And then have a good laugh about it!
In a country that claims to be the greatest nation on earth, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor, shows once again why Republicans should be voted out of office with extreme prejudice. Having held the world’s economy hostage all summer long and caused more hardship for people while attempting to extract even more money from poor and middle class Americans, Eric Cantor and his Republicans have decided to continue their assault on the American people.
Even before Hurricane Irene came ashore, the Republican leader made it clear that they weren’t going to help any of those people who were sure to be affected by the hurricane — that they weren’t going to get shit from the government unless it comes out of the pockets of the rest of the working and poor people in our country. He made it quite clear on Fox News that Republicans don’t care about hurricane victims at all…
Despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene this weekend, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) today stood by his call that no more money be allocated for disaster relief unless it is offset by spending cuts elsewhere. The Washington Post reported this morning that FEMA will need more money than it currently has to deal with the storm’s aftermath and is already diverting funds from other recent disasters to deal with the hurricane, but Cantor’s comments suggest Republicans won’t authorize more funds without a fight.
So here we go again, a new hostage crisis and this time the hostages are the people along the east coast who were unfortunate enough to have chosen to live in the path of hurricanes. You have to wonder if the Republican’s really believe that their game of hostage taking is going to help them politically. The way I see it, hurricanes don’t discriminate against one party or another and in natural disasters, people pull together and put partisanship aside. Not so much for the current Republican Party, they are out of their fucking minds. Steve Benen sums it up like only he can do…(emphasis mine)
In the interview, the dimwitted Majority Leader tried to make this sound like common sense — instead of an unprecedented move. Remember, no modern Congress, regardless of which party was in the majority, has ever demanded offsets in response to American natural disaster, not even Tom DeLay’s.
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Let’s also not lose sight of the larger context here. As far as Eric Cantor is concerned, launching wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do not need to be paid for. Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires do not need to be paid for. Bailing out Wall Street does not need to be paid for. But when American communities are struck by a natural disaster, all of a sudden, House Republicans discover a new standard: if Democrats want to help affected areas, the GOP has some demands that must be met.
As if that isn’t enough to show that Republicans don’t deserve to be in power, lets “pivot” to one of the leading contenders for the Republican nomination, Michelle Bachmann, who decided to joke about the hurricane while it was happening. I’m sure you’ve seen our read her comments where she joked about the hurricane and earthquakes.
“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now.
I’ll once again let Steve Benen put this into perspective for us.
I’ll gladly concede that the right-wing Republican delivered the comments in a seemingly lighthearted way, but it’s also worth noting that presidential candidates don’t generally joke about deadly natural disasters while the disaster is unfolding. Bachmann clearly liked the line well enough to repeat it more than once, but while she was drawing laughs, people were literally dying.
When anyone says to you that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, smack them upside the head and direct them to this post.
Cross-posted at Extreme Liberal’s Blog
Day by day, they continue to expose themselves.
The very first thing someone in the press needs to do (hey, it will generate controversy and ratings, I promise!) is ask that whiny little coward Cantor when he plans on returning every Federal dollar his own district receives as the first contribution to the offsets. I also include his salary in this.
As for Bachmann, what else is there left to say? The fact that such a horrid waste of human DNA exists at all is proof enough for me that there is no God whatsoever, let alone one that tells her to spout these repugnant comments. Any self-respecting deity would have sent a Jovian thunderbolt long ago.
The first I’d heard of anyone, ever, claiming there was no money for disaster relief (unless there were cuts elsewhere to pay for it) was after the tornadoes in Joplin MO. As a Missouri resident I was horrified. As a human being, I was in disbelief. I had to find a video of Cantor saying essentially just that, and still had trouble believing what I was hearing.
The more they open their mouths, the more they hang themselves. That is the one thing that gives me hope. That, and the fact that this “Show Me State” has (forgive me) done been shown, just what’s up with the so-called “compassionate conservatism.” Still not seeing the compassion there.
Seriously, screwing up Katrina was a giant albatross around Bush’s neck. Everything else sorta made cockeyed sense if you viewed it from the lens of ‘We care nothing about the country, only about winning the next presidential election’. How can they think this is even good electorally?
I mean, I take it for granted that they’re hate-filled pitiless short-sighted assholes drunk on their own closed-loop cheerleading system, but this is putting a gun in their own mouths because the poor are standing behind them.
Wow, there are no words. We’ve reached a new low when a leader in Congress is willing to tell hurricane victims to “suck it” just so his side could win next year’s election.
I agree with Frankensteinbeck, this is all about Bush and Katrina. Obama has shown that he’s better at handling the banking crisis, getting rid of despots and terrorists and handling disasters. In short, the biggest obstacle for the GOP against Obama is the memory of Bush. The last thing the GOP want is another chance for Obama to prove that he’s more competent and caring than the Rhinestone Cowboy.
That being said, the fact that Cantor is willing to throw his own state under the bus (he’s from VA) shows just the kind of power hungry weasel he truly is.
I am waiting to see if the american public remembers the behavior of those people.
Cantor is what he is. It is up to the voters to recognize that and proceed accordingly.
Cantor’s district suffered not one, but TWO natural disasters in 1 week. And still this butthole is playing games.
We’ve seen the governor of VA tour the disaster areas. We’ve seen Obama administration officials, and the other congressmen from VA touring disaster areas.
NO CANTOR. Where is he at? 2/3 of Richmond still doesn’t have power (I guarantee this little snot has power via a generator), and we haven’t seen him show his face.