E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSUpdated 3:15 pm: Twitter has a way of really highlighting the comity in Washington.
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 $51 billion aid package as a result of Sandy Jan. 15th, after it returns from recess.
Leave a Comment:
Harry's not an idiot. He's just so partisan with the need to do anything to stay on one side of an issue he says stupid things. The people of Nevada are idiots for voting for him.
Reid is an idiot, now the truth is out.
It is good to see at least one elected official has the cajones to call it like it is. Congressional "leaders" are so influenced by lobbyists, special interests groups: they let the EPA walk on them and are scared s#$%less of the likes of Sotomayor, Kagan and Obama and not being politically correct.
Reed always has been an idiot. This is not news.
Sometimes the truth hurts.....
The Republicans are the modern day pharisees, the ones Jesus said were comdemned in His time for being judgmental and only caring about the rich.
Repent you evil Republicans, the Day of Judgment is upon you.
I will leave no stone unturned to find you and change your evil ways.
Even the internet will be MINE.
I still don't understand WHY the government is paying to replace these homes when each and everyone of them should have had FLOOD INSURANCE. On my property, my mail box is in a flood zone and I have to pay for flood insurance every year for everything on the property. This area has never ever in over 100 years never flooded.
You don't have a clue. The insurance companies WON'T pay in many cases because people didn't have ENOUGH insurance.
How come you evil rotten Republicans NEVER get upset about the military spending to destroy, maim, and kill the human lives I have created?
I see through you evil people like cellophane.
John Penn-2341008
Then you need to GET enough Insurance. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast & we are mandated to have flood insurance. It has saved my ass several times. I have NEVER received a penny from FEMA. You can't buy the bare minimum & then bitch because you don't have enough. If your house burns down & you don't have enough to replace it, it's not the tax payers fault.
In the first place, they had federal flood insurance, just like you do. In the second place, they had not flooded in 100 years, either. They are waiting for the insurance payout from the federal government which has been collecting their insurance payments for the last however many years.
Federal insurance has a high deductible, just like a lot of insurance policies do, so some of them need to get low interest FEMA loans in order to pay the deductibles. There is also the question of who will be allowed to rebuild, where rebuilding will occur and what kind of flood prevention and hurricane proof construction will be required. In some cases, they will not be allowed to rebuild the same kind of homes they once had, but will need to upgrade.
Vitter should stick to his area of expertise which is visiting whores in DC.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-3037338.html
"If they chased every man or woman out of this town (D C) who has shacked up with somebody else or got drunk, there wouldn't be any government left in Washington." .......Barry Goldwater Sharky, your statement is hereby verified.
There is a real problem with these children that we have elected. Basically, my generation did not teach their children how to decently and civilly interface the others and now these socially unlearned people are in positions where they are incapable of functioning ethically, emotionally and civilly.
A man who got caught paying a prostitute to feed him strained peas while he sat in a highchair in a pair of diapers shouldn't really be calling other people idiot. Poor Diaper Dandy Vitter. You think the guy would never show his face in public again. I guess he's the best the GOP has.
I wonder if that costs extra?
Harry Reid is not and idiot hes a moronic idiot.
Compared to Sharron Angle, Harry Reid is Winston Churchill.
The scary thing is he is tight with our fearless leader!
Politican ..
An elected employee of the people ... they work for us ...
Politicans create no wealth ... only spend our wealth .... they vote themself rasies and then take away more taxes from us to support their habit of spending our money. They break laws and police them self .. or exempt them self.
Yet ok laws that put us in jail or take away our belongings for not handing over anything and everything they demand.
You know who is to blame > We The People are for allowing these criminals to get away with it ... and this is not a Dem vs Rep issue > it is an American Citizen as in WE THE PEOPLE against the politicians that our Constitution was set up to protect us against.
Well looks kind of like LA. has a pretty smart Senator. Know and stating;"" reid"" is an idiot.
Vitter paid for sex repeatedly. Now thats a idiot.
Dear Paul,
It should be "an idiot" not "a idiot", IDIOT!!
I think that renting is cheaper in the long run.
So.... the diaper loving, call girl loving Vitter has a problem with comments made by Reid???
No ones listens to old white men with fetishes (Vitter). What a pervert !!!
Reid is far more concerned about the victims of Sandy !!!!
Hannah,
And Vitter is more concerned about the victims of Katrina.
Oh, and Reid is a much older, white man with a fetish.
Reid hails from Vegas these days ... the entire city is a fetish
It is easy to become a favorite son of the Liberal Left....just promise people you'll give them what they want....even though we're broke and can't afford it! Then blame the evil conservatives when they vote against your entitlement program! Easy as pie..... Funny how that works!
Romney's 20% tax cut for everyone didn't work. Maybe he should have gone with 30%.
Reid is a moron. How about passing a buget!!!! it's been almost 4 years now Harry!!!
Seems like your civility fits right in with the rest of those usuing inappropriate language. Maybe you should speak to your grandmother about your civiity!
Reid is a dope!!! Dude needs to get out of DC, he has done enough damage.
This entire matter is absurd! One obviously cannot disagree in Congress or elsewhere without being called names or being told what one can do with one's self. One of the cardinal rules in any debate is to keep matters professional and not make them personal. Obviously, these people have limited education or they would know better. I also have to wonder what their upbringing was. Civility certainly is not present and I have to question that the conduct is appropriate or professional.
Trudy Garfield
Is that why Old Harry cast the first stone by calling Boener a Dictator? The little WUUS had it coming to him.
A lot of the southern Republicans and Tea Party members have very little education. They come from rural areas where most cultural awareness is limited to snake handling and wrestling alligators. Their religion is all held in revival tents where the only reading material is a tattered Bible. Science is anathema. Critical thinking skills are illegal. And a whole lot of people are more closely related than they realize. Jim Crow and "separate but equal" are their mantras. They have very old pick up trucks held together with baling wire and the only shiny thing in that truck is the rifle on the gun rack behind the seat. They collect food stamps because they only work part time at the Piggly Wiggly (am I spelling that correctly?) and when they pick up those food stamps they all stand around talking to each other about the dangers of "big guvmint" and entitlements.
There are a few intelligent people living in the cities, but they vote Democrat.
What a well thought out and intelligent post, are you wearing your tinfoil hat as well?
Reid is a perfect example of what is wrong will all politicians in the country.
I love Reid, what he did Sunday was nothing short of brilliant but in this case, he was wrong. Katrina killed a state with Bush holding the smoking gun. Sandy was terrible and, being from Jersey, the cities and the boardwalks were part of my youth and to see them wiped out was horrible. That being said, Jersey and New York children were not playing in the dome among bodies for a week. Without formula, diapers, food, water, etc. It still makes me sick that it took a WEEK to go a matter of miles, like New Orleans was on another planet. You go, Brownie.
Reid and McConnell should both be sent to the glue factory. Both are idiots and they keep proving it on a daily basis.
Good for Mr. Vitter, someone stood up and pointed out "The King has no clothes". It is about time!
Stupid is like and idiot. If Reid was so concerned about Sandy victims why did the Senate not take this up until 2mos. later instead of immediately while Sandy was hitting the coast or filling this bill with pork. I know the ELECTION and PHOTO OP. Just like the Pres attending the Sandy Hook memorial and speaking and now selling the footage on Axelrod's website for campaign donations. Never let a crisis go to waste, or party, fund raiser, or vacation in which the taxpayers pay. Hello higher taxes.
I don't take what old people say off the cuff with a grain of salt but why is relief aid coming so slow for Sandy victims when the other disasters were taken care of quicker ???
I know the main reason ,it's the Repub Bums trying to stick it to Obama and his supporters that's it in a nutshell!!!
Very fitting Pig since Harry Reid is the Idiot party's leader in the Senate.
Vitter calls someone a idiot....which leads to thoughts of:
- a pot criticizing a kettle's complexion,
- a person living in a crystal palace throwing rocks,
- somebody who really knows what a idiot is, and
- it takes one to know one.
we must accede to his authority on the issue - who is more expert that Vitter about poor judgment, utterly stupid actions, and generally faulty thought processes?