It’s my fervent desire not to politicize disaster relief while rescue workers are still digging people out of the rubble in Oklahoma City. I note that Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who voted against disaster relief for the Mid-Atlantic after SuperStorm Sandy, says he will apply the same standard to his own state. He won’t vote for disaster relief for Oklahoma unless it is offset with more austerity in the budget elsewhere. That’s fine. He is probably going to wind up voting against disaster relief for his own constituents, but at least he is consistent. Frankly, I think he’d take as much political heat for employing a double standard as he will for filibustering aid for his own folks.
The main difference between Tom Coburn and me is that I care more about the people who were impacted by SuperStorm Sandy and today’s tornado in Oklahoma than I do about some stupid ideology or scoring political points. We’ll get his folks the aid they need promptly and without grumbling, because that is what we’re supposed to do.
