McCain's new support for auto loans?
Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 7:23 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The McCain campaign held a conference call this afternoon with two Republican members of Congress from this battleground state, both of whom commended the GOP nominee for his statement this morning -- which they asserted was an announcement of support for $25 billion in government loans to the auto industry.
While visiting a GM plant in Orion this morning, McCain pledged his support for the auto industry, including the need for new innovation in automobile design and loans for new factories.
“I’m here to send a message to Washington and to Wall Street,” McCain said. “We’re not going to leave the workers here in Michigan hung out to dry while we give billions in taxpayers’ dollars to Wall Street. We’re going to take care of the workers. The workers, they’re the ones that deserve our help. It’s time to get our auto industry back on its feet. And it’s time for a new generation of cars and for loans to build the facilities to make them.”
But McCain had previously expressed skepticism about the necessity for the current automotive industry loan proposal circulating in Congress when he was asked about it at his last press conference with national media on August 13 in Birmingham, MI.
“I worry a little bit about us predicting failure on the part of the auto makers when they are striving mightily,” McCain said then, adding later that “at the moment for us to somehow predict doom of auto industry in America, certainly the Big Three, I think is frankly not timely at this time, and I don’t want it to be a self-fulfilling promise.”
Although he did not specifically express his support for the loan proposal while in Orion this morning, GOP Reps. Candice Miller and Pete Hoekstra both voiced their optimism that McCain’s strong language would lead to his support.
“The comments that Sen. McCain made today, I think, have been his strongest statement to date,” Miller said. During a time when many Republican elected officials remain undecided on the issue of loans to the auto industry, “his statement was absolutely critical,” Miller said, adding: “It solidifies what we have all been saying as members of the delegation, as well as what the CEOs have been saying … and it really is pivotal in making a reality these $25 billion in auto loans, which we absolutely must do to save the auto industry.”
But the Obama campaign pounced on what it saw as McCain's new-found support for the loans. "When you take a look under the hood of the 'All Talk Express' you get a pretty good idea of how much a McCain presidency would cost Michigan,” said Obama spokesman Brent Colburn. “John McCain voted against the retooling loans for our automakers, against tax incentives for hybrid vehicles, and with George Bush 90% of the time while we lost jobs and our economy suffered... Saying one thing and doing another might make sense after 26 years in Washington, but in Michigan actions speak louder than words, and based on his record, we simply can't afford John McCain."
When asked on the conference call by Gordon Trowbridge of the Detroit News (who also asked McCain about this issue last month) whether Hoekstra or Miller felt that the Obama campaign was correct in calling McCain a latecomer to this issue, both seemed to avoid directly answering the question.
“I want to be very careful because we are trying to approach this in a bipartisan way. And I don’t think it’s helpful for the Obama campaign to be making those kinds of comments when we are literally right on the tip of making this thing, of making sure that it actually becomes a reality,” Miller said.
“We’ve tried to do everything that we can as a delegation to not make this a partisan issue,” Hoekstra said, agreeing with his colleague. “If it’s gets to be a partisan issue, there is no way that it will get done in the next week and half, and it’s too important to this state for this to get boiled down into presidential politics. Sen. McCain made a clear statement, not a partisan statement that he’s in favor of this.”
Yet even in his statement -- which is arguably “clear” in its support for the proposed auto loans -- McCain was certainly NOT non-partisan. After announcing his support for “loans” for auto companies to build new factories, McCain quickly launched into an attack on his opponent.
“We’re gonna fight the greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street, and we’re gonna create prosperity for our people. And now’s the time to grow the economy and my plan does that. Sen. Obama’s does not,” McCain said. “He has said in recent days that he may delay his economic plan because of the adverse impact of his tax increase. Even Sen. Obama admits that the agenda he’s been pushing would hurt our economy, not help it. That’s exactly the wrong approach. I’m going to create jobs and get our economy back on its feet.”
