, that this is not your father's uaw and all of that.r if you can, for viewers across the country who may not be in states that are so familiar with the uaw, if you can describe for me a bit of that transformation a bit of the goal and the purpose of the uaw now especially to be competing in a global economy. >> well the purpose of the uaw is to build a better world really. in the auto industry, nobody has a longer term stake in the success of the company than our mississippi, the work force. our members are committed to making the best product, best value. we are committed to a positive collaborative relationship with the companies. we are fortunate to have some really good management and general motors and ford and chrysler. we understand that in the global economy, you can't afford to have an adverse early relationship. you have to work together to give the consumer the best possible product. i am so proud of our members. they work every day on getting the best quality out. they work every day and the most productive workplaces becaus

i am so honored and we at the uaw are so honored today. we know that when our backs were against the wall, when autoworkers and steelworkers, jobs and lives were threatened, when all the polls were against us, when we had republicans attacking us, dr. martin luther king said you can tell the quality of a person and i paraphrase the quality of of a leader of where they stand in times of adversity and struggle. our next speaker stood behind us

you heard from your local uaw representative john drew. got a great tour from the president of uaw local 469 mike bing. finally, i want to thank master lock ceo john hepner for inviting us here today. it is wonderful to be at master brought back some memories. i was thinking about my gym locker in high school. and, you know if you go into the boys' locker room in high school, sometimes it's a little powerful, the odor in there. so i was thinking about the fact that we weren't washing our stuff enough. and then i was thinking about, as i got older and i kept on using master locks ibecame an even better customer because i couldn't always remember my combination. so i'd end up having to have the lock sawed off and buy a n givi of business. and now as i was looking at some of the really industrial sized locks, i was thinking about the fact that i am a father of two girls who are soon going to be in high school and that it might come in handy to have these sup superlocks. for now, i'm just counting on the fact that when they go to school, there

putting his hand on the scale of justice and saying we're going to give a disproportionate share to uaw, we have to follow law in this country. we believe in the rule of law or the rule of crime. crony capitalism is bad here as it is around the world. president was wrong in the way he managed this process. >> neil: maybe conservatives in the party want you to shout and get angry more. not willing to light my hair on fire to win over conservative voters. what did you mean by that? >> there have been some candidates in this race who said some things i think are over the top. i have used that phrase before. i'm not going to pull them out one by one but i think you have to show some degree of reason when you are dealing with the issues that we face today. i recognize this president has made enormous mistakes. i happen to think he is taking america and the country in a direction that makes us a great deal weaker. he has made it harder for the recovery to occur and if he is re-elected that america will suffer. those i think words need to be heard rather than personal attacks which i think is

and president obama today speaking at the uaw today shg, vowing to buy a chevy volt in five years, as soon as his presidency is over. he said even though secret service wouldn't let me drive me, i enjoyed it sitting in. when i'm not president anymore in five years, i'll buy one and drive it myself. >>> back in a minute with more "washington today." >>> david gregory. george stephanopoulos. >> your five sunday tv networks replayed on c-span radio. noon eastern, nbc's "meet the press." abc's this week. cbs' face the nation. the top issues, key political leaders, brought to you as a public service by c-span and the networks. replay of the sunday tv networks talk shows. >>> welcome back. this is "washington today." republicans politics, first on the issue of senator olympia snowe, news tonight that she's not running for re-election. she's confident that she would have won, but she's frustrated by the atmosphere >>> christian science monitor pointing out that rising gas price prices, improving economic data make it more difficult in a head-on assault on the administration's economic polici

the uaw members, working in democratic events for democratic campaign, they're going to be out protesting this romney event today. but rick santorum is making a direct appeal to those folks. keep in mind this is the home of the reagan

then the ceo got up next and he said i want to thank the uaw. i want to thank this union for working with me for finding the right balance for making sure we could create good jobs that ten years ago they sent to mexico. now ten years later, they're bringing back and it's because of the partnership between the ceo and the union we're able to get this done. it's a tremendous success story. >> now, richard, isn't that the end of the day, isn't that the problem that with all this union bashing they've not shown where that will provide any jobs or any help for the average citizen. and on the other side if you have unions and corporate ceos standing together showing people they're going to give them what they need and showing results, isn't it kind of an empty way to run against them with just a lot of slogans and throwing money on the television ads? >> well, scott walker has not helped his cause or the koch brothers cause. he did not, in fact, prove a link between unemployment and public sector unions and collective bargaining. more than that, the

romney put some of the blame on demands from the uaw. >> it's important that the uaw takes care, not to impair the long-term future of the industry. >> he said the auto industry needs to invest in new technology and new markets. >> detroit shouldn't just be the motor city of america. it has to be the motor city of the entire world. >> he also unveiled an economic program to tackle federal spending and entitlement programs. rick santorum has a new add in the state attacking romney on the bailout issue. >> he supported the wall street bailouts while turning his back on michigan workers. >> santorum has said the government should not be involved in bailouts period. the ad tells his made in the u.s.a. plan, which cuts taxes for michigan manufactures, i'm shelby lynn reporting. >> and tonight, santorum is campaigning in the wolverine state. he is expected to harshly criticize. the latest polling has romney and santorum in a statistical tie. >>> plenty of cities have banned smoking in public places or restaurants, but one california town wants to make it illegal to smoke outside their own

speaking before the uaw, the part of the crowd with an impassioned about. >> we are going to keep on fighting to make our economy strong turf, to put our friends and neighbors back to work faster, to give their children even more opportunity to come to make sure that the united states of america remains the greatest nation on our. thank you, uaw. >> it is no mistake in timing that the president's comments, the same day that voters in arizona and michigan are hoping the auto industry goes to the polls. mitt romney is fighting to defend his home state of michigan from recent surge by rick santorum. as our north american editor reports from detroit, the audit bailout is a big factor. -- the auto bailout is a big factor. >> manufacturing is michigan's beating heart, one that nearly stopped. now gm is making record profits. this plant in flint makes parts. >> we have seen a nice growth spurt been good for contracting, building, home starts. when i see heavy-duty trucks moving at this rate, it's a good sign for the economy. >> they got part of obama as the hugely controversial $18 billion

leading automakers, general motors and chrysler, the uaw meeting here in washington for a legislativeonvention. president obama made some indirect references to mitt romney and rick santorum coming on the same day that voters in michigan will try to determine who will be the republican nominee. here's president obama. >> a few years ago, one in five autoworkers were handed a pink slip. one in five. 400,000 jobs across this industry vanished the year before i took office. and then as the financial crisis hit with its full force, america faced a hard and an unimaginable reality that two of the big three automakers, gm and chrysler were on the brink of liquidation. the heart beat of american manufacturing was flat-lining and we had to make a choice. with the economy in complete free fall, there were no private investors or companies out there willing to take a chance on the auto industry. nobody was lining up to give you guys loans. anyone in the financial sector can tell you that. so, we could have kept giving billions of dollars of taxpayers dollars without demanding the r of return th

and they endorsed the idea that has gone out to the uaw and ey'veeenougedoootot and caususha a vote for rick santorum and you have democrats on the state saying that's fine. it's not our problem if mitt romney loses michigan. >> well, very interesting david. i'm envious of you being out there on the ground. i hope you have a good coney island for me, i'll buy. we're going to talk just one second for mark. mark, actually has done polling in michigan for years. knows this stuff backwards and forwards. i'll ask him about crossing over. mark is the ceo of the melmen group. mark, welcome to the war room. glad to have you here. >> thank you, glad to be here as always. >> we just went over a flurry of polls. five of them were released. i know you know michigan like the back of your hand. i'm wondering what you're hearing or thinking based upon the polls that were released today and the surge that santorum appears to be regaining. >> well, it's been a fascinating race to watch. obviously it there have been ups and downs. santorum had a huge lead and now it's tight again. if you look at all thos

. >> in my view, the industry got in trouble because the uaw asked for too much, management gave tooother mistakes, and the government cafe standards hurt domestic automakers and provided a benefit to some of the foreign automakers. >> how in the heck could that have happened on the heels of eight years of bush? an electrician, stacie stuart. what is your reaction to mitt romney handled the automobile loan? >> it is very disheartening, almost a joke at this point now. he's trying to back pedal and make himself sound good, it was all his idea, that obama did everything he said. no, obama did the opposite of what he said. now he wants to get credit for the loans working for us and no, all the credit goes to president obama. >> why were you protesting today? >> can you repeat that, i'm sorry. >> why were you protesting today, why did you feel the need to protest and go out there? >> i'm taking it personal. i'm taking it very personal, my job was jeopardized, i was on a long, lengthy year-and-a-half layoff before the bail outs happened and after the loans were given to chrysler and gm i

in addition, michigan was increasingly under the control of the uaw during the 1950s, and so by 1960 the odds of nixon actually being able to carry michigan were somewhat less than 50/50. this meant that nixon had to carry all four of the remaining states. ohio, illinois, california and texas. he had the home state advantage in california and although the democrats did make an effort in california, i don't think they ever thought california was leakly, even though they turned out to be very close they couldn't count on california ending up on the kennedy column. ohio had a natural tendency toward the republican party that was not true of other midwestern states and so nexton got a bit of an edge there and had fewer catholics. illinois, the polls show nixon running ahead of illinois all spring more than in other parts of the country and nixon was quite confident that he could carry illinois. the key to the election turned out to be texas, kind of strange and texas hadn't played that key role before and eisenhower carried texas very easily and if nixon could hold on to texas and illino

keeper and sister's keeper, that's a value. >> the congress with the president speaking before the uaw. of course, republicans criticized in large part for focusing so much on social issues especially in the presidential campaign. today house republicans use the occasion to talk about gop efforts to boost the u.s. economy and focus on jobs. comments from representative eric cantor is the house republican leader as he spoke to reporters joined by the speaker of the house john boehner and lau laura who is from ward williston oil company taking place on capitol hill. >> we're here joined by many entrepreneurs from across the country who have come here today with success, because their success was earned by running businesses and succeeding in the very tough economy that we're in. as has been noted, these entrepreneurs made it through the crash years of '06 and '08, and there's plenty of entrepreneurs who have not. it is for them that we're here. we are here to make sure that we can jump start this economy. we are here all behind what's called the jobs act that will be votes on in the hous

at a minimum, this could get messy and the uaw should probably be brought into the loop. now, having served on a lot of dealer councils and being part of ad groups where we try to get the message out about how great our cars were and how good our deals were and how you could trust the general motors dealer and the general motors product. walk me through some of that stuff because it is, again, perception is reality. this hearing today is not about the chevy volt. this hearing is about nhtsa. what did they know, when did they know it, when did they let you know it? as i believe we've always had a great partnership, my dad started in '53 after being a parts picker in the warehouse. my relationship with general motors has never been cloudy. it's always been clear and transparent. i know which side of the table i sit. i am not a manufacturer or distributor, i actually sell these cars. but when you look at these things. you say, well, my gosh, if it really isn't government run, if the government really is at arm's length and away from this, this sharing this information, how a

one way, of course, was giving general motors and chrysler to the uaw.on union bosses before. i'm happy to take them on again. >> not smart, willard. even santorum can hit you on that one. >> governor romney supported the bailout of wall street and decided not to support the bailout of detroit. >> you know, things just aren't going willard's way. he gets behind the will for an ad that is supposed to show how much he loves the american car. but it turns out that car wasn't made in america at all. it was made in canada. and in the same ad, romney talks about going to the detroit auto show. >> i grew up in michigan. it was exciting to be here. i remember going to the detroit auto show with my dad. it was a big deal. >> the problem is, the photo he shows in that ad wasn't the detroit auto show. think progress says it was actually the worlds fair in new york city. this week, romney writes an op ed saying, quote, things would be better without the bailout. and just two days later, general motors announces record profits of $7.6 billion. and finally, romney get

and i think the president made a good political move in talking to the uaw tonight and getting the tvame, not a long-term game. why is a union worker in michigan more important than a nonunion worker in tennessee who didn't get a bailout? >> the bailout as president bush said that sometimes you have to put ideology aside and do what's best for the country. those were millions of jobs saved. whether they are supply companies or the restaurant on the corner that provides lunch for those workers. so certainly, there's that and it would have had a devastating effect on the auto industry around the region. so the president did the right thing. the results speak for themselves. gm is back. hugely profitable. that's thanks to the president's willingness to take a political risk and do what he thought was right. >> obama did take advantage of michigan's primary bat ta to remind everyone he was fighting for the bailout while republican candidates were not. >> the other option was to let these companies fail. you will recall there were some politicians who said we should do that. some even said

a voice that sounds like it is right out of uaw solidarity house or the obama re-election committ committee, a grafly male voice, the other a female voice urging fellow democrats, because it is pitched in a way that makes it sound like it is coming from democrats to democratic voters to get crossover and vote in the republican primary today against mitt romney because of his position on the auto bailout. and then at the very end there's a tag line saying this ad paid for by the rick santorum for president committee. so it's obviously a disingenuous ad, it's hypocrite call because santorum has the same position on the auto bailout as romney. and romney has found out about it, denounced it, it's in the news media today. now whether there's going to be a backlash against this or whether maybe it is happening too late to have an effect, we don't know. >> i'm also curious about the heavily negative attack ad. sometimes that can depress turnout. what do you think? >> well, attack ads generally do depress turnout, but on the other hand as you have been discussing, if the race is as close as it is

he talks about selling out or giving the auto industries to the uaw.that's what's happening across the country as everybody's facing these tough economic times. how are you making sure people have secure after they worked hard for a lifetime. his rhetoric is not playing well and could backfire on him super tuesday. >> thanks to both of you. >>> we should just note for you movie fans out there that the location of this weekend's oscars is the hollywood and highland center. it's been known since 2002 as the kodak theater. but kodak filed for bankruptcy last month. so hollywood and highland is the name of the whole complex there, which is a lot of shock to restaurants too. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists ca

you heard from your local uaw representative, john drew.. and finally, i want to thank master lock's ceo, john hebner for inviting us here today. it is wonderful to be at master lock. i have to say, though, it brought back some memories. and i was thinking about my gym locker in high school. and you know, if you go into the boys' locker room in high school, sometimes it's a little powerful, the odor in there. so i was thinking about the fact that we weren't washing our stuff enough. and then i was thinking about as i got older and i kept on using master locks, i became an even better customer because i couldn't always remember my combination. so i'd end up having to have the lochsaed off and buy a new one. so i was giving you guys a lot of business. and now, as i was looking at some of the really industrial size locks, i was thinking about the fact that i am a father of two girls who are going to be in high school. and that it might come in handy to have these super locks. for now, i'm just counting on the fact that when they go to school,

he was speaking to the uaw. clear that he wants to make the point, particularly to michigan voters ahead of the primary that he was there bailing out the auto industry. that has been a subject of an ad campaign that he has been running out here. saying that he bet on the american worker. that's the same thing he said when he made that uaw speech. >> the other option was to do absolutely nothing. and let these companies fail. and you will recall there were some politicians who said we should do that. [booing] >> some even said we should let detroit go bankrupt. [boos] >> you remember that? >> yeah. you don't? [ laughter ] >> now, the obama campaign spent about a quarter million dollars running ads here in michigan which tells that you michigan will still be important come november, shepard? >> shepard: mike tobin live grand rapids, michigan tonight. of course, it's winner take all in the state of arizona. mitt romney says is he winning to easily take all 2 delegates tonight. immigration is a huge concern in arizo

. >> how is it going, uaw? cheers and applause ] >> it is good to be with some auto workers today. all right. everybody have a seat. get comfortable. go ahead and get comfortable. we are going to talk for a little bit. first of all, i want to say thank you to one of the finest leaders that we have in labor, bob king, give it up for bob. [ cheers and applause ] >> i want to thank the international executive board and all of you for having me here today. it is a great honor. i brought along somebody who is proving to be one of the finest secretaries of transportation in our history, ray lahood. he's in the house. give ray a big round of applause. it is always an honor to spend time with folks who represent the working men and women of ameri america. it is unions like yours that fought for jobs and opportunity for generations of american workers. it's unions like yours that help build the arsenal of democracy, the defeated fascism and won world war ii. it is unions like yours that forged the american middle class.

the companies were in trouble, giving these companies to the uaw was wrong. >> and john, presumably, flying in private planes was wrong in the romney view of the situation. >> absolutely right. lawrence, don't talk about the way that you get back and forth from the east to west coast. look, i think that in michigan, lawrence, you've got a situation that where if rick santorum is going to prevail there, mitt romney has most of the republican establishment lined up on his side. he has some favorite son status -- obviously, he has favorite son status abundance, but that's working for him to some extent. if rick santorum is going to win, he's got to line up conservatives and tea party voters. the question in this debate, i thought romney was fine in terms of defending that answer by trying to pin the problems on the uaw. i think the question in this debate was, how did rick santorum do in terms of advancing his aims with those two voting groups? and i thought that mitt romney on social conservatism was just as strong tonight as rick santorum. i thought santorum brought his "b" game on ev

and the head of the uaw said we can't, the industry will disappear if that happens.ma's people, oh, no, we can't go through managed bankruptcy. six months they wrote i think it was $17 billion in checks to the auto companies. they finally realized i was right. they finally put it through managed bankruptcy. that was the time they needed help to get out of managed bankruptcy. those moneys they put in before hand was wasted money. and, number two, because they put that money in, the president gave the companies to the uaw. they were part of the reason the companies were in trouble. giving these companies to the uaw was wrong. >> as governor romney wells knows, the american government shut down the airline industry after 9/11. and the government by its actions stopped the airline industry from functioning. and, yes, as a result of government action, which i thought it was appropriate for governments since we shut down the industry -- >> i agree with you. >> but government didn't shut down the banks, they didn't shut down the financial services industry. so when you comp

the idea that the democrats are doing so because of mischief because they are being encouraged by the uawthe santorum campaign so the fact that 10% according to the exit poll are democrats. that's a scary number for romney because it is democrats who are energized not to vote for somebody but because they are trying to vote against somebody. >> so we're also hearing david that turnout has been very low. this has been consistent across the state. so since you are at the romney campaign headquarters how are they viewing a low turnout? >> they are attributing that largely to all of the negative ads, with the super pacs and all of the money that has been spent, and when you are talking about 5.5 to $6 million in the course of two weeks on mostly negative ads, it has an impact. and there's aen normous amount of money being spent, i think both campaigns are acknowledging that itself is going to keep turnout down. >> for sure. david shuster thank you so much for joining us. in fact we're going to another great police call reporter. his name is chris christoff. he is with bloomberg, he's a politi

. >> bob: 700,000 uaw made sacrifice on the healthcare benefit and other benefits. >> eric: wait. time-out. >> bob: get your facts straight. >> eric: you want to know what the facts are? i love you like a brother. we get in a fight out there, i'll defend until i'm buried in the ground. but you are completely wrong about this. you wait -- the ua, got $4 $4.5 billion in direct stock ownership of g.m. when g.m. bond holders and shareholders were wiped out. they were the first in line to receive money. not the uaw. >> bob: to suggest the retirees did not take a hit when their benefits are cut is just not rue. >> eric: they were bailed out. in a regular company, if the company gets bankrupt they get zero. they took a little haircut. not completely blown out of water like bond holders and shareholders. >> andrea: not in obama's america. he's greedy and wants their vote and rewards them with money. >> dana: look at other auto makers and decision where to make their cars. there are more companies making cars in america. they're choosing not to do it in michigan. in tennessee or other plac

he gave a huge share to the uaw. that's not the way bankruptcy works . he paid off the people who supported him and trying to get him reelected. the right course would they go through bankruptcy and if they needed government help that would be geth them out of the bankruptcy and not billions. >> and your new economic plan. we'll go through the details . cut judged marginal tax rates by 20 percent. and no tax at all on capitol gains and difdeppeds for families making less than $200,000. and cut the corporate tax rate and entitlement reform raise the eligibility aid for medicare and social security. and smaller benefit increases for the wealthy. there is increases on the right and left. critics say they are playing the alabama class warfare . you are using the language of occupy wall street and making life more difficult and rules difficult for the top one percent. how do you respond to that . >> we have a progressive tax coat and they are significant tax reductions. and the reason i am talking about marginal tax reductions across the board is create incen