Kerry bringin' the heat!

Yeah, I too have an American SUV (Ford Escape) and a European car (VW Passat). Sure, the Escape is kind of a wussie SUV, but that didn't stop an enviro-weenie from trying to put an "ask me what I'm doing for the environment" bumper sticker on it once.

That outrage against SUV's has more to do with the relatively affluent part of the population that they are associated with (wrongly) rather than any actual merits of the vehicle. Full size pickup trucks get equally bad mileage as big SUV's but you won't hear the Sierra Club complaining about those. Why? They are viewed as "working class" vehicles, and therefore it would be politically incorrect to criticize them.

The so called environmental movement is just a thinly veiled anti-capitalist movement, and should be treated as such.

The "made in USA" crowd can eat it too. I'd actually PREFER to buy an American car, as long as the American offerings are equal or superior to their imported counterparts. I know my cars, and I do a lot of research when I buy. When I bought the Passat, the closest American competitor was the Ford Taurus. Anyone who has ever driven these cars knows there is no comparison between the two. I'm not going to buy a piece of crap just to support one of the biggest leeches on the US economy, the UAW. Thankfully, American cars are getting a lot better, but so are the imports. Their fortunes will improve as a direct relation to the quality of their vehicles.