Romney in Ohio: Opportunistic, Unhelpful, and always Out-of-touch

Posted: October 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Mitt Romney | Tags: | 126 Comments

You may remember that I was recently impacted by Hurricane Isaac and that I’m still living in a Hurricane Katrina reality.  I know FEMA.  I know major disasters.  I know aftermaths of major disasters quite personally.  Romney tried to turn an Ohio campaign event into a “relief” operation and once again, he proved himself completely unready, unfit, and too insensitive to hold any public office.  He is so opportunistic that he is basically grave dancing once again.

The stop was billed as a “storm relief” event, and attendees were asked to bring non-perishable foods and other items for those affected by the storm. Long white tables to one side of the cavernous James S. Trent Arena were piled high with flashlights, batteries, diapers, toothbrushes, mini-deodorants, fleece blankets, cereal, toilet paper and canned goods.

Two large TV screens at the front of the venue bore the logo of the American Red Cross and the message: “Sandy: Support the Relief Effort. Text ’REDCROSS’ to 90999 to make a $10 donation.”

But there remained many trappings of a campaign rally, including the soundtrack and a biographical Romney video.

Romney stood on a chair and spoke for less than five minutes. As throngs of supporters, reporters and TV cameras surrounded him, Romney made note of the items on the tables behind him.

“We’re going to box these things up in just a minute and put them on some trucks, and then we’re going to send them into, I think it’s New Jersey. There’s a site we’ve identified where we can take these goods and distribute them to people who need them,” he said.

He related a story of cleaning up a field after a high school football game, and told the crowd that he remembered when some Katrina evacuees were brought to Cape Cod — a destination that was much colder, he joked, than Houston, where the evacuees thought they were originally headed.

“And you know what? There were cars lined up, people dropping off all sorts of goods of all kinds, some things that were temporary like food, but others that were permanent like TV sets and clothes. It was just amazing to see the turnout. Its part of the American way,” Romney said.

As he wrapped up his remarks, Romney said that “to make this an enjoyable work setting, we’ve asked a great entertainer, Randy Owen, of Alabama, to be here. He’s an extraordinary guy.” Owen was scheduled to be a featured guest at the original rally, scheduled for the same venue, at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

He joked that the canned goods and other donations were a “cover charge” for supporters to hear the band’s performance. And then he hopped down from the trunk and, while the band played, he and Portman helped to put items in bags.

The Red Cross repeatedly says to send money and donate blood and to send NOTHING else.  They have their own suppliers and they buy materials and food in bulk.  I’ve spent a lot of time in line to get food and supplies from Red Cross emergency centers.  They are really skilled at this.  They send out trucks with hot food.  They have standardized bundles of cleaning supplies, water, food, toiletries, and baby supplies that they load from warehouses and ready prior to disasters.  They don’t need outside stuff.  It makes their jobs difficult. They’ve said this repeatedly before and after every recent disaster.  You’d have to be really stupid not to have heard that by now given the huge number of weather related disasters we’ve had this century.

Andrea MitchellAndrea MitchellVerified‏@mitchellreports
Red Cross tells us grateful for Romney donation but prefer people send money or donate blood dont collect goods NOT best way to help #Sandy

The RED CROSS needs your blood, your money, and your volunteer services.  It does not need campaign tricks masked as charity supplanting government responses to disaster.

I’m also still just appalled that Romney could get up in front of the press and people and liken the clean-up after a major disaster to his experience cleaning up a high school football field after a game celebration.  Disaster clean up of this  kind of gargantuan task.  It’s a commitment for years and for billions of dollars. Why does everything every one else experiences have to have a tie back to him?

I’m looking for my pictures of the three story, 5 block long and two block wide pile of trash and chipped trees that was refilled several times over after Katrina. I’m sure his experience compares to bulldozing every one’s belongings that  rushed into the streets during the flooding from the levee failure here.  There were parishes where 99% of the buildings and homes were destroyed where around 50,000 people lived and worked.  How the hell can you compare cleaning up a football field to that?

Also, the worst abuses in the recovery were made by crony private contractors with connections to the Bush family and Cheney.  I can only imagine what kind of privatized cronyism we would get from Bobby Jindal if he were more in charge of disaster monies.  Mitt Romney would cut FEMA funding badly.

How would Romney handle FEMA if he was elected president?

In a June 13, 2011 GOP primary debate, Romney suggested that states should assume a more significant role in disaster relief. The debate took place soon after a tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri and other communities, and moderator John King of CNN asked Romney whether states should take on a greater role in paying to repair and rebuild.

“Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better,” Romney said. “Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut — we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep?”

When asked a follow up on whether disaster relief should shift to the states, Romney said: “We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids,” he said.

“It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off,” he added. “It makes no sense at all.”

Romney did not go as far as some reports have suggested, which say he would shut down the agency entirely. But he has made it clear that he would shift more responsibility to the states or private agencies when it comes to disaster relief in an effort to reduce federal spending and the deficit.

Romney isn’t just a totally out of touch failure as a governor, he’s a disaster in the making.

The FEMA site explains it all to Mitt Romney:

Donate to Sandy Survivors

The best way to support survivors of Hurricane Sandy is to make a financial contribution to the voluntary organization of your choice.

He thinks he knows everything and what’s best for every body and he’s wrong ALL the time.