Forbes: Clinton's Charge That Sanders Did Not Support Auto Rescue Is Wrong

[Cheese Sandwich]

From Forbes Contributor David Kiley, "Providing insights and news about the global auto business".

With the Michigan primary coming up Tuesday, Democratic party front-runner Hillary Clinton is trying to paint her challenger, Bernie Sanders, as having been against the auto bailout in 2009. Chalk it up to election year nonsense. The truth is both candidates were in favor of the auto bailout.

In the world of Congressional votes, the truth is seldom seen, but much mischief can be made.

During the debate in Flint, Michigan, a visibly tired Sanders did a poor job of explaining the confusion. I am not a Sanders supporter, but the truth is always important.

Secretary Clinton is chastising Sanders in the Motor State for not voting for the bill that created the funding for an auto bailout. Except, it wasn’t known that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bill, designed to bail out Wall Street banks from their subprime mortgage loan debacle that was crashing the economy, would be used to rescue the auto industry at the time Senators Sanders and Clinton voted on it. Clinton voted yay. Sanders voted nay. It was President Bush who signed the bill into law.

Later, in December 2008, the Senate took up a separate bill that would have provided rescue funds specifically for the auto industry. That bill failed to get the 60-vote filibuster-proof minimum when Republicans balked at saving General Motors GM -2.94%, Ford and Chrysler, in large part because they wanted to use the occasion to try and destroy the United Auto Workers union, which stood to benefit from a bailout by having their healthcare fund and pensions protected, and its interests prioritized over bond holders. Both Clinton and Sanders voted for this bill.
...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2016/03/07/clintons-charges-that-sanders-did-not-support-auto-rescue-is-wrong

[onehandle]

1. Forbes? As in Steve Forbes? As in Cato Institute? nt

[Cheese Sandwich]

2. You'd be surprised how honest the business press is sometimes.

Facts are facts.

[Lorien]

4. If you have to resort to attacking the messenger

then you don't have an argument.

[TM99]

5. If y'all can post that pus filled Brock's

websites and supported web links then I think we can post a link from Forbes.

[appalachiablue]

14. K & R. The one and only David Brock.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. It's a matter of Congressional voting records. I had three Congressional Democrats at that time

and all three voted NO on TARP because it was a deeply flawed give away. It had nothing to do with the auto industry. Many Democrats voted No. Hillary voted Yes but she had the highest contributions from pro TARP sources of any member in either chamber or Party, over 2 million. So she voted Yes. Obama voted Yes, as did McCain.

Reading the press from that time you find many Democrats who voted for it promising all sorts of huge new controls and reforms to come, this is something we must do today but we must do so much more....then they really didn't.

History does not revise well and people do not trust those who attempt to revise it.

[Logical]

17. Onehandle. Are you fucking kidding me. Hillary LOVES forbes! Her type of people. nt

[phazed0]

19. Yeah, even Forbes

Even Forbes remember's what Hillary and Bernie did way way back 8 years ago. So do I, and plenty of other people.

[highprincipleswork]

3. Forbes, as in anyone who believes truth. Too bad Hillary has such difficulty w it & such bad ethics

[Hortensis]

6. The bailout couldn't happen without TARP.

It's that simple. How many hours have you spent on seeking out diversions from the simple truth?

[SunSeeker]

9. ^^^THIS^^^

[Raster]

11. It isn't that simple, and you know it.

As much as Hillarians would like to paint this as "Sanders was against the auto bailout" scenario, that just isn't the case.

[AlbertCat]

21. It's that simple.

Is this kind of dumbing down what passes for pragmatism these days?

[bvar22]

7. They could have said this was, "Just another Clinton LIE."

...but they were being kind.
It IS "Forbes" after all.

[SunSeeker]

10. LA Times: Bernie Sanders was for the auto industry bailout before he was against it

Sanders' campaign pointed out Monday that he had voted in favor of the $14-billion "aid package." The campaign went on to say, "When that bill ran a Senate Republican roadblock, the White House turned to a separate Wall Street bailout fund for loans to the auto industry." (See what they did there? The proposed auto industry measure was an "aid package," which is good, right? The other was a "bailout," which is obviously evil.)

What the campaign failed to mention was that Sanders voted the following month with Republicans in a failed effort to cancel the second half of TARP's funding, which would have stopped the Obama administration from using $350 billion in bailout dollars. That sum had $4 billion earmarked for the auto bailout, but arguably included most of the $80 billion that ultimately was lent to the industry.

So in other words, Sanders was following in the footsteps of Kerry, who famously tried to hold himself out as an opponent of the Iraq War by noting that he'd voted against a bill to fund it -- after previously voting for the measure.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-ol-sanders-auto-bailout-20160307-story.html

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Cheese Sandwich.

[marions ghost]

13. K&R

--very damaging statement of hers...

But that's how they play it--the Clintons go for the throat and other illegal places to achieve the kill.

[LiberalArkie]

15. Hillary was against the auto bailout. But she was for the bank bailout big time.

Hillary voted for the bank bailout even though it included the auto bailout. Bernie was for the auto bailout but against the bank bailout.

[amborin]

16. K&R

[pat_k]

18. And Bernie put out a great ad setting the record straight yesterday. (link)

https://berniesanders.com/radio-ad-sets-record-straight/

[Enthusiast]

20. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

Lies, lies and more lies!