Oklahoma is hurting today. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last that a natural disaster leaves families and communities mourning their dead.
The dust has literally not settled yet, nor have the bodies been recovered. Despite the fact that the entire state is still gearing up for emergency relief, notwithstanding a situation where children have yet to be returned to their families for burial, our politicians simply cannot help themselves.
Don your hard hats, and come with me below the orange wall cloud:
First up, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK):
From MSNBC - Morning Joe (I know, sorry):
“I never thought I’d see anything worse than I saw in 1999, this is our fourth [tornado] in 15 years,” the Oklahoma Republican said Tuesday on Morning Joe. “This is even worse in terms of loss of life, and I’ve been talking to friends and family and officials on the ground and that number is gonna get worse.”
And on Disaster Relief:
“There is a federal responsibility to act,” said Representative Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican. “We have a national interest in getting this region on its feet as quickly as possible.”
Representative Cole is a Republican. He is a guy we would disagree with on almost every issue. Yet he is also a human being. A man who recognizes suffering, at least in emergent situations, an puts his voice and his vote behind efforts to relieve the suffering.
He is "old School" Republican, the kind we could do business with; were it not for Republicans like Senator Tom Colburn (R-Batshit):
On the Moore Tornado:
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will insist that any federal aid to deal with the tornado in his home state must be offset by budget cuts.
“He will ask his colleagues to sacrifice lower priority areas of the budget to help Oklahoma,” spokesman John Hart said. Should other Republicans join Coburn, it could set up a fight similar to the January tug-of-war over Hurricane Sandy funding. That aid package was delayed by GOP opposition and ultimately passed with mostly Democratic support.
I am no supporter of Tom Cole. It is a sign of the times that we find ourselves pathetically grateful for a few crumbs of humanity from a Republican Congressman.
But the sheer inhumanity of Tom Coburn is breathtaking.
No excuses Senator. No mealy-mouthed words about being even-handed, fair to all, yadda, yadda.
Senator Coburn, every decent, honest and right-thinking resident of your home state is ashamed of you today. Please find a hole, and crawl in it. Who knows, it may protect you from a tornado!
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