Tea Party Talking Point Fail

The St. Louis tea party is amazingly still railing on the automobile industry bailout that prevented the collapse of the U.S. automobile industry. In fact, they and their de facto leader Ed Martin keep absurdly blaming Congressman Carnahan for the fact that the Fenton Chrysler plant closed even after the bailout money was provided. Not only is it ridiculous to believe that Carnahan had the power to prevent that from happening, but it is especially ironic that the tea party thinks that one particular Congressman should be dictating to a company exactly how its funds will be used when they spend the rest of their time saying that the government should get out of the way of businesses. Here's what tea partier Darin Morley said on Gateway Pundit's blog yesterday:

In 2008 many American financial institutions were insolvent. Russ Carnahan voted to bailout these banks even though they were no longer economically viable. GM and Chrysler were on the verge on bankruptcy. Russ Carnahan voted to bail them out, too, even though they were no longer economically viable.

In what can only be described as crushingly disappointing to Morley, Martin, and the rest of the tea party, the auto bailout actually has been effective at saving American jobs and spurring investment. GM has repaid $8.1 billion in government loans with interest ahead of schedule and is investing $257 million dollars in two plants, one of which is in Kansas City, Kansas. Chrysler is investing $600 million in a plant in Illinois. These investments, of course, bring new, good jobs to Americans and will help keep us competitive.

So sorry to disappoint Ed Martin and the tea party, but it looks like the auto bailouts are helping to improve the economy.