Posted on 01/08/2013 5:26:31 AM PST by Enosh
Sen. David Vitter called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an “idiot” for his remarks on Friday that the people of New York and New Jersey suffered more in Hurricane Sandy than Gulf Coast residents did during Hurricane Katrina.
“Sadly, Harry Reid has again revealed himself to be an idiot, this time gravely insulting Gulf Coast residents,” Vitter (R-La.) said in a statement and on Twitter. “Both Katrina and Sandy were horribly destructive storms that caused real human misery. And by most any measure, Katrina was our worst natural disaster in history.”
Vitter pointed to the simple math and statistics from the National Hurricane Center: Katrina caused 1,833 deaths and $108 billion in damage. Sandy caused 131 deaths and $65 billion in damage.
The comparisons between Katrina and Sandy have been increasing since the congressional fight over emergency funding for the Northeast.
Reid’s remarks came after legislation to provide $60 billion in emergency funding for New York and New Jersey was killed after House Speaker John Boehner refused to allow a vote to move forward before the expiration of the 112th Congress.
A bill to provide $9 billion of the $60 billion in funding moved through the two chambers on Friday, part of a compromise after the initial legislation was shelved.
“The people of New Orleans and that area, they were hurt but nothing in comparison to what happened to the people in New York and New Jersey,” Reid said Friday. “Almost 1 million people have lost their homes; 1 million people lost their homes. That is homes, that is not people in those homes.”
Reid didn’t provide a source for the figure that 1 million homes were destroyed. In November, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office estimated 305,000 housing units in his state were damaged or destroyed. New Jersey’s most recently released estimate, in November, cited that 72,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. In Connecticut, 3,000 homes were deemed too damaged for power to be restored in them immediately following the hurricane.
Reid’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Vitter’s statement or the source of the 1 million homes being destroyed.
Update: Reid issued a statement Monday afternoon saying he “misspoke.”
Why would anyone call that petty thief from Nevada an idiot?
Vitter has now managed to insult idiots everywhere.
Well, I agree that Reid is an idiot, but not for the reasons stated. As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that Katrina, although a very horrible tragedy, was blown way out of proportion in order to destroy President Bush. During the obama administration, we have had tornadoes that have wiped out entire towns, and nothing was laid at oabama’s door. ANYTHING that could possibly have a deleterious effect on the Lyin’ King is fine with me.
Am I being a wee bit cynical?
Come to think of it, why are our federal tax dollars being used to rebuild private beachfront homes? Seems to me private insurance should he taking care of those million homes, not you and me. If you're dumb enough to live on a beachfront location and not buy flood insurance...your problem, not mine. NJ has some of the highest income and property taxes in the country and they've had similar storms in the past. Why didn't they set a reserve aside to fund the cleanup of local gov't infrastructure? Unless someone on the barrier islands asks you and me to come and visit for a couple of weeks, I think we're being had.
Harry Reid is an idiot, as are the fine citizens of Nevada that voted for him.
Before anyone jumps on me for perhaps “Minimizing” Katrina, be it known that I was hit by Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and a Greek letter Storm that year, and suffered damages that eventually caused me the loss of my credit, my husband, and my home.
Actually, the tax system is called a voluntary tax, Washington speak for something like when a person who was drafted decided to volunteer for the Army.
I think the time has come to take that small area in Northeast Virginia and South Md and just cut it off, blow the bridges, mine the land roads and cut off all utilities. The way they think there, they would florish because it is the land of no reality.
His Excellency is now going to nominate Lew to be the sec of treasury after Tiny Tim. A virtual career bureaucrat with a small stint at Citi running their, Tada, mortgage factoring unit!
We are living in interesting times.
I want Harry to keep talking, so that everyone sees that the leader of the Senate Democrats is an idiot.
Well, yes, you are. After all you've lost, you would be within your rights to ramp that cynicism up much, much higher. My own cynicism would be off the chart if I had walked your path.
I pray that obama has a conversion away from the destructive ideologies he and the demonrats have turned loose upon us, but if not then let Proverbs 16:18 ("Pride Goeth Before Destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall") be his future.
On the other hand, perhaps obama is Proverbs 16:18 for us, the wayward lost people that we have so pridefully become?
I love Proverbs! :-)
In fact, the entire Bible has kept me from becoming a LOT more cynical than I already am! LOL.
That’s nothing. According to Obama 10,000 people died in the Greensburg Kansas tornado.
There...fixed.
Bush destroyed himself just fine -- no help needed from the media.
As for Katrina/Rita, if you weren't here, you need to take a lesson from those who were, and quit regurgitating scripted GOP talking points.
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