Letters to the Editor: Aug. 26, 2012

With Vice President Biden now planning to go to Tampa to distract the public from the Republican convention, it’s perhaps time for the Romney campaign to invite Juanita Broaddrick,Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones to share with the world their very credible accounts, bolstered with lots of contemporaneous corroboration, how they were treated by the keynote speaker of the Democrats’ convention in Charlotte.

Testimony from each of them, including Broaddrick’s charge of being raped by Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas, would be a good way to introduce the real Clinton to millions of new voters.

Reporters, 90 percent of whom voted for Clinton, did a great job of burying the sexual assault allegations against Clinton, including dismissing a tape recording of Clinton telling Flowers to lie to the press.

Maybe a few replays of Clinton apologist Whoopi Goldberg explaining the difference between “rape” and “rape-rape” would be in order, as well.

Jack Adams

Washington

Post bailout, General Motors is doing just fine

Re: “GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout,” Aug. 21

Michael Barone’s column paints an inaccurate picture of GM’s business results.

Barone cited a Forbes.com column that claimed GM is headed toward a second bankruptcy, but nothing could be further from the truth. GM has delivered almost $15 billion in net income over 10 consecutive profitable quarters — something GM has not done in more than a decade. We have $32.6 billion in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet, and all three credit rating agencies have upgraded GM to one notch below investment grade. Two of those ratings carry a “positive” outlook, and the third is “stable.”

Barone is wrong in saying that GM is deeply discounting its products when, in fact, our overall incentives (as a percent of transaction prices) are about the industry average and lower than key Asian and domestic competitors, according to J.D. Power data.

Barone is also wrong that loss carry-forwards are ordinarily wiped out in bankruptcy proceedings. The tax code recognizes that losses often survive bankruptcy, subject to certain reductions that also applied to GM.

Finally, we didn’t “botch” the launch of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco. Through July, Malibu, with its battery-assist powertrain, has been outselling hybrids from Ford, Kia, Honda and Nissan.

We know that the subject of bailouts is highly charged, but it’s important for both sides of the issue to argue with facts. We’ll correct the record when we need to, but we’re going to stay focused on building great cars and growing profitably here at home and around the world.

Selim Bingol

Vice president, communications

General Motors

Detroit

Blue represents U.S. troops, not UN peacekeepers

Re: “What is a ‘green-on-blue’ attack?” Talking Points, Aug. 19

Talking Points’ answer concerning a “green-on-blue” attack is not correct. The color “blue” has nothing to do withUnited Nations peacekeeper uniforms.

Blue is the standard color used by the U.S. since about World War II (and is now the NATO standard as well) to depict our own units on paper maps and computer tracking screens.

Red is used to depict the enemy. Green (often used for allies) apparently was chosen to show Afghans.

Col. Ray Bluhm (U.S. Army-Retired)

Fairfax