LeDuff asks Kevyn Orr about 'dumb, lazy, happy and rich' remark

[Locke09]

What has been most appalling about this is the people who think it was perfectly fine for him to be so unprofessional [[as the writer from no less than Forbes magazine implied) and tactless, since he was "telling the truth."

The runner up for being appalling is his inability to just admit he was wrong for saying it.

Now we're supposed to believe he's talking about leadership from the 20's and 30's. Exactly what was leadership or workers from the 20's and 30's supposed to do that they didn't do? What dumb and lazy calls did they make way back then? Far from being lazy, people left their homes and traveled north to work. He specifically mentioned the pensions as part of the dumb and lazy covenant, but auto companies didn't even start pensions plans until 1949 - so try again Kevyn. I guess he picked the 20's and 30's because most of those people are dead.

Then he mentioned that leadership did issue warnings, but they weren't listened to. So, I don't even think he's talking about leaders. I think he's talking about that pesky labor class that he referred to earlier in the interview as "bullying him on the playground." Those peasants and serfs had the audacity to take him to court, so he showed them by filing bankruptcy. Read the whole interview for the best context of his comments.

Then he says to LeDuff that he has often joked about himself being "dumb and lazy, sitting on the porch with a bucket of chicken and a peach NeHi [[sp?)." He said it usually gets him a laugh. Yeah? Who is he telling that kind of joke to and why are they laughing?

I take back what I said earlier, that last part is the most appalling. Just stop it Kevyn. You never had to do this much speaking to the media before. Let's just go back to Nowling speaking for you all the time.

[Wesley Mouch]

I take back what I said earlier, that last part is the most appalling. Just stop it Kevyn. You never had to do this much speaking to the media before. Let's just go back to Nowling speaking for you all the time.

He's a bankruptcy lawyer. I think he's doing pretty well with his public appearances. If he's only said one thing to get him in trouble -- when there are armies of people like you seeking to dissemble every word -- I think he should get a raise.

Is there a perfect person out there, or is everyone fatally flawed.

Our expectation that every sentence ever uttered can be the end of someone's career just gets us sound-bites with no substance. Please let people talk and discuss things. Sometimes they'll say things that aren't perfect. Sometime's they'll be 100% wrong.

I don't want a careful leader who sounds pretty but is evil. I'm OK with someone real with a few warts. I was OK with Clinton and his cigar games. I'm certainly OK with a EM who is willing to talk to Charlie LeDuff. I like someone who will head into the lion's den for a good cause. Geez, at worst its a bad example. So what. Off with his head because he doesn't agree with me all the time and talk real pretty.