Clinton is right on auto bailout. If everyone had voted like Sanders, auto industry would have colla

[radical noodle]

7. Speaking of pesky facts

Bernie was for the auto bailout before he was against it

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-ol-sanders-auto-bailout-20160307-story.html

You could argue that the effort to slash funding for TARP in January 2009 was really just a protest vote against the design of the program, as other Democrats have said. And admittedly, TARP evolved over the months as federal officials moved away from the original idea of buying up bad bank assets and found more efficient, less costly ways to shore up the financial industry and ease the credit crunch.

But again, protest votes are easy. Coming up with workable policy is hard, and Congress didn't have the luxury of time in those days. Perhaps Sanders has forgotten how dire things were after Lehman Bros. failed and AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all cratered. The economy was sinking fast, dragged down by a financial sector that had lost its ability to price risk and lend money.

Candidates often get torn apart in campaigns for supporting this or that compromise, as their opponents invariably focus on the less savory elements of the package and ignore the overarching reasons to vote for the thing. Here, Clinton is blasting Sanders for the opposite reason: He opposed a compromise that included something widely viewed by Democrats as a good idea (the auto bailout) because other elements of the package were less savory to his anti-Wall Street worldview.

That was his choice. He can say he was for the auto bailout at one point, but that was before he was against it.