Deal Of The Century

The newest Winger Obama Derangement Syndrome stupidity? The list of Chrysler dealers closed was generated by targeting specifically those dealers that donated to the Republicans.

No, really. That's the theory.

Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.

The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?

Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan learned from a House colleague that his Venice, Florida, dealership is on the hit list. Buchanan also has a Nissan franchise paired with the Chrysler facility in Venice.

"It's an outrage. It's not about me. I'm going to be fine," said Buchanan, the dealership's majority owner. "You're talking over 100,000 jobs. We're supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs," Buchanan told News 10, a local Florida television station.

Buchanan, who succeeded former Rep. Katharine Harris in 2006, reportedly learned of his dealership's termination from Rep.Candace Miller, R-MI. Buchanan owns a total of 23 dealerships in Florida and North Carolina.

Also fueling the controversy is the fact the RLJ-McCarty-Landers chain of Arkansas and Missouri dealerships aren't being closed, but many of their local competitors are being eliminated. Go here for a detailed look at this situation. McClarty is the former Clinton senior aide. The "J" is Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television, a heavy Democratic contributor.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the majority of people who own dealerships are in fact pretty damn wealthy. In fact, I'm going to say that these dealers are wealthy enough to donate to political parties, and since most of them are local small business owners, they tend to strongly favor the Republican party as such.

What's the crucial piece of information missing from this story? The number of Chrysler dealers remaining open who donated to the Republican Party.

In fact I'm betting it's north of 80%. So yes, if 80% or 90% of ALL Chrysler dealers are Republicans because they are small business owners, then yes...you would expect in a fair process that 80 or 90% of the closed Chrysler dealer would also be Republicans and Republican donors.

But of course, nobody's asking THAT question. It's much easier to say "AHA OBAMAFASCIST CLOSED ONLY REPUBLICAN CHRYSLER DEALERS" and engage in baseless Obama-bashing. It's what wingers do, after all.

If only there was somebody who could run the numbers on that...paging Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight!

Overall, 88 percent of the contributions from car dealers went to Republican candidates and just 12 percent to Democratic candidates. By comparison, the list of dealers on Doug Ross's list (which I haven't vetted, but I assume is fine) gave 92 percent of their money to Republicans -- not really a significant difference.

There's no conspiracy here, folks -- just some bad math.

It shouldn't be any surprise, by the way, that car dealers tend to vote -- and donate -- Republican. They are usually male, they are usually older (you don't own an auto dealership in your 20s), and they have obvious reasons to be pro-business, pro-tax cut, anti-green energy and anti-labor. Car dealerships need quite a bit of space and will tend to be located in suburban or rural areas. I can't think of too many other occupations that are more natural fits for the Republican Party. Unfortunately, while we are still a nation of drivers, we are not a nation of dealers.

And that just about wraps this one up, kids.

But thanks for playing.