Just as true today as it was when his book first came out.
He was, and still is, a brilliant businessman!
Often we need to be reminded of Iacocca’s words.

Remember Lee  Iacocca,                            the man who rescued Chrysler                            Corporation from its death throes? He's now                            85 years old and has a new book:                            'Where Have All The Leaders                             Gone?'.
Lee                             Iacocca Says: 
'Am I the only guy in this                            country who's fed up                             with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so  called president? We                            should be screaming  bloody                            murder! We've got a gang of tax cheating clueless                            leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over                            a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us                            blind, and we can't                             even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers  program                            without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers'                            money, much less build                            a hybrid car.  [O'D                            NOTE:                            AND THIS                            was                            posted BEFORE the NOTORIOUS                            OBAMA                            FREE GOLF CART GIVEAWAY                            as part of his $TRILLION                            "STIMULUS!"                             WASN'T                            it Jimmy Kimmel who got THREE???] But                            instead of getting mad, everyone sits around  and nods                            their heads when the politicians say, 'trust  me the                            economy is getting                            better..'
Better?  You've                            got to be kidding. This is America , not the                            damned, 'Titanic'.                             I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw out all                            the                            Democrats along with Obama!' 
You                            might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone  off my                            rocker, and maybe I have. But                            someone has to speak up. I hardly                            recognize this country                            anymore..
The                            most                            famous business  leaders are                            not                            the                            innovators but the  guys in                            handcuffs.                            While we're fiddling in  Afghanistan,  Iran                             is completing their nuclear                            bombs and missiles and                             nobody                            seems to know what to                            do  [O'D                            NOTE:                            ESPECIALLY CLOSET                            MUSLIM                            OBAMA!!!] .                            And the liberal                            press is waving  'pom-poms'                            instead of asking hard questions. That's not  the                            promise of the 'America' my parents and yours  traveled                            across the ocean for. I've had enough. How  about                            you? 
I'll go a  step                            further. You can't                            call yourself a                            patriot                            if you're                            not                            outraged. This is a  fight I'm                            ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is  Crisis!                            (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership,  with                            crisis being the                            first.)
Leaders are                             made,                            not born. Leadership is forged in                            times of crisis. It's  easy to                            sit there with thumb up your                            butt and                            talk                            theory. Or                            send someone                            else's kids off to war  when                            you've                            never                             seen a battlefield yourself. It's                            another                             thing to lead                            when your world comes tumbling                            down.
On September  11,                            2001, we needed a  strong                            leader more than any  other                            time in our history. We needed a steady                            hand to guide us out  of the                            ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we                            stand.
We're  immersed in a                            bloody war now with no                            plan for                            winning and                            no                            plan for leaving.  But                             our                             soldiers are dying                            daily.
We're                             running the                            biggest deficit in the history of the                            world, and it's                            getting                            worse every                            day! 
We've                            lost the                            manufacturing edge                            to Asia, while our                            once-great companies are                            getting slaughtered by UNION health  care                            costs. 
Gas                             prices are going to skyrock again, and                            nobody in                            power has a lucid plan  to                            open                             drilling to solve the                            problem.  This country has                            the largest  oil                            reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because                            the politicians have been bought by                            the flea-hugging                            environmentalists.  
 Our                            schools are in a                            complete disaster because of                            the teachers                            union.
Our                            borders are like                            sieves and                            they want to give                            all illegals                            amnesty and                            free                            healthcare.
The middle class is being                            squeezed to death every day.
These are                             times that cry out for leadership.
But  when you                            look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all                            the leaders gone?' Where are                            the curious, creative communicators?                            Where are the                            people of                            character, courage, conviction, omnipotence,  and                            common sense? I may be a                            sucker for alliteration, but I think you get  the                            point.
Name                            me a                            leader who has a                            better                            idea for                            homeland                            security than                            making us take off                            our shoes in airports and                            throw away our                            shampoo?
We've                            spent billions of dollars building a                            huge new                            bureaucracy, and                            all we know how to                            do is react to things                            that have already happened.
Everyone's                            hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the  government                            will make it better for them.  Now,                            that's just                            crazy..                            Deal                            with                            life.
Name me an                            industry leader who is                            thinking                            creatively about how we                            can restore our competitive edge in                            manufacturing.  [O'D                            NOTE:                            LEFTIST                            PIGs                            would say OBAMA                            SYCOPHANT GE CEO Jeff                            Imhalt.]                             Who would have                            believed that there could ever be a time when  'The Big                            Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How  did                            this happen, and more important, look what  Obama did                            about it!                             [O'D                            NOTE:                            WITHOUT                            ANY                            Constitutional Authority, he                            FIRED                            the CEO of GM, NATIONALIZED the company,                            GAVE                            it to he UNIONS &                            CAPPED                            the COMPENSATION                            of corporate executives via his                            not-Senate-approved                            "Czars!!!] 
Name me a government leader who can                            articulate a plan for paying                            down the debt  [O'D                            NOTE:                            NOW we have a TOOTHLESS,                            to-be-scapegoated                            no matter WHAT they say "commission" that's  supposed                            to tell MARXIST SOETORO how to reduce the                            DEBT.] ,                            or solving the energy crisis, or managing                            the health care problem. The                            silence is                            deafening. But these  are the                            crises that are eating away at our country and  milking                            the middle class                            dry. 
I have news  for                            the Chicago gangsters                            in Congress. We                            didn't elect you                            to turn this country into a losing                            European Socialist state.                             What is everybody so afraid of? That                            some                            bonehead on NBC or                            CNN news  will call them a name?                            Give me a break. Why  don't you                            guys show some                            spine for a                            change?
Had Enough?  Hey,                            I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and  doom here.                             I'm trying to light a                            fire. I'm speaking out  because                            I have hope - I believe in                            America . In my  lifetime, I've                            had the privilege of living through some                            of  America                            's greatest moments. I've also experienced  some of our                            worst crises: The 'Great                            Depression,' 'World                             War  II,' the                            'Korean War,'  the                            'Kennedy                            Assassination,' the                            'Vietnam                            War,'                            the 1970's oil                            crisis, and the struggles of  recent                            years since 9/11.
It's our  country, folks, and                            it's our  future. Our                            future is at                            stake!!
******************************
LET'S GET THE MUSLIM ROOKIE OUT OF THE WHITEHOUSE!!!
Snopes:
ReplyDelete"82-year-old businessman Lee Iacocca (best known for his tenure in the automotive business as the head of Ford and then Chrysler).
The attribution was correct, and the timing was no coincidence, as the text was an excerpt from the opening of Iacocca's just-released book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, written with Catherine Whitney and published by Scribner.
However, e-mailed versions of this excerpt have since been altered to remove Iacocca's criticisms of Republicans/conservatives and to insert denigrative passages about Democrats/liberals that were not written by Lee Iacocca and were not part of the original work. For example, variants that circulated a month before the 2008 presidential election included the following non-Iacocca passages referencing Democratic nominee Barack Obama..."
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp
Thanks, Cerebus: just as I thought. Iaccoca has often been known to criticize Republics, and I *thought* that his recent work was equally critical about the lack of leadership on both sides of the aisle (which is deserved).
ReplyDeleteBut we've all come to expect bald-faced LIES from the right; it's never-ending. Of course, a quick Snopes or Goggle check is all it takes to disprove most of this junk. Too bad that rightwingers just don't want to do that; they'd rather live in their swaddled cocoons of lies that somehow make them feel better (don't get it myself).
Plus: ack, what's with all the fonts and colors?? What is is with wingtards? It's like they want to play with crayons or something. Or they can only grasp something that's illustrated in some way. sheesh
"steer our ship of state right over a cliff"
ReplyDeleteTalk about mixing your metaphors. I was worried we were going to fly our car into an iceberg.
The colors! The Colors! So many colors! It must be true, no one could change color and font this many times and not be 100% accurate!
ReplyDelete@ Marc
Exactly my thoughts on that passage. What the hell kind of ship is this?
Nice color motif--sort of like vomit on a page. It matches the vomitous theme of the whole piece nicely.
ReplyDeleteThis might be my favorite RWF of all time.
ReplyDeleteJust how goddamned STUPID are you teabaggers?
Not only can't you come up with any ideas on how
to govern, you copy scathing diatribes directed
AT YOU, and tart them up as your own. Monkeys
at the zoo display more originality.
You might as well pretend Franklin D. Roosevelt,
John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr, are
Republicans.
Oh wait, you're already trying to do that.
I can't believe the publisher took the bold step of publishing a book in random colors, capitalization and grammar. Risky stuff by Random House, or whomever.
ReplyDelete"But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry."
ReplyDeleteThey're right that there are crises that are "milking the middle class dry," but it's been done more under W than under BHO.
There are definitely issues and problems Democrats and BHO, but
this kind of baloney does not nothing to solve anything real... which is just how the corporations, represented by rightwing thinktanks, want it.
Stooges and fools.
Maybe the seemingly non-sensical use of red, green, and blue font on a white background are to illustrate that Iacocca is Italian-American?
ReplyDeleteBecause I can't think of any other reason for the odd color combo.
CAUTION: Reading the above forward could induce seizures.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. Lee Iacocca, legendary opponent of all forms of government interference in the free market.
ReplyDeleteEspecially bailouts.
My god, this is a masterpiece. I'm going to scrawl this on a t shirt (all over it) and go to the next tea party
ReplyDeleteAnon 2: Well, it is Random House.
ReplyDelete