A political decision?

Remember the factory in Canton, OH, (the linked article corects that, says Bush actually spoke at a "research facility"), Bush made a speech at? He glowingly discussed how his tax cuts were creating jobs for Americans. Then in mid-May, we heard that Timken Co., the company which owned the facility Bush spoke at, was about to some factories in Canton. I had been pissed off with Kerry for not campaigning in Canton immediately, because somebody needs to stick it to Bush.

Turns out Kerry has been working behind the scenes, tying to keep those jobs in Canton.

Kerry's only public statement about the dispute came on May 20, when he urged Bush to appoint a federal mediator to intervene. (The union welcomed the suggestion, but the company said it was premature inasmuch as formal negotiations have not been scheduled.) "The administration," Kerry said, "should exhaust every potential solution to prevent these jobs from being lost."

The company trying to close the plants is Timken Co. I want to note here that Tinken's owner is a Bush Ranger, bringing $200,000 to his campaign, and hundreds of thousands more for the Republican Party. So I find it strange that Republicans are working against Kerry, who is trying to save a few jobs. They say it's a political decision.

The Timken Co. and Bush's reelection officials think Kerry should butt out.

"The company finds it curious that Senator Kerry chose to focus on this particular matter," says Jason Saragian, Timken's chief spokesman. "This is a business decision and not a political issue. The senator's suggestion that the president call for mediation seems clearly politically motivated. We're talking about a decision by a private-sector company."

Everything in a presidential campaign is politically motivated. If Timken is so concerened about political motivations now, then why did they let the president speak at their plant in the first place?

Furthermore, if this was a pure political move by Kerry, then wouldn't it be wiser for him to let all the jobs go overseas? Thousands of jobs gone gone gone, that would equal nothing but votes for Kerry's campaign. But the fact is that Kerry, looking at the best interests of the workers, has tossed politics aside to try and keep these jobs stateside, a move that may get Bush more votes in a state where he desperately needs them.

I wonder what Timken has to say about that.