The National Lying Program

There is a new Ad out from a Romney Super-pac, once again with a perfect example of why we need full disclosure in our political system, so we know who to hold responsible for outright lies and other misconduct.

A recent ad takes President Obama to task for a failed energy project referred to as "Solyndra", the name of a solar energy startup.

Solyndra was given federal loan guarantees in an attempt to boost the nations' output in solar energy. The company failed, costing the US taxpayer millions of dollars.

These are the broad-strokes. The GOP is now trying to blame the Solyndra project on President Obama, and to spin the story as if the company's private investors were somehow an 'Obama favorite' and so got a 'handout'.

Yet in truth, the Solyndra project was started by President Bush, and handed over to President Obama to either kill or move forward. Far from being "rushed through" to benefit "Obama's favorites", the GOP lawmakers were pushing for the deal, along with many others, to move forward more quickly to get stimulus money into the economy.

It's important to note that it wasn't a bad decision by President Bush, although the company did eventually fail due to the 'Great Recession' and subsequent drop in the price of solar photovoltaic cells (PVs) . Bush certainly had the right idea to subsidize US green and alternate energy technologies, this type of investment often returns far more than their cost in direct dollars to the US economy, not to mention as a way to create jobs in a burgeoning indutry and keep the USA conpetitive n the world energy market.

Here are some excerpts from Think Progress' article of September, 2011.

" Bush Administration Advanced Solyndra Loan Guarantee for Two Years, Media Blow the Story"

by Stephen Lacey and Richard Caperton
It’s often claimed that the Solyndra loan guarantee was “rushed through” by the Obama Administration for political reasons. In fact, the Solyndra loan guarantee was a multi-year process that the Bush Administration launched in 2007.
You’d never know from the media coverage that:

1. The Bush team tried to conditionally approve the Solyndra loan just before President Obama took office.
2. The company’s backers included private investors who had diverse political interests.
3. The loan comprises just 1.3% of DOE’s overall loan portfolio. To date, Solyndra is the only loan that’s known to be troubled.

Because one of the Solyndra investors, Argonaut Venture Capital, is funded by George Kaiser — a man who donated money to the Obama campaign — the loan guarantee has been attacked as being political in nature. What critics don’t mention is that one of the earliest and largest investors, Madrone Capital Partners, is funded by the family that started Wal-Mart, the Waltons, who have donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates over the years.


To set the record straight, Climate Progress is publishing this timeline — verified by Department of Energy officials — that shows how the loan guarantee came together under both administrations. In fact, rather than rushing the loan for Solyndra through, the Obama Administration restructured the original Bush-era deal to further protect the taxpayers’ investment:

May 2005: Just as a global silicon shortage begins driving up prices of solar photovoltaics [PV], Solyndra is founded to provide a cost-competitive alternative to silicon-based panels.
July 2005: The Bush Administration signs the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law, creating the 1703 loan guarantee program.
...
December 2006: Solyndra Applies for a Loan Guarantee under the 1703 program.
Late 2007: Loan guarantee program is funded. Solyndra was one of 16 clean-tech companies deemed ready to move forward in the due diligence process. The Bush Administration DOE moves forward to develop a conditional commitment.
October 2008: Then Solyndra CEO Chris Gronet touted reasons for building in Silicon Valley and noted that the “company’s second factory also will be built in Fremont, since a Department of Energy loan guarantee mandates a U.S. location.”
...
January 2009: In an effort to show it has done something to support renewable energy, the Bush Administration tries to take Solyndra before a DOE credit review committee before President Obama is inaugurated...

         March 2009: The credit committee approves the strengthened
          loan application...(with more consumer protections)

June 2009: As more silicon production facilities come online while demand for PV wavers due to the economic slowdown, silicon prices start to drop.Between June of 2009 and August of 2011, PV prices drop more than 50%...

...

November 2010: Solyndra closes an older manufacturing facility and concentrates operations at Fab 2, the plant funded by the $535 million loan guarantee. The Fab 2 plant is completed that same month — on time and on budget — employing around 3,000 construction workers during the build-out, just as the DOE projected.
...
March 2011: Republican Representatives complain that DOE funds are not being spent quickly enough.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI): “despite the Administration’s urgency and haste to pass the bill [the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] … billions of dollars have yet to be spent.”
And House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL): “The whole point of the Democrat’s stimulus bill was to spend billions of dollars … most of the money still hasn’t been spent.”

June 2011: ...Solyndra says it has cut costs by 50%, but analysts worry how the company will compete with the dramatic changes in conventional PV.
August 2011: DOE refuses to restructure the loan a second time.

September 2011: Solyndra closes its manufacturing facility, lays off 1,100 workers and files for bankruptcy. The news is touted as a failure of the Obama Administration and the loan guarantee office. However, as of September 12, the DOE loan programs office closed or issued conditional commitments of $37.8 billion to projects around the country. The $535 million loan is only 1.3% of DOE’s loan portfolio. To date, Solyndra is the only loan that’s known to be troubled.
Meanwhile, after complaining about stimulus funds moving too slowly, Congressmen Fred Upton and Cliff Stearns are now claiming that the Administration was pushing funds out the door too quickly: “In the rush to get stimulus cash out the door, despite repeated claims by the Administration to the contrary, some bets were bad from the beginning.”

What critics fail to mention is that the Solyndra deal is more than tfour years old, started under the Bush Administration, which tried to conditionally approve the loan right before Obama took office. Rather than “pushing funds out the door too quickly,” the Obama Administration restructured the original loan when it came into office to further protect the taxpayers’ investment.
Stephen Lacey is a reporter/blogger with Climate Progress and Richard Caperton is a senior policy analyst with the energy team at the Center for American Progress.
 cent ad takes President Ob


Along with 'Obama is a socialist', "Obama raised taxes", "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama's failed economy" and  "Obama is hindering eneergy production", the Solyndra story is a complete fabrication, which, just like those other claims, runs contrary to the actual facts.

It is a highly partisan, unabashed, unbridled batch of GOP Poppycock.

It is also another fine example of how Super-pacs can spread misinformation to our society to prevent people from knowing all the facts prior to voting, without having to tell us who is responsible for spreading this horse manure all over our country.

Super-Pacs might as well be labeled a well-funded "National Lying Program", it would be much more accurate title.

Stop the NLP!!  Speak Truth to Power every chance you get.