May 09, 2007
Obama Exaggerates Kanasas Twister Deaths
In his zeal to find a way to place blame on President Bush for the relief efforts following the tornado that hit in Greensburg, Kansas last week, Barack Obama said the following at a campaign stop:
"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died—an entire town destroyed...
"Turns out that the National Guard in Kansas only had 40 percent of its equipment and they are having to slow down the recovery process in Kansas."
Ten thousand people? Try ten. [correction -- 12 -- ed.]
(Please don't get me wrong -- any death related to such a natural disaster is a tragedy, and our prayers go out to the families affected not only by the deaths, but those whose homes and livelihoods have fallen victim to the whims of nature. I do not mean to belittle their situation.)
Obama said his error was due to being tired from his constant traveling on the campaign trail, and that he meant to say ten. But there's more to this story than just a misstatement. Obama is using this opportunity to bolster his anti-war stance, because that mean old Bush has taken away National Guard equipment for a hurricane that he must have known would hit at some point. The shortage was one of the first things out of Governor Kathleen Sebelius' mouth, and Obama is only one of many to take up the "blame Bush" banner and wave it proudly.
For just as Katrina could be laid at Bush's feet, so must the Greensburg tornado.
Confederate Yankee says of Sebelius,
Despite the reduction of certain kinds of National Guard equipment in state armories, I suspect that the personnel and equipment that remain at Gov. Sebelius' disposal is more than sufficient to handle the effort at hand. On some level, she seems to agree. Of thousands of National Guardsmen available, she has apparently deployed just 110.
It seems that her anti-war pronouncements and appointments have as much to do with her claims as does any actually [sic] shortfall of equipment, and I suspect her words have as much to do with Sebelius' political hopes as it does the reality of Greenburg's [sic] battered ground.
It's funny how state and local government officials who are Democrats find a way to blame President Bush for the natural disasters that happen on their doorsteps. And it's funny how quickly the media follows suit.
I repeat my question from the other day: where are all the Hollywood celebrities and their offers of help and support?
UPDATE: This Kansan doesn't seem to think a lot of Sebelius' opportunistic whining.
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