edthecynic
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- Oct 20, 2008
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Oh come on, even the Bush White House supported the GM closing of the Janesville plant during his term!!!Apparently the government under President George Bush was not there to support them huh? In reality it was because they made gas guzzling SUV at that plant. GM management is to blame. Not Bush, not Obama. But fact of the matter is the plant closed before he took office.
When the plant closed had nothing to do with what Obama said. Also, the plant closed in April of 2009. Was Obama in office yet?
Here is how it really went down:
Fact-Checkers Wrong on Ryan GM Claim
Alana Goodman | @alanagoodman 08.30.2012 - 11:50 AM
The Associated Press and other fact-checkers are insisting that the line about the Janesville GM factory in Paul Ryans speech last night was inaccurate and once again, the fact-checkers are wrong. Heres the APs allegation against Ryan:
RYAN: Said Obama misled people in Ryans hometown of Janesville, Wis., by making them think a General Motors plant there threatened with closure could be saved. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: I believe that if our government is there to support you this plant will be here for another hundred years. Thats what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didnt last another year.
THE FACTS: The plant halted production in December 2008, weeks before Obama took office and well before he enacted a more robust auto industry bailout that rescued GM and Chrysler and allowed the majority of their plants though not the Janesville facility to stay in operation. Ryan himself voted for an auto bailout under President George W. Bush that was designed to help GM, but he was a vocal critic of the one pushed through by Obama that has been widely credited with revitalizing both GM and Chrysler.
The AP might want to check back on its own reporting on the plant closure, starting with this article from April 19, 2009, headlined GM plant in Janesville to close for good this week:
Production at the General Motors plant in Janesville is scheduled to end for good this week.
GM spokesman Christopher Lee says operations at the southern Wisconsin plant will cease Thursday.
About 1,200 employees were let go just before Christmas when GM ended SUV production at the plant.
Some 100 workers were retained to finish an order of small- to medium-duty trucks for Isuzu Motors Ltd.
Lee says most of those workers will be laid off Thursday. He says others will be kept on to help guide the plants shutdown.
The Janesville plant ended its SUV production line and laid off over 1,000 workers in December 2008, but the plant didnt officially close. It continued to churn out an order of Isuzu trucks until April 2009, while the local union lobbied GM for a lifeline. In May, GM put the plant onto standby, meaning that it wasnt completely shutting the door on it. There was some hope the plant would be able to resume production and Wisconsins bipartisan congressional delegation, including Paul Ryan, scrambled to find a way to keep it alive but it never happened.
To simply say that the plant halted production in December 2008, like AP does, is both inaccurate and misleading. It was more complicated than that. If the media wants to criticize Ryan for not being nuanced enough and failing to praise Obama for brilliantly saving GM, thats fine. But Ryans comments werent inaccurate.
Fact-Checkers Wrong on Ryan GM Claim « Commentary Magazine
GM slashes truck, SUV production over gasoline prices
GM slashes truck, SUV production over gasoline prices
05/06/2008 - General Motors predicted Tuesday the end of the era of gasoline guzzlers as it announced plans to close four North American truck and sport utility vehicle plants and ramp up production of new fuel-efficient vehicles.
snip/
The White House called the announcement a sign that the auto giant was "adapting well" to market shifts.
"It's a sign that Detroit continues to adapt and evolve and address the change in consumer tastes and attitudes. And I think that they're adapting well," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
snip/
GM plans to shutter production at its Toluca, Mexico, pickup truck at the end of the year and its Oshawa, Canada, plant will be closed in 2009. Plants in Moraine, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisconsin, are slated for closure in 2010 "or sooner if market demand dictates," GM said.