It’s my fervent desire not to politicize disaster relief while rescue workers are still digging people out of the rubble in Oklahoma City. I note that Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who voted against disaster relief for the Mid-Atlantic after SuperStorm Sandy, says he will apply the same standard to his own state. He won’t vote for disaster relief for Oklahoma unless it is offset with more austerity in the budget elsewhere. That’s fine. He is probably going to wind up voting against disaster relief for his own constituents, but at least he is consistent. Frankly, I think he’d take as much political heat for employing a double standard as he will for filibustering aid for his own folks.
The main difference between Tom Coburn and me is that I care more about the people who were impacted by SuperStorm Sandy and today’s tornado in Oklahoma than I do about some stupid ideology or scoring political points. We’ll get his folks the aid they need promptly and without grumbling, because that is what we’re supposed to do.
Don’t forget one other thing. Tom Cole was the only Oklahoma Representative(all are GOPers) to vote for Sandy aid. And he represents the area hit today. As Kos said, Coburn is at least a consistent asshole. I wonder what Inhofe is going to do.
Watching the news it hits home over and over again that the strength of these United States continues to rest on our reliance on each other.
Tonight I can’t think of a more American thing to do than rally around Oklahoma. Yet part of rallying ends up not just the feel good part of donating to Red Cross, but pointing out that today’s tornadoes and the damage they will most assuredly do is now a part of America’s financial picture.
Another discussion for weeks and months on end about how austerity is the right balance needs a good swift kick in the shins. Americans and their children died today. If this tornado hadn’t had the power that it did, and stayed on the ground as long as it did the outcome could have been lessened.
Consistent, perhaps. Fair, absolutely not.
I’m perfectly fine paying for the support and restoration of other Americans’ lives and properties torn by disasters. That’s a reasonable price to pay. It is wholly unreasonable for people who are already suffering to pay a price for the victim relief in Oklahoma or anywhere else. We know that Coburn’s desired cuts wouldn’t extract support from wealthy Americans and businesses, after all.
I’m sure Coburn feels completely comfortable in his announcement. No price can be placed on the tragic loss of life but he knows the cost for disaster relief to Moore will be miniscule compared to Sandy. He can safely puff out his chest and proclaim he’s sticking to his standards.
Fine. If he insists on offsets, then we’ll cancel the F-35 and Littoral Combat Ships. Done and done.
I don’t agree at all. Any money sucked out of the DOD will be turned into tax cuts or flushed to something else.
A far better kick in the balls would be a 1% patriots tax increase on income over 250k!
i feel extra-bad for the katrina and sandy victims who did NOT receive the timely aid thank OK victims thankfully will. because of that, i have little truck with the holier-than-thou admonishing “zomg don’t politicize it!” crowd.
Coburn’s a lunatic; but, the same people he isn’t going to help vote for him.
It’s incredible to me how deep their hatred of the president is that they will knife their own constituents just to fuck him over. They did not have this rule under Bush, so he is not a consistent asshole at all. He just hates he president.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Booman opens up with this noble sentiment:
Great.
i agree wholeheartedly.
But then…wait a minute here!!!
He follows that sentence with two paragraphs of politicizing.
Yup.
We’re the good guys alright.
Vote for us!!! Not those troglodyte RatPublicans.
Nice.
In a sad kinda way.
So it goes.
Politics as usual.
Check out my latest post for more on “politics.” And power.
Are You Familiar w/the “Consiglieri” Concept? Obama is.
Yes he is.
Bet on it.
I hope “politics” doesn’t impact the lives of the victims of this latest weather disaster. But…”Wait a minute!!!”, Pt. II.
A two mile-wide, 200 MPH tornado?
Now what strange weather conditions could have caused something like that?
Let me see…
Could it be…global warming???
Or as the media have decided to call the phenomenon, “climate change”? Climate Change. So much less potentially blameful, don’tcha know. It’s not about all of the corporate-produced pollution, it’s just about…change.
Riiiight.
And there we are, right back to politics.
Hmmmm…
Let’s go somewhere else.
Say…faith.
Let all of us pray that it’s not our asses next.
Let us pray.
Later…
AG
of course I want the people in OK to get the help that they need.
is it too much to expect a connection for them that they choose assholes who wouldn’t do the same for their fellow Americans?
I have mixed feelings about this kind of phrase:
People before politics
I know what is meant by it but at face value it strikes me as assuming politics can be nothing other than narrow self serving power grabs. As if progressives have to sink to the same level as the greedy and bigoted folks leading the current Republican direction and nasty tricks. As if politics is all about name calling and smirking references to the latest brain fart of the opposition. I may not be explaining it right but it feels as if it is a self defeating idea for progressives. I think our job is much harder than Republicans and that we have to elevate politics and show the country it is always about people. Politics are about our common responsibilities to each other as human beings.
We never have to shy away from politics if we have our priorities in line and a humane sense of proportion in how we respond to events. So I don’t see how having a conversation about our national policies for handling disasters is out of bounds – even as we focus on the immediate task at hand in Oklahoma.
Our political system(s) will never be perfect but it has always been about the common interest, how to “promote the general welfare” and our priorities.
I think we as progressives have to be the ones who serve people with politics. We have to push for clear laws that help relieve future disasters of all types, large and small, and because we need to be authentic about it we also have to design how it is funded. The current “vote/pay as you go” congressional method of responding to disasters is too unreliable.