If having ties to Solyndra means you're dirty, then Republicans would do well to remember that the taint falls on both parties.

That is the pushback coming from Democrats this week after Republicans upped the political ante by painting the bankruptcy of the White House-endorsed California solar energy company as a major emerging scandal of the Obama administration.

On Monday, the Republican National Committee released a 15-page report titled "The Solyndra File: Corruption at the Heart of the Failed Obama Economic Strategy."

In it, the RNC discusses the political connections between Solyndra investors and President Obama and seeks to make the loan guarantee program as the face of what Republicans believe was a failed stimulus program. It is a convenient poster child to have as Obama embarks on a cross-country speaking tour to sell his American Jobs Act, a bill that the GOP is writing off as a second stimulus effort.

Solyndra's downfall certainly was not good news politically for Democrats. And the damaging news stories may not be over yet: The Washington Post reported last night that White House officials pushed the Office of Management and Budget to move quickly to approve Solyndra's government loan.

But Democratic officials and operatives seem intent on making two points in the days since a sudden FBI raid on Solyndra's headquarters made the company front page news.

First, Democrats point out that the Department of Energy loan guarantee program to fund renewable energy projects -- through which Solyndra received $535 million in loan guarantees -- was created by Republican President George W. Bush. And second, while the company had financial connections to major Democratic donors, Solyndra had high-profile Republican investors, too.

"The attempt to politicize it towards one administration or the other is fruitless," said Rep. Dianna DeGette (D-Colo.) in an interview yesterday.

DeGette is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee panel that for six months has been looking into whether the Solyndra loan was properly vetted before it was approved. The panel is meeting again this morning for its first hearing since the company went under.

"The U.S. effort to support domestic development of solar technology started way back in 2005 and this loan guarantee program obviously continued under the Obama administration," she said.

And while the news media have been quick to point out that Obama and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu made high-profile visits to Solyndra after the loan was approved, Democratic strategists retort that former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was also among the company's many big-name guests.

Even before the bankruptcy announcement, Republicans made much of the Solyndra's connection to George Kaiser, an Obama bundler and frequent White House visitor who is involved in Argonaut Ventures, one of the company's investors.

Kaiser's Oklahoma-based charity released a statement after the news of Solyndra's bankruptcy broke that he did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.

But DeGette pointed out that Solyndra's investor list also includes Madrone Capital Partners, which is an investment company with connections to the Walton family, major Republican donors who also own Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Democratic strategists this week also shopped around news reports from the San Jose Mercury News that showed that the man at the center of the Solyndra scandal, company CEO Brian Harrison, is a registered Republican.

"Development of domestic solar energy is not a Democratic or Republican idea and I think it is rather foolish to try to make it into a partisan issue," DeGette said.

In an interview this week, White House spokesman Eric Schultz also pointed out the Bush administration's connection to the DOE loan program while arguing that one bad deal should not be used as a reason to stop funding for renewable energy projects.

"This loan guarantee was pursued by both the Bush and Obama administrations," Schultz said.

"The Department of Energy's overall portfolio of investments -- which includes dozens of other companies -- continues to perform well, and is on pace to create thousands of jobs. While we are disappointed by this particular outcome, we continue to believe the clean energy jobs race is one that America can, must and will win. The question we, as a country, have to ask ourselves is: Are the jobs of the future going to be created here in the United States or elsewhere?"

But on Tuesday the Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who is leading the congressional investigation into Solyndra, used the company's bankruptcy to call for an end to federal funding in the hope of spurring the green energy industry.

"I think this whole idea that the president is going to create jobs in America from this green technology is suspect," Stearns said.

But in an op-ed appearing today in USA Today, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman defended the DOE loans and said the future growth of the clean energy sector will lead to the creation of many jobs. He called Solyndra's collapse a "perfect storm" of market factors and company mismanagement.

DeGette said it is far too soon to shut down the DOE loan guarantee program.

"I want to find out, number one, how viable were these loans at the beginning? And, number two, what happened with the market forces to cause the bottom to fall out?" DeGette said. "The lesson we all need to know is, what can the government do to appropriately support development of domestic renewable energy?"

Other Democratic leaders were quick to pan the RNC's attempt to make Solyndra the face of the stimulus effort.

"Solyndra is unfortunate. Did it not work? It didn't work apparently. But that's not the face of the Recovery Act," said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in an interview.

"The face of the stimulus is that the economy was growing during its duration. We created 2 million jobs over 20 months during its duration. The stock market had appreciated in value almost 100 percent during its duration. That's the face of the Recovery Act."