“General Motors has announced the largest profits in its history. [Yet] both Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney have stumped across Michigan criticizing the auto bailout, which Romney describes as ‘crony capitalism on a grand scale.’ They are competing to be viewed as the most resolutely anti-bailout. Given the beliefs of Republican primary voters, this is a rational political move. It makes little sense as a national message. Specific bailout policies can be disputed, but one fact cannot: No president—Republican or Democrat—would have allowed the economic collapse of the upper Midwest in the midst of a national economic panic. A conservatism that prefers ideology to reality is not particularly conservative.’’
Michael Gerson in The Washington Post
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