Goody, Another Tornado Chance to Smear Bush

Greensburg, Kansas
The Democrats game plan was in full view after the Kansas tornado, and, unfortunately, some of the country seems to buy into the nonsense and the propaganda. Their plan is to seize on everything that happens and turn it into a scandal. We are still in the midst of the Alberto Gonzales fiasco, as if a president did not have the right to fire and hire federal prosecutors for any reason. Again, Bill Clinton fired 92 of 93 prosecutors as well as the Travel Office staff the day he took office. He also transferred 500 raw FBI files on individuals to a political operative.

The latest scam involves the tragic events at Greensburg, Kansas, where 12 people lost their lives last weekend. Possibly also the candidacy of Barack Obama ended in Kansas as he claimed 10,000 lives were lost. Does any one remember Mitt Romney’s father and the “brainwashing” incident that finished him?

Anyway, the game plan is to blame President Bush for the tornado by claiming that there were not enough National Guard troops and equipment because of the war in Iraq. She also claimed that they did not arrive right away, forgetting that a governor has to ask for them. Remember Kathleen Blanco of the Katrina follies? Another disaster, another opportunity to shift blame from corrupt and incapable Democrats to the White House.

Unfortunately for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Republican Senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback, stepped up to the plate and set the record straight:

“Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback disputed claims by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that a deadly Kansas tornado exposed holes in National Guard readiness caused by the Iraq war.

Sebelius said Monday that Kansas is missing about half its National Guard trucks and many well-trained personnel that could have helped respond to last weekend’s tornado in Greensburg, Kan. The twister killed at least 10 people and razed the farming town…
Brownback said Tuesday that local officials and the Kansas National Guard commander all told him they have the resources needed to respond.

“That’s what really got me, is her saying that,” Brownback said in an interview.

“So I asked, privately and publicly, the adjutant general, do you have the equipment you need?” he said. “Because if you don’t, we’re going to hit Fort Riley and McConnell (Air Force Base) and other places to make sure we have all the equipment we need to respond to disasters. Everybody there said no, we have the equipment we needed.”

He added: “I think what we need to do is to focus on what we need here now, and not draw a broader political question in. We’ve got a disaster, and we need to all pull together to get everything we need from the state and the federal for the local need.”

After visiting the town Monday, the Kansas senator said he asked about resources because, “I think FEMA has a lot of proving to do after Katrina.””

Later on, her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran, said the governor didn’t mean to imply that the state was ill-equipped to deal with this storm. Sebelius’ comments about National Guard equipment were, instead, meant as a warning about the state’s inability to handle additional disasters, such as another tornado or severe flooding, she said.

“We are doing absolutely fine right now,” Corcoran said. “What the governor is talking about is down the road.”