The Nation of Henry Ford And Thomas Edison, Not Ken Lay and Martha Stewart

[DrFunkenstein]

I think the Kerry people should hammer home this message, because it is certainly implicit in Kerry's message. Look at Kerry's energy vision for tapping a motherlode of job by summoning up an entire new industry around clean, renewable - domestic - energy. Couple that to "no blood for oil," which Kerry does in his speeches, and that's a powerful, optimistic message that taps into the best of the American entrepreneurial spirit (not to mention feelings towards the Iraq War).

Compare that to Bush's deregulatory fever, which created a culture for crooks like his Enron buddy, Ken Lay, to thrive. Then look at how Cheney's no-bid Halliburton is shortchanging soldiers on the frontlines to line their own pockets. And if conservatives want to attack Kerry's past, how about we look at Bush's business practices, when he pulled a Martha Stewart over at Harken (hey, give me credit for not mentioning either AWOL or cocaine).

I think it is totally within Kerry's reach to tap into the two American icons of Ford and Edison. In certain ways, they are treated with the same reverence as the Founding Fathers. Kerry's energy vision can work as a core message reaching into many other areas, including foreign policy, giving the committed internationalist a decidedly isolationist flavor - i.e. let's make our own damn energy. Screw Prince Bandar and the other Sultans of Narnia.

Don't even get me started on the Saudis, with their blacked-out pages and jacked-up oil prices. That's a big, fat vein just waiting to be tapped by the Democrats. Let's spike it.

[Wetzelbill]

1. nicely said

[GreenInNC]

2. Henry Ford

You might not want to use Henry Ford in this analogy, he was a well known anti-Semite.

[tinanator]

3. Thomas Edison?

I think Henry Ford has less to apologize for. On the other hand, these opportunists may be perfect choices for the Kerry campaigners...

[DrFunkenstein]

4. I Didn't Know That!

When I think of Henry Ford, I think of the guy who wanted his employees to be able to buy his cars, not Jew-hater. Honestly, I had never heard that before (but I totally believe you).

[liberalron]

6. Henry Ford understood that in order for him to acquire wealth

workers had to be able to afford to buy his product. That was his reasoning, not altruism toward the workers. It is a valuable lesson, lost on today's corporatists, who are not only destroying our economic base, but theirs as well.
However, Ford was no friend of labor. He fought the unions longer and harder than did any of the other manufacturers. He sent his people into workers homes, to see if they were keeping house to his standards.

[LeftofU]

5. Henry Ford?

Why not Fritz Thyssen? birds of a feather.
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