RENEWABLE ENERGY is worthy of investment and it will often be risky, but is important for the future development of alternative energy sources. So, Republicans and conservatives screaming about Solyndra using talking points that aren’t supported by the facts, unless you get all your news from the right and Rush Limbaugh, is playing politics with an issue that hurts everyone.
The AP looked into Romney’s charges and finds he “misses the mark” on Solyndra. Here’s one example that has gotten a lot of attention recently, including by Rachel Maddow.
ROMNEY: “An independent inspector general looked at this investment (Solyndra) and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family — to campaign contributors.”
THE FACTS: There is no proof — and it appears unlikely — that Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman was talking about Solyndra when he testified in March 2011 about stimulus contracts. Friedman said his office was investigating whether such contracts were steered to friends and family, presumably of government officials in charge of spending stimulus money. Romney cited a Newsweek article that referred to Friedman’s testimony.
But Friedman did not say that such claims had been proved, and there is no evidence he was including Solyndra in his comments. The testimony came nearly six months before the company declared bankruptcy. And there is no evidence that family members of top federal officials received any favors. Friedman’s office is among several federal agencies that are investigating Solyndra.
Romney’s not only wrong on Solyndra, but he also knows investments don’t always pan out, especially on new and groundbreaking technologies.
Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, the timing on his Solyndra stunt was as off key as Axelrod’s in Massachusetts.
The Boston Herald [h/t Think Progress] has reported that a solar company that received a state loan from Romney when he was governor has filed for bankruptcy.
A Bay State solar panel developer that landed a state loan from Mitt Romney when he was Massachusetts governor has gone belly up — a day after the GOP presidential hopeful ripped President Obama’s green-energy investments..
Let’s call it an inconvenient truth.
In other words Mitt Romney is a naked liar. I think that has been established.
Another fine example of how Romney was for (insert flip) before he was against (insert flop). But Fox News says any discussion of Romney’s record at Bain Capital or his record as Governor of Massachussets is ‘characer assassination’ and is off the table.
The Republican/libertarian argument on this seems to boil down tol: Government is evil. Solyndra! It’s as though they’ve never heard of NASA, (D)ARPA, or any of the other government agencies that have funded scientific and technological research in the last fifty years, and made our lives considerably richer as a result.
Anyone who expects that a large organization isn’t going to make mistakes is an idiot. That’s as true of corporations as it is of government agencies. There will be waste and a certain amount of corruption. There will be lots of dead ends and unsatisfying payoffs in research, particularly. The important thing in the case of either kind of organization is to have an open process that minimizes that waste.
The company got $1.5 million NINE YEARS AGO and it’s Romney’s fault they went belly-up now?
So was the guy in charge of the company a crony of Romney? Did Romney rush the loan through the approval process? Can anyone remember exactly who approved the loan? Were the taxpayers subordinated to other investors? Did the company repay any or all of the loan during the past NINE YEARS?
That’s really weak tea.
So is the argument about Solyndra, which revolves around what I can only guess is a deliberate misunderstanding of what an inspector general said before Congress. Oh, and that all government spending is inherently evil unless it could be used to kill somebody.