January 11, 2013

ICYMI: Calling an idiot an idiot (The News Star)

Monroe News Star
Calling an idiot an idiot
11:53 PM, Jan 10, 2013 
 
It's pretty rare that regular citizens would want to jump up and do a chest bump or a high five with a politician, but we kinda had that feeling this week.

Congress was considering legislation to set aside $9.7 billion to pay flood insurance claims related to Superstorm Sandy, which struck the Northeast in October. The measure was approved and President Barack Obama signed it into law Sunday.

The House is to consider legislation Jan. 15 to provide an additional $50.3 billion in aid. Last week's debate came after a push by New York and New Jersey lawmakers angry over a delay in a vote on the aid package.

During the debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Congress was there within days with federal aid in 2005 to help victims of Katrina in Mississippi and Alabama and "especially Louisiana."

We beg to differ, but hey? It's easy to forget all about a complete implosion of the federal aid system that resulted in chaos in New Orleans, dismantling the leadership of FEMA and bringing in Gen. Russell Honore to straighten things out.

"We are now past two months with the people of New York. And the people of New Orleans and that area, they were hurt, but nothing in comparison to the people in New England," Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said.

Reid obviously hasn't toured the Gulf Coast lately. Seven years later, he'd still find people who are hurting from Hurricane Katrina.

So when Sen. David Vitter, R-La., stood up and spoke out on our behalf, we wished we had been there to give him a standing ovation.

"Sadly, Harry Reid has again revealed himself to be an idiot, this time gravely insulting Gulf Coast residents," Vitter said. "Both Katrina and Sandy were horribly destructive storms that caused real human misery. And by most any measure, Katrina was our worst natural disaster in history."

Hurricane Katrina caused the deaths of 1,833 people and more than $125 billion in damage, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It also displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, some of whom never returned.

Superstorm Sandy is blamed for more than 100 deaths and the loss of thousands of homes and businesses.

Reid took a play out of the Bill Clinton playbook (recall, if you will, the debate on the meaning of the word "is"), and said he "simply misspoke."

It would have been much easier to stomach had Reid proclaimed himself to be a victim of amnesia in 2005. We'd have known he was lying, but saying you "misspoke" in your comments about Hurricane Katrina victims and then trying to backtrack is a pitifully weak cover for a lie.

Applause, chest bumps and high fives to Vitter for speaking up and calling Reid out.

"Idiot," we think, might be too kind a term.

-30-