President Obama authorized a rushed, poorly thought-out half-billion with a “b” taxpayer-funded “stimulus” into Solyndra, a company with a major stakeholder named George Kaiser, who is also a billionaire bundler for the Obama campaign. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney has thus far used Solyndra as a brilliant counter-attack against Obama’s failed attacks on Bain Capital. After all, if Obama wants to compare venture capital records, I say, let’s rock.
Well, per the usual, it’s Politico, MSNBC’s unofficial web-partner, to the rescue with this wildly dishonest headline:
Romney-Backed Solar Firm Flops, Dems Pounce
Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well, it’s supposed to. The headline is supposed to declare to the world that Romney is a hypocrite and that his primary line of criticism against Obama is over. The first few paragraphs even back up the headline:
A Massachusetts solar company to which Mitt Romney personally delivered a $1.5 million loan when he was governor has gone belly up, leaving him vulnerable to the same “picking winners and losers” charges that he’s been lobbing at President Barack Obama over Solyndra.
The president’s reelection campaign wasted no time noting Romney’s support for Lowell-based Konarka Technologies, which announced Friday it had filed for bankruptcy protection with plans to lay off more than 80 workers and liquidate its assets.
The filing came on the heels of Romney’s unannounced visit last week to Solyndra’s Silicon Valley headquarters, where he accused the Obama administration of a conflict of interest and poor judgment in approving Solyndra’s $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee.
But, deeper in the piece — about eight freakin’ paragraphs — Politico writer Darren Sameulsohn finally gets to the heart of the issue:
[1.] The GOP campaign noted that Massachusetts officials approved Konarka’s loan application for a new pilot production assembly line in December 2002, the month before Romney was sworn in. …
[2.] And even if Romney had been in office then, the agency that greenlighted the loan wasn’t under the direct control of the governor. …
[3.] Later in his term, Romney tried to defund the underlying green energy financing program. …
[4.] Konarka, in the meantime, went on to raise $170 million in private capital as it amassed more than 100 patents for a variety of solar products, including thin, flexible panels that its customers then build into bags and umbrellas. It also raised $5 million more in state loans under Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration.
So a solar company that received a loan not from Romney went out business nine years after receiving the loan, and that’s Politico’s headline.
Also, there is no report of any Konarka investors doing double duty as a Romney campaign bundler.
Also, as governor, Romney tried to kill the racket that is taxpayer-funding of green energy.
If the roles were reversed and it was Romney using Konarka to deflect from his failed Solyndra deal, the media fact-checkers would be swarming over him like jackals.
Instead, though, Politico plays right along with the White House talking points, burying the only facts that matter.
The media’s getting desperate.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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