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Obama with Solyndra workers in 2010.
There was never actually a Solyndra "controversy," per se. The Obama administration was eager to boost the nation's burgeoning clean-energy sector, and Solyndra received federal loan guarantees, which ultimately couldn't prevent the company's demise. Some businesses thrived after receiving federal assistance; some didn't. It happens.
But Republicans nevertheless spent the last couple of years insisting that this is a major political scandal -- some even compared it to Watergate -- despite no evidence of wrongdoing. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that the GOP was simply playing a little political game, in the hopes of embarrassing the president ahead of the 2012 election.
And sure enough, now that the election is over, Environment & Energy Daily reports in a subscriber-only piece that Republicans no longer care about the story that never seemed all that interesting anyway.
After making the $535 million failed loan guarantee a top focus of its oversight efforts in the 112th Congress, it appears that the new year will be Solyndra-less for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "We've done that. I don't know that there's more to dig up," committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said yesterday when asked if Solyndra would be back on the panel's agenda in the 113th Congress.
At a certain level, this is just common sense. Republicans have held multiple hearings, received countless documents, asked volumes of questions, and failed miserably to find even a hint of impropriety. Of course there's nothing more "to dig up"; the story has always been a dud.
The larger point, though, is to appreciate how transparent the partisan motivations have been all along.
Back in March, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said of the Solyndra probe, "Ultimately, we'll stop it on Election Day, hopefully. And bringing attention to these things helps the voters and citizens of the country make the kind of decision that I hope helps them as they evaluate who they are going to vote for in November."
In other words, Republicans cared about Solyndra only insofar as it played a role in their election strategy. With President Obama re-elected, they no longer see the point in keeping up the charade.
With yet another manufactured controversy fading away, and the GOP search for a legitimate Obama scandal still going strong, one can only speculate as to what they'll pretend to find outrageous next.
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"...one can only speculate as to what they'll pretend to find outrageous next."
The fact that President Obama is still non plussed and that the American people still have his back.....
Solyndra is not dead as a FoxNews and its minions might have people think. It is simply on the shelf. It is part of the oil shale versus clean, renewable energy debate. But Solyndra is only one part of the Kochs-Rove wedge and win political strategy. This wedge is aimed at the voters in oil and coal producing states who feel threatened for their jobs by renewable energy. It is also aimed at those who believe that government is corrupt and is wasting the taxpayer's dollar.
The Kochs-Rove have other wedges: anti-abortion, anti-gun control, anti-immigrant, anti-gay rights, anti-government, anti-_______— (fill in the blank). There is never any shortage of wedge issues or people who are influenced by those issues. It just so happens that it is not timely now for Solyndra.
The fact is as long as democrats breath and the US is still a democratic republic - the GOTP will find some pretext to be outraged....
The piece on Bork last night reminded me how HUGE Watergate really was. The "Saturday Night Massacre" itself was a bigger scandal than anything else since, except Iran-Contra.
The tendency to compare every controversy or potential scandal to Watergate (and add the -gate suffix to it) has got to stop. It won't though, because every journalist out there is looking for their big scoop and therefore sensationalize whatever they are reporting.
Watergate doen't bother Lynard Skinnerd, but Neil Young certainly does...
Why do you think they keep wanting to make spending cuts to education...Schools will eventually have to stop teaching history.
And as if by magic to punctuate that remark
http://wonkette.com/493868/wingnuts-furious-washington-post-called-a-thing-by-the-name-that-it-is-called#more-493868
I guess not teaching history is cheaper than teaching GOPper Revisionist history,
They can put the $avings into teaching Republican Math ... The text book will have a picture of a Turd Blossom on it. LMAO!!!
Far as the link, I feel lobotomized.
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Most schools don't really teach history. They teach what the text book committees call history. Texas has a big part in determining what is taught for history in all schools in the US. Text book puplishers listen to schools so they can sell text books.
There's a book called LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, By James Loewen. It is an interesting reads and explains the attitudes many people have. We need to keep in mind that the bottom line is really what controls this country. If it is not profitable it doesn't get done.
@MikeinMichigan: Grab yourself a copy of Daniel Ellsberg's book, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. It'll keep you engrossed and entertained for hours during these long winter months.
Although I was a young adult during the shameful Watergate fiasco, it wasn't until I read this book that I fully appreciated the significance of what happened then. The idea that the president would order the suppression of a vitally important story for the one and only time in our nation's history is almost unfathomable today. Nixon actually went to the Supreme Court to quash the story and prevent its publication.
The Pentagon Papers were actually the underlying documents for a report called "A History of the Vietnam Conflict from 1946 Through 1968." The report detailed the involvement of the U.S. for years while it was hidden from the American public through a pattern of lying at the top levels of government. Ellsberg saw that, if people weren't aware of the totality of the cover-up, the current administration (Nixon's) could continue its two-faced efforts at expanding the war while claiming that things were winding down. Although still in his early 30s, he literally risked spending the rest of his life in prison to make these details public. He is my hero.
Wonder how Elon Musk at Tesla Motors feels about his loan. They appear to be doing very well, although I don't know the stats on repayments. With each sale of a Model S, they are heading towards a truly affordable 'commuter' vehicle. Sure wish I could afford one of those model S...
This is what seperates us progressives from the neanderthals: we at least have a small amount of accountability. Hate radio teaches conservatives that it's OK to throw out insane tid bits that end up being completely false, after these get exposed, you just drop them. Issa is the Grand Master of this, a hero on the right wing.
As much as I'd like to believe the witch hunting stops with a second term, recent history shows that the Republicans will stop at nothing to bring down a Democratic president, even in his second term. (see also: Clinton, William J.)
Republican political grandstanding has graduated to the point where it is now getting Children killed.
Enough
Not really, but Republican political grandstanding is going to tank the economy again.
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No I am serious think about it:
No Healthcare and especially no mental health care
No support for genuine regulations or safety of Firearms
No support for local law enforcement
No support for Disaster preparedness or planning
No support for Infrastructure security
This is stuff that can all be directly tied to peoples lives and deaths. The fact that they made political hay out of an energy company is just emblematic of posturing over actual substantive governance.
The Republicans have done nothing but obstruct for almost four years, they were rewarded with a House majority in 2010 and most of them were re-elected in 2012. So they are doing what works for them, the Democrats let them get by with it. We shouldn't expect the Repubs to stand down, but we should expect the Dems to stand up.
Funny thing about Solyndra,
Bush was pushing really hard to get the Solyndra loan through before leaving office so he could say he did something in the Solar field but the paperwork couldn't be completed in time because Bush understaffed the agency doing the work.
So Barry got to make the loan.
Then China flooded the market with under priced government subsidized solar which tanked Solyndra.
But it's all Obamas fault. Right?
Even things put in motion before ... well, it's Obamas fault that Hawaii is a state. ... I know it makes no sense but we are talking the GOPpers and Baggers, I gave up trying to figurew out what makes sense in their swiss cheese minds.
As always I'm just amazed what you folks will let slide for Obama that would have the left screaming for Bush's head. It's good to know that the left just declared campaign bundlers have a special set of rights based in crony capitalism. Give Obama a few thousand and get over $500 million in free money with a cabinet secretary as the bagman. Sweet.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576558763644374614.html
Your article is wickedly out of date, Shooter. The US Congress already investigated the Solyndra case and found zero evidence of favoritism in the loan program.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/16/politics/solyndra-investigation/index.html
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/06/805001/five-things-you-should-know-about-solyndra-during-the-2012-campaign/?mobile=nc
Annie Oakley: Romney solved this "issue" by keeping his bundlers names secret.
Yes, the directionless controversies need to end!
As Congressional Republicans have been throwing political shyt into the fan these past four+ years, they've just now realized they had the fan facing them, and now they're covered in a stink the rest of us are tired of smelling!
Oh, and we're tired of looking at those shytheads with all that fecal matter in their eyes! Lucky for McConnell - he wears glasses! -Kevo
"It happens"! Common Steve that's how you view this?
I'm really sick of these petty jerks. They WHINE about 'entitlement' cuts but spend untold dollars with their investigations. They don't work on the PEOPLE'S WORK instead just ginning up for the next election.