Posted on 05/09/2007 1:24:42 PM PDT by bw17
Greensburg Victim Rips Kansas Gov. For Comments Claim Of Slow Response An Abusrd 'Political Slam,' Resident Says
(CBS) GREENSBURG, Kan. While Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Bush administration jaw back-and-forth over the relief efforts for Greensburg, Kan., the town devastated by Friday night's F-5 tornado, town residents have chimed in and say they couldn't be any happier with the response from the government and other rescue units.
"The poor response thing is just political BS," Greensburg resident Mike Swigart, 47, who lost his house and four vehicles from the storm, told WCBSTV.com in an exclusive interview. "I saw her on television and I'm disappointed in that because she doesn't know what she's talking about."
Swigart said there was an almost immediate response from other towns, people who had lined up to try and provide rescue efforts. He said Sebelius' comment about the lack of Humvees was unfounded.
"You may have seen her on television when she said that, and she talked about Hummers, that we needed Hummers. There were Hummers sitting in front of my house every day. The National Guard was there," he said. "I saw people from all over who came right away to help and nobody sent them, they just came because they knew it was going to be big. The response was excellent, the rescue efforts were all night long, and I even made a comment to my wife later that night when we came back into our basement that I can't imagine anyone saying we had a poor response to this tragedy, that it was so quick and it was amazing."
Swigart says the general feeling around the town is that residents were overwhelmed by the immediate response, and that the governor's fuss was for her own good. White House press secretary Tony Snow responded to Sebelius by saying that there was no request by Kansas officials for extra equipment, and that if there is anyone to blame, it's her.
"I was told she wanted to run as vice president on the Democratic ticket, and honestly, I wouldn't vote for her if they paid me because of that one thing she said on television right there. It was a political slam is all it was," he said. "It was a political statement and as far as the military thing overseas, I support what they're doing over there, and the military that came here is doing a great job too."
That's the sound of Sebelius's political aspirations imploding.
Excellent! Thanks for the post!
katrina repeat.........
I cannot imagine her being re-elected. She will be Blancoed......(oooh! There’s my Gerund!).....
Wow!
Yea, I don’t know what this woman was thinking a town of 1200 people and you couldn’t get equipment? You are joking right? A localized event, while tragic and horrible is certainly not something that would have brought to light any shortcomings in the national guard or others.
This woman should be recalled.
How many outlets do you think will run with this and how many will knowlingly ignore it because it makes Bush look good and shows the Demican as a political whore.
And that's about all that Democrats have to offer these days. Hopefully Kansas shows Governor K.S. the door real soon now.
The president showed up on the ground there - did the governor?
Nice try, Kathleen. You lose.
She not only stepped in it, she got it splattered all over herself. What a dumb comment to make! After all, how many batallions and humvees would it take to provide aid to a town of 1500? Watching Bush provide empathy and support vs. Sebelius dirty political trick should convince the good people of the Heartland to return Republicans to power.
Waiting to see this in the banner headlines as big as those given to the Governor’s original rantings/ravings....
Waiting..
Waiting...
Waiting.....
More proof that everything the MSM says us about what the “American people” think, is BS.
This guy’s statement IS what the American people think.
The beauty is that Obama Hussein parroted her comments at the same town hall meeting where he made that huge gaffe about 10,000 lives being lost in the tornado.
Give them enough rope...
Isn’t it amazing how our people can come together in situations like this........IF......and only IF....the politicians stay out of the way. I totally agree with some out there that say it is the Liberals intention to divide us, but I don’t think it could ever work here. Our people do come together when the need arises. Have they forgotten WWII when our people gave up just about everything to help our country?
Leni
Someone send this Drudge.
CNN will dispatch a team to find the 4 losers in this town of 1500 who are dissatisfied.
10,000 victims in a town whose entire population was 1200, and the true casualty count in terms of deaths was 12.
Well I guess if you are going to lie, might as well tell big lies.
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