It’s not like Mitt Romney was counting on Michigan for any sort of support already. As I said before, if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination, he should probably just skip Michigan after his New York Times editorial called “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” back in 2008:
It will be interesting to see if Romney dares to show his face in Michigan again after advocating for letting the Detroit auto companies die. If he does, I knew a few auto workers who will have a thing or two to say to him when he gets here.
He doubled down at the most recent Republican debate in New Hampshire last night:
My — my experience tells me that we were on the — on the precipice and we could have had a complete meltdown of our entire financial system, wiping out all the savings of the American people. So action had to be taken.Was it perfect? No. Was it well-implemented? No, not particularly. Were there some institutions that should not have been bailed out? Absolutely.
Should they have used the funds to bail out General Motors and Chrysler? No, that was the wrong source for that funding.
Yeah, “bailing out” (aka, loaning money) to the auto vehicle manufacturers, that was a real bad idea. Look what’s happened since then with their resurgent sales and profits and all those jobs saved. Real bad idea, alright.
Mitt Romney is an idiot. He might as well stay out Michigan after that bit of callous idiocy.
The Obama presidential campaign jumped on it quickly, sending out a fund-raising email today to Michigan folks on their mailing list.
If you didn’t hear what Mitt Romney said about the auto recovery in Michigan at last night’s Republican debate, you should read on. Because it really is incredible.According to Governor Romney, General Motors and Chrysler never should have received the federal loans that got them back on their feet, saved more than 1.4 million jobs, and helped prevent the American auto industry from going under.
Here’s what’s even more amazing. Flash back to the 2008 presidential primary: While campaigning in Michigan, Mitt said he would fight for the auto industry and wasn’t willing to say “too bad” to Michigan and those who’d lost their jobs as the manufacturing sector declined under the previous administration.
In other words, last night he doubled down on his opposition to the successful recovery of an industry he once claimed to support.
This kind of thing is a habit of Mitt’s, and our friends over at the Democratic Party have put together a website — WhichMitt.com — to provide a couple trips down memory lane.
You don’t need me to tell you that the President’s decision to provide loans to the automakers has been a success. You’ve probably been reading the same things I have: It’s clear that this move has revived the companies that sustain entire communities here in Michigan. For the first time in more than seven years, all of the “Big Three” automakers are turning a profit again.
The decision sure wasn’t politically popular at the time, but today there’s absolutely no question that it was exactly the kind of leadership we needed.
That’s where the President and his supporters stand on the auto recovery. We were for it then, and we stand by it now.
Where does Mitt stand? I literally have no idea.
Check out the video at WhichMitt.com and try and decide for yourself:
http://my.barackobama.com/Which-Mitt
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Battleground States Director
Obama for America
Glad to see them jumping on this stuff so quickly and effectively.
And Mitts should probably just skip right on past Michigan. There are waa-aay too many people here who are thanking their lucky stars that Barack Obama and the Democrats saved the U.S. auto industry.
