On Wednesday night, as the whole world knows by now, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians, which is a rare accomplishment. Alas, first-base umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base, turning the rare no-hitter into a pedestrian one-hit win. Despite the fact that just about everyone who has watched the replay agrees that the runner, Jason Donald, was out, commissioner Bud Selig allowed the ruling to stand. The principals all handled the kerfuffle with remarkable grace, and there was never any doubt that Galarraga and Detroit won the game. It gives the baseball fans something to talk about for a few days.

On Thursday, America’s largest auto maker grabbed the chance to make a grand gesture. They drove a brand new shiny cherry-red Corvette onto the field and handed Galarraga the keys just before the game. Smooth move, GM is getting ink and pixels from coast to coast.

Today, the New York Times’ Nick Bunkley tells us that the move had detractors. (G.M.’s Gift of a Luxury Car Stuns a Few) The story names a Republican congresscriter from California with the bad form to challenge G.M.’s largesse on the grounds that as long as the American taxpayer is stuck owning the company, they shouldn’t do anything other than work to cash out the government investment. First, of course, either Galarraga will be paying a hefty bit of income tax on the car or GM will be paying a gift tax, so the Treasury sees some immediate return. But mostly, assuming they paid a few thousand bucks for miscellaneous costs in making the presentation, they’re getting a huge return in positive attention and good will for peanuts. You have to promote your brand to sell products. In fact, given the high cost of television and magazine advertising, it would have been a criminal offense against the public to not take advantage of this event. No, they shouldn’t do it every day, there would be no media interest and no reward. But it was the right thing to do, from every vantage point, in this case. If I Were King, you would quickly see one of the many advantages of a monarchy: no Congress, and no morons elected to sit there.