Just two days after Mitt Romney ran an op-ed in a Detroit newspaper arguing that President Obama's rescue of the auto industry was done all wrong and that Romney, as a business expert, would have done it in a much better way that economists explain was not possible, General Motors has reported a record annual profit of $7.6 billion. That's good news for the economy and good news for workers, whose profit-sharing checks will be up to $7,000. It's not as good for Romney.
The only worse timing for Romney regarding GM's record profits announcement would be if it were the day before the MI primary
— @chucktodd via TweetDeck
Yes, record profits do sort of step on Romney's "the auto industry would be doing better if I had been in charge" message. But Romney did have some good news in Michigan Thursday morning, with the state's governor, Rick Snyder,
endorsing him. Back in
November, Jeff Zeleny wrote that Snyder "has said that government invention helped save Chrysler and General Motors—and he warned GOP presidential candidates against criticizing the bailout." That may be why, in a 600-word endorsement, Snyder's only mention of the auto industry is that, because George Romney was president of American Motors and governor of Michigan, "Mitt grew up with the prospects of the auto industry and of Michigan discussed around the dinner table."
Imagine that. Mitt Romney grew up with the prospects of the auto industry discussed around the dinner table, and he's still getting it staggeringly wrong. It's going to be fun watching him try to spin GM's record profit in the immediate wake of his insistence that he would have done better.
