President Obama has veered off the campaign trail to oversee aid efforts for Superstorm Sandy and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney turned his campaign events into opportunities to collect food and other supplies for those negatively impacted by the freakish storm. But, not the New York Times – she’s still campaigning hard for President Obama.
While first responders were trying to find ways to help those in harm’s way and backup generators were beginning to fail at New York University Hospital, an editorial writer from the New York Times was huddled over a laptop politicizing the storm in a Romney/Ryan hit piece titled “A Big Storm Requires a Big Government”. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of “big government,” which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states.”
Being the New York Times sycophants that they are, the crew at ProgressNow Colorado tweeted the inappropriately partisan missive at 7:35 p.m. last night.
A Big Storm Requires Big Government nyti.ms/SalPHY ICYMI, #copolitics
— alanfranklin (@alanfranklin)
Oddly enough, the editorial was only featured this morning at 8:35 a.m. on the New York Times opinion Twitter feed. Perhaps even the New York Times thought its piece was inappropriate for last night’s emergency situation:
Editorial: Romney’s resistance to #FEMA would leave states to bear the burden of damages from natural disasters. nyti.ms/Suq2rM
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) October 30, 2012
As Michelle Malkin’s web site pointed out this morning: “Forget that we don’t even know the extent of the loss and damage from this storm yet, or what the federal government’s role will end up being or even how effective (or not) it will prove to be — bring on more big government.”
What the New York Times piece is missing is that Romney wasn’t suggesting that people in disaster situations not receive help, or receive less help, but that perhaps the bloated and bureaucratic federal government isn’t the best way to provide emergency help. This isn’t news, and in fact, here is what President Obama said to the governors of the states affected:
“My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules.”
Obama’s statement seems to indicate an understanding of and, possibly, an agreement with Romney’s statements. Instead of posting a divisive and partisan editorial piece last night, perhaps the New York Times efforts would have been better directed at rallying the troops for rescue and aid efforts.