Three Up; Three Down

By The News Virginian Staff

Published: November 14, 2008

THREE UP

Clinton hatchet men never die, they just wait for another Democrat to win an election. So steps to the fore Rahm Emanuel to serve as President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Here’s a guy even Dems aren’t so sure about. Emanuel is an equal-opportunity offender prone to step on blue toes as well as red. Wait for more to see what it all means for Israel.
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Just try to keep that darn Sarah Palin down. Doncha know, after taking anonymous poundings from Sen. John McCain’s staff — also anonymous during the campaign — the Alaska governor came back swinging with a post-election media blitz that polished away much of the taint from her image. So to McCain’s mishandlers, now what?
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Waynesboro’s City Council has almost completed the personnel shuffle springing from Doug Walker’s ouster as manager. The latest move was to bump up Jim Shaw to assistant city manager from his post in the Planning Department. Shaw is widely respected in the city. A tip of the cap to him.

THREE DOWN

General Motors is the biggest and unwieldiest of the Big Three beggars seeking $50 billion in bailut help. The Detroit carmaker is burning through cash reserves the way its SUVs burn through gas. GM might lack enough cash to keep operating beyond the end of the year. Sales have fallen by 45 percent over the last year, GM shells out billions in worker benefits and fails to modernize with high-mileage cars. Otherwise, no problems here.
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Give Ford credit. At least it avoided a marriage so bad it would have drawn a sneer from Anne Bolyn. Ford passed on a merger with GM last summer. But Ford is no catch. Billionaire Kirk Kevorkian just sold off stocks like they were popcorn at a ball game.
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Hey, at least Chrysler is no newbie at the bailout game, like those other two neophytes. Chrysler got a hand up in the 1980s under Lee Iacocca and revived itself. Just in time for Christmas, though, Chrysler will chop 25 percent of its white-collar work force. People can find better cars and are buying them.