In this week's final presidential debate, Governor Romney and President Obama had another heated exchange about the auto bailout. In response to Romney's attempt to claim credit for the rescue of the automotive industry, President Obama said, "Governor, the people in Detroit don't forget."
The President's right. We don't forget.
Mitt Romney has the nerve to argue that his plan for the industry in his now-famous New York Times op-ed piece, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," was the plan that the Obama administration eventually did: a managed bankruptcy.
But in that 2008 piece, Governor Romney said the money to keep GM and Chrysler alive during bankruptcy should come from the private sector, possibly with the government providing only "guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing." You know what a "guarantee" is? That the government would make good on a loan should the automakers default. But the problem was, no one was loaning!
What kills me about this is that Mitt Romney, a money guy, knows this all too well, but he hopes we won't catch him -- there was no bank willing to help the automakers other than the U.S. government. No private sector entity was lending during the crash. Let me repeat that. No private sector entity would or could step up. None. You can't guarantee a loan that doesn't happen. I knew this. The Bush Administration knew this. President Obama knew this. Everyone knew it! Even this guy.
Bob Lutz, a noted and outspoken Republican, was the vice chairman at General Motors during the auto rescue. He's considered running for office as a conservative Republican. And even he said not that no bank would help.
In February, Lutz told the Detroit Free Press, "The banks were even more broke than we were. Who had the money? Loan guarantees don't do any good if the banks don't have any money."
As Steve Rattner, head of the auto task force said, "not one [would-be lender] had the slightest interest in financing those companies on any terms."
Without financing, the auto companies, their suppliers, and everyone reliant upon that entire industry would have been shut down.
I think you know how I feel about President Obama stepping in to finance the bailout and save the auto industry and more than 1 million jobs.
Mitt Romney knows about bankruptcy. Lord knows he's taken enough companies through it. He knows you need a substantial lender to keep a business going while it restructures. He knows this. But he keeps lying about it. That to me is exhibit A, B and C of why he cannot, must not, be our next president. His lack of integrity, his outright deception, must disqualify him from occupying the office. He will do anything and say anything to win. Anything.
For the sake of the nation, people -- quick! Get thee to an early voting site!
Originally aired on The War Room with Jennifer Granholm. The War Room airs weeknights at 10 p.m. EST on Current TV. Follow Jennifer Granholm on Facebook and Twitter, and The War Room on Facebook and Twitter.