You just knew this was coming, didn’t you?
(CNSNews.com) – Cleanup of the damage caused Friday when an F-5 tornado tore through the Kansas town of Greensburg has been slowed because National Guard resources are in Iraq, according to a group of anti-war activists and the Kansas governor.
The White House fired back, pointing to what it said was the failure by Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to ask for cleanup equipment that is available from other states and the federal government.
"What is most disheartening is the fact that we now lack the equipment needed to clean up and go in and help the citizens … because they were shipped over to Iraq," Kansas Democratic State Sen. Donald Betts said during the call sponsored by the National Security Network and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.
There is nothing that Democrats will not do, nothing they won’t say, no issue they will not exploit for petty political gain. But, wait
Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback yesterday disputed claims by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, that a deadly tornado in her state exposed holes in National Guard readiness caused by the Iraq war.
Mr. Brownback said local officials and his state’s National Guard commander all told him they have the resources needed to respond.
"That’s what really got me, is her saying that," Mr. Brownback said. "So I asked, privately and publicly, the adjutant general, ‘Do you have the equipment you need?’ " he said. " ‘Because if you don’t, we’re going to hit Fort Riley and McConnell [Air Force Base] and other places to make sure we have all the equipment we need to respond to disasters.’ Everybody there said, ‘No, we have the equipment we needed.’ "
Mr. Brownback added: "I think what we need to do is to focus on what we need here now, and not draw a broader political question in. We’ve got a disaster, and we need to all pull together to get everything we need from the state and the federal for the local need."
Democrats just want to complain, not help. That is what they are best at.
Why are the National Guard and the Feds so necessary? Is this another case of the people being conditioned to call for government intervention for everything? Back a few years ago, North Carolina had a major ice storm. Millions were without power. The roads were undrivable. Trees were down everywhere. No one was calling for federal aid. No one was complaining that there were not enough trucks because of the war. And help came from up and down the East Coast. The same thing happened after Hurricane Andrew. Guard units, power company workers, and civilian aid workers came from all over.
Hot Air is all over this story, including
Disreputable Harry Reid piled on. Problem: His claims had already been debunked earlier in the day. There is no line Democrats won’t cross anymore if they think they can score a political point.
And Confederate Yankee has a must read, which raps up the issue
How many of the Kansas National Guard’s available 83,000+ men, 393 trucks and 352 Humvees would be required in a town of 1,500?
Stop throwing facts out there, CY!
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Wasn’t it the United States Congress that called up the National Guard for service in Iraq? That power is theirs alone. It isn’t a power of the Presidency.
Of course the Democratic Party wants to blame President Bush for anything. They forget that a majority of BOTH parties authorized the war, as well as authorized the call to national service of the National Guard.
What’s even worse about these claims is that the National Guard and others have already said that they had sufficient manpower and equipment in state to deal with the problem. Of course that doesn’t stop the Democratic “leadership” from lying and trying to place blame anywhere but on themselves.
They’d rather play political games than work to solve the real problems faced by the people.
You are right on the money, Perry. As W said about Kerry and the Dems “a litany of complaints is not a plan.”
[…] Call for "redeployment?" No, none of the above. You remember Gov. Sebelius’ little post tornado meltdown, right? Where she made the mistake of blaming the Iraq war and the deployment of the Kansas Nation […]