Michigan Governor Granholm Calls Your Host “Un-American”

RUSH: Here’s Jennifer Granholm and her comments last Thursday in Washington at the Center for American Progress. An unidentified ‘blogger’ said, ‘You’ve had the disaster in the Gulf. You had an oil spill in your own state. You guys are doing a lot in making these investments in batteries and new cars,’ the batteries, by the way, are being made in Korea, ‘and here you have people like Rush Limbaugh come out and say that the Volt is an overpriced lemon,’ which I did not say. I did not call it a lemon. ‘What do you say to your critics?’

GRANHOLM: It’s un-American! I can’t believe this somebody would say this about this American product. He hasn’t even driven in it. He hasn’t sat in it. (stammering) You know, why wouldn’t you be supportive of American manufacturers building American vehicles with American workers who now have jobs as a result of this? Why wouldn’t you be supportive of that? It is mind-blowing to me — and, of course, the public is getting paid back. You know, GM has paid back the loan. The bottom line is, this is a good news story, and somebody who would twist it to be something negative, I — you know, obviously has another agenda, which we all know he does.

RUSH: ‘We all know he does.’ I wonder who sold more General Motors products, me or Jennifer Granholm or Moochelle Obama? I would venture to say I probably have. Who owns more General Motors vehicles: Me, Moochelle Obama, or Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan? I never called the thing a lemon. I called it something the American people, by definition, don’t want. It’s being subsidized. The iPhone is a game-changer, and it doesn’t take a subsidy. Nobody had to be paid to go buy the thing. People are being paid to go buy a Volt if they do. Even General Motors, what, they’re going to make a thousand of them off the run or 10,000 the first run? Who has sold more iPhones in America: Rush Limbaugh, Jennifer Granholm, or Moochelle Obama? Who has done more to stimulate the American economy: Rush Limbaugh or Moochelle Obama, or Jennifer Granholm? They lose no matter what the comparison.

I want to go back to this Jennifer Granholm thing. She accused me of calling the Volt a ‘lemon,’ and it wasn’t me, it was the New York Times. I just remembered. The New York Times, I quoted from a story, the word ‘lemon’ was in their headline. Yeah, you remember that? ‘The Volt — GM’s Electric Lemon.’ It was an op-ed story in the New York Times. I was quoting the New York Times, and she probably thinks I made up the word lemon. But I pointed out the story: ‘GM’s Electric Lemon.’ It wasn’t me that said it. I was quoting when that ran in the New York Times. Now, let’s look back to her comments for just a second. Lest we forget, we were told, ladies and gentlemen, back in February of 2009, when they were appointed, that only two out of the ten members of Obama’s task force drove American cars.

They drive Volvos, they drive Lexus, Toyotas. They all drove imports. Now, did Granholm say anything about that, when Obama’s task force members were all buying foreign cars? Detroit News, February 23rd, 2009: ‘Auto Team Drives Imports.’ It was in the Detroit News. David Shepardson at the Detroit News Washington bureau wrote the story. I don’t remember Governor Granholm complaining that Obama’s own task force was not going out and patronizing American-made cars by American workers which was creating jobs. ‘Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two [two!] own American models.’ But I do have to correct myself. I do. (interruption) Why are you frowning? Why are you…? (interruption)

Do you worry when I have to correct myself? Dawn went, ‘Oh, no.’ My staff is so loving and protective. They’re just convinced that one of these days I’m going to put my foot in it and it’s going to be cement and I’m never going to get out of it and when I say, ‘Uh-oh, I have to correct myself,’ they think, ‘Oh, no, is this the time? Is this it? Is this when Rush has stepped in the cement?’ My mistake was in saying that the government does not make a product. They do now. It’s called the Chevrolet Volt. I need to ask for your forgiveness in forgetting that, because GM has not paid back their loans. They’re still owned by the government and the United Auto Workers, and so the government does make something. The first car produced and designed by Obama Motors is the Chevrolet Volt. Forgive me for forgetting that. The New York Times editorial was by Edward Niedermeyer.