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It’s pretty entertaining to look back at Republican quotes in 2009, responding to President Obama’s rescue of the American automotive industry.
Dozens of prominent Republican officials, including most of the GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate, were absolutely certain the rescue would be a disaster. In the midst of an economic crisis, Republicans saw the American automotive industry — one of the central backbones of the nation’s manufacturing sector — teetering on the brink of collapse. The GOP was prepared to simply let it fail, forcing hundreds of thousands of workers into unemployment during an already-severe jobs crisis.
What’s more, they were equally certain Obama’s rescue plan was hopeless. It was a foregone conclusion, they said, since government intervention in the marketplace is always a disaster. Mitt Romney, in particular, said policymakers should “let Detroit go bankrupt,” and called the administration’s plan “tragic.”
Except they were wrong — about literally every aspect of the debate. The policy they assured us was doomed to fail actually succeeded, and every GOP prediction about the rescue has proven false. McClatchy reports this week that the industry is now starting to hum.
After a near collapse at the height of the Great Recession, the streamlined U.S. auto industry defied the odds and outperformed the greater economy this year with solid sales increases, job growth and product innovations that signal that a full industry recovery no longer is just possible, but probable. […]
After selling roughly 11.8 million cars and trucks last year, U.S. vehicle sales to businesses and consumers are expected to hit nearly 12.8 million in 2011, Toprak said. That’s up from 10.6 million at the height of the Great Recession in 2009. […]
U.S. and foreign automakers are poised to add nearly 167,000 U.S. jobs by the end of 2015, according to the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. That breaks down to 30,000 hourly and salaried workers at the Big Three U.S. automakers, 17,000 jobs at foreign automakers and about 120,000 auto-supply sector jobs.
“The industry has pretty much hired back just about everybody from the automotive side that had been laid off. And now they’re hiring fresh, so they’re actually adding to their rosters. And it’s not just the Detroit automakers. It’s everybody,” said Aaron Bragman, senior analyst at IHS Automotive in Northville, Mich.
As for Republicans who assured us the opposite would happen, I’m reminded of a column E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote over the summer: ‘[What’s wrong, sorry to say, is that you won’t see a news conference where the bailout’s foes candidly acknowledge how mistaken they were. The lack of accountability is stunning but not surprising.”
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stevio on December 22, 2011 10:53 AM:
One wonders how many of those "nay-sayers" hurriedly rushed out to buy a car with an American logo to help the industry try to dig out of the dutch they drove it into.
This country' right wing is oft times truly nauseating...
stormskies on December 22, 2011 10:55 AM:
Yes, and I am sure we will see corporate cum sluts like David "I am not a used corporate condom" Gregory having on his "Meet the Propagandist", meaning him, having on all these Repiglicans and putting their words back in their face, and then asking them what they think of what they had said now, citing the evidence of their cretinism.
If not, why not ? the used condom of course knows why he is paid 3 million a year from General Electric ...
Steve P on December 22, 2011 10:56 AM:
‘[What’s wrong, sorry to say, is that you won’t see a news conference where the bailout’s foes candidly acknowledge how mistaken they were. The lack of accountability is stunning but not surprising.”
You know, it takes two.
The amazing grilling that we've seen Piers Morgan getting is a fact of life in Britain, in Parliament and on the talk shows. If the journos here would get off their knees and take off their bibs, we get that too,
c u n d gulag on December 22, 2011 11:01 AM:
Never in the course of human events have so many been so wrong, so frequently, and so loudly, about so many issues.
And yet, they continue to be elected and reelected.
Too many of us in this nation are dumber than Roman salt-mine slaves, have the memory of a mayfly, and the lemming-like willingness to follow the asshole in front of us just because we think he/she might be a leader.
I give "The American Experiment" about another 4-8 years before the alchemists, trying to prove you can take bullshit and spin it into political gold, blow up the chemistry lab our betters gave us.
chi res on December 22, 2011 11:02 AM:
What? No progress chart???
atlliberal on December 22, 2011 11:34 AM:
Republicans were wrong about
Supply side economics
Iran Contra
the Clinton economic package
Deregulation
The social security "lock box"
The 2001 tax cuts
The 2003 tax cuts
The Iraq war
The great recession (whether the economy was even in trouble in 2008)
TARP
The auto bailouts
The 2009 stimulus
Health care reform
The list could go on and on, just over the last 20 years.
Why does anybody listen to them about anything?
square1 on December 22, 2011 1:39 PM:
When are Democrats going to stop expecting Republicans to stand up and announce that they are wrong?
This isn't Perry Mason. Nobody is going to stand up and shout "You're right! I did it! I tried to kill GM, Ford, and Chrysler."
If too few Americans give Dems credit and the GOP blame, it is because the Dems have generally downplayed the issue over the past several years.
square1 on December 22, 2011 1:55 PM:
It is also worth noting that for many of the most disastrous economic policy positions over the past 4 years, the Blue Dog Democrats walked in lockstep with the GOP, even going so far as to join GOP filibusters.
Everyone understands that in red states and districts you can't get extreme liberals elected.
Particularly on social and cultural issues, Democratic candidates in red states will be more conservative than the rest of the caucus: gun laws, abortion, gay marriage, etc. Everyone gets all that.
But it used to be the case that the party accepted social conservatism in exchange for economic liberalism. We were supposed to be supporting gun-loving, pro-union representatives.
But now we have been stuck with Blue Dogs who are socially conservative...and support GOP economic policies. Policies which are more pro-corporate than pro-rural economic interests. Why are these people Democrats again?
As long as Democrats tolerate the extreme corporate positions of the Blue Dogs, they will never have a lot of credibility. The Democratic message has been "Republicans support economic policies that are disastrous for America. That is unacceptable...unless they are willing to vote for Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi."
Kane on December 22, 2011 2:05 PM:
The American auto industry is leaner, meaner, and greener than it was just a couple of years ago.
As Jerry Hirsch of the L.A. Times noted back in August, the auto industry might turn out to be the economy's saving grace and what prevented the nation's economy from falling back into recession.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/25/business/la-fi-autos-economy-20110825