Ann Romney struck back at former President Bill Clinton's contention that George Romney must be "turning over in his grave" over Mitt Romney's opposition to the auto bailout.
In an interview Friday on "Fox & Friends," the GOP presidential candidate's wife was asked about Clinton's comments.
"Mitt's father would be cheering and would be with Mitt a hundred percent," she said. "Because, you know, what Mitt suggested was finally what happened is that they went through a structured bankruptcy -- it's exactly what ended up happening. Mitt just said to do that before they already spent $17 billion." She continued, "So no, Mitt's father would be cheering, cheering with Mitt."
Clinton said Thursday, "Every time I hear Mr. Romney talking about this, I think his daddy must be turning over in his grave," according to the Detroit News. "We could not afford to lose a million and a half to 2 million jobs." Romney's father, George Romney, headed the American Motors Corporation and subsequently served for three terms as governor of Michigan.
Prior to winning the Michigan primary, Romney defended his opposition to the auto bailout, arguing that the companies should have gone bankrupt. "No way would we allow the auto industry to totally implode and disappear," he said. "It would go through bankruptcy."
In 2008, Romney wrote an op-ed for the New York Times entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." "If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye," he wrote. "It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed."
General Motors and Chrysler did eventually go through managed bankruptcy. However, many feel that that process would not have been possible without billions of dollars in financing authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations, since credit markets had frozen up following the financial crisis. The auto industry has largely recovered following the bailout.