Mitt Romney would have let Detroit fail, now tries to claim credit for its revival

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The ease with which this shapeshifter changes his positions and shamelessly lies is what really disturbs me about Willard "Mittens" Romney.

In 2008, Mittens wrote an opinion for the New York Times entitled Let Detroit Go Bankrupt:

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.

And what was Mitten's solution?

A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

Chrysler did file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 30, 2009. GM followed suit by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 1, 2009. So technically there was a "managed bankruptcy" as Mittens suggested in his op/ed. But the contours of the "bailout" plan Congress enacted to rescue Detroit and the reorganization plans adopted by the bankruptcy courts differed substantially from the plan outlined by Mittens in his op/ed.

Mittens is hanging on to this slim thread -- a "managed bankruptcy," absent the actual details -- to claim that the success of the Obama administration's rescue of Detroit was really "his idea." He is trying to claim credit for something he opposed. He is shameless.

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UPDATE: Kevin Drum concludes "Is Romney trying to take more credit than he deserves here? Sure. But it strikes me as being garden variety political puffery, not third-degree hypocrisy." In Which I Swallow Hard and Defend Mitt Romney | Mother Jones. But in an update to his own post:

On April 29, 2009, after the outlines of the Obama plan were fairly clear and GM produced a proposal meant to address its requirements, Romney trashed it in pretty strong terms. "What is proposed is even worse than bankruptcy," he said. "It would make GM the living dead." And a correspondent says that Romney consistently opposed the infusion of any government money into the bankruptcy process, which is pretty far afield from the "course of action that eventually the Obama administration adopted." If this is true, it makes the flip-flopping case stronger.

Comments

[bwood]

this is really a sad day when you cannot even listen to exactly what the interview was about or said. If you really read the op-ed piece Romney wrote, you would know he is was right about what happened and the automobile industry did not pay back its loans. they borrowed 60 billion. you people should really know before you write...

[blogtucson]

Auto industry DID repay their loans. TARP under Bush was the "giveaway".
If you insist on robo-blogging bring knowlwdge, not campaign slogans.
As intrusive as the Patriot Act is, it is neccessary within our borders.

[Bess1919]

Meanie,
Who pointed all the trolls here suddenly?? I love reading comments, but not when Faux news is the "news" source for their talking points.

[AZ BlueMeanie]

As I explained earlier, "Our newest troll -- you all know who -- has an IP address that comes out of Saddlebrooke through Western Broadband, LLC." He is one of Cap'n Al's trolls. Mike and David have been slow to delete this troll.