March 23, 2012 01:29 AM UTC

In Case You Had Any Doubt

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• by: Colorado Pols

Huffington Post reports, H/T to our reader:

After months of investigations into Solyndra and other Department of Energy loans failed to produce a smoking gun, one Republican lawmaker let slip why House Republicans have kept up the charge.

In an interview following yet another hearing in which Energy Secretary Steven Chu testified about the Department’s loan guarantee program, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) appeared to admit that Republicans’ ongoing probes of the program — from which the bankrupt California-based solar company Solyndra and others benefited — are largely a play to win votes in November.

“Our staff will continue to dig into it and see,” Jordan told Environment & Energy Daily. “But what I hope happens is we stop doing these kind of things … this whole cronyism approach to the marketplace.

“Ultimately, we’ll stop it on Election Day, hopefully. [Pols emphasis] And bringing attention to these things helps the voters and citizens of the country make the kind of decision that I hope helps them as they evaluate who they are going to vote for in November.”

Mayday, mayday!

“We’re just saying this is our purpose and voters see it,” [Jordan’s press secretary, Meghan Snyder] added. “Maybe they’ll put an end to it on Election Day. But to say that elections drive the Oversight Committee, we believe is incorrect. It’s the purpose of the Oversight Committee to conduct these investigations.”

Unfortunately, this is one of those statements where the obvious double meaning, even if unintended, makes it all the more memorable. The presumption, or at least very strong suspicion, that Republicans are “pursuing” investigations of the Energy Department’s renewable energy loan guarantee program–as opposed to, say, any number of unaccountable Defense Department money pits–for wholly political reasons is out there without anybody’s help.

We get what he was trying to say, but it’s damningly plausible the way he didn’t mean it.