Should be easy to back vote for Katrina aid: Editorial
People who suffered through Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches in 2005 have gotten used to far-flung politicians saying inane things about us: that we didn’t deserve help, that we brought the tragedy upon ourselves.
The cluelessness from some people in public life over the past eight and a half years has been astonishing. But the latest example comes from a candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi. You’d think that someone who wants to represent that state, which was slammed by 28-foot storm surge in Katrina, would understand the level of devastation. Apparently not.
In a Politico story published Wednesday, state Sen. Chris McDaniel hedged on whether he would have voted for Katrina aid in the aftermath of the disaster. “I would have to see the details of it. I really would,” he told the reporter. “That’s not an easy vote to cast.”
Voting for aid for your own people after one of the worst disasters in U.S. history would be a tough decision? Really?
Sen. McDaniel’s bio says he is a lifelong Mississippian, born in Laurel — which is a little more than 100 miles from the coast. Jones County, where Laurel is located, was hit hard during Katrina.
The morning after the Politico interview, Sen. McDaniel’s campaign spokesman contacted the reporter to “clarify that Chris would’ve been a yes vote on the disaster bill,” according to the article. Someone in the campaign must have decided that being against Katrina aid might not be a winning strategy.
Sen. McDaniel, who is backed by the tea party, is promising Mississippi voters that he won’t “do anything for you.” On the other side in the GOP primary, incumbent Republican Sen. Thad Cochran was instrumental in getting billions of dollars in aid for the Gulf Coast after Katrina. That’s quite a contrast.
NOLA.com
2/21/14
Magnolia Tribune
