Ya know, if you’re John Kerry and you’re gonna give a speech in Detroit and give a speech about the plight of the American worker, perhaps toodling around in a Rolls Royce for the day might send the wrong message.
Sen. John Kerry spoke about the plight of the American worker when he traveled to Detroit earlier this week, a safe message for the blue-collar workers who build cars there.
So it was a little strange that the campaign picked as its press-pass logo for its Motor City tour the gleaming showcase car of a foreign auto company — Rolls-Royce — that makes cars priced far outside the financial reach of any middle-class voter.
“That’s an insult to the auto worker, it’s an insult to the American worker, it’s an insult to mainstream America,” said Sam Burwell from Corunna, Mich., a third-generation auto worker for General Motors. “It also shows who he’s really in touch with: his European, elitist French friends and not Americans like me. A Rolls-Royce, for cryin’ out loud.”
When questioned about the choice of cars, Kerry’s spokeman David Wade attacked President Bush’s economic policies. Really.
“I could say that the Rolls-Royce is the perfect symbol of who got the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but sometimes objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear,” he said.
It wasn’t just any Rolls Royce, either. It was the experimental model 100EX convertible with cashmere lining under the hood, dark Curzon leather upholstery, mahagony and teak wood interior. Estimated price $324,000.
“We value American workers and we will give them a level playing field,” Kerry said. “Because if you give American workers a fair playing field, there’s no one in the world that the American worker can’t compete against.”
Chasing the Wind 
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