Politics and special interests now run General Motors - a company which should be making business decisions based on what is best for the company and its future and not what is best for some politician:

Rep Barney Frank (D-Mass.) won a stay of execution on Thursday for a General Motors plant in his district that the automaker had announced it would close.

No other lawmaker has managed to halt the GM ax. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Frank oversees the government's bailout program, known as TARP. Frank's staff said the lawmaker spokes with GM CEO Fritz Henderson on Wednesday and convinced him to keep the Norton, Mass. plant open for at least 14 months.

The 2010 midterms. And who controls all the bailout programs? Why the guy who was able to change Government Motors mind on the plant in his district.

Of course had some backbench freshman congressman from a red state district made the same request, what do you suppose the answer would have been? It doesn't get any more blatant than this -- but who among our "leaders" has the stones to call him on it?

About the only thing you could hope for in this instance is a bankruptcy judge would say "no dice" and force GM to carry out its original plan, but as stagemanaged as this whole bankruptcy procedure is, I doubt something like that would happen.

[Crossposted at QandO]