Bill Manzi.com

Well the moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Tom Delay has put out his biography, and I am sure that the people of Massachusetts will be breaking down the doors at the local bookstores to get their copy. Delay’s book, called “No Retreat, No Surrender” is reviewed by Norman Ornstein in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. While I have not read the book I was intrigued by the review. The Review claims Delay laments the politics of personal destruction, and has the nerve to claim that it was practiced against him. And what does Delay think of the left? From Ornstein’s Review.

And oh, those enemies! The main theme of the book is introduced early on: “I have learned something about liberals. They are much like Communists. They believe they have to destroy you in order to win. … Liberals in Congress have no ideas that history hasn’t disproved, and this leaves them pursuing only power. To get that power, they will destroy you — and if they can’t destroy your message they will try to lock up the messenger. Congress today is plagued by the politics of personal destruction.”

Naturally we all understand that Tom Delay never practiced such politics, and likening political enemies to communists does not qualify as such. When Tom is not crying about the “politics of personal destruction” he is busy explaining the multiple legal and ethical challenges he faced while in the House.

DeLay accepts none of the charges made against him, from his campaign finance violations to his relationship with his close and dear friend Jack Abramoff, including their trip to England and Scotland, with a stopover at the St. Andrews golf course, paid by Abramoff’s lobbying funds laundered through a nonprofit association. He responds to his accusers on everything from the multiple indictments and convictions of his staff members to his support for sweatshops in the Marianas Islands — a place he calls “the Galápagos Islands of free enterprise.” His comment on the admonishments and rebukes by the ethics committee? “Was Tom DeLay ever found guilty of ethics violations by the House Ethics Committee? No. Not once. Not ever.”

And how about President Bill Clinton. Well Tom is still not done with him.

And he goes after Bill Clinton throughout, interspersing personal attacks with laments about how his own opponents have perfected the politics of personal destruction against him.

With Tom Delay hating has now become bipartisan.

He hits Emanuel and Pelosi with dubious ethics allegations and rips the hide off of Dick Armey, his former House leadership colleague, for betraying him. He viciously attacks Joel Hefley, the conservative Colorado Republican who led the ethics committee that rebuked him repeatedly three years ago.

What a great summer read! For those not interested in Delay’s political observations you may be able to pick up some tips about starting your own pest control business.

Link to the review here.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=billmanzicom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1595230343&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

As the U.A.W. and the big three automakers prepare to negotiate what promises to be a critically important labor contract the New York Times reports that for the first time U.A.W. retirees outnumber active workers.

That shift has the greatest impact on medical costs. Detroit automakers cover the health care expenses of both current and former union members — more than 1.1 million of them combined — and their dependents. That adds up to an annual bill of about $12 billion.

Despite the fact that many thousands of UAW workers have lost their jobs the total health care costs of the American auto companies continues to rise. With foreign competitors having health care costs that are significantly lower the American health care system seems to be a significant (but not the only) factor in the financial woes of the big three.

G.M., Ford Motor and the Chrysler Group say these so-called legacy costs have hampered their fight against surging foreign competitors. Health care and pension benefits cost them $1,000 for each vehicle they sell, they say, compared with a few hundred dollars for companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

What may come out of these negotiations is something called a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, which would essentially give control over health care to the UAW, with an enormous upfront payment by the auto companies to cover most of the liability.

The automakers and the U.A.W. could create a health care trust, called a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, that could take over the responsibility for worker and retiree benefits.

That would allow the three companies to get their combined long-term health care liability, about $100 billion, off their books, and would give the U.A.W. a more direct say in the benefits that its workers would receive.

But once a system is funded initially how would such an entity deal with the rapid escalation in health care costs?

Moreover, the union, not the companies, would be in charge of administering the huge fund, and would have to face tough choices if health care costs climb precipitously.

And so both Union and companies face difficult choices. Will retirees interests be protected, or will they face the fate of so many other retirees in this country? With each passing day and each new story the failure of the current health care system becomes more apparent. Modest change that entails cost shifting but no cost reduction is not likely to work. Putting one finger in the dike and closing our eyes is no substitute for real health care reform.

Read the New York Times story here.