Santorum clarifies Katrina criticism in TV appearances

[sabra]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05249/566686.stm

Santorum clarifies Katrina criticism in TV appearances
Denies insensitivity to plight of poor in path of hurricane

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said in a weekend interview that people who do not heed evacuation warnings in the future may need to be penalized, but clarified his remarks this evening, saying he did not mean people who lack cars or other resources.

His remarks were sharply criticized by the campaign of Democrat Bob Casey Jr., who is seeking to unseat Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate.

"At face value (Santorum's comments) show an incredible amount of insensitivity to the Gulf Coast," said Jay Reiff, Casey's campaign manager. "What exactly does Senator Santorum mean by imposing penalties on people who often times had no transportation and no place to go?"

...

This evening on WTAE, Santorum clarified his comments.

"Obviously most of the people here in this case, an overwhelming majority of people just literally couldn't have gotten out on their own," he said. "Many didn't have cars ... And that really was a failure on the part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people out."

[Connie_Corleone]

1. Why don't he just shut the hell up from now on??

[Skip Intro]

6. Oh, let him talk.

Let him talk...

[kcass1954]

9. Let him talk... until November of next year! n/t

[Old Vet]

2. Slams local officals, Another words its the democrats fault.

[saigon68]

11. ROVE is also controlling little Ricky

They are desperately trying to shift the focus away from THE AWOL BRAINDEAD CHIMPANZEE

FAUX tried at first by painting the few that couldn't get out as

LAZY, DIRTY UNKEMPT THIEVING "NEGROES"

When that didn't work. they started to blame the mayor, the governor etc.

Now its back to "those negroes"

[blue neen]

3. "a failure on the part of LOCAL officials"

He just can't resist being a whore for Bush. He's entirely too predictable.

Ricky, Ricky, there's absolutely nothing you can do to save your ass in Pennsylvania. You really ought to try to save what pretends to be your soul.

[Trillo]

4. More ... shifting of blame away from the top. nt

[Old and In the Way]

5. So I guess we'll need a new Federal Bureaucracy that can

evaluate the decisions/thinking of everyone who stays behind so we can determine which ones have legitimate reasons and which ones we need to fine.

And being the good christian Republican that he is, I'm sure he'd vote happily to give the people of Democratic New Orleans federal money to upgrade their evacuation systems...retroactively. While he's at it, maybe he can find out why NO never got the $5MM in FEMA funds that they were budgeted for. Republicans have been shorting federal money for years for public works projects...he can glibly blame the local government, but just what tree should they plant to get the money to pay for this transportation?

Moralizing asshole. He ought to run for Pope.

[krkaufman]

7. Most effective summary I've seen came from The Progress Report....

Here's the archive link, with the relevant section included below.

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=917053#3

ADMINISTRATION ACKNOWLEDGED RESPONSIBILITY FOR RELIEF EFFORTS: The White House effort to shift the blame for the response to Katrina contradicts its public statements before the storm hit. An Aug. 27 declaration on the White House website "authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts." The order specifies that "FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." Jane Bullock, former FEMA chief of staff, said, "The moment the president declared a federal disaster, it became a federal responsibility.… The federal government took ownership over the response." This is consistent with the DHS website which states plainly, "In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility ... for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort."

It'll be interesting to see whether the DHS website is "clarified" in the coming weeks.

[Anywho6]

8. A half-ass apology from a big ol' ass n/t

[NYC]

15. I don't even see it as an apology.

It was just blaming local officials, as far as I could tell.

[RageFist]

10. I do agree that there were problems

with the local response, also. I saw a pic of a couple dozen school busses flooded out...it doesn't take the feds to operate school busses. The failure of the Bush administration stems from past and present policies/decisions. Funding of the levees cut, despite warnings it could only withstand a category 3 hurricane. Playing a guitar, eating cake, etc. While the Bush response evokes serious questions, he is not the whole picture of the failure of gov't after Katrina.

[K8-EEE]

13. When The City Was Issuing Desperate SOS's To The Feds....

At that point, the way they ignored it was just pretty much murder, IMO. Who has the resources to help those people -- Bush, high and dry and with the armed forces under his command, or Nagle drowning in NOLA? It just doesn't make any sense to say, "oh they didn't ask in the correct way" or whatever.

It's the Dog Ate My Homework excuse from people who loot the local governments of their resources with ridiculous mandates and then use our Fed taxes for HSD for...WHAT??

[RageFist]

16. Really the only way for the local and state gov'ts

to have dealt with the issue was pre-emptively (the busses did no good flooded out). After the hurricane hit, the buck stops with the feds IMO.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

12. Santorum's heartlessness is a pattern of behavior

Anyone who thinks Santorum's comments are limited to Hurricane Katrina's victims are living in denial.

1) When hundreds of his Pennsylvania constituents were taken ill in the largest Hepatitis A outbreak in decades, he was on TV railing against Gay Rights

2) He ripped off his constituents in Penn Hills by sending his Virginia based children to a Pennsylvania school at Pennsylvania taxpayer expense.

3) He told residents of flood ravaged Carnegie, Etna and Millvale Pennsylvania that the Federal Government is not responsible with providing finacial assistance for them despite the Disaster Relief declaration. "That is what flood insurance is for" is a believe a direct quote.

Never mind putting his foot in his mouth, he is capable of deep-throating an entire leg.

DBDB

[saigon68]

14. Another Evil Bush Bot

He is worth as much as a pile of Dog Shit.

[iamjoy]

17. Other People Have Reasons Too

If you don't mean the poor with no place to go, what about spouses, etc. of medical, public service and emergency workers?

Should they be penalized because they wouldn't leave their loved ones?

OK Mr. Family values. If you want to fine a nurse's wife and a fire fighter's husband, you go right ahead...

[Synnical]

18. And Bab's comments are also being "clarified"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1761352&mesg_id=1761352


WASHINGTON -- Barbara Bush was making "a personal observation" when she said poor people at a relocation center in Houston were faring better than before Hurricane Katrina struck, President Bush's spokesman said Wednesday.

[Synnical]

19. And let's not forget Hastert's "clarification"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1745570&mesg_id=1745570

[steely]

20. Santorum is a grade-A number-1 back peddler.

Too many rethugs make statements that reveal themselves as being truly insensitive and out of touch.

They have no clue as to how to connect with the humanity of it all.

[Mike_The_Computer]

21. Motorized wheelchairs traveling below the legal speed limit will be fined.

How else to deal with the foot-dragging infirm in New Orleans?

[ignatius 2]

22. Penalized?? As if losing your home,family, friends and everything

you own in this world isn't penalty enough? The whole repig party is so out of touch with reality.

[Thor_MN]

23. What, he's not even sorry that we misunderstood his comments?

It's just the local officials fault? What an ass. He could at least make the standard non-apology of the neocon right that he's not sorry about what he said, just that we didn't understand what he was saying.

[IntravenousDemilo]

24. Santorum:

The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.

There, that should help keep it up at the top on Google. Maybe every time we have a thread on him, we should post the definition somewhere inside.