09 Jan 2003 Detroit Project is Hypocritical, Muddleheaded
Statement of National Center for Public Policy Research President Amy Ridenour on the anti-SUV ads being run by the Detroit Project:
“The Detroit Project, which currently is running TV ads portraying owners of SUVs as supporters of terrorism, is hypocritical and muddleheaded.
“It’s ads say that buying gasoline — apparently, only if it is for an SUV — supports terrorism.
Says one of the ads:
“This is George. This is the gas that George bought for his SUV. This is the oil company executive that sold the gas that George bought for his SUV. These are the countries where the executive bought the oil, that made the gas that George bought for his SUV. And these are the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills up his SUV. OIL MONEY SUPPORTS SOME TERRIBLE THINGS. WHAT KIND OF MILAGE DOES YOUR SUV GET?”
Says the other:
“I helped hijack an airplane. I helped blow up a nightclub. So what if it gets 11 miles to the gallon. I gave money to a terrorist training camp in a foreign country. It makes me feel safe. I helped our enemies develop weapons of mass destruction. What if I need to go off-road? Everyone has one. I helped teach kids around the world to hate America. I like to sit up high. I sent our soldiers off to war. Everyone has one. My life, my SUV. I don’t even know how many miles it gets to the gallon. WHAT IS YOUR SUV DOING TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY? DETROIT, AMERICA NEEDS HYBRID CARS NOW.”
If dependence on foreign oil supports terrorism, helps to develop weapons of mass destruction and sends our soldiers off to war, as the ads charge, why doesn’t the Detroit Project call for more domestic oil drilling? Why does its web site promote the Natural Resources Defense Council, which fought allowing environmentally safe oil drilling in Alaska last year — well after the September 11 attacks? Oil in ANWR’s Alaska fields could replace all the oil imported from Saudi Arabia for 30 years.
Why does the Detroit Project promote an organization that opposes nuclear energy — clean, environmentally friendly and definitely not exported from the Middle East?
Why does one of the Detroit Project’s four founders, Lawrence Bender, drive a Mercedes — as he told The Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto on the air January 8? Why did co-founder Arianna Huffington turn in her Lincoln navigator SUV for a 23-mpg-Volvo instead of one of many available cars that get much better mileage? Luxury sedans are okay, while SUVs are bad?
The Detroit project website’s lead article is titled: “Road Outrage: How Corporate Greed And Political Corruption Paved The Way For The SUV Explosion.” Are the Detroit project’s Hollywood founders unaware that SUVs were invented as an outgrowth of environmental policies? These policies, promoted by environmental organizations, successfully promoted such stringent fuel economy standards on automobiles that automakers began making passengers vehicles (SUVs) on truck beds. Before the environmental movement came along, families that need large vehicles were, after all, perfectly happy with station wagons.”
For more information, visit https://nationalcenter.org.