Cheney: It's "Herbert Hoover" Time

Politico reports on Dick Cheney's private meeting with Republican Senators, at which he tried and failed to win their support for an auto bailout:

Senate Republicans' dramatic revolt against a White House-backed auto industry rescue plan is fraught with political risk.

While the high-stakes gambit places them squarely within the mainstream of anti-bailout public sentiment, at the same time it exposes the party to potentially devastating criticism that its failure to compromise doomed the Big Three automakers and deepened the economic recession.

...

That was the message Vice President Dick Cheney brought to a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Wednesday, reportedly warning that it'll be "Herbert Hoover" time if aid to the industry was rejected, according to a senator familiar with the remarks. A Cheney spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the vice president's remarks.

In their piece on the meeting, McClatchy reported that Cheney received a "barrage of criticism" from his fellow Republicans rather than the agreement he desired.

Read more about the auto bailout on the HuffPost Big News Page.

Comments

[NextYearLions]

It must be a cold day in hell if Cheney has that little clout among his fellow GOP members.

[abigail1]

Use the TARP money to make the loan.

[Chapmanp2]

Totally agree...
Congress can simply block any further disbursement of TARP funds until there is an agreement to allow a portion of those funds to be used for an Auto loan. Let's be clear. We ARE talking about a loan (as opposed to the no strings attached bail out just administered to the financial sector).