a Toyota because all their cars will have been gone over with a fine tooth comb after this. Mr. LaHood can pull out all his dirty tricks because Toyota is NOT a UAW shop and frankly that is why we went to Toyota. The one brand of GM that was worth something, Saturn, Government Motors put out of business.

Read this editorial by Mark Tapscott and tell us if you don't agree that the "Gangster Government" is out to do the bidding of the UAW against Toyota. The UAW did a good job of tanking Government Motors and Chrysler so now they are taking aim at Toyota with the backing of this Chicago Thug Government that Obama is operating. He has to feel perfectly at home surrounded by his loyal thugs from Chicago. Hear them talk and they leave no doubt they are as Michael Barone puts it -- gangster government. That is the only way Chicago has operated for years under the Daley Machine.

Please visit the Washington Examiner for more of Mark Tapscott's editorials. We normally excerpt, but this was so good we wanted everyone to read what Tapscott had to say because we believe he nailed LaHood and this Administration on their tactics against Toyota.

Gangster government targets Toyota
Examiner Editorial February 4, 2010

What is it about the automotive industry that inspires such thuggish attitudes in the Obama administration? The Examiner's Michael Barone coined the term "gangster government" to describe threats by the White House last spring against Chrysler creditors who had the temerity to insist that bankruptcy laws be followed in the bailout of the perennially ailing third member of the once-fabled Detroit Big Three. Now along comes Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood muttering darkly that "we're not finished with Toyota" in the controversy over sticking gas pedals in vehicles made and sold in America by the Japanese automaker.

The basis for these threats is little more than anecdote-based suspicions that an electronic malady related to electro-magnetic interference from power lines might be the problem instead of the mechanical wear identified by Toyota engineers.

Regardless, LaHood, headline-chasing congressmen like Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and a chorus of Naderite auto safety nannies led by former National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Joan Claybrook are demanding that Toyota submit to a punishing new round of subpoenas, hearings, and media inquisition. It's not enough that Toyota -- the auto industry's perennial leader on respected measures of initial and long-term quality -- has already taken the unprecedented step of suspending production and sales of eight of its most popular models, undertaken a crash course to identify the cause of the problem, and guaranteed a fix for every one of the 2.3 million affected owners.

Given the Obama administration's catering to one of its favorite special interest groups, the United Auto Workers union, during the government's bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler last year, it is difficult to avoid wondering whether Toyota has become a victim of the Chicago Way of dealing with competitors. Toyota overtook GM several years ago as the world's leading automaker. The potential of the current sticking gas pedal controversy to inflict damage on Toyota here in its largest single market is seen in the January sales figures. Toyota sales are down 16 percent while GM is up 14 percent (Ford, which declined a government bailout last year, is up 25 percent, while Chrysler is down 8 percent).

Keep the controversy going and odds are good that Toyota sales will continue to drop. The biggest losers besides American consumers will be the men and women who own and work at Toyota's 1,200 U.S. dealerships and the 30,000 Americans who build Toyotas in its five factories here. LaHood might as well have said "Nice car company ya got there, be a shame if anything happened to it."

Source: Washington Examiner