Of course, the propaganda machine went into full damage control mode this week, asserting that it's entirely possible that this mess won't be a total loss for We the Taxpayers, but I'm not sure anyone who's got a functioning ability to think critically is actually buying it.  So the administration and their willing media puppets readily resorted to an old standby:  Even though there are credible questions into how this whole loan application was handled, and the Department of Energy has some `splaining to do, since the application was first filed on George W. Bush's watch, it's gotta somehow be his fault.

Nice try, y'all; but, as ABC and NPR have noted, the Energy Department's own internal documentation shows that the deal was shelved by Bush's watch, only to be resurrected almost immediately after Obama took office as a major political payback.  And you just know that the RNC is already making hay with it.

And, to be honest with you, the "Blame Bush" mantra was old two years ago.  I mean, for crying out loud, hasn't anyone in Barry's crew heard of, "The Buck Stops Here"?

And this is where Joe "Off Message Man" Biden steps in.

In a radio interview Thursday in Miami on WLRN (in which he's ostensibly promoting Obama's Jobs Initiative), Vice-President Biden said (starting at about the 6:17 point): "Even though 50-some percent of the American people think the economy tanked because of the last administration, that's not relevant.  What's relevant is we're in charge."

Yes, you are.  And as you yourself said, 2012 is going to be a referendum on Obama-Biden and on what y'all have done to this here economy.

Of course, this one-line was picked up by The Ticket, Free Republic, Washington Post, and CBS News (among others).  Yes, Greg Sargent at WaPo did his best to spin the coverage, but the ugly reality is that Obama owns it, and the American voters will be making a choice between what he's offering and what the Republican nominee is offering.

In my opinion, not only should the RNC jump all over this line, but every presidential primary candidate who's actually following Newt's admonishment - to keep the primary focused on what we're going to do to beat Obama instead of beating up on each other - should make this a tag line in at least one attack ad (focused on how badly Barry's screwed it up and why they ought to be the nominee to fix it).

And while I'm thinking about it, that line should also be used in every senate race this coming cycle; at least the races involving anyone benefitting from Harry Reid's Las Vegas fundraiser.  Because if anyone in the U.S. Senate can be definitively identified as owning this mess, it's these sixteen senators.