Obama Reflects Sunshine Back Into Romney's Eyes

I wonder if Mitt wore sunglasses when he was dressing up as a state trooper (although the sun seems to have gotten in the Globe's eyes on that story).

"Romney visits Solyndra to attack Obama" June 01, 2012

FREMONT, Calif. - Mitt Romney offered no proof of conflict of interest during the visit, which was shrouded in a highly unusual amount of secrecy. His aides said the campaign feared Obama supporters would interfere with the appearance.  

The way your guys did with his?

At roughly the same time across the country in Boston, President Obama’s campaign staged its own event outside the State House to argue that Romney’s record as governor from 2003 to 2007 proves he is ill-prepared to manage the nation’s economy. That event was greeted by heckling Romney supporters, many shouting “Solyndra, Solyndra.’’

Solyndra has emerged as a vulnerability for Obama because the company received $535 million in loan guarantees from Obama’s Energy Department in 2009 only to go bankrupt two years later, sparking an ongoing investigation. The loan guarantee program, designed to spur alternative energy projects, was created during George W. Bush’s administration.

Related: Solar Stimuloot Went to Goldman Sachs 

Somehow the money always ends up down there.

Republicans have been assailing Obama on Solyndra for months, partly by pointing to the connection between Obama fund-raisers and the company while arguing that the president used government policies to benefit campaign supporters.

Steve Spinner, a former Energy Department official, raised at least $500,000 for Obama’s campaign. E-mails released earlier by congressional investigators show that Spinner was actively involved in the Solyndra loan despite pledging to step aside because his wife’s law firm represented the company.

See: Obama's Ro$e-Colored $ungla$$e$

Romney suggested a political payoff, saying: “Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends.’’

The administration says the loan was awarded on the merits and that GOP efforts have failed to turn up a “smoking gun.’’

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"Romney’s solar slam at Obama backfires, June 05, 2012

A Lowell-based solar technology company that received $1.5 million in state loans when Mitt Romney was governor has filed for bankruptcy, opening the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to charges of hypocrisy.  

Guy is literally full off it.

Konarka Technologies disclosed Friday that it had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and would fire its 80-member staff and liquidate its assets.

Romney has chided President Obama for investing $535 million in a different solar company that failed, and has insisted governments should not pick winners and losers in the private sector. He held a press conference at the Fremont, Calif., headquarters of that company, Solyndra, last Thursday, saying, “Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends.’’

In January 2003, shortly after taking office in Massachusetts, Romney held press conference - at Konarka, where he announced a plan to loan $24 million from the state’s renewable energy trust fund to startups with the potential to create jobs.

“The trust fund has been growing for years,’’ Romney said at the time, “and I believe now is the time to refocus its assets in such a manner that it can become a major economic springboard for the Commonwealth by focusing on job creation in the renewable energy sector.’’

The Obama campaign quickly pounced on the news of Konarka’s bankruptcy.

“Every day we see a new example of Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy,’’ Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Saturday. “Just one day after he pulled a political stunt outside Solyndra, we learned even more about his record of picking winners and losers in Massachusetts when one of the companies he gave a loan to went bankrupt.’’

On the day of Romney’s visit to Solyndra, Smith defended the president, saying “both Republican and Democratic administrations advanced Solyndra’s application, and the company was widely praised as successful and innovative both before and after receiving the Department of Energy loan guarantee.’’

She could have been describing Konarka. With a Nobel laureate cofounder and promising business plan, Konarka raised more than $170 million in private capital investments and $20 million in government grants, according to its website.

Under the Bush administration, Konarka received a $1.6 million Army contract in 2005 and a $3.6 million award from the Department of Energy in 2007. Under the Obama administration, Konarka was one of 183 clean-energy companies that got a total of $2.3 billion in tax credits as part of the 2009 stimulus.

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I'm sorry, readers; however, I no longer have any energy for the campaign.