What Do Democrats Have Against Rhode Island Anyway?

Aren't Rhode Islanders loyal enough Democrats? I guess not. Remember back to the 1990's when Democrats railed against fat cats and their "luxury" yachts, and the resulting tax meant to "soak the rich" instead wound up putting thousands of Rhode Island workers making boats for, by and large, middle class buyers out of work?

well, now the Demcorats have a new target, fat cats with their "luxury" private jets. And who will this hurt? Hmmm....it's a mystery:

Orders for business jets nose-dived after lawmakers pilloried leaders of Detroit's Big Three auto makers for flying corporate planes to Washington to seek a government bailout. Now, one jet maker is striking back....

Across the industry, new orders for private jets have almost evaporated, and hundreds of existing customers have sought to defer or cancel orders that were placed in higher-flying days. In addition to layoffs, some jet makers have cut production by as much as 56%. Cessna, a unit of Textron Inc.[based in Rhode Island], is laying off more than 4,600 people, or roughly a third of its work force, to cope with the sudden drop in demand for private airplanes of all sizes.

Though much of the industry's reversal of fortune is due to the dismal economy, jet makers attribute part of it to the unexpected public backlash that erupted after the chief executives of Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. traveled in private jets last year to ask Congress for billions of dollars in aid.

I'm sorry, but if you wanted to find the real culprits behind the current state of the U.S. economy, one would do better looking at the "fat cats" sitting in the Congressional Demcoratic caucus than those folks flying in American built Cessna jets.

But, hey, promoting economic ignorance is what Democrats do best these days, the actual consequences be damned:

The jet makers were unprepared for the backlash from Middle America. The irony, they say, is that many of the blue-collar layoffs at Cessna, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft Corp. have been in places like Wichita, Kan., and Dallas.

In its ad, scheduled to run in national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Cessna says "Timidity didn't get you this far. Why put it in your business plan now?" Instead of retreating, the company argues, companies should adjust and make sure they are flying the right type of aircraft.

So far, Cessna is the sole jet maker to take on the negative publicity with a high-profile ad campaign. A spokesman for Cessna declined to say how much it was spending, but he said "we have redirected more than half of our promotional budget to this campaign." The ads were developed by Dickerson-Grace in Denver, he said.

"We're all trying to battle misperception," said Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association, which represents corporate-jet owners. "The vast majority of the time, these jets are flying offices, where people can conduct business and have confidential discussions that could never occur on a commercial jetliner," Mr. Bolen said.

Yeah, this mindless Democratic ignornace mongering is really pushing the country forward.