A bit of a harsh headline. They're only starting with luxury cars because they have to. In fact their m.o. is rather Robin Hoodlike: to use the money of rich sports car buyers to fund the development of technology that can then be used in cheaper cars. Which is what the internal combustion car industry did too.

At this point, it would be irresponsible for Tesla, as a company, NOT to ask for money from the government.

Hey, everyone else is (hypothetically) getting some, why not jump on the gravy train? At least they have the alternative energy thing going for them.

Whether the government should give them money or not is a different discussion entirely (and strangely affected by the simple choice of words between "research" and "bailout"), but I see absolutely nothing outrageous about Tesla asking.

Right on. This reminds me of how TJ Rodgers, of Cypress Semiconductors, defended his lobbying by quoting Milton Friedman; "It's OK to play by the rules of a game, even if you disagree with them."

This makes sense to me. Detroit has failed and there is no data that shows they can innovate.

America doesn't need to bail out the big three, it needs to ensure that the next generation of automobiles are built here and competitive in the global market.

I see no reason why the government should not consider investing the entire industry as opposed to 3 failed companies.

Cars used to be luxury items. If they were to receive money, I doubt the rationale would be to make more $100,000 sports cars.

unless they can promise a 20-25K car for that investment, the gov't should tell them to take a hike

If you disapprove of what the government is doing, go vote and tell the government to take a hike.