The Back End: September 2009

TALEPIPE Huffs and puffs along the automotive road

Quotations are from press conferences and media reports.
Compiled and edited by managing editor Peter Craig.

I T ' S   I N  T H E   C A R D S

“[It’s] going to be like playing Texas Hold ’Em, but with a lot of new rules at the table.”

—UAW Local 1853 president Mike O’Rourke on union ownership stakes in GM and Chrysler

T W E E T   R E V E N G E

“…it just goes to show that you can change the world with 140 characters or less.”

—GM social media chief Christopher Barger on the death of the Buick compact crossover from consumer feedback via Twitter and other channels

W A S T E    M A N A G E M E N T

“It’s sort of like flushing a toilet. Nobody knows what happens next.”

—Baltimore Scrap president David Simon on the mysterious future for clunkers, junkers, and other scrapped vehicles

H U R T S   T O   L A U G H

“It’s been a ‘Keystone Kops’ rollout.”

—Robert O’Koniewski of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association on crashing government computers and other “Cars for Clunkers” potholes

B L O O M ' S   O F F  T H E  R O S E

“We’re a government agency that’s shrinking.”

—Obama adviser Ron Bloom on the declining responsibilities of the federal auto task force