As I asked in the title of this entry, when is “storm relief” not “storm relief?” The answer is simple…when Mitt Romney’s involved!
On Monday Romney’s campaign announced Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would focus their efforts Tuesday on helping people affected by the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, earning the campaign some praise for putting aside politics to focus on relief efforts.
However, it certainly seems the Romney/Ryan campaign’s Hurricane Sandy “relief efforts” are nothing more than politics as usual.
Here’s a photo (via Ari Shapiro’s Twitter feed) of a press credential from a Hurricane Sandy “relief rally” held yesterday by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
Clearly Mitt Romney has declared “Victory” over Hurricane Sandy.
As noted by Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post, Romney held a rally on Tuesday as part of his campaign’s “storm relief” effort, but the event was held in Ohio, which is not just far from the epicenter of the storm’s devastation but also happens to conveniently be a crucial swing state for Romney’s presidential campaign.
So while Mitt Romney and his campaign handlers thought it would be a fine idea to hold a campaign event/photo op designed to make it look like Romney was “doing something” in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it turns out Romney’s efforts may not have been that helpful after all.
Red Cross tells us grateful for Romney donation but prefer people send money or donate blood dont collect goods NOT best way to help #Sandy
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) October 30, 2012
And while Mitt Romney has been floundering around trying to look at least a little presidential in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the actual president, President Barack Obama, has been “incredibly supportive and helpful” and “deserves great credit” in the words of Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a state that has been absolutely devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
Immoral opportunism AGAIN, taking political advantage of American deaths AGAIN, capitalizing on American tragedy AGAIN. This is a man whose soul is as rank and corrupt as it gets. Mitt Romney is unfit to govern, and there’s a special place in Hell for him too.
Heaven has no rage like love to craven turned
Nor Hell a fury like Romney’s ambition.
Willard the Coward’s lily-liver expands each day. Too afraid not to campaign, too afraid to behave with humility.
What would you like to see from Romney regarding storm relief?
If he does nothing, he is a bad guy.
If he does something, he is still a bad guy….?
Here’s what Romney should have done first and what he should have done on Benghazi: Have the humility, the courage, and the integrity to Keep Out Of It. Make some appropriately empathetic or prayerful remarks, but otherwise retreat from the political front. Insist from his surrogates a moratorium on all campaigning. That he did not do that indicates he is a man of the basest character whose political ambition knows no limits. He’s proven again that he’s not of presidential stature. His character is suitable for the vulture capitalist that he is, but not for an honest statesmen whose motivations are directed solely toward the public good. He himself should not only agree to but live up to a black out on all campaign events until the crisis subsides. A respectable man would have done that. Romney tripled down on not doing any of it.
Not only did he claim he and Ryan would cancel their rallies “out of sensitivity for the millions of people in the storm’s path” not even mentioning any idea of honest, fair play – because of course that wouldn’t be a motivation – he didn’t have enough self-respect to actually keep his word and cancel his events. He went on with campaigning and simply rebranded his previously scheduled rally in Ohio as a “storm relief event” leaving everything intact but its title. It’s disgusting.
What’s more in sheer ignorance of how disaster relief is coordinated he encouraged his fawning toadies to donate material items to the Red Cross prompting the Red Cross to plead, “No! No! That actually complicates our efforts and wastes valuable time.” For the sake of staging a photo-op, fearing attendees wouldn’t bring donation items to the “storm relief” rally his campaign popped for 5 grand of granola bars, canned food, and diapers for mere display.
Here’s a kicker: in order to shake Romney’s hand attendees had to bring an item to donate. Those who didn’t have one were turned away until a clever volunteer allowed the empty-handed to grab one the $5000 worth of items the campaign already purchased which was then handed to Romney for the photo-op. The rest of the “storm relief rally” was the standard campaign rally – the same event with the same features as the original, no changes in the line-up.
Romney wasn’t helping anyone or anything with his “storm relief” rally. He was campaigning. If he really felt compelled to DO something instead of smiling in front of a camera during a crisis he should have called the President of the United States and ask the President, What can I do?
But really, he should have just retreated from the public square altogether and not made any comments. But since he isn’t that dignified, he should have at least explained in detail to the press what precisely he would plan for FEMA and the federal infrastructure for disaster relief if he were elected.
So what I would like to see from Romney is the dignity and humility of an honest statesmen who has enough sense to back off. Your frame of “if he nothing he’s a bad guy/if he does something he’s still a bad guy?” is downright pathetic.
He should have done nothing. He would have then have proven himself to be a respectable, sincere, honest guy.
He didn’t do nothing. He did something and what he did was not only dishonest and opportunistic he complicated matters during a crisis AGAIN. What he did do wasn’t leadership, it was stagecraft and bean counting. He couldn’t stomach one single day or possibly more than a day of campaign moratorium with a week left until election day. He cares more for his own personal ambition than he does about the welfare of this nation.
“He was campaigning. If he really felt compelled to DO something instead of smiling in front of a camera during a crisis he should have called the President of the United States and ask the President, What can I do?”
OR he could have sent that $5,000 to the American Red Cross instead of spending it at Wal-mart
Absolutely.
Agreed. It’s all about the campaign.