Paraphrasing Oklahoma Senators Coburn and Inhofe during discussion of funding disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy: “It’s wasteful pork and we won’t stand for it!”
Senator Coburn after yesterday’s calamitous tornado in Moore, OK: “as the ranking member of Senate committee that oversees FEMA, I can assure Oklahomans that any and all available aid will be delivered without delay.”
Senator Inhofe after the tornado, asked why his position on aid to Oklahoma differs from the one he took on Hurricane Sandy: ““Everyone was getting in and exploiting the tragedy that took place,” he said. “That won’t happen in Oklahoma.” One wonders what the difference in Americans getting aid is: Northeastern liberals who need AMTRAK to function properly, whereas Oklahomans just need their streets cleared?
It won’t and shouldn’t happen, but it would serve these two clowns right if they had to hang and rattle for a while before aid gets delivered.
“Nobody else is going to exploit this tragedy! It’s ALL MINE to exploit!”
Our nation is nuts, no doubt about it now.
There are people claiming the government actually caused the tornadoes on purpose. And now I guess people claiming that the victims of tornado damage are lazy people who feel entitled to live on benefits?
And what does he mean that federal aid to Oklahoma will be “totally different” than the aid that was proposed for New Jersey & New York?
Does he mean it will go to more white people?
Does he mean it won’t be going to those “liberals” in the northeast?
I don’t know if that’s what he’s saying, but that’s kind of what I’m hearing.
And whenever a politician talks about “ending corruption” or “not being like that corruption”, I think what they really mean is they want to stop the other guy from exploiting and corruption – and just do their own exploiting & corruption.
I think let’s face it, in situations like this there’s always going to be some potential for corruption, or monies that are dispersed in ways perhaps that most people would consider questionable. This is the case whether it’s via private charities or government aid. There’s always going to be some unscrupulous actors looking for a piece of the action.
But does that mean we just give up on the whole idea & let people suffer when it’s not necessary?
Sometimes these people sound as if everything is a case where they want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Or possibly just drown the baby in the bathwater.
I think politicians are going to find out that when people really need a bath, they might not be too persnickety about the condition of the bathwater, and they may not want the baby thrown out when it’s their baby.
Inhofe was grumbling about Sandy aid going to people in DC and in the Virgin Islands. He doesn’t understand the geography of hurricanes very well.
Yes I saw that and wondered if he knew the Virgin Islands are a US Territory.