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Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R), upset with Harry Reid saying Hurricane Katrina was "nothing in comparison" to Hurricane Sandy and the devastation caused to the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area, lashed out on the social network calling the Senate majority leader an "idiot."
"Sadly, Harry Reid has again revealed himself to be an idiot, this time gravely insulting Gulf Coast residents," Vitter Tweeted, linking to a story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Vitter later also released a statement with the same language and adding, "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. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused 1,833 deaths and over $108 billion in damage. Hurricane Sandy has caused 131 deaths and $65 billion in damage."
On Friday, Reid said the following on the floor, urging passage of Sandy funding:
"I really do believe it is important that I have the record reflect the reason we have gotten as far as we have on Sandy is because of the senior Senator from New York. It is too bad that it has taken so long. When we had that devastation from Katrina, we were there within days taking care of Mississippi, Alabama, and especially Louisiana--within days. We are now past 2 months with the people of New York and New Jersey.
"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. Almost 1 million people have lost their homes; 1 million people lost their homes. That is homes, that is not people in those homes. So I think it is just unfortunate that we do not have the relief for New York and New Jersey and the rest already. It has to be done. We have to meet the needs of the American people when an act of God occurs."
The Times-Pic writes:
"Sandy devastated some of the nation's most populated areas, but it didn't come close to Katrina. Hurricane Katrina, and the flooding that followed when federally built levees failed, killing 1,833 and causing more than $145 billion in damage. Sandy has been blamed for 120 deaths and over $80 billion in damage."
Monday afternoon, Reid released a statement saying he "misspoke" on Friday:
"In my recent comments criticizing House Republicans for threatening to betray Congress' tradition of providing aid to disaster victims in a timely fashion regardless of region, I simply misspoke. I am proud to have been an advocate for disaster victims in the face of Republican foot-dragging, from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Sandy, from fires in the west to tornadoes in the Midwest. I have worked hard with Senator Landrieu to ensure that the people of the Gulf Coast have the resources they need to fully recover, and I will continue to advocate on their behalf until the region is fully recovered."
The House passed a $9.7 billion Sandy recovery aid package Friday, which the Senate took up and passed by unanimous consent. The House is expected to take up another $51 billion aid package as a result of Sandy Jan. 15th, after it returns from recess.
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washington d.c. much like hollywood california.... is an island surrounded by reality........
Are the people of Nevada as dumb as Reid?? Why else would he be voted back in all the time? They must have a low population in Nevada,huh?
Reid, Pelosi and this phucking president has got to go. If not this country will be Greece in no time soon. WAKE THE PHUCK UP SO CALLED AMERICANS< AND GET THIS PHUCKING PIECE OF SH!T OUT OF OFFICE SO WE CAN ENJOY OUR LIVES LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS> This have gotten out of control. It's got to stop. The the Odumba$$ has got to phucking go. You phucking libturds has started this. You are shameless and disregard the Constitution. Odumba$$ pelosi Reid has got to go. This is America and not Greece. Get it RIGHT oDumba$$ or get the phuck out.
Harry "Obama's puppet" Reid is a real dumb ass, just like his owner.
...this game of he said / or she said / or they both said doesn't bring any relief to the people in need..... the total lack of intelligence is a disgrace.....
Meanwhile, a temp worker in Illinois was denied prompt emergency care because the company didn't want to admit to an industrial accident and the temp worker died. Suffering from chemical burns, they didn't even put him in the safety shower. Although, given the callous disregard for basic safety regulations, it is possible they hadn't even hooked up the plumbing.
This is what the Tea Party really aspires to achieve. They want to deny federal disaster relief, deny raising the debt ceiling that they created, deny the people of this country the benefits they have a right to expect from the federal government. That includes disaster relief, a safe workplace, a living wage, and the federal government paying the bills they have voted to create.
The Tea Party wants to establish a government that only addresses the needs of the rich corporations. They believe the citizens of this country are merely "assets" or "liabilities" for the benefit of those rich corporations. The right to work means the right to die on the alter of corporate greed. Vitter is a representative of that greed. He has no right to call anyone an idiot when he is just a frontman for the people who really are trying to create a corporate dictatorship.
This guy calls Reid an idiot? LMAOF...he picked up chlamydia from a hooker and passed it on to his wife.
And why does that make Reid NOT and idiot? The whole country knows that already. I bet even Reid himself admits it.
As for any of the people in the House or th Senate, they all need to get thier heads out of each others backside. It is dark inside of there and you can't see much. Oh I am sorry the House and Senate can't see much or don't do much either. They should all be thrown out and a new batch put in. We the people might stand a better chance of getting something done that way. MAYBE!!
Hey David Vitter were have you been ? I believe most everyone
has known Reid is a pantload idiot for many many years. Try
to stay up on these issues
Defination of an "Idiot" : A Republican
Now if only the people of Nevada could keep up with us we ould be all set.
I believe a dual is in order ..... at 20 feet with assault rifles and 50 round clips.
That's "duel", and 30 round magazines should be sufficient.
Sorry about "dual" v "deul". When I become perfect I'll let you know so you can be, too.
Oh come on. Harry is an Einstein compared to Sarah Palin.
Sen. Vitter is not paying any attention at all. The general public has been saying Harry Reid is an idiot for several years now.
Harry Reid is the iconic idiot of idiots and right now the most powerful man in Washington! I am just happy another Washingtonian Congressmen finally said it! Except for the fool in the White House he would be the lead clown
Close. I think Bidden is the lead clown.
Really? Biden brought your Republicans to heel. So maybe he's not quite so dumb as you think. Or maybe your GOP is even dumber.
I find it amusing that a conservative republican would call a democrat an "idiot". We are busted because of fighting two wars without paying for them and deregulating the financial markets. I don't know how many conservatives in both chambers voted for that but they are for low taxes, deregulation and a tough foreign policy so I am betting that most of them did. I think Reid may well be an idiot and I think Vitter is too. They ought to getr along together very well.
Reid once again proves what an idiot he is - agree 100% with Vitter - MSNBC will never tell you why the first bill didn't pass - 64% of it wouldn not have been paid out for 2 years and over 30% was for crap that had nothing to do with Sandy - that is what the Repubs were against - money to rebuild fisheries in Alaska and some project in Alabama that had absolutely nothing to do with the horrible devestation casued by Sandy - the Dems tacked on crap (MORE SPENDING) trying to exploit a crisis and again the liberal press (I use the press term loosely when referring to MSNBC) tries to blame it on the right - this admin by favoring their own personal "news" organization ahs done more to divide this country that any other admin in history - shame on them!
guesswhat,
Wrong again. The bill was for disaster relief for 2012. It covered all disasters, not just Sandy. It wasn't pork. It was disaster relief for areas that might be outside the Sandy area. You are the idiot.
I think the Senator from Louisiana was somewhat inaccurate calling Reid an "idiot," now if he had called Reid an idiot, greedy, selfish, ignorant, race/class baiting, lying, thieving, socialist, unamerican, traitor scum bag liberal he might have been more accurate.
I am not a Republican or Democrat. Both of my parents were
staunch Republicans. I was always taught by teachers and family to respect the
leaders of our great country whether I agreed with them or not. Respect has to
be earned and anyone of our leaders that publicly curses or defames another
leader does not deserve respect. The Republican Party members of Congress have
repeatedly done so since the 2008 election. Starting with one yelling "you
lie" to the President on television. I am sure there a lot of Republican
congressmen who do not condone such behavior. When they turn around and
reelected the man that publicly told another Senator to” %%%^ yourself “I am
losing respect for the Party. My parents died young, they too would be highly
embarrassed.
I
am not a Republican or Democrat. Both of my parents were staunch Republicans. I
was always taught by teachers and family to respect the leaders of our great
country whether I agreed with them or not. Respect has to be earned and anyone
of our leaders that publicly curses or defames another leader does not deserve
respect. The Republican Party members of Congress have repeatedly done so since
the 2008 election. Starting with one yelling "you lie" to the
President on television. I am sure there a lot of Republican congressmen who do
not condone such behavior. When they turn around and reelected the man that
publicly
told another Senator to” %%%^ yourself “I am losing respect for the Party. My
parents died young, they too would be highly embarrassed.
am not a Republican or Democrat. Both of my parents were staunch Republicans. I
was always taught by teachers and family to respect the leaders of our great
country whether I agreed with them or not. Respect has to be earned and anyone
of our leaders that publicly curses or defames another leader does not deserve
respect. The Republican Party members of Congress have repeatedly done so since
the 2008 election. Starting with one yelling "you lie" to the
President on television. I am sure there a lot of Republican congressmen who do
not condone such behavior. When they turn around and reelected the man that
publicly
told another Senator to” %%%^ yourself “I am losing respect for the Party. My
parents died young, they too would be highly embarrassed.
Republicans are idiots. One and all.
OVU,
At least Vitter backed up his statement with facts. I see you just blabber away with just that........BLABBER!!!
OVU, the republicans never said they visited 57 states (Obama) or that we lost the war in Iraq when it was half way through (your's truely Reid). The only idiots I see are the liberal democrats that want to do nothing but tax and spend and tax and spend. How many cuts did you see on the fiscal cliff deal? Bernie is right. You blabber and I am an independent.
We have lost the war in Iraq. Just what have we achieved over there? We got rid of Saddam? So what? Do you think that solved anything? Are Iraqis any better off? Over 100,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed by both terrorists and US military forces. The entire Middle East is stronger than ever. Iran is now completely unopposed and you call that winning? For what? Weapons of mass destruction? Where are they? Terrorist camps? None existed until after we invaded and Iraqis themselves began an insurrection against our occupying armies. What have we won? How many Americans lost their lives in Iraq?
As for Obama's remark about 57 states . . . that is meaningless as he obviously knows how many states there are and was just tired when he made the reference to 57. If you can't come up with anything better than that you don't even have an argument.
For the person who said minorities elected Obama. . . which minorities do you refer to? The under thirty-five youth contingent? White, black and brown they voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Women? White, black and brown, they also voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Blacks and Hispanics and Asians voted overwhelmingly for Obama. It was those minority white guys over forty who voted for Romney. And they are in a steadily shrinking minority. The old white guys are not a majority voting block, just in case you haven't noticed there aren't enough of them to win a national election.
The only minority in this country is old white guys. So suck it up and reinstitute affirmative action. You're going to need it.
I am a first responder and a structural engineer. Hurricanes damage structures with wind and tidal surge. The damage due to wind pressure is a function of the velocity squared. The wind pressures from Katrina were almost twice the wind pressures of the wind from Sandy. The high velocities of Katrina were recorded 150 miles from the coast. We know how to design structures to resist tidal surges and high winds. The structures that were designed accordingly had no problem. The structures NOT designed to resist these forces failed. The structures located (and not designed accordingly) in the tidal surge zone failed. We choose not to design and construct structures to resist known forces and expect the Government to pay for predictable damage.
I am of the opinion that if it took Reid's comments regarding Katrina for someone to figure out that Reid is an idiot then they can't be very bright themselves. But then from what I have seen of the last several Senates and most of those in the House for the past decade it is pretty hard to find anybody who is not an idiot. Just how bright do you have to be to understand Money does not grow on tree's, you can't spend what you don't have, or if you keep giving things to people without asking for something in return they will take until your bankrupt and then blame you for not having more to give away.
Diaper Dandy David Vitter should know that men with Huggies fetishes shouldn't be calling former boxers and idiots. But seriously, how do you challenge a grown man who pays prostitutes to feed him in a highchair to a fight. The guy is already in enough of a world of hurt.
The three tense of Bust are Bust,Bust and Bust, no such word as BUSTED!
Reid an idiot? I could'nt agree more. And a crook, ala Nevada highway deal. Made him millions.
i live in nevada and i know that he is an idiot first hand . he belongs in or better yet another country.
Please! Tell your neighbors.
Time for Vitter to turn in his 'smart' phone. These devices tend to turn all politicians into idiots, if they aren't already of course.