Think Progress

DeMint warns of ‘riots’ if Detroit bailout is passed.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has been one of the Senate’s fiercest opponents of the auto bailout, claiming rescue packages would lead the country to socialism. Yesterday, DeMint claimed there would be “riots” if Congress approves a bailout for the Big Three automakers:

We’re going to have riots. There are already people rioting because they’re losing their jobs when somebody else is being bailed out. The fairness of it becomes more and more evident as we go along. Because the auto companies may be hurting there are very few companies that aren’t hurting and are gonna hurt. We don’t have enough money to bail everyone out.

Watch it:

It’s quite unlikely that an auto rescue package will cause riots. But if they did occur, a likely proximate cause of public outrage at that point would be the loss of three million jobs that will have resulted because the bailout was not passed. (HT: Steve Benen)



53 Responses to “DeMint warns of ‘riots’ if Detroit bailout is passed.”

  1. Leftside Annie says:

    Yeah, just like there were all those awful riots when Obama was elected, and those anti-Christian riots over Prop 8 — and the riots that went on when Washington gave the banks $700 BILLION…

    Effing Republicans. Gawd.


  2. SwedishSkinJer says:

    More Republican fear-mongering, methinks. First, they made the claim that Obama supporters would riot if McCain prevailed, and now this? Gee, they’re on a roll…


  3. realist says:

    Not a problem, Jimbo. Your party can just send its presidential nominee over. He knows how to quell riots.


  4. dolly lanna says:

    What riots?
    The riots are in Greece.


  5. 5th Estate says:

    Jim DeMint is a riot!!


  6. tombaker says:

    F! Jim DeMint, and F! the gop, and the supply-side bull they rode in on!

    bail out some people who actually work for a living!!


  7. Leftside Annie says:

    Yeah, boy, let’s have a little of that “COUNTRY FIRST” pap!


  8. Badger says:

    I think a Car Czar is a Great Idea.

    But Why Wasn’t there Also a Bank Czar and an Insurance Czar to keep an eye on the $700 Billion Financial Industry Bailout. Or How About An Iraq War Czar to keep tabs on the $Trillion .

    Double Standard…me thinks.

    Also…Investers are pouring Money into US Treasury Bills at ZERO INTEREST. According to NPR, Investers are JUst Parking their Money…to keep it safe.

    Next Step…The Matress.


  9. kindness says:

    I’d contribute to burning down South Carolina.


  10. pbg says:

    Or maybe it will be a riot of twenty-five past-white Republican staffers in their clip-on ties and polyester white shirts banging on doors to scare the media?
    Worked before…


  11. pbg says:

    pasty-white, I say, pasty-white, that is…


  12. MapleStreet says:

    Semator Demint,

    Yeah, like your home state of SC did so well when the fabric mills closed. And don’t forget that BMW has a plant in the upstate (or maybe that’s why you’re against the bailout ?)


  13. Proud American Liberal says:

    1. It’s not a “bailout”, it’s a LOAN, with oversight.
    2. It’s the Republican War on the American Worker.

    Republicans hate anybody who actually works for a living.


  14. Bobwurst says:

    Let’s hope dewine is leading the charge and gets zapped with this:

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0302-01.htm


  15. Bobwurst says:

    Sorry,that’s DeMint, not DeWine. DeMint as is “De Mint at the bottom of the urinal tastes yummy”…


  16. stateofthedivision says:

    This is blatantly irresponsible for leaders to publicly predict riots for taking action.

    If studies/experts indicated a riot risk, leaders job is to quietly put barriers in place to minimize any such action.

    What happens after the Red Sox win the world series? Police and National Guard make plans.

    So Mr. Demint, who will riot and where? I expect you to manage any uprisings in South Carolina.


  17. Crusty Old Bastard says:

    This may be a little O/T but I did want to share some thoughts on the subject. In my opinion there is absolutely no reason to pour money into the auto industry for them to keep on doing the same old same old. What I am going to suggest worked during the last “Big One” although with a slightly different motivation. The solution entails:

    (1) Putting a three year moratorium on all new automobile manufacturing and sales, foreign and domestic. There are plenty of cars available to last another three years and it will not affect the parts and services sectors and only the dealers in terns of new sales.

    (2) Funding (with loans) the Big Three to do two things and not do a third;
    (a) using their existing facilities they are to produce wind generating machines and solar panel systems for individual household use. Systems to be provided to all taxpayers interested at cost through tax credits. For low/fixed income qualified home owners the systems would be free. Installation jobs will be created to install and maintain the systems.
    (b) engineer, design, prototype, and tool for production of alternative fueled vehicles or high efficient (minimum 100 MPG per ton of gross vehicle weight)gasoline engines.
    (c) not one damn dime of the money provided by the taxpayers is to leave the Country and the Big Three must divest themselves of all foreign holdings.

    At the end of three years new car production and sales may resume with the alternative energy unit production transferred to new start-up SMALL businesses. Foreign car companies may market in the US but only if the fuel standards or alternative fuel sources are met and then only on a one-for-one basis–they import one of ours for every one of theirs they export here.


  18. Jim Wolf359 says:

    GOP thug Bob Corker from Tenn. has proposed a “alternative” Bailout Bill that would essentially destroy the UAW and their ability to protect their members. Thats what the GOP really wants out of this. Screw the American worker at tne expense of Idealogy!


  19. Shayne says:

    The Republicans don’t want a bailout because they want all those autoworkers to take a beating losing their pensions and health benefits under Chapter 11. That’s what will happen and there’s nothing they love more that kicking the union worker when they’re down.

    If it is voted down those auto workers ought to march right to the Senate and confront those Republican senators.


  20. 666lattes says:

    Isn’t threatening violence to achieve a political gain an act of “terrorism”?


  21. SP Biloxi says:

    DeWimp is on another planet. The clowns certainly coming out of the woodwork this week.


  22. kasinca says:

    I wonder when the troglodytes will realize that their philosophy and their actions are the reason they continue to lose seats in congress and that their party will soon be a thing of the past. Someday in my lifetime, there will no longer be a party of Ronnie Reagan and his trickle down deregulation. Everything wrong with our economy stems primarily from that philosophy and those morons look for scandal to talk about. The nation is crumbling and the GOP wants to stall progress.


  23. Tired of being lied to says:

    I think he has it backwards.

    Maybe he meant to say this: “I am worried that without any government assistance there may be upwards of 3.5 million autoworkers (including those from industries associated with the US car manufacturing market) out of work, hungry, angry, and threatened with the loss of their homes, and as a result we may well have riots in the streets.”

    I’d believe that…


  24. katy says:

    from randi rhodes, homeword list:

    …It Ain’t Done Yet: Senate Could Kill It
    Bridge Loan in danger from Republican Senators
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbjFY-o07QeryRxtFR3oC1w_v1PwD9505O3O0
    Southern Senators Already Had Their ‘Giveaway’
    They’ve financed billions in help for FOREIGN CARMAKERS;

    TENNESSEE
    http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/24/chattanooga-vw-incentives-largest-state/?print

    ALABAMA AND SOUTH CAROLINA
    “….By the late 1990s there were signs that the big giveaway to BMW by South Carolina was exacerbating a fiscal crisis in the state. While the carmaker and other companies were enjoying minimal levels of corporate taxation, the state’s schools were falling into greater disrepair and educational achievement was worsening. Funds for other government services such as highway maintenance and public safety were also in short supply, leading to tax increases for families. “The foreign companies that come in here don’t care that the schools are terrible,” one philanthropist told a reporter. “They just want the cheap labor. And the incentives are so extraordinary.”
    http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate_subsidy/automobile_assembly_plants.cfm



  25. SKdeA says:

    The breaking of the unions is not the fringe benefit, but the goal of this entire FAKE crisis. Save the B3 only because it will defeat their anti Union actions.

    And the financial bailouts are just a heist. Why is there no record of where the money they got so far went?

    What a farce it all is, none of it is real except the hardship that all of us little people will be dealing with for decades.


  26. barfly says:

    There are already people rioting because they’re losing their jobs when somebody else is being bailed out.

    Leave it to a republican to spin an occupation as a riot. He’s talking about the Republic Glass workers, who took over the plant.


  27. peak economy says:

    Every where I go I hear about the possible end of my job, and therefore the money stream that supplies food for my family. And because the industry is so large, all my neighbors will be out of work at the same time.
    Detroit is a ticking time bomb, even the burbs.
    Ya, riots should be expected, but only if we are not at work.


  28. stateofthedivision says:

    DeMint’s state gave $66.7 million to Vought Aircraft Industries to locate production facilities outside Charleston. Guess who owns Vought? The Carlyle Group.

    DeMint believes in corporate welfare, it has to be his red friends.


  29. Bozo The Neoclown says:

    OOOOOhhhhh, they’re going to “riot” in his home state of south carolina-a shitehole of a state which reeks of turpintine and corn liquor. that would be a big loss.


  30. Uncle Fester Lurks says:

    Of course we are going to have riots, it’s all part of the master plan. Why else would they change bankruptcy laws so that they favor corporations but not the citizens? Why else would they allow the outsourcing of millions of American jobs? Why else would they allow banks and credit card companies to charge customers insanely high interest rates? Why else were they pushing the ownership society? Why else are they trying to privatize social security?

    Our government OR I should say those who control our elected officials know perfectly well what they are doing. Our country is slowly being turned into a third world country where many of us will enjoy making third world wages if we can even find a job. Designed chaos in order to control us with all of their draconian laws that were passed after 9/11. Welcome to Amerika.


  31. Who Lied Today? says:

    What bothers me about this whole $14B package to the automakers is that it’s NOT a bailout, but everyone refers to it that way. It’s a low interest loan. Granted, if they fail, there’s no repayment on that $14B (but that money is to tide them over until March, to prevent a failure). However, what everyone doesn’t say is what the impact, in dollars, of those 3M (or more) unemployed autoworkers (and the other companies that fail as a result) will be on our states’ unemployment rolls (and buckets) or any other tax payer funded safety net (medicare, medicaid, food stamps, etc.) I’d think THAT impact would be exponentially much larger.

    Just my .02, YMMV.


  32. wiley says:

    There is rioting in Spain, Italy, Denmark, France, and still in Greece. I think there will be riots. They will be caused by disgust, fear, and anger that has been well earned by the Bush/Cheney regime. Unfortunately, the people responsible for the financial “crisis” will likely be tucked safely away somewhere.


  33. KayInMaine says:

    I think we should start riots against the republic party in this country. If the bailout doesn’t go through and there are 3 million people out of jobs, then we will have at least 3 million showing up for the riot! Sound good? I think so.


  34. Jim Wolf359 says:

    Looks like DeMint and his friends got what they wanted. CNN just reported that talks in the Senate on the package have collapsed. There will be no action on this now until after the new year unless someone blinks.


  35. Cats r Flyfishn says:

    Harry Reid needs to let the Republicans filibuster this bill. Let them stand up there and talk and talk and talk all the way until January 2, 2009. It would be good for the Republicans because it would let them air their frustrations. They need this opportunity to let it all out. Then maybe after that, they will be ready to get to work and govern instead of acting like spoiled brats.


  36. christopher wiwi says:

    Just another unamerican maroon from the Reich opening his PIEHOLE and out comes CRAP……….


  37. had enough says:

    Looks like DeMint and his friends got what they wanted. CNN just reported that talks in the Senate on the package have collapsed. There will be no action on this now until after the new year unless someone blinks.

    Just heard the GOP wanted the labor unions to lower their wages …a bunch of crap… Goppers hate labor.

    Watch for a bad day in the stock market tomorrow.


  38. tonymac says:

    OMFG — I recently moved from Florida where I had to deal with Nelson (DINO) and Martinez and now I’ll have to deal
    with these morons. Republicans are simply unable to tell the truth and they despise working class Americans. They want war but don’t serve; they want prosperity but only for themselves; they want health care but not for you and me; they believe CEOs who fail deserve to be paid millions of dollars but working stiffs should get nothing. Looks as if I have my work cut out for me here…only hope I live long enough to see the changes…

    Tony Mac


  39. had enough says:


    Cats r Flyfishn Says:

    Harry Reid needs to let the Republicans filibuster this bill. Let them stand up there and talk and talk and talk all the way until January 2, 2009.

    Agree… let America learn what a filibuster is and just who has been obstructing business and blaming it on a so called do nothing dem congress. If the filibuster goes on long enough it will surely become a news worthy item of interest…. . America needs to see who the jerks are.


  40. had enough says:

    If the senate Gopers are all concerned about union wages, so concerned they let this package fail, creating another dent in our economy and a horrible day in the stock market tomorrow, then why do we not hear noise about the money spent on Haliburton?


  41. mk3872 says:

    Let it be known from this day forward that the GOP refused to help the working class once again. They gave tax breaks to the rich under Bush and bailout money to Wall Street. Working folks need a bailout in Detroit? Too bad. Take a pay cut and maybe we’ll think about. The GOP loves Joe the Plumber but hates the other millions of actual working people.


  42. ucsbclassics53 says:

    Leftside Annie Says:
    Yeah, just like there were all those awful riots when Obama was elected, and those anti-Christian riots over Prop 8 — and the riots that went on when Washington gave the banks $700 BILLION…

    Effing Republicans. Gawd.

    yup, if you go back to the Antebellum South, that rhetoric has been used against any attempts to free the slaves…OMG if we freed the slaves, there would be another Santo Domingo where rape and pillage would rule the day…


  43. ucsbclassics53 says:

    I’ll say it again, Republicans would shit on the worker and blame them for the smell…


  44. sectionop92 says:

    The riots will be coming to DeMint and the other GOP Senator’s doorsteps if any of the Big 3 go down. If these slap-happy, union busting Senators think putting people out of work for their states benefit will go over well…I would start thinking of good material to use against the news networks once the real reporting begins on a daily basis about who exactly benefited from said Big 3 company sinking.

    It will make this Blagojevich scandal look like a 4 o’clock tea party in the garden compared to the thousands of instant people who will become unemployment statistics, thanks to a handful of unagreeable asshats who have nothing to worry about until at least 2010!


  45. iamwhoiam says:

    Oh, they had $700 BILLION for Wall Street, but not $14 to the auto-industry? The GOP is the most despicable creation of human kind.


  46. iamwhoiam says:

    Oooops, that was 14 BILLION, not $14, of course.


  47. ucsbclassics53 says:

    Is it just me or do I think the GOP wants the Big 3 to fail during Obama’s presidency so that they could turn around and blame him for being so damn un-American to allow the American auto industry to fail?


  48. the Lone Voice of Reason says:

    More fear mongering to keep the little people in line? There will be riots if the big three collapse and millions more Americans lose their jobs, not the opposite. They want to oversight the loan to death so they can lay the blame at Obama’s feet but where is the oversight on the financial bailout when crap like Bank of America won’t put out money for companies to pay their payroll? They need to shut up and get to real work on these issues before everything just tanks.


  49. DallasNE says:

    DeMint may get his wish though not for the reasons he cited. The Senate has killed the bill and the stock markets world wide are plunging, once again showing just how out of touch Republicans are. It is like the stupid leading the clueless.


  50. Alecto says:

    Proud American Liberal Says:

    1. It’s not a “bailout”, it’s a LOAN, with oversight.
    2. It’s the Republican War on the American Worker.

    And please see #19 from Crusty Old Bstard above.
    and then add to it, that since there is only really about $3-4 Billion invested in stock of GM, then the gov should only provide a loan for the WORKERS of GM to PURCHASE GM from these scumsucking investorsm, and let GM become a worker owned corporation with the caveat that they ONLY design fuel efficient cars for the next 3-5 years, then electric cars after that, along with designing ANY OTHER Component of the required upgrading of the electric grid they wish to design.

    The gov should also pump 5 BILLION into PUBLIC R&D regarding this new fangled electification, and allow car manufacturers who employ AMERICANS to use said technology. All others are shut out.

    Make it GOre’s “race to the SUN” (since we get all energy from the sun) and along with #19 and the “War on Terrorism” Obama should put forth a development effort commensurate with the War effort.


  51. Mr Blifil says:

    Poor Republicans. Just can’t find that magic formula to bring about the race riots they so crave. What nice people. God-loving too, apparently.


  52. Anthony Look says:

    Republican voters, supporters; are a bunch of brain dead idiots. What the hell are you guys voting in. Its boggles the mind how stupid, outright insane these distorters, liars and spewers of hateful propaganda against main street American workers. I am convienced that right wing christians and any GOP supporter are really anti American. Billions and Billions to rich financial wall street workers, billions and billions in oil profits over the years, billion and billions spent on foreign lands; but, mention an American worker, an American staple of manufacturing, and the GOP blood suckers spew all this ridiculous rhetoric. What the hell is wrong with you Republicans, are you really communists, are you really some kind of terrorist group designed to bring America down; because thats what you guys have done the last 8 years and continue doing. There’s nothing Christian about you, there’s not American about you. Damn you are a spiteful group.



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