I am almost relieved by this:

The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

More accurately, I am relieved that I can still get angry about this. You never know when you’re going to get suddenly numb about the latest batch of incompetent corruption that this Keystone Krooks of an administration seems to almost delight in.

Short version, for those needing to catch up: …actually, just watch the video again:

Fine, for those without video access:

[The] short version is that the White House deliberately pushed for loans – and let me say the magical words of DOOM, here: “WITHOUT DUE DILLIGENCE” – for a greentech company that they knew was busily going bankrupt. Half a billion bucks down the rathole, paper trail out the front door, and the scalping knives are out.

And let me note in passing – again – that Solyndra found this administration much more amenable to such things than they did the last administration, possibly because George W Bush had the mother-wit to appoint the occasional person who understood basic business concepts. At any rate, this is kind of a big deal; there’s a very unhealthy odor about the situation, with a heavy implication that Solyndra had been pressured to play ball with the administration’s political needs in exchange for more taxpayer bailout money. From the WaPo article:

But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held Nov. 2, and led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“DOE continues to be cooperative and have indicated that they will fund the November draw on our loan (app. $40 million) but have not committed to December yet,” a Solyndra investor adviser wrote Oct. 30. “They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd – oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date.”

Bolding mine – and yeah, the sarcasm kind of gives it away. Turns out that Solyndra was more than happy to oblige its meal ticket; the layoffs were duly delayed until the day after the election. Not that it helped the White House.

Either then, or now.

Moe Lane (crosspost)