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Soledad O’Brien Calls Out the Hypocrisy of Republicans Refusing Aid to Sandy
Up today for a possible vote is the $51 billion in federal relief for Hurricane Sandy. Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) told Soledad O’Brien on CNN”s “Starting Point” he has a problem with part of it because “it is not paid for.”
O’Brien challenged him by pointing out the hypocrisy of his position since no one demanded that the costs be offset for disaster relief for his state. After listing the costs of several of South Carolina’s hurricanes, she asked, “Doesn’t he (Chris Christie) have a point, that this is a different standard for folks in New Jersey than for everybody else, including those many folks in your state were given in the past.”
Watch here via CNN:
Pretending as if his vote is not a reflection of being threatened by the Club for Growth, Mulvaney claimed that his objection is that the relief is not paid for. “My difficulty is that this is not paid for. We’re borrowing this additional money to do this and I just think that’s wrong. I’m hoping we can figure out a way today during the amendment process to find savings elsewhere to pay for this without adding to the debt.”
O’Brien then reminded him of the hurricanes that hit South Carolina and that no one offset costs for hurricane relief to South Carolina, including Hurricane Hugo’s 5-8 billion in property loss.
She rolled a clip of Chris Christie listing the mostly Southern states (from which many of the conservative objections to Sandy relief emanate) that have been given relief with no questions asked. Christie said New Jersey expects nothing different than was done for Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and Iowa, and then huffed, “If they want to make new rules, they picked the wrong state to do it with.”
O’Brien asked Mulvaney, “Doesn’t he have a point, that this is a different standard for folks in New Jersey than for everybody else, including those many folks in your state were given in the past.”
Mulvaney put on his best Republican patronizing hat, and suggested calmly — as if New Jersey weren’t in the midst of a desperate situation — that things are different now. “I do think it’s a fair point. I would encourage the Governor and everybody else to consider the fact that in 1989 and even as late as Katrina several years ago the debt was much much smaller… we simply cannot continue what we’ve done in the past. That’s how we arrived where we are.”
Ah, so that’s how we got here. I thought it was the two unfunded wars and unfunded Medicare Part D combined with the Bush tax cuts that destroyed Clinton’s surplus. And then there was the Stock Market Crash of 2008, brought on by the rampant deregulation (Republican policy that was supposed to lead to growth) of Wall Street/banks/financial institutions. Recessions cost a LOT of money.
If he means that we can’t keep doing what the government is designed to do, then we have to ask why Republicans are against taxes, which really do put a dent in the deficit (see Gov. Brown, D-CA).
Mulvaney then launched into the usual conservative talking points about not wanting to load this debt onto the next generation, never connecting the dots that the debt ceiling the House Republicans are once again threatening to not raise is money that they already spent.
Republicans have gone so far off the cliff chasing ultra conservative groups’ approval that the Sandy bill had to be broken into two parts: There is the $17-billion bill and now an additional $34 billion amendment. Mulvaney said he thinks they can pass the $17-billion bill but he’s not so sure about the amendment, because it’s loaded with what so-called pork (aka, any spending that is not in that congress person’s district).
Instead of facing the fact that their policies got us into this mess, Republicans keep lecturing the country about debt as a passive aggressive excuse to withhold and punish the country, as if they are in a position to be moral scolds to anyone.
Do your job, Republicans. It never should have taken this long to get relief for Sandy victims.
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8 Responses to Soledad O’Brien Calls Out the Hypocrisy of Republicans Refusing Aid to Sandy
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majii
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 2:29 pm
IMO, Mulvaney and the other republicans who are refusing to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy are first class dicks. These are our fellow Americans, and if taxpaying Americans are worthy off assistance in dire straits, then who is? The same people they’re refusing to help have paid taxes for years and have helped to pay these dicks salaries and provide their benefits. Economists have stated repeatedly that if the U.S. wants to borrow money, now is the time to do it because interest rates are low and the return on the investments the government makes will outweigh the interest payments on the loan(s.)
“If there is one advantage to the current economic malaise, it is this: Borrowing costs for the United States have reached record low levels, creating an opportunity for the government to make much-needed investments at a low cost. I don’t think it would be asking too much if everyone who wants to run for public office at every level of government would be required to take a test on economics and have the scores published in newspapers and aired on TV before the election is held.
“The U.S. government, thanks to its safe haven status, can currently borrow at rates of 0.6% for five years, 1.5% for 10 years and 2.55% over 30 years — yields that contrast sharply with those demanded by purchasers of Greek, Spanish or Irish debt.”
economy.money.cnn.com/201...
majii
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Edit: These are our fellow Americans, and if taxpaying Americans aren’t worthy of assistance when in dire straits, then who is?
Grasshopper
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 3:31 pm
I wonder if these assclowns get together and rehearse and memorize their redundant talking points while they wait in line to get a new updated chip placed in their brainless skulls. Their brainwashing is so frightening and complete they almost scare me. Almost. All this has to happen, it’s part of the process. The only mistake the teaheads made is they had not one speck of strategy or tact. They showed their insane hand as soon as they gained power. Had they been even slightly patient, they may have pulled off some of their power grabs. But they are STUPID. And as we all know, “stupid is as stupid does.” FG
majii
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 5:29 pm
I think they do, Grasshopper. Remember, this is the group of individuals who regularly paid Frank Luntz to provide them with talking points. Also, Romney passed out talking points to republicans in Congress and to RW media when he screwed up on his claim that President Obama ended the work requirement in the welfare law. As recently as a few weeks ago, Boehner called the lobbyists in to give the GOP talking points on how to re-frame their “fiscal cliff” comments. They’re now engaged in revising their talking points on legitimate rape. Republicans pretty much have to have talking points. They don’t understand any policy issues, so they rely on a co-ordinated message based on lies. I remember that Rachel Maddow exposed how much the GOP relies on talking points during the HCR debate by showing video clips of republicans in the House and the Senate using the exact words to refer to the ACA.
Grasshopper
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
I’m guessing if these charlatans continue in this vein, a third party will soon emerge like no labels or some other group and the R’s will be a thing of the past; total self implosion caused by their own ideology. I can’t wait.
Maat Men Nefer
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Evil on parade!
Anne
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 6:24 pm
No matter how many times these idiots are told that they appealed for the very help they are denying Sandy victims and got it, they double down on their asinine hypocrisy. Not only has Soledad O’Brien called them out, but so has Al Sharpton. They are both callous and evil, because they keep on trying to use various circumstances as an excuse to push their harmful budget cuts. Part of their rigid adherence to this bizarre ideology is their allegiance to the sorry likes of the Koch brothers and their ilk, who want to return to the Gilded Age with all the misery it brought to so many.
Goss
Jan. 15th, 2013 at 9:24 pm
If he is so concerned about the cost of aid to New Jersey, maybe he would be conducive to paying back the aid money that his state received for past disasters.