Thursday, February 19, 2009

Democrats, Media Outraged Over Lack of Katrina Funding in Stimulus Bill

Oh wait, they haven't made a peep about it. Nothing like having double standards when it comes to the President-in-Training.

Just image the howls of indignation if George W. Bush shoved a $787 billion spending orgy down our throats and not a nickel of it went to Katrina aid.
The economic stimulus signed by President Barack Obama will spread billions of dollars across the country to spruce up aging roads and bridges. But there's not a dime specifically dedicated to fixing leftover damage from Hurricane Katrina.

And there's no outrage about it.

Democrats who routinely criticized President George W. Bush for not sending more money to the Gulf Coast appear to be giving Obama the benefit of the doubt in his first major spending initiative. Even the Gulf's fiercest advocates say they're happy with the stimulus package, and their states have enough money for now to address their needs.

"I'm not saying there won't be a need in the future, but right now the focus is not on more money, it's on using what we have," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who has criticized Democrats and Republicans alike over Katrina funding.
Before they never had enough money. Now all of a sudden Landrieu is the image of economic austerity.

How convenient.
It's a significant change in tone from the Bush years, when any perceived slight of Katrina victims was met with charges that the Republican president who bungled the initial response to the disaster continued to callously ignore the Gulf's needs years later.
Of course as we all know it was the bumbling governor of Louisiana and the hapless mayor of New Orleans who bungled the initial response as well as the build up to Katrina, but that reality disappeared when the Democrats found a convenient punching bag in Bush. Sure, FEMA bore some responsibility, but it sure would have helped if people evacuated when they were warned to. Also, Bush only delivered a mere $175 billion in aid, much of which is still unspent.
Just last summer, Democrats accused Bush of putting Iraq before New Orleans when he sought to block Gulf Coast reconstruction money from a $162 billion war spending bill. Bush was pilloried for not mentioning the disaster in back-to-back State of the Union addresses.
Now they don't get anything and they're silent.

Double standards, anyone?

Last month thousands were without power in Kentucky for weeks and Obama was given a free pass. Heck, he was too busy partying to even visit the people there.

Any outrage from the media?

None whatsoever. Not a peep.

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