Thursday, November 01, 2012

Does a political superstorm, spun by right wing extremists, forecast the future ... by gimleteye

Regarding Superstorm Sandy, Florida voters know that, but for the grace of God, there we would be.

The images of NJ governor Chris Christie and President Obama working together is ironic, given that Christie had been walking point in the effort to diminish the president's chances of re-election. Interesting how the rhetoric quickly vanished in the aftermath of wind, waves, and flooding.

So here is Mitt Romney on FEMA; the federal relief agency that is now proving a backstop to the president's promise to NJ and NY and the region devastated by the superstorm: "we will be there for you." Here is what Romney would say, based on his past statements: "we will not be there for you."

At a CNN debate in June, 2011, moderator John King engaged Mitt Romney on the FEMA question. Romney answered King clearly and forcefully, but not in a way that Floridians should find acceptable:

KING: ... I was just in Joplin, Missouri. I’ve been in Mississippi and Louisiana and Tennessee and other communities dealing with whether it’s the tornadoes, the flooding, and worse. FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we’re learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role. How do you deal with something like that?

ROMNEY: Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut—we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we’re doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do? And those things we’ve got to stop doing, because we’re borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we’re taking in. We cannot…

KING: Including disaster relief, though?

ROMNEY: We cannot—we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.


That was Romney, then. How often has Fox News played that clip, lately? Nada. Today Romney is "rowing away" from what he said as fast as he can. In the last days of the campaign he has taken a "softer tone". Make no mistake, Florida voters: radical extremists in the GOP are going to run the Romney White House the same way they did in the Bush era. With friends like that, who needs a superstorm?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Obama shows up in Joplin a week after the tornado, shows up on the Gulf coast twelve days after the oil spill.

One day after Sandy he is bringing leadership, is this an election year?

Just asking.

Anonymous said...

Miami, NYC, New Orleans. The three most at risk cities from Climate Change sea level impact. That's not Al Gore talking- that's the assessment from business and instance industry. Check the Corelogic Report. We are going to need those FEMA/National Guard vehicles for mega- rescues. I don't want a Romney world where our community is left to fend for itself in drowning waters.

Anonymous said...

Insurance will pull out of Miami soon, then financing of condo developments, mortagage companies. Then tourists.

Chauncey said...

Why don't you write about Obama's record and plan for the future? Oh that's right ... he has none.

Anonymous said...

For those of you living in south Dade following Andrew, do you remember the dark was falling and all of us were trying to get to a safe place to sleep that night, yet we were blocked in the midst of the devastation because bush decided to do a motorcade tour from cutler ridge to homestead? I remember the frustration and panic to be caught with a car with no windows left, 2 small children and miles of debrie to manueurver through in the failing light.

I believe in some cases air assessments need to be done at the start. One station had reported that the cities in the current situation wanted to do the initial assessment without the aid of outside officials. After Andrew, bush did us a disservice by blocking the victims from safe exit from our homes. Because of his publicity tour, we all were caught in a curfew that required us to stop and prove that we had the right to leave or enter
the area....

Anonymous said...

Correction. Clinton showed up as well. Bush couldn't give us help until our democratic governor would request. Thus, for five days, we carried guns and defended ourselves until Chiles conceded, Bush called in the Calvary in and order was restored in hours! Nothing better than a squad of armed soldiers to get your attention and safety has returned. That was pure politics my friend!
So what you have said is incorrect.
I remember Clinton's motorcade. I had to run three blocks to clear myself as I was carrying a glock on my belt and didn't want to appear threatening to a candidate.
Chile's, a democrat, put us in harms way until Kate Hale said " where the Hell is the Calvary".
We were saved by Bush!

Anonymous said...

it's true ...it was Clinton, because I saw him with my own two eyes. Can't believe Andrew was also blamed on Bush!! Geeeeze!!