Obama’s car czar: ‘We never said taxpayers would get auto bailout money back’

posted at 1:41 pm on December 14, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Obama ]   

File this gem under “Promises, promises.”

Weasel Zippers offers an eye-opening then-and-now media pair that the Obama administration is going to have a difficult time explaining away. First is a quote from an article at ABC News dated July 30, in which the president and his minions touted the success of the auto industry bailout, assuring skeptics that the taxpayers would be reimbursed:

Obama said Thursday that the government will recover all of the taxpayer money used in the auto industry bailout last year and held it up as an example of ‘a good story’ in his administration’s economic efforts.

The White House said today that that pledge covers the money that the Obama administration put toward the auto industry, not the $25 billion spent under the Bush Administration in late 2008.

‘The money that this administration invested, about $60 billion, we believe we’re on the path to recouping all of that,’ [then-Press Secretary Robert] Gibbs said.

Fast forward to this morning and an appearance by Obama car czar Steven Rattner on CNBC (video here), where he was asked, “Do you think that the taxpayer is ultimately going to get paid back?” Rattner’s response: “No, but we never said the taxpayer was going to get paid back.”

Meantime, there goes another $60 billion of your hard-earned money down the crapper. Four more years, anyone?

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