A few weeks ago, ex-GM chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors, Daniel Akerson, took to the interwebs to express that he has “always voted for Republicans for president” but that he will not do so this year.
We should note that we spent quite a bit of time deliberating whether to cover this kind of political material here on GM Authority. Ultimately, we decided to do so, while erring on the side of caution. After all, Mr. Akerson did serve as the chairman and CEO of General Motors from 2010 to 2014. He also also served as vice chairman and special adviser to the board of directors for the Carlyle Group from 2014 to 2016.
Mary Barra succeeded Akerson as GM’s CEO in January 2014 and as its chairman in January 2016.
Akerson’s open letter, as originally published at the Washington Post, is available just below.
I am the son of a World War II and Korean War veteran. As a young man, the men I respected most were my father and my uncles, who collectively fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, D-Day, Iwo Jima and Inchon. I came of age in the service of our nation. I never had a draft card. I entered the U.S. Naval Academy before my 18th birthday and served in the Navy for five years. My older brother volunteered as well. Simply put, it was expected. We were raised in a good Catholic home and believed in God and country. My wife of 44 years and I have sought to pass these values to our kids and grandkids.
And I have always voted for Republicans for president. Not this year.
The compelling rationale behind this decision: leadership. A good leader must demonstrate such qualities as competence, integrity, empathy, character and temperament. Hillary Clinton has these essential qualities. Donald Trump does not.
Trump simply lacks the competence to serve as president of the United States. His knowledge of economic policy and foreign affairs is rudimentary, at best; his views are misguided. His threat to impose prohibitive tariffs on trade would repeat mistakes that contributed to the Great Depression. His words and actions have rattled our European and Asian allies at a time when Russia and China are resurgent. He has demonstrated neither the capacity nor the inclination to learn from experts in global economics.
Trump claims great business prowess. Running the U.S. government is perhaps the most complex global chief executive job in the world. Everything one does as the leader of the free world is watched by markets, foreign governments, our competitors and our enemies. This requires a steady hand and temperament.
When I worked at General Motors, our global operations comprised more than 100 plants and roughly a quarter-million employees. Supply-chain management and the orchestration of commodities, parts and components around the globe required a multinational, interdisciplinary effort. In every chief executive job I have had, my team and I spent countless hours analyzing global trends, listening to experts, learning from others and making informed, reasoned decisions. Trump does none of that. While running a successful hotel business is honorable and hard work, there is no comparison to running a sophisticated global operation such as the U.S. government. Trump is simply not up to a job of this complexity.
Long ago, I learned an old Navy saying from a good friend and now-retired admiral: “Ship, shipmate, self.” This motto set the priorities for my life during my service. The civilian equivalent would be “country, fellow citizen, self.” As individuals and as a nation, we must aspire to serve the greater good. We must exhibit the empathy that places the greater good of the nation and its people above individual self-interest.
Unfortunately, Trump has appealed to the lowest common denominators in our society: prejudice, xenophobia and intolerance. He has mocked people with disabilities, tarred ethnic minorities, demeaned women and insulted religious leaders, including the pope.
When Trump questioned the patriotism and sacrifice of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and, thereby, other prisoners of war, he demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the men and women in uniform, as well as our veterans. He appeared unable to empathize or comprehend the sense of isolation and despair associated with years of imprisonment. But he did not stop there.
When asked how he has sacrificed for our country, Trump compared his experiences in real estate to that of a mother who lost her son after that brave young man volunteered for service in the U.S. Army. Trump’s complete lack of empathy and his failure to understand the heartache of a grieving mother disqualify him from being commander in chief. What kind of person equates the sacrifice of the loss of a child to that of creating jobs or making money?
Trump has resorted to schoolyard name-calling and skewed the truth too many times. I simply do not believe that Trump could stand tall like John F. Kennedy did during the Cuban Missile Crisis, demonstrate the strength of Ronald Reagan in bringing about the end of the Cold War or articulate the vision of George H.W. Bush to support a unified Germany when the wall came down.
By contrast, Clinton has been tested. She has demonstrated balance, calm and an even temperament. She has an unparalleled knowledge of foreign and economic policy; she has run complex organizations such as the State Department. Over the years, she has demonstrated that she can take criticism and work with even her most strident political opponents. Like other leaders, including myself, she has made mistakes. I believe she has learned from those mistakes. In my opinion, she is ready to be commander in chief on Day One.
Many of my fellow chief executives will question my decision to speak out. My choice is grounded in the Midwest values that I learned from my parents and grandparents. I hope and believe that one day my grandchildren will be proud that I stood up to speak out about what is right for our country. Ultimately, our greatest duty to our country is to put our future, and our children’s future, above partisan politics.
Comments
It’s “erring on the side of caution” not “airing”
I knew it! A couple of us on here were just waiting until Sean wrote another anti-Trump/ anti-Republican rant/”news article.”. Been quiet for a while but here it is again.
What, someone too ashamed to put their name to the article? What happened to responsible/ ethical journalism, Sean. We know it is you because you are the only writing stories in here and have a chip on their shoulder.
We know you gate Trump, Sean. We know you are a proud card- carrying member of the Democratic party. We know you try to tell us that many times (some would say shove it down our throats). But this just smacks of desperation and might be a prelude to the general election…closer than some would have you believe.
Sean, why not write stories on all the Democrats NOT voting for corrupt Clinton? I am a Democrat that is totally disenfranchised with the part and especially Hillary. I cannot vote for her like many I know. I will probably stay home and not vote at all.
After decades and decades of Republicans saying actors and musicians should keep their mouths shut about politics because “they don’t know anything”, it’s time to say CEO’s and Manufacturers should keep their mouths shut. Not because “they don’t know anything”, in fact they know huge amounts.
Unlike actors and musicians, CEO’s and Manufacturers actually receive government money in the form of tax breaks and state-incentives to move factories to their areas. IF YOU HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME YOU SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO COMMENT ON THE PROCESS. Actors and musicians don’t benefit in any way from their political comments, and most often lose revenue when they do.
Either you have not itemized your taxes at tax time or you do t pay attention. You would see the number of tax breaks that artists, and others that you mention receive that we average Americans cannot get, even some tied to owning our own business. Clearly there is a reason Hollywood supports the Democrats so ardently.
I changed found it does matter it is the country that matters please vote for Donald please. I was a Dem now Rep what ha difference does it maker can flex my muscles for the USA I love you Brother
If you are against someone and choose not to vote, in essense you are voting for the person, insuring their success. Logically, there is no need to have someone cancel out your vote and that vote becomes a vote of victory for the person that you did not like.
Don’t expect much from “writer” Sean. He still can’t figure out why Detroit has been worse than a Third World country for over 40 years.
See which party has been in power for that time. Hint:. Nothing to do with Trump.
Dear commenters Wisl and Crooked Hillary.
First: this is NOT a political site. The ONLY reason this story was posted was Mr. Akerson’s previous leadership position at General Motors.
Second: no matter what your political stance or agenda, I will tell you that personal attacks on our writers who have nothing to do with the subject matter at hand will not be tolerated.
If you wish to discuss any of this further, feel free to contact me using the Contact Us page linked below.
Sincerely,
Alex Luft
Director, GM Authority
To Alex Luft. Director of GM Authority.
I will not become redundant of my remarks to you calling out your “judgement” to use proper discretion in discerning what GM ties say and do and their relevance. As I point out, Dan’s statements contain many questionable and perhaps erronous remarks based on his subjectivity. May I suggest that in the future, in order to maintain ” the integrity” of GM Authority, that you ask one remaining question; “Even though the subject matter is related to a tie with GM, is it a subject based on facts (such as sales), or is it based on one man’s subjective opinion?” I think failure to not consider this question was an oversight on your part that left many with the unfavorable opinion which was that of a bias. I for one, will take your word that it was just based on hand wringing and discussion, from what I see in many of the posts here, you have upset a fair amount of people. I point out that you are only seeing the ones who posted. Seems like to me, that GM Authority owes us readers an apology for giving the impression of political bias because of the attempt of balancing between GM fact versus one man who formerly was with GM with questionable ties to his bias giving a subjective opinion that appears to contain errors related to his bias. Doing so would validate the sincerity of your intent of pure journalism.
No, no it would certainly not. You’re saying we should say sorry for reporting what someone else said because you don’t like it…
D.A.’s letter is subjective, sure, but it’s still news. And relevant news. We as a publication in no way endorse or oppose what he said, we simply were a source of spreading it. Now if you’re saying we should also publish articles that support Trump simply for the sake of balancing out our fan base, then that sir, is invalidating journalism.
We don’t write things based on whether or not people want to hear it, we report the occurrences as they happen. If a popular GM-affiliated figure were to endorse Trump, we would cover that, too. And then we would offend a whole other group of people. And we wouldn’t apologize to them either.
Which party in power over the last 40 years 1976-2016? Hmmm the Republicans have been President (Ford, Reagan, Bushs I&II), Speaker of the House (Gingrich and Hastert 1995-2007, Boehner and Ryan 2011-now) and Senate Majority leader (1981-87 under Baker then Dole, 1995-2001 under Trent Lott, 2003-2007 under Bill Frist, and 2015-now under Mitch McConnell).
Republicans in power for 40 years. As you said, nothing to do with Trump. I bet you’ll call these year-facts “lefty-liberal facts”.
To Old trombone.
You are all over the place mixing apples to oranges. Let’s take YOUR dates and names and break it down by each branch and which half of the branch.
OF THE LAST 40 YEARS, with your dates and times;
1). HOUSE CONTROL. You cite 1995-2007 (12 years) and 2011-2106 (5 years). 17 is not the greater half of 40 years.
2). SENATE. You cite 1981-1987 (4 years) ,1995-2001 (4 years) and 2003-2007 (4 years) and 2015-2016 (1 year). 13 is not greater than half of 40.
3). EXECUTIVE. You cite Ford (3 years) plus Reagan (8 years) and Bushes (16 years). But we can only include 1 year of Ford as you chose to only go back 40 years. Either way, it would not have changed the category result. 25 (or 27) IS the majority of 40 years.
But since you are choosing to include the terms of all three categories, that would be 120 years. Of that total, the three combined years totals would be 54 which is slightly less than one half the total time that they had control or power. I also note that per the Constitution, you need both the House and the Senate to pass legislation to insure a system where all states have a say, one by equal vote, the other by state size. If you look at that fact, the Republican Party had control of both Congresses (by your numbers) during 1995-2001 (6 years), 2003-2007 (4 years) and 2015-2106 (1 year). So in the last 40 years, the Republicans had control of both House and the Senate at the same for 11 of the last 40 years. I also note that Republican Presidents had a Republican Congress in both House and Senate for 2 of the last 40 years (2005-2007)
Interesting enough, if you were to go back further to the era of Nixon, your numbers would get worse. Now we are going back to 1969, which will include the extra 2 years of the 3 year Ford term, but also the 5 year term of Nixon. But this 7 years must also include zero years of Republican control of both the House and the Senate. But if we were to look at the last 47 years (when Nixon became President) , we would have a total of 141 years (47×3) in which the Republican total in each of the 3 aforementioned categories would add 7 to their 54 total to make 61 of the last 141 combined years. The years preceding your 40 year mark had Democrarts in both Congress branches. Going back before Nixon, your numbers get worse.
So the response to your question and by using your numbers, the answer is “The Democrats had more control in the last 40 years. And Republicans had no opposition in Congress for control for 11 of the last 40 years.
I know one thing none of you know Jackie did kill JFK. Trust no one love few paddle your own canoe. Ye and GM wants a electric car to increase the deaths by cell phone bathing us in death. Think we don’t know. Your going to have to kill me because I know what electricity that has not been harmonized has done. Some body screwed up the earth and messed with the positive protons. So much it is like seeing the world true one eye. But one thing there are places where that have not been changed and I ain’t talking. We have the solution to the confusion of your rads Mr. No body did to the world.
Guarantee one thing I promise you this if she makes it we will die especially elite jerks. Now we know the facts as to why GM was saved from failure. Jesus died for you all. I know now what a mistake I made with my life serving over 30 yrs duty to this country. (except my patients)I swear I wish I never did active because of this federal suck u Corp. Your a embarrassment to human common sense. I own a new C7 Z51 as a disabled Veteran thought that was respect for myself only. Your negatives in a positive world astound me. I hope God saves you people that don’t know the facts. Breath deep in your chem trails looser x corp boss. Cuz you knew it and did nothing about it cuz your sorry ass are dead for ever you MASON SOB. I hope my friend Scottish Rite Trump kicks you demonic ways where you will go soon. And in the end Donald gets saved thru Jesus. I don’t think any of your Corp types know what a failed piece of junk the damned M16 was. I know one thing none of you know Jackie did kill JFK. Trust no one love few paddle your own canoe. Ye and GM wants a electric car to increase the deaths by cell phone bathing us in death. Think we don’t know. Your going to have to kill me because I know what electricity that has not been harmonized has done. Some body screwed up the earth and messed with the positive protons. So much it is like seeing the world true one eye. But one thing there are places where that have not been changed and I ain’t talking. We have the solution to the confusion of your rads Mr. No body did to the world. POSTING THIS TWICE SO YOU FREAKS ON THE LEFT WAKE UP. Yeah can’t fix STUPID!
Trying to understand everything that you put down here sir, you have covered a lot and obviously a vast map of every corner. But the one thing that has caught my attention is your references to cell phones and EVs. Is has been said that for some time, electro magnetic frequencies from cell phone usage (especially early models) could contribute to health up to and including cancer. There also have been cases where microwave transmissions have influenced a high amount of cancer, especially among children. (Such was one case that was discovered by none other than Rev Jesse Jackson while in McFarland CA while running for President some years back, promised to assist the high mortality rate among those kids. I note that McFarland is a depressed agricultural area which received income by installing several microwave communication towers for financial gain to sustain at below poverty levels). When the first Prius came out, there was a lone wolf electrical engineer that showed with readings a high amount of this frequency radiation and stated in essence, that we are being exposed to a slow long term sustaining exposure of harmful electo magnetic emulsions and might experience further consequences. Is this what you are saying, and can you provide any links to this? Thanks.
One I know of is safestcellphone.com. They are inventors of some real cool stuff. Let me get who they or he is. They have this wand which really changes food and things into a harmony frequency stuff tastes better. Even a cut on my skin not to say it yet but it worked.
When it comes to this election my give a F is all used up.
On second thought, seeing even more media propaganda like this trying to force us to vote for one politician actually might get me to vote in this election…for TRUMP! He seems right about all the left-wing bias in the media and this blatant piece of propaganda just proves a lot of what he has been saying might be right.
Oh, and why no writer name just “GM Authority Staff”? Are you ashamed? I would be if I were you.
Yours truly, Former Democrat, Now Independent… Leaning Trump.
Wisl asks ” why no writer name just ‘GM Authority Staff’?”
Simply because none of the GM Authority staff wrote that article, but former GM manager Dan Akerson.
The GM Authority staff has only collectivly decided to republish this article by a person which had so long publicly represented the GM company and provided leadership to it.
What a lame statement from Akerson. Hillary’s vast foreign policy “experience” sure has worked out well hasn’t it? Libya? Syria? Do midwest values lead you to support someone who scrubs deleted emails from servers and smashes multiple phones to hide evidence of her own incompetance?
Erring on the side of caution? I think not. You need to leave a BS political piece like that for a rag like the Washington Post from which it came. You people have lost your collective minds.
90% of veterans and military members are voting Trump. So he is not in the majority by any means and might explain this sneaky political propaganda piece, like the ones before all written by Sean, attacking anyone anything not Hillary or supporting the Democratic elitist machine.
It just goes to show you how desperate the Hillary herd are getting… obviously they don’t have that lead they are claiming.
90% of the veterans in your mind are voting your way. Meanwhile, Bloomberg (I dare you to call his organization “left”) says 53/39.
“The Media” always hanging left? Allow me to give you a fantastic gift – Fox News can be found on cable, internet, and antenna near you. Its difficult to believe you didn’t know about them until now.
Oh good, one of the last places of refuge from political dogma and little party puppets in the comment section just opened that door.
Hope you enjoy the brief uptick in clicks … bookmark deleted.
Competence, integrity, empathy, character and temperament. I see this in neither.
I think a leader like this in industry needs to stay out of this fight as it is a no win no matter.
Industry, Unions, Actors, Singers, AUTOMOTIVE WEB Sites etc they all should shut the hell up. They put curtains in voting booths for a reason.
don’t hide the fact that you’ll be voting for trump.
Steve we have one obnoxious New Yorker that will not get much done and he is bucking a system that does not want to change.
We also have a person that has proven to die and serve only for her own good. She has been dishonest from the start, She sells her influence to anyone and everyone. She has put our country at risk.
To be honest I really don’t know what I am going to do.
I know I can’t vote for her as I know it will be a total mess. If I vote for him not much will get done as his own party is having a hard time supporting him. We will end in grid lock.
The person I would have liked to see was out long ago and to be honest the person we need is too smart to run in the first place with the den of thieves we have called Washington.
To be honest I do not blame either canadate as it is us the people who put them there. Hilary should have never gotten this far as we should have held her accountable as like all other politicians decandes ago.
As for Donald if we had held these people in DC accountable he would not have run in the first place.
Most idiots on the street either are so disconnected they have no clue who even their senator or congressman is. Way too many can not even name the VP. The even if they do they have no clue who these people really are as most don’t care as they only listen for what is in it for them and no the country as a whole.
The public as a whole is clueless to world events, economics and the true social issues. You have outsiders like George Soros and others who are spending billions to change things for their own good.
I see the future and we keep getting promised change but the change that is coming is not the kind most will be happy with. The government today is already working hard to tell us how to live, how to eat and how to run our lives. We have given our freedom away a little at a time and only a few groups have stood up and fought back.
There is a big price coming for our mistakes and we as a country will pay for the lack of interest and the bill of sale both parties have given us. Then you have the bigger mess that the Bernie supporters wanted. They really have no clue that they were being sold down the river big time with big government dreams and even less accountability.
trump is part of the system. he gave money to both sides if they could help him. he gave money to Clinton … imagine that!!!
every time I hear trump make a grand unrealistic promise and follow it up with “trust me”, that is right out of the con man’s textbook.
I am guessing that Trump the Businessman took advantage of all the loopholes afforded him. Any person would; you are in business to make money; you are not a non profit charity. (Even the name says what it is). But as they say, “the best crook (and I am not calling him that for you Trump supporters, just making an analogy here) is the best cop. He knows the system best”. Surely this guy has more than an inkling of what needs to be fixed.
Scott3: “Industry, Unions, Actors, Singers, AUTOMOTIVE WEB Sites etc they all should shut the hell up.”
Constitution of The United States of America:
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”
So America is wrong, right? The Constitution is secondary to your insistences and directives. George Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin, these guys are all history now…
Well you miss my point.
Everyone has a voice but so many are clue less ans self serving. They are out to promote an agenda not promote a true belief in freedom.
In fact the Unions generally try to tell people how to vote and not let them have their own free will.
The same should apply to corporations.
Then the entertainers? Clue less leading the clue less mostly because they will feel connected.
Who gives a F who Katy Parry, Babs or Larry the Cable Guy is voting for. If you are basing your vote on their endorsement then you have your priorities in the wrong place.
The Constitution is correct in how it was originally conceived. But today it has been so twisted to the point that it is being used against what it originally stood for.
No wonder this country is in such a mess today and not getting any better.
Based on the perks that artists (this includes entertainers) get from tax exemptions (just do a long form with the various schedules if you do not believe me), the Entertainer has a huge interest in getting their fan base to vote the same way as the performer does. It is not just about being in the limelight although T there is certainly that as well
This is an automotive webpage, not a political page! It’s been all bad things about Trump on here. This site, like others, is falling to the liberal bias. Why publish the ENTIRE speech from Akerson, which is just a hit piece on Trump? This article has no reason for being here. News regarding the operations of GM and its products should be the focus, not some has been CEO’s political opinions. I am losing much of the respect I once had for this site and its reporting. Perhaps a little more consideration should have been put into publishing this article, and even more consideration be put into the purpose of this site. If the authors can’t remain unbiased, perhaps they should seek employment in a different publication.
Exactly my thoughts.
I was one of the ones who contacted GMI sponsors and they lost some of their advertising. With no writers left on this site, besides Sean, it really shows this is dying site and probably because it is becoming a political mouthpiece much like CNN and MSNBC are.
I will contact any sponsors once again and tell them why I why I won’t buy their products now. Someone needs to stand up to this BS.
if trump would stop putting his foot in his mouth, maybe the media would run out of material.
Wisl,
I am sorry that you feel the way you do. Allow me to assure you that GM Authority is quite alive and well, and that it has a significant amount of writers, myself included.
In regards to your comment that GM Authority is “becoming a political mouthpiece much like CNN and MSNBC are” — I can assure you that it’s not even close to being the case.
In fact, I am curious to understand what made you reach this conclusion in the first place — as this story is the only kind of content that can be considered “politically-related” that has been published here in months. In fact, a quick look at our content statistics will clearly show that 99.9 percent of the content we have written this year has nothing to do with politics.
I believe that I answered the rest of your comment in my reply to David.
Sincerely,
Alex Luft
Director, GM Authority
My brothers in PR will tear the horse feathers from GM so no matter what they do China will screw GM. Fact is Sean you just screwed up big time.
David,
Your sentiment is exactly what we considered in the *weeks* prior to publishing this piece. As a point of reference, the original Washington Post letter was published on August 15, 2016… so this was not a knee-jerk “gotta publish this breaking news immediately” type of situation.
Moreover, this is one “politically-related” story amongst a sea of other articles here on GMA focused on “News regarding the operations of GM and its products”. As is the case with other stories that we write, if this is not something that a reader would like read or is interested in reading, he or she can simply skip it to the wide abundance of other GM-related content.
In addition, the purpose of this site is, in fact, to remain unbiased. We retain this unbiased state of being from a political standpoint, which is to say that we do not delve into endorsing or opposing political candidates. In all of our existence, you will be hard-pressed to find content that would oppose this statement.
As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the only reason this piece has been published here is its relation to Akerson, and his previous relation to GM. Nothing more, nothing less.
All in all, the content on GM Authority has not been, is not, and will not be politically biased.
Got some beechnut to spit in YOUR EYE!
I wonder if Dan donated to the Clinton Foundation?
Pay to Play!
He did.
And he is so worried he will lose his “investment” when Trump wins. Desperate just like this story.
what does a trump u degree get you?
At least you will not die like an ambassador.
Like Ambassadors Noel, Meloy and Davies who were killed while under Kissinger’s direction in Gerald Ford’s administration? Is that what you mean?
what did all of those benghazi republican congressional investigations/fishing expeditions find out???? nothing.
Kind of hard when so much of the evidence was deleted and the White House pressures the DOJ to not do anything.
She should just be removed from consideration for all the lies and for her miss use of classified info.
She has been around DC how long from the White House and Capital and now claims she did not know what the C on an E mail means. Hell I knew that.
My buddy in the FBI is counting the days for his retirement as he is done with them, He is far from the only one too.
trump is a joke.
he is a russian commie loving, birther, con man who wants to ride a wave of hate, fear and desperation to the white house.
Gee you say that like it is something negative.
i agree … trump is a terrible.
How retarded. I don’t care how much he served in the military. Hillary is a looney bird, and this used to be one of the places I went to escape the chaos of everyday life. I am very disappointed.
You saw an article about politics. You didn’t have to read it. If you chose to — you knew you risked said article saying something you didn’t like. So it’s YOUR responsibility.
I almost unsubscribed when I read the Trump article but since I am new to this site decided to just express my displeasure for this site being used politically particularly when it supports a lying, dishonest and immoral candidate. Do I think Trump will be the best president ever? No. Do I think that we have to break the ongoing corruption of the Clintons and Washington? Yes. I am voting for Trump as are most of the people I know.
are you being conned … yes. do you care … no. why??? because you feel powerless to the changes that are happening in the world.
So who was in BED with Putin on the selling of uranium mines to the USSR via a Canadian shell company ..and how much did crooked Hillerys hubby make from a speaking engagement put on by the Russians and how much did the Clinton Foundation make directly or indirectly from the Uranium One sale maybe the reading of Clinton Cash should be mandatory in the US before you vote
Guarantee one thing I promise you this if she makes it we will die especially elite jerks. Now we know the facts as to why GM was saved from failure. Jesus died for you all. I know now what a mistake I made with my life serving over 30 yrs duty to this country. (except my patients)I swear I wish I never did active because of this federal suck u Corp. Your a embarrassment to human common sense. I own a new C7 Z51 as a disabled Veteran thought that was respect for myself only. Your negatives in a positive world astound me. I hope God saves you people that don’t know the facts. Breath deep in your chem trails looser x corp boss. Cuz you knew it and did nothing about it cuz your sorry ass are dead for ever you MASON SOB. I hope my friend Scottish Rite Trump kicks you demonic ways where you will go soon. And in the end Donald gets saved thru Jesus. I don’t think any of your Corp types know what a failed piece of junk the damned M16 was.
you must have a first class seat on trump’s crazy train.
It’s a troll-bot computer program, set up to deliver random phrases from a pre-set list of anger-prompts. They’re funny and provide an insight into their fantasy world.
thanks. that explains a lot. but with trump supporters, it is hard to separate fiction from reality.
Wow, you would think the posting of this article was trying to tell everyone how to vote!
Take a deep breath, step back, hold your nose and do what I will ultimately try to do–make a decision to vote for the better of the two evils!
The past 4 years demonstrates that it doesn’t really matter who’s in the White House if the individual doesn’t have the support of Congress; Obama hasn’t been able to do anything over the past four years because the Republicans control Congress and because they do not have a super-majority, the GOP has been powerless to push forward their own legislation and nothing will change whether it’s Hillary or Donald in the White House and while they can try Executive Orders, someone will file a lawsuit in Federal Court and have the Executive Order voided.
Glad you posted this article, otherwise I could have missed it. Thanks to people like Dan, speaking out, not holding just to political ideology.
Our choice for president is important, just disappointing Republicans decided to sit this one out by putting an unqualified candidate as their party leader.
Until we set term limits and cut the cash out our elections, our dissatisfied taste of Washington politics will continue to yield “Trump’s”.
At least for now, enough people like Dan speak out to help us not make a mistake like voting for a Trump.
Try not to show your bias. First of all, you are in error, the Republicans tried extremely hard to not award the Republican choice to Trump as evidenced by how many high ranking Republicans tried to thwart him and go for Cruz, who was not even close to their second choice. He also is not known to get along with his inner circles. This was the choice of the people of the States and I point out that Trump received more popular votes than any Candidate in US history.
Second, Dan obviously knows what side his bread was buttered on. May I remind you that Dan was placed into the top dog spot by a “Car Czar” appointed by the President without Congressional approval (both the Czar and Dan) after the questionable GM Bankruptcy which for the first time that I know of, did not give the Shareholders who personally invested into the Company the first rights to the reassessed and diminished values, instead giving them nothing and yielding all rights to the Union. How do I know about this. Try looking up who DID NOT get their union earned pay including a hidden back door deal that even sold out our union earned pension when Knudsen went bankrupt in California. The BK laws were clear and we lost EVERYTHING.
Second, you allude to Washington Politics. Is your head buried in the sand like an Ostrich or are you in denial about the emails between Hillary and the DNC to screw Bernie and his supporters out of a fair election, (as uncovered by “the Russians” who tapped into an illegally used private email server that jeapardized National Security?
And we will not even go about the Democratic Candidates shady dealings to compromise National Security to enhance her and her husbands Foundation, also at the expense of National Security. All of this has been confirmed by Security Agencies and Inauiries of the Federal Government including the FBI.
If the Democrats were so righteous, Bernie would have been the candidate.
Even more disappointing for something as important as a Presidenrial Election is an unqualified voter who either will not become educated to vote and then votes. Even worse, is someone who follows the steps of the hypocrite Dan Ackerson who does not walk the talk by failing to put Country first.
Dear Site Whiners
It’s really quite simple.
1. This is an ALL THINGS GM-RELATED site.
2. Stories related to which candidate which GM candidate plans to support are kinda/sorta irrelevant. Do I care which GM car Mary Barra prefers? Not really. And so you’d think this same sort of thing extends to favorite Presidential candidates. And it does. Except when —
3. — something rather unpredictable happens and makes itself newsworthy. And that is WHY this story has been published. When a staunch Republican former CEO must confess that HRC (of all people) trumps Drumpf — that’s as newsworthy as learning Mary Barra’s favorite ride is a Ford Fusion. This is BEYOND politics. (And I thought with his military record and family conservatives would actually offer this elder some respect. But I guess that kind of conservatism died years ago.)
And it’s as simple as that.
And speaking as a Berniecrat — I really REALLY resent the conservative whining. You’ve ALREADY WON THE ELECTION. Hillary Clinton is as much of a Democrat as Ronald Reagan. And all these years of complaining about Obama… who’s a Reagan lover too.
In case you haven’t catched a clue: Obama and HRC are Neo-Liberals. That’s ‘code’ for Blue Dog Democrats. Which is to say Dems playing to the Reagan center.
All I can say is , who really care what this guy said ?
I understand your justification for what you think the reason is regarding covering Mr Ackerson’s statement as once being part of GM. But I question your judgement in doing so. You claim that there was the equiviilanrt of hand wringing to print the story but is seems that either the Senior Editor decided beyond common sense which did not prevail or even being gracious to Sean who usually pens these articles, that many suspect he was behind it. I personally don’t know, the answer to either one of the last sentence, and I do not care. What I did find disconcerting was the decision to print his letter that had the facts skewed or bias not necessarily against Trump, but rather for Hillary. Her foreign policy experience and meddling, just like GW Bush is a disaster that benefitted her at the expense of our Country. Mr Ackerson’ contradicts his own statement that he puts his Country first after seeing some of the shady decisions, deals, and policies that she brokered at the expense of our Country’s security and is at least as responsible as the former Commander in Chief by NOT taking her power by her decision to fix what needed to be fixed and instead chose to augment the fortunes of the Clinton foundation is almost treasonable. We can add to this her “error” of not using an email system that we taxpayers invested heavily to insure National Security that resulted in “the Russians” hacking into it and seeing the collusion with a crooked Democratic National Committee to screw Bernie Sanders and his supporters out of a change that was much needed. His endorsement of Hillary, though honorable for the Party, has backfired as at least this person is smart enough to realize that to an extent, by his actions, he is part of the inner circle and the problem and has prompted me to choose Trump now on the basis that he is not part of either the Democratic or Republican inner circles that are holding their little Bloody Mary meetings on how to control the average citizen like me. If you do not believe this to be true, may I point out that as many Republicans seem to be hell bent to insure his defeat as well. I remind you that it was a Democratic President that after forcing GM into a questionably managed Bankruptcy which Unions got priority over shareholders (something unprecedented in my not young lifetime), that Mr Ackerson was appointed to be the GM head by the “Car Czar”, a position that was appointed by the President without Congressional Approval, if I am not mistaken. Ackerson’s paper trail seems to be quite biased. Your error, is not balancing his bias that is supported by a paper trail with responsible journalism. You could have at least found one GM tie and why that person could not support Hillary or even support Trump. You do not necessarily have to print everything a former tie states, especially when his tainted view can pollute your image that you claim is pure. There is a saying, “first time, shame on you, next time, shame on me”. Make this error again, and the only thing I will use you for is to line the bottom of my birdcage of my virtual pigeons. Next time, be like George Constanza and do the opposite of what you think is sound.
This site did not endorse Ackerman’s statement. It merely presented the idea that he had a surprising one.
It’s up to you THE READER to address in comments any silliness Ackerman may have said. It’s not up to you THE READER to tell me I can’t even see this article because it doesn’t present HRC the way you’d like.
If you can’t handle that — get off the internet.
If you wish to see Political statements regarding people’s stances of the current election, I suggest that it is you that is making wrong choices about the Internet and if GM Authority is sincere that they are not political, I suggest that it is YOU that needs to utilize the Internet for the purposes of your search. As Alex has rebutted and claimed, 99.99% of their material is not this tripe. I can excuse one momentary lapse of reason. . I traditionally visit GM Authority for its insights on the company’s developments. Not on a former exec who I note was removed and replaced by Mary Barra for his lack of leadership regarding the GM Ignition Scandal; an event I note was investigated both internally and externally including by the Government and found significant failures.
To quote GM Authority in their own preamble to the article. “We should note that we spent quite a bit of time deliberating whether to cover this kind of political material here on GM Authority. Ultimately, we decided to do so, while erring on the side of caution. ”
As for GM Auth and their right to report, the fact that they themselves admitted a debated discussion shows that internally reporting on someone’s subjective opinion that was reported was clearly NOT on the side of caution. That side would have been to not report the subjective choice at all.
I don’t care about GMA’s wording. I don’t care about Ackerman’s viewpoints on Clinton. I don’t care about your viewpoints on Ackerman.
All I care about is why biased blowhards think I SHOULDN’T have seen this article.
If GMA posted an article saying, “Mary Barra thinks Trump is good for America” I wouldn’t swamp my shorts about GMA. I’d say Barra is a friend to a fascist in the comment fields.
Grow up and be four.
“Grow up and be four”.
So besides not knowing to apparently navigate through the Internet and look for Political Articles on Political Sites, you have to be childish and lob insults when you do not possess the intellect to engage in intelligent debate. Really mature, John. As for your first paragraph……” I , I, I. “. Every sentence is about you. Something only a spoilt little bratty child would say and do
As for you Alex Luft: I hope that you are pleased with your sound executive decision. There sure is an unusual amount of hatred coming from some of these people, who apparently are not intellectual enough to engage in honest debate without being childish by name calling or getting ugly. I would think that I was on a Political Website and not one to honestly engage with a community about cars and things related. I will join soulsea in deleting you from favorites. Looking at others, smokefoot included, this is not one of your shining moments. Consider me removed from this and your sister websites. I do not have room for amateurish journalistic decisions. You must be proud of what you accomplished here creating a den of haters instead of intelligent discussers.
Real clear now:
The Constitution of the United States of America GUARANTEES the right of GMAuthority to say whatever they damn well want. Freedom IS THIS. Every single person here saying “shut up” is UNAmerican.
Instead of taking adult responsibility for clicking on a story you knew you risked not liking, you blame GMA for posting an article that upsets your political stance in the election.. Then you swamp your shorts, take your toys, and go home.
That’s being four years old.
Totally inappropriate for the GM Authority site. A puppet CEO for the Democratic administration says he’s a Republican is a real misnomer.
I have never claimed to be the most astute person, especially when it comes to all things political. I don’t visit this site to view political opinions of anyone regardless of their leanings. But, as adult I chose to view and read this article. I do not blame GMA for writing it. I do not argue with anyone who posted comments to it. I, like everyone else, am entitled to my opinions and my choices for the next POTUS. My personal OPINION, in regards to the two party candidates is that NEITHER one of them would do this country any good. Trump is a rich, ego-maniacal, elitist blow-hard who doesn’t show enough compassion for the common man (what does he know about middle class life in today’s climate?). Killary is a rich criminal who has shown to be above the law and has PROVEN to use extremely poor judgement on how to handle government business, running the State Dept for the good of the Clinton Foundation to the detriment of the country, the deaths of four Ambassadors and the dangerous loss of confidential information to serve her own purposes by using a private e-mail/computer server in her home rather than the government-protected one. Neither one of them are QUALIFIED to be POTUS! If both political parties nominate such HORRIBLE options we really need a viable non-party/third-party option. I don’t know if America is ready for a real opportunity to elect such a candidate but this election mess will harm us as a country, economically and politically with the rest of the world. Heaven help us!