Romney Surrogate Gov. Chris Christie Praises President Obama’s Response to Hurricane Sandy

[FarmerJohn]

October 30, 2012 By Janet Shan

President Obama’s political advantage: Romney surrogate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praises President Obama and FEMA for their response to Hurricane Sandy, as “outstanding” but cautioned that the recovery would be a prolonged effort. Yeah, he put partisan politics aside. Gov. Christie said President Obama moved quickly to help designate his state as a disaster area to better expedite federal assistance. That would be the same FEMA Mitt Romney wants to see abolished though he’s singing a new tune.

“The federal government’s response has been great. I was on the phone at midnight again last night with the president, personally, he has expedited the designation of New Jersey as a major disaster area,” said Christie, in an interview with NBC’s “Today.”

“Last night, I was on the phone with FEMA at 2 a.m. this morning to answer the questions they needed answered to get that designation and the president has been outstanding in this. The folks at FEMA, [Administrator] Craig Fugate and his folks have been excellent,” he continued.

In a separate interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Christie added to the praise, saying that “the president has been all over this and deserves great credit.”

This is the message that could be left for undecided voters that President Obama won’t allow a disaster to mirror the mess that unfolded under the Bush administration when Hurricane Katrina struck. It also shows that President Obama performs extremely well under pressure and handles national tragedies with great skill. You see, Mitt Romney has to walk a fine line because he’s only a candidate but President Obama is the leader and gets to call the shots. That’s the political advantage for the Democrats. Now, I am sure, once things stabilize, we will see the President on the ground in the hardest hit areas on the East Coast. Anything Mitt Romney does can be viewed as self-serving and trying to score political points. Like I said, political advantage Barack Obama.

http://hinterlandgazette.com/2012/1...mas-response-hurricane-sandy-outstanding.html

 

[sssarawolf]

Well DUH, this close to the election it would have been stupid to do anything else.

 

[Grantbo]

It's Bush's fault.

After 4 years it's STILL Bush's fault.

 

[mbabulldog]

Christie ain't no patsy, surrogate, etc. He's a realist that understands that the State of New Jersey simply does not have access to the magnitude of funds necessary for his state to recover from this disaster.

 

[bobwohl]

Two posts??

 

[Dennis Olson]

FJ, just crawl back up Obama's ass, k? We all know that you beat off every night dreaming about having him in bed next to you . Bush talked big after Katrina too, but then FEMA totally FUBAR'd everything. All the HNIC has done so far is talk. Nothing else has actually been done. Let's see what DOES get done and HOW LONG it takes to happen...

 

[fairbanksb]

If it does give him a political advantage it just proves how brain dead at least half the population is. To ignore 4 years of no leadership and give him a political advantage for dealing with a storm a week before the election is pretty dumb. What exactly has he done to gain a political advantage. Oh yeah, he said Federal Government, ignore the rules and turn on the money spigot. Great job Mr. President. As if he has ever followed the rules and not turned on the money spigots. LOL

 

[Gercarson]

This is Christie's dream come true. A muslim AND a socialist in on big hug. Christie needs to wear a condom for a hat.

 

[Garryowen]

The weather was too bad for his golf game, so the prez decided to call some governors. Good for him. Next he will send some ex-presidents to go get in the way. Well, maybe not this time. We shall see how things fall out.

 

[night driver]

What? You want Cristie to bite the only hand that has money to help his constituents???

Come on.

 

[FarmerJohn]

FJ, just crawl back up Obama's ass, k? We all know that you beat off every night dreaming about having him in bed next to you . Bush talked big after Katrina too, but then FEMA totally FUBAR'd everything. All the HNIC has done so far is talk. Nothing else has actually been done. Let's see what DOES get done and HOW LONG it takes to happen...

Dennis, you know that I love you (in a platonic way, of course) but you do know that reasonable men may disagree from time to time, right?

This is one of those times.

 

[FarmerJohn]

Romney is srongly back-pedaling his statement that FEMA needs to be turned over to the states.

How could having 50 different bureaucracies involved be helpful in a situation like this?

 

[Dennis Olson]

We could disagree on Carter vs Reagan. We could disagree on Bush vs Gore. We could disagree on JFK vs Nixon. But ANYONE who loves the Marxist-Leninist commie ILLEGAL ALIEN in the Black House is insane. And you don't just like his policies FJ. You have wet dreams about him.

So no, we're not going to "agree to disagree" on this. Ever.

 

[BL225128]

Romney is srongly back-pedaling his statement that FEMA needs to be turned over to the states.

How could having 50 different bureaucracies involved be helpful in a situation like this?

More helpful than 1 mega-bureaucrazy managing everything through DC, since each of the 50 state emergency managment agencies are closer to the problem. If anything, FEMA should just be a clearing house to only provide limited support to the State Agencies, not take over for them.

 

[BL225128]

Dennis, you know that I love you (in a platonic way, of course) but you do know that reasonable men may disagree from time to time, right?

This is one of those times.

You have alot of gall to consider yourself reasonable, considering your slavish support of the Kenyan...but your a progressive, so there's a reasonable explanation after all.

 

[LoomisLady]

Romney wants to cut FEMA out of the federal budget. At least that's what he said in the primaries. He wouldn't respond to reporter's questions of gutting FEMA when he did his photo op in Ohio yesterday.

Why would you ever want this looser to be elected President? Romney is only out for himself. He could give a rats ass about his fellow Americans!

 

[Dennis Olson]

And the same can be said for His Holiness, except that IN ADDITION, he wants the US subjugated under Sharia law, and will cut the throats of every ally we have while kow-towing to the Muslim scum worldwide.

 

[fairbanksb]

Romney wants to cut FEMA out of the federal budget. At least that's what he said in the primaries. He wouldn't respond to reporter's questions of gutting FEMA when he did his photo op in Ohio yesterday.

Why would you ever want this looser to be elected President? Romney is only out for himself. He could give a rats ass about his fellow Americans!

What did this country do before FEMA, which by the way was instituted by Jimma Carter by executive order? If Obama would let businesses in this put our citizens back to work, States would have more money to be able to respond to disasters. If we weren't paying so damn much is taxes maybe we could donate more money to charities and churches too. The government takes our tax money to pay for a giant bureaucracy like FEMA, then has the gall to ask people to donate to the Red Cross. Geesh

 

[Flippper]

Katrina wasn't about just New Orleans, in fact, if the levees hadn't breeched, it would have been pretty much a non event. Entire towns were literally wiped from the map in Mississippi, all that was left were foundations and sidewalks, but you never heard about them because the citizens rolled up their sleeves, picked up a shovel and got to work cleaning and rebuilding. The people who lived in the other states affected by Katrina said that the Christian relief organizations were first on the scene, often before police, long before gov't., and were of huge help to the communities.

People who got "fema trailers" had to wait weeks and months for the keys to get in, and had other idiotic roadblocks to utilizing what was delivered. Massive lots of unused fema trailers sat empty in specially prepared parking lots that took millions to construct ($3 or $4 million IIRC), as people for months slept on streets and in moldy, damp structures that used to be homes. And there was a time limit on the trailers, they had to be returned after 12 or 18 months I think it was-some got to live in them for weeks before they were taken away.

FEMA was then and is now a gargantuan money laundering outfit, giving sweetheart deals to the so called winners of bids (in NOLA, it was relatives of those within the FEMA bureaucracy) to furnish goods and services to survivors. As I said, the bulk of which went unused, but definitely paid for.

FEMA does need to be abolished, take the money it sucks out of the economy to operate, return it to the states and counties and let them build their own disaster relief units.

 

[TerryK]

More helpful than 1 mega-bureaucrazy managing everything through DC, since each of the 50 state emergency managment agencies are closer to the problem. If anything, FEMA should just be a clearing house to only provide limited support to the State Agencies, not take over for them.

This is true. Turn over a lot of FEMA resources and responsibilities to individual states yet keep the FEMA organization to stockpile equipment and other physical resources and coordinate getting them to states that need them and coordinate getting resources from other states to assist if needed.

Right now when FEMA comes in, they are in charge and believe me it causes a lot of bad feelings among local assets and resources. The governor becomes a sort of co-commander.
I also don't think if you live in Ohio, you should be paying everytime a hurricane hits Florida, just as Florida shouldn't be paying when the big one hits California.

 

[TerryK]

I like Christie, but he sometimes runs his mouth before he knows exactly whats happening.
He's feeling overwhelmed by the storm so he doesn't mind kissing Obama's ass for all the promised resources.
We'll have to see if they materialize. Why aren't the reporters all over the FEMA response like they were with Katrina before the wind even died down?

 

[FarmerJohn]

More helpful than 1 mega-bureaucrazy managing everything through DC, since each of the 50 state emergency managment agencies are closer to the problem. If anything, FEMA should just be a clearing house to only provide limited support to the State Agencies, not take over for them.

The NJ-Emergency Management Agency is closest to the problem in NJ; the NY-Emergency Management Agency is closest to the problem in NY. Other states; its not their problem.

I've noticed that administrations that hate big government do a terrible job of governing; this is especially apparent in disaster management (see Katrina). Administrations that see an important role for the Federal government (see Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Sandy response from the federal government during the Clinton and Obama administrations) do a good job.

If state governments were so good at dealing with national-scale problems, we would have 50-state departments of defense instead of one federal agency.

 

[night driver]

clueless.

Clueless.

Run through a bunch of NIMS courses and come on out and play in the debris for a while, and THEN you can tell us how it ought to work.


I'll just sit over here and watch all y'all keyboard commando Rescue and Relief Specialists tear apart the effort that IS finally mounted.

 

[Wildweasel]

... "Why aren't the reporters all over the FEMA response like they were with Katrina before the wind even died down?" ...

Because unlike Katrina, the reporters are not trying to tear down Obobo the way they were using any opportunity to tear down Bush. If this were a situation with President McCain and Vice-President Palin in office, the media would be howling every bit as loud or louder about FEMA not being there handing out goodies as soon as the storm touched the coast.

WW

 

[Satanta]

It's Bush's fault.

After 4 years it's STILL Bush's fault.

thats the best excuse they have for backing a suckass.

 

[FarmerJohn]

Because unlike Katrina, the reporters are not trying to tear down Obobo the way they were using any opportunity to tear down Bush. If this were a situation with President McCain and Vice-President Palin in office, the media would be howling every bit as loud or louder about FEMA not being there handing out goodies as soon as the storm touched the coast.

WW

"Brownie," W's FEMA director during Katrina, has criticized President Obama's FEMA for moving "too quickly" to aid areas struck by Sandy.

 

[Josie]

The NJ-Emergency Management Agency is closest to the problem in NJ; the NY-Emergency Management Agency is closest to the problem in NY. Other states; its not their problem.

I've noticed that administrations that hate big government do a terrible job of governing; this is especially apparent in disaster management (see Katrina). Administrations that see an important role for the Federal government (see Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Sandy response from the federal government during the Clinton and Obama administrations) do a good job.

If state governments were so good at dealing with national-scale problems, we would have 50-state departments of defense instead of one federal agency.

I'd trust my governor and my state bureaucracy before I'd trust anything from the fed gov. And if you know anything about the politics here in the Land of Lawyers, you'd know that's saying A LOT.