Debate Check: Did Mitt offer guarantees to the auto industry? Of course. Here is proof

Romney’s 2008 NYT op-ed:

"IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed. Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check. . . . . . . But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.    The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk. In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check."  

Editor's note:  The difference between Romney and Obama in this case?  Romney would not have destroyed the pension plans of thousands of police and teacher investors.  Obama's plan did just that.