Solyndra CEO in 2009: We're getting help from ... the "Bank of Washington"

Yes, really.

Anyone else need a loan from a bank that’s $15 trillion in the hole?

You’ll be pleased to know that this sentiment was reciprocated inside the White House, anticipating The One’s “you didn’t build that” messaging moment of glory:

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White House Aide Aditya Kumar in an e-mail to deputy White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and other White House staffers:

“Dan: Some background. This is a Recovery Act Grant. Details: Will be first DoE Loan Guarantee since 1980s (since the geothermal grants in the 80s, I believe). Total amount will be $535M (with a $107M govt subsidy). This is a solar panel manufacturing company in Fremont, CA.

Story is two things: JOBS: Solyndra estimates this will create thousands of jobs (over 3,000K was on estimate I saw but not sure how dated that was);

When Government Plays a Part, It can Bring the Private Sector Along: Solyndra has secured over large amounts in private capital which is a story in itself.”

Remember, the big irony of Solyndra’s collapse was that it wasn’t just any green-energy project. It was a flagship of what Jim DeMint famously described as Obama’s “venture socialism” approach to green businesses. O himself famously visited the plant and Biden recorded a video address for the groundbreaking of the new plant. The significance of this e-mail is how even White House aides were treating it as a model that would hopefully justify further expanding federal largesse to favored companies. Government in the lead, the private sector being “brought along.” That’s a nifty, efficient description of Obamanomics. With predictable results.

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Ed posted this morning on the WaPo story about alarm bells ringing at OMB — and being ignored by the Energy Department — over the Solyndra restructuring, so read that if you haven’t yet. One thing he didn’t know yet at the time of that post: There’s also an e-mail in the new batch in which the same aide responsible for the excerpt above wrote, “Feels like Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns) — POTUS involvement was Rahm’s idea.” That’s not the first time Emanuel’s name has popped up in Solyndra-related e-mails; he’s said that his memory of the project is hazy, but maybe it’s time for a House committee to bring him in and try to jog it, specifically with respect to whether he was in contact with any of the Obama campaign bundlers connected with Solyndra. Let’s find out the full extent of “Chicago values.”

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