Worser and worser:
The White House also noted to ABC News that the Bush administration was the first to consider Solyndra’s application and that some executives at the company have a history of donating to Republicans. The results of the Congressional probe shared Tuesday with ABC News show that less than two weeks before President Bush left office, on January 9, 2009, the Energy Department’s credit committee made a unanimous decision not to offer a loan commitment to Solyndra.
The geniuses in the Obama administration don’t seem to realize just how damaging this is to their case. Put the Bush DOE rejection of Solyndra together with the emails that broke last night:
The August 2009 e-mails, released toThe Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to the e-mails, which were provided by Republican congressional investigators…
And you have a true scandal that reaches directly into the Obama White House, and which clearly fits into the overall Obama “green” agenda. The main question demanding an answer now is, What did the president know and when did he know it?
Awesome. And this will get zero play in the media. If there was a way to post the three hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys, I would.
Yeah except its only a front page headline on Google News and been picked up by every major news outlet.
It’s Still Bush’s Fault….!
When will the winds of change blow hard enough to knock down Obama’s house of cards. Solyndra, gun running scandal, racist policies of the DOJ, etc. Is there something else that will be the last straw and everyone, including the media, will see that Obama is nothing more than a Chicago-style crook? Once can only hope for the right change.
Mr Preston, how about one of your regulars doing something like a “Scandals Sheet” column? This could slide along somewhat similar to the hallowed WAPO tradition of never letting a scandal be wasted. It doesn’t have to be a mud wrestling fiasco, stick to facts and reasonable predictions/implications. You could even [ shock ! ] invite “opposition” folks to contribute now and then. It could clear the air and head off false accusations too, all in the interest of clarity and an informed electorate. GBUSA
What surprises me about this story is the MSM (e.g., ABC, WaPo) not merely reporting extensively on it, but investigating and advancing the story. I truly believe that Gunwalker is the greater scandal. Apparently, the difference is Solyndra can be easily understood and explained to readers and viewers, while Gunwalker can’t.
You are correct in your analysis. The reason why this is true is more important. ABC and WaPo, and other MSM, can’t report cogently on Fast & Furious because they’ve been anti-gun so long they don’t understand the underlying issues. All they can do is refer to this as a reason why we need more ATF and gun control. (CBS is an exception, and LA Times getting on board.)
Actually, corporate finance, bankruptcy, money laundering and bailout is far more complicated than F&F. I have a client who’s a forensic accountant. That’s the kind of knowledge one needs to really understand Solyndra. But guns are a foreign language to MSM, whereas they’ve been reporting on corporate finance etc for a long time.
I appreciate your answer to my question. I’d also wondered about a couple other things.
First, did the business press (CNBC, WSJ) which had been reporting on Solyndra for years act as a sort of farm team for the national news guys? When they went researching the story they found all these articles from well-established publications and reporters who they know and rely on regularly. However, with Gunwalker, the persons doing the real reporting are bloggers, not well-known or trusted by MSM types.
Second, they gave Upton & Stearns were given a fair hearing by reporters, because Waxman & DeGette already provided cover to the MSM by criticizing Solyndra execs and the White House in a published letter. They’ll never cut Issa or even Grassley the same breaks, ’cause no Dems are gonna make Gunwalker a bipartisan issue.
Third, despite the complexities of corporate finance, they found an easy narrative frame for Solyndra, i.e, crony capitalism and corrupt campaign cash. Gunwalker provides no such storyline. You cannot discern the objective of the program because Justice and ATF have never provided a persuasive one. That leaves them with the unpalatable theory of ATF’s random sprinkling of weapons over northern Mexico and the desert Southwest through “nudge & wink” straw purchases as a pretext for gun control.
I’m sure there are other factors. And these are just my speculations.
Gunwalker’s complicated. Most people don’t know what is and isn’t common practice, and what kinds of sting operations are routine. Solyndra, OTOH is a straightforward boondoggle. It’s easy to understand. One day the taxpayers had half a billion, and the next day…
Hey, the Solyndra plant was located in SAN FRANCISCO!!! When they start following the money, my bet is that some of it will be found to have landed in the pocket of Pelosi or DiFi or, more likely, one of their relatives. Also look for a relative of Joey Biden or Tom Dashele. This didn’t just involve bad judgment, there is theft and corruption involved.
Sorry TexEd, the plant (and HQ) are next to the 880 freeway in Fremont (drove by them Saturday and commented how new they looked) – I assume a lot of that half billion went to building new facilities instead of leasing some unused factory somewhere.
Bottom line, not in Pelosi’s district. Pete Stark’s district on the other side of San Francisco Bay.
Change you can lose a lot of money on!
Hmmmm. “Officials…being rushed to approve…” Where have I heard that before, and again, and again?
One question:
Whose name is on Solyndra’s loan?
Certainly not President Bush’s or anyone else in his administration.
Oooooh! The Bush administration “considered” the loan request from Solyndra. Well of course that is what you do when someone sends you an application package. You have to look and see what is there. There is no choice in the matter. You do the analysis and say yes, no or ask for additional information.
The real gun runner story might be what we never get to hear about. Did the Obama Administration purposefully move guns for some insane notion that they could convert results later into a gun control frenzy type of legislation. You know how they love catastrophic events in the liberal press.
I like typing Liberal Media in my comments because people like buzzwords so they might read my comment. LIBERAL MEDIA
You know. It worked. I actually read your comment. Keep it up. Your commenting career may blossom beyond your fondest hopes.
i am sorry to say i ended up here as a result of following a link from google news… love the spin. the only point of highlighting that the Bush Administration started the process was to show that this was not originated by the current administration. not quite the smoking gun you are implying it to be.
that said, sorry for the momentary disturbance of sanity in your echo chamber. the commentary will now, no doubt, resume reinforcing your opinions and thoughts to the point that they must be true gospel handed down by our Lord (yes, I too believe)himself. certainly there is no middle ground. enjoy.
Wow…. people screaming from the bottom of their lungs!!! Wonder what you guys were doing when Dick Cheney handed Halliburton in billions (in the context of Iraq war) under your watchful eyes.Also former CIA chief Goerge Tenet openly said, he was forced to say there were weapons of mass destruction, which eventually led to the Iraq war and billions of dollars lost in tax payer money. Hello Tax payers!!! Were you sleeping then. People were obviously looking for something to pull the President down. Now they got something to discredit the man. Have fun.
You can always report us to Obama’s new site, attackwatch.com.
The main question demanding an answer now is, What did the president know and when did he know it?
That last line of the article has the same answer as Gunwalker. It turned to s#!+, so the man at the top didn’t know s#!+. Just because everybody around him knew what was going on and was involved in what was going on is no indication that the president had any knowledge or involvement unless Bin Laden ended up dead on the last page of the report!!!!
I don’t think its accurate to say the Bush administration rejected the solyndra loan (guarantee). The Bush administration was pushing for expedited approval. Non political civil service employees turned it down. Eventually, non political civil service employees approved it.