What Dauch said he does not understand is the union's apparent unwillingness to bargain a concessionary deal similar to others already blessed by the UAW for GM, Ford, Chrysler, Dana, Delphi Corp. and others.

"They have fashioned something to be very supportive" to those firms, Dauch said. "Why are we being focused on, or profiled, not to have a similar pattern to the peer groups we compete with?"

"...We will not be forced into bankruptcy in order to reach a market-competitive cost structure in the United States. If we cannot compete for new contracts in the U.S., there will be no work in the original plants," Dauch said, referring to operations in Detroit, Three Rivers and in the New York towns of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga.

It's worth noting, and Dauch asserted it again in the interview, that the UAW is both A) absent from the negotiation table and B) bat crap crazy.  

OK, so Dick Dauch didn't refer to the UAW in those specific terms but one can draw the inference.  While Big Labor refuses to negotiate away from an all-in labor cost of over $73 an hour per employee they've long ago sat down with the company's competitors in other states (like Ohio) and ironed out deals that are closer to $20 an hour.  To more or less quote Corporal Hicks, from the 80s sci-fi classic Aliens... (rent it tonight) "that just doesn't make any gosh darn sense."  

What is it with prominent Michigan Democrats refusing to play ball?  And why is Ron Gettelfinger the common thread?  The head of the UAW he's the guy maybe single handedly responsible for jeopardizing tens of thousand of jobs in metro Detroit.  He's also one of the four big negotiators attempting to reach a solution with Michigan's delegation to the Democrat Convention in Denver later this year.  

And it looks like those talks are dead now too, after a ruling handed down yesterday by a federal judge in Detroit.  The Associated Press reports:

(The judge) agreed with (the ACLU's) claim that it would be illegal to allow only Michigan's two major political parties to get information on who voted and whether they took a Republican or Democratic ballot.

"The state is not required to provide the party preference information to any party," Edmunds wrote in her 21-page order. "When it chooses to do so, however, it may not provide the information only to the major political parties."

Just one more road block, right?  Wrong.  The Michigan Democrat Party was quick to talk to the press and let folks know that that's it.  It's done.  No revote now.  It's too late.  Pack up and go home.

"We need those lists to prevent people who voted in the Republican primary from voting in the Democratic do-over. Those are DNC rules," said Michigan Democratic Party spokeswoman Liz Kerr, referring to the Democratic National Committee. "This is basically the final straw in preventing us from having a do-over election."

The "final straw."  Goodbye democratic process, hello voter disenfranchisement.  This message brought to you by Michigan Democrats, Barack Obama and the UAW.