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GOP Aims to Scorch Obama Over Solyndra

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September 16, 2011 RSS Feed Print

The Republicans are jumping on what media pundits are calling "the Solyndra scandal," and that could be a problem for President Obama. If the issue sticks, it could eliminate an argument that the Democrats were prepared to make in the 2012 campaign--that the Obama administration has been scandal-free. At a minimum, it could play into GOP claims that the administration is riddled with "crony capitalism."

[Read Rettig: Solyndra Bankruptcy Raises Questions About Federal Loan Guarantees.]

The news media are suddenly interested in the story, too. For example, Politico did a good summary this morning , and the Wall Street Journal has published a major takout on the case. Investigators for Republicans in Congress are also looking into the matter.

[Read about how Obama abandoned clean energy in his recent jobs speech.]

Hoping to stir the pot, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has sent a hard-hitting E-mail to potential GOP contributors and reporters arguing that, "The self-proclaimed 'most transparent White House in history' must come clean now about the role the Obama staff played in securing a $535 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan to the 'green jobs' firm of Solyndra, which has since declared bankruptcy and is being investigated by the FBI. It appears the Obama administration inappropriately shepherded hundreds of millions of dollars of your money onto a pet 'alternative energy' company as part of a larger PR campaign to legitimize 'green jobs' and sell their "stimulus' boondoggle." Priebus asked, "What role did the leftist special interests and elitist Obama fundraisers play in the scheme? Where has all that money gone?"

The GOP chairman asked Republicans to sign an accompanying petition demanding answers and he asked them to "consider making a generous contribution to the RNC" so it can maintain the pressure on the Obama administration. [Read: Obama's Green Jobs Agenda Already Proven to Be Ineffective.]

For their part, administration officials have said this is a minor matter and there was no wrongdoing.

Tags:
Barack Obama,
politics,
solar energy,
Republican Party

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500 million is chump change compared to the billions spent funding warlords through military contractors in afghanistan. yes, solyndra went under unfortunately, but at least the deal was not corrupt and fraudulent and counter to US interests.

i'm sure this story will fade away in a few weeks. by the way, what ever happened to the idea that obama isn't a us citizen and doesn't have a birth certificate? his critics are desperate.

jean machine of CA 8:10PM September 19, 2011

The liberal media has been hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil regarding Obama. The stench of corruption and the Chicago way is blatant and the stench is becoming an EPA violation. We need a new Congress with a Republican controlled Senate and President. We may have one chance to correct what is wrong with this Nation which is the monstrosity the Federal Government has become. There needs to be a massive reduction in the size, breadth and scope of the Federal Government. That means cutting entire Departments, laying off millions of Federal workers and returning the functions to the States.

Ron Paul is the only candidate that has the chops to do this. The United States has been lucky in the past that a leader emerged in dark times to lead the Nation out of crisis. The crisis now is our Federal Government and the elitists and statists that now squat in DC. It was the Federal Government that caused the crisis we are in pure and simple. Yet we think these same nimrods can fix this by increasing the size of government.

Here is a great site that talks about how to cut down the size of the Federal government. And for those that say laying off Federal government workers is bad in a recession/depression keep in mind that for every government worker there has to be 2 to 5 private workers to pay for the government workers salaries, benefits and graft.

The most immediate is to end HUD and a large open sore in the Federal government will be fixed:

"The Department of Housing and Urban Development engages in a range of housing and community activities that used to be the responsibility of local governments and the private sector. Its public housing subsidies, rental assistance, and housing finance activities have proven to be costly and damaging to the economy. The department's poor management and misguided policies have led to fraud, corruption, and much wasteful spending.

The department will spent about $61 billion in 2011, or about $520 for every U.S. household. It employs 9,700 workers and operates 118 different subsidy programs."

http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/hud

Pete of CA 4:14PM September 18, 2011

This is a complete crock. The administarion tries to fasttrack funding initiated by the Bush administration to jump start an industry that can provide jobs and reduce oil dependencyin a recession (shocking), China torpedoes it by flooding the market selling their stuff at cost, and Republicans try to leverage the debacle to smear Obama, pathetic. Exxon and BP and Mobil own the GOP. The non-stop lies will eventually out them all. Remember Joe McCarthy? It only lasts for so long.

John of MA 3:59PM September 18, 2011

Ken Walsh's Washington

A longtime chief White House correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, Kenneth T. Walsh has covered five presidents beginning with Ronald Reagan. Along with other U.S. News writers, he continues to provide insight into the White House of Barack Obama and the world of presidential campaigns.

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