Robert Hall

If McCain wins, I'm definitely getting out of AZ....either back to Denver/Boulder or maybe Seattle or Portland...

I'll go see it...I usually always like Oliver Stone's films...saw 'Body of Lies' tonight, quite good.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Colorado goes.. I'm voting there by mail, since I still maintain residence there while in AZ.

About 10 min ago, on the way back from lunch, I saw a goregous black '65 GTO convertible, black interior, top down, red line tires and Hurst wheels. Drool.

I don't think Chevy is even in Australia...I know in Europe they have Daewoo generics badged as Chevys, Holdens badged as Chevys in the Middle East, Opels in Mexico and South America as Chevys, etc..

Cool..

Maybe Cerebus is looking at unloading Chrysler on GM..

I would definitely miss Jeep and their RWD cars!

GM could use their minivans, since GM has given up on them. And Jeep would give them some good compact and midsize SUVs.

The oil companies and the politicians they finance?

I'm wondering if they are doing anything with Tesla on the technology..or if it's just coincidental that Chrysler is showing a Lotus-based concept.

I saw that on CNN this morning...at a town hall style meeting, some stupid fat old ho said Obama was a Arab. F*cking redneck retards. This country is full of them.

Maybe they could rename the combined company 'American Motors'. Some interesting possibilities. GM has the better FWD compact and midsize lines, GM has the better full size truck and SUV lines (though that market is in decline). Jeep is a credible, international 4WD brand, could replace HUMMER. Chrysler has minivans that actually sell pretty well. Chrysler has an excellent full-size RWD platform (and GM seems to be giving up on theirs). I don't know...seems like a lot of brand and model overlap..not sure what the upside is beyond maybe a better chance at survival?

I'm surprised..I figured the bottom had dropped out of the market for those beasts...

Of course, when that Escalade is a year old, it may be worth only $25k with depreciation?

I'm not opposed to domestic drilling, but I question it's efficacy in the near term. I can see reducing imported oil as a worthwhile goal, but it needs to part of an overall energy plan...that includes alternative energy sources and moving away from fossil fuel.

This was originally posted in another thread, probably fits better here. An article in the NYT today is one of the best I've seen lately at illustrating the differences between the parties, esp. what I dislike so much about today's Republican party.. NYT article A few paragraphs from the article that ring true to me: " Over the past 15 years, the same argument has been heard from a thousand politicians and a hundred television and talk-radio jocks. The nation is divided between the wholesome Joe Sixpacks in the heartland and the oversophisticated, overeducated, oversecularized denizens of the coasts. What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect. Republicans developed their own leadership style. If Democratic leaders prized deliberation and self-examination, then Republicans would govern from the gut. George W. Bush restrained some of the populist excesses of his party — the anti-immigration fervor, the isolationism — but stylistically he fit right in. As Fred Barnes wrote in his book, “Rebel-in-Chief,” Bush “reflects the political views and cultural tastes of the vast majority of Americans who don’t live along the East or West Coast. He’s not a sophisticate and doesn’t spend his discretionary time with sophisticates. As First Lady Laura Bush once said, she and the president didn’t come to Washington to make new friends. And they haven’t.” The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions — Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone." I'd add the Boulder-Denver area to this list, from personal experience.. The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community. This sums it up the best: " And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away."

Placing 'smaller government' and 'Republicans' in the same sentence has become an oxymoron, I'm afraid.

Well, the Republican party today is the party of intolerance, IMHO... it seems today that if you aren't a straight white evangelical Christian, you aren't welcome. The Republican party has alienated vast groups with in the US with it's anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-professional stances...I saw an article today in the NYT that's one of these best I've seen in a while about this cultural divide--- it's a worthwhile read. NYT article A few paragraphs from the article that ring true to me: " Over the past 15 years, the same argument has been heard from a thousand politicians and a hundred television and talk-radio jocks. The nation is divided between the wholesome Joe Sixpacks in the heartland and the oversophisticated, overeducated, oversecularized denizens of the coasts. What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect. Republicans developed their own leadership style. If Democratic leaders prized deliberation and self-examination, then Republicans would govern from the gut. George W. Bush restrained some of the populist excesses of his party — the anti-immigration fervor, the isolationism — but stylistically he fit right in. As Fred Barnes wrote in his book, “Rebel-in-Chief,” Bush “reflects the political views and cultural tastes of the vast majority of Americans who don’t live along the East or West Coast. He’s not a sophisticate and doesn’t spend his discretionary time with sophisticates. As First Lady Laura Bush once said, she and the president didn’t come to Washington to make new friends. And they haven’t.” The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions — Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone. The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community. This sums it up the best: " And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away."

Yeah...Alaska being so small in population and remote from the rest of the US is probably full of corruption...look at Ted Stevens.

Yes, Obama has similar appeal for me---he is closer to my age than McCain, very articulate, intelligent, a well-educated professional, computer literate and modern. McCain is of a time long ago past...he's of my mother's generation, an age group where people are enjoying retirement. He seems like a short tempered, mean old man out of touch with the modern world. As a well-traveled, well-educated upper middle class suburban professional working in an industry known for it's modernity and diversity, I find the Democratic party a better fit for my values and views...the core of the Republican Party of today--the conservatives and religious zealots that McCain/Palin pander to-- have nothing in common with my reality. The 'small town' folksy appeal and phony 'family values' talk that works with the God and guns crowd doesn't speak to me.

I bet Sarah Palin supports the AFA...seems like the kind of crowd she's follow..

Wow... a few years ago, I saw a late '90s Camry in dark green (it seems to have been a very common color) with a GT-R badge on the rear and a fart can exhaust, and NISMO decals. Still had the Toyota badging. Similarily bizzaro, I used to see in Denver occasionally a worn late '80s Chevy Camaro IROC-Z Type R (Type R badges and a Honda 'H' on the nose).. Or the Chrysler 300M Mach 1 I saw in Akron a few years ago..

I wonder how many have been sold this YTD... Update: checked the GM sales figures-- 473 H2s in Sept, about 5200 YTD. H3 was a bit more than 3 times those numbers. And 1 H3T in Sept.

I wonder if before the end of the year they will have 75-90% off fire sales to clear out '08 HUMMER and truck and SUV inventory