Reply #68: Andrew destroyed Poppy's chances of re-election

[amazona]

Actually, natural disasters do NOT boost a leader's chances if he refuses to fund FEMA -- did you realize that FEMA's disaster fund is seriously underfunded -- and tens of thousands of people are left homeless for many months afterward.

Did you know that Congress actually considered shutting down FEMA altogether because of its piss-poor response time after Andrew?

W. and the GOP Congress have destroyed FEMA's funding. Our town was seriously impacted by Tropical Storm Bill on June 30 -- the beginning of hurricane season -- and we were refused federal disaster assistance because there was basically no money left in the fund.

A serious destructive hurricane will indeed be another severe blow to the B.F.E.E.

Everything is politics, and not being prepared for a routine event like tropical storms and hurricanes is indeed political. We got spoiled by FEMA's quick response time during the Clinton years. Our town was stunned by the refusal of disaster aid. Just the year before we received federal disaster aid for not one but two SMALLER storms with less financial impact.

It's all about politics. You can't get away with it.

Unless the voting machines are seriously fixed, which is always possible, an Andrew style event in Florida will put an end to W's hopes of being elected rather than selected. Doesn't seem much chance of the storm hitting in Florida though.

Texans should already know that they will be refused aid -- they were refused federal disaster assistance after killer Tropical Storm Claudette, which despite killing two people was dismissed in the media as a small storm only causing some damage to beaches. I do not believe that two people were killed by damage to beaches. I believe they were killed by tree falls, and the odds are that if two trees managed to land where they could kill two people, large numbers of other trees fell where they could damage businesses and homes. But I can't get the numbers, because the media doesn't care. In my town alone, and that is one moderately sized town, it is known that over 130 trees were felled by Bill, including many oaks, including the one that destroyed my home.

Refusing to properly fund FEMA is an issue that the Democrats should not hesitate to mention in any area that has been or could be impacted by disaster.