Former White House political operative Karl Rove appeared on Fox News saying he was offended by the latest Chrysler Super Bowl ad featuring Clint Eastwood.
“This is a sign of what happens when you have government getting in bed with big business, like the bailout of the auto companies,” Rove said in support of his contention that the ad was political payback for the loans.
Rove said, “Remember, we lost $1.8 billion of taxpayer’s (money) on the government bailout of Chrysler and we’re going to lose $14 billion in the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors.
“It’s a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics and the President of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising,” Rove added.
Meanwhile, at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas, Rove’s old boss, former President George W. Bush, received a standing ovation when he defended his decision to loan money to Chrysler and General Motors, “I’d do it again. I didn’t want there to be 21 percent unemployment.”
Chrysler Group does not owe the government any money. Chrysler Group repaid all the money it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments, with interest, last May. The $1.8 billion cited by Rove is actually $1.3 billion and it was not loaned to Chrysler Group LLC; it was loaned to the former Chrysler LLC, owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a fact that was overlooked or omitted along with the fact that that money was loaned to Cerberus by the Bush Administration before President Obama took office. That debt went into liquidation with the rest of the former company.
Since Chrysler does not owe the government any money, the company clearly is not using taxpayer money for its advertising.
Eastwood, went on Fox’s “O’Reilly Factor” on Monday night and said, “l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about job growth and the spirit of America.”
“If Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it,” he added.
A supporter of John McCain in the 2008 election, Eastwood describes himself as a libertarian.
Asked about the spot while appearing on yesterday’s Paul W. Smith Show on WJR-AM radio, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said, “It has zero political content. I think we need to be careful, and God knows, I mean I can’t stop anybody from associating themselves with a message, but it was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us.”
