The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Somebody’s Taking My Advice?

Posted on | September 15, 2011 | 12 Comments

One hesitates to presume influence, especially when what one advises is just common-sense stuff that seems obvious. So yesterday I wrote that Republicans should “relentelessly expose the Solyndra scandal” and added:

GOP presidential candidates can help maximize the impact of exposure by making Solyndra the focus of their attacks on the incumbent’s policy agenda. We ought to hear the phrase “Solyndra scandal” in every stump speech, every press release and every Republican debate.

And that post ended with the suggestion that readers “e-mail it to your favorite local or national talk radio host, or Republican presidential candidates.” And about three hours later . . .

Joining GE in the pantheon on crony capitalism is another Obama favorite that has been in the news of late: Solyndra. The President hailed this “green energy” company in a speech last May as “the true engine of economic growth.” When he announced the $535 million guarantee to Solyndra, Vice President Biden said that investments like this are “exactly what the Recovery Act is all about.” (Dear God…If the failed Solyndra venture has been what it’s “all about,” then that explains a lot.) As I pointed out in my speech at the Reagan Ranch Center last February: “History has proven again and again, when government picks the winners and losers, we’re stuck with the losers, and we the taxpayers subsidize failure!” And that’s what we’re seeing now, as the FBI raids the solar energy company’s headquarters to glean more information after the company was handed half a billion dollars in “green energy” Stimulus funds from the American taxpayer only to later declare bankruptcy. More than one thousand Solyndra workers lost their jobs. Now as the truth comes out, we discover that the White House was heavily involved in the Department of Energy’s rushed decision to give the Stimulus funds to Solyndra, and they tried to move the money through so quickly they seem to have ignored concerns that the company was not viable. Why would they do this? Perhaps it’s because a large investor in the company (about 35%) is Obama campaign bundler George Kaiser. And with the way the deal is structured, Kaiser will get his debts paid before we the taxpayers see any relief. That is sickening. And that’s how it works: workers lose their jobs, wealthy political cronies stand a good chance of getting their money back, and the U.S. taxpayer gets the shaft. Again. . . .

You can read the whole thing. My silly suggestion that it was inspired by a blog post here was meant for laughs. Like I said, it’s common-sense stuff that seems obvious. So maybe this is just one of those “great minds think alike” situations. But remember that my advice was offered to “GOP presidential candidates,” which means . . .?

Comments

12 Responses to “Somebody’s Taking My Advice?”

  1. rosalie
    September 15th, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

    Yes, something like that is just common sense, but common sense is at a premium today.

  2. Leftbankofthecharles
    September 15th, 2011 @ 2:22 pm

    The Solyndra half-billion would seem to dwarf by a factor of 2.5 all the money Rick Perry ever handed out through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

  3. Anonymous
    September 15th, 2011 @ 2:43 pm

    Now, Stacey, no one takes that snowbilly seriously. /typical leftard.

  4. Anonymous
    September 15th, 2011 @ 3:04 pm

    You’re not getting as many comments on this here post, ’cause you forgot the magic post-count word: “Palin.”

  5. Anonymous
    September 15th, 2011 @ 3:11 pm

    It was incredibly painful to watch the DOE officials in front of the Congressional investigation into Solyndra.

    It seems nobody knows who made the decision to give the $537 million loan guarantee,
    either they didn’t work there at the time, or they were just too stupid
    to know (or they were lying under oath).

    What was obvious was that nobody is actually in control of our government.  It’s running on auto-pilot.  This may explain why Obama continues to blame Bush.
     

  6. rosalie
    September 15th, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

    That’s the problem.  Too many skeletons in their own closests.

  7. Anonymous
    September 15th, 2011 @ 4:07 pm

    Along the lines of great minds thinking alike, I had a similar thought yesterday. I was driving to pick up my kid when on the radio either Rush or Hannity played the clip of Obama saying Solyndra is what the stimulus is all about and I instantly said to myself that Boehner or Club for Growth or someone needs to use that clip plus the explanation of what happened to the money given to Obama’s crony donor. What would better make the case against further stimulus wasteful spending. They need to make it common knowledge that the Obama administration used the last stimulus to reward donors and unions (yeah, I know, I know, unions are biggest donors). It isn’t enough that politically aware people understand this. No, this need to be known by people like my mother in law – average, regular voter who gets news, if at all, from ABC, CBS, NBC, Dayton Daily News, etc.

  8. Anonymous
    September 15th, 2011 @ 5:00 pm

    And an uncommon virtue.

  9. Joe
    September 15th, 2011 @ 6:39 pm

    Stacy advice is so much common sense and so obvious that it should be a litmus test for GOP presidential contenders.  If they follow it, they pass.  If they do not follow it, they should be immediately rejected as falty and unacceptable (Huntsman is already in that reject catagory). 

  10. Adjoran
    September 15th, 2011 @ 7:40 pm

    Even in a large construction project – which the Solyndra factory wasn’t, really – it is not easy to spend $500 million in a little over one year and have nothing to show for it.  That is a LOT of money.

    The problem is with the DOJ and Treasury opening cases on it, the Obama Regime will stall Congressional inquiries with the old “ongoing investigation” dodge to prevent criminal cases from being ruined by public disclosures.

    Congress should plow ahead.  The goal here is not to see how many junior executives and lower functionaries of Solyndra we can send to jail, it is to find out how the Regime pushed a super-low-cost interest loan through without due diligence after the project had already been turned down by the same program in the previous Administration.

  11. DaveO
    September 16th, 2011 @ 12:29 am

    I seriously doubt this DOJ and this IRS will perform the forensic audits to discover where the money went.

    What’s the website that tracks campaign money? It may have entries from Solyndra corporate officers in nice, big bundles. And, of course, Kaiser will get all his money back.

  12. DaveO
    September 16th, 2011 @ 12:29 am

    I seriously doubt this DOJ and this IRS will perform the forensic audits to discover where the money went.

    What’s the website that tracks campaign money? It may have entries from Solyndra corporate officers in nice, big bundles. And, of course, Kaiser will get all his money back.