Maybe it’s me, but I think Mitt’s little “disaster relief” stunt in Ohio today was not just pathetic and silly; it was insulting. He’s collecting canned goods to distribute in New Jersey? Like there aren’t already canned goods in New Jersey? And what good is a can of food to someone who doesn’t have electricity or a kitchen?
The Red Cross does’t want canned goods, because they’ve got their own procurement and logistics processes in place and don’t want to have to figure out what to do with random cans of whatever. It would be interesting to find out exactly what happens to the stuff Romney packed up on trucks to send to New Jersey and how it is being distributed. The east coast Mormons might have a network in place for distributing stuff like that, but I can’t think of who else would do it.
IMO the photos of Mitt collecting little boxes of Pasta Salad (which has to be cooked to eat, I believe) and what not just makes him look silly, given the magnitude of the crisis. If he’d diverted some of his campaign money to the Red Cross it would have been more impressive.
See also “When Mitt Met Sandy.”
Update: Most of the neighborhood is still dark, which is making me feel very indulgent that I just cooked myself a hot dinner in my well-lit kitchen and am watching Rachel Maddow while being on the Internet. I do wish I had heat and hot water, but maybe tomorrow.
For all that Mitt is supposed to have cred as a “businessman” and a “CEO”, he strikes me as someone with next-to-no practical sense or skills. His “business” wasn’t about making stuff, it was about conning people into lucrative deals, and manipulating contracts. Does he have a single clue about what someone in Hoboken who’s stranded because their street is full of water needs? Nope. Would he know what to do if he didn’t have a minion organizing a photo op? Nope. I don’t think Mitt can DO very much, though he’s big on telling others what to do, or claiming what he will do, even if he doesn’t know how.
It would be interesting to find out exactly what happens to the stuff Romney packed up on trucks to send to New Jersey
If his vulture capitalist career is any guide, they’re probably being sold to desperate refugees at Klondike prices.
Either way, the whole point is for Rmoney to be photographed with cans. After that, they can be tossed in the ocean for all he cares.
It’s not you. I heard Mitt saying “We’ll get this stuff boxed up” on the radio this evening, and I wanted to scream. Apparently he thinks This Is A Job For The Greater Salt Lake Boy Scouts! What an idiot.
A panic I have: that Sandy will interfere with voting in the Northeast, and throw the election to the idiot.
This just seems like some campaign staffer’s idea to distract attention from Mitt + FEMA. “Relief Rallies” instead of political rallies. They need something, anything to change the subject, to turn lemons into lemonade. It certainly would’ve been more impressive + sincere had he donated some campaign cash to the relief effort, but I doubt if that ever entered his mind.
A panic I have: that Sandy will interfere with voting in the Northeast, and throw the election to the idiot.
I am optimistic that this disaster will only help Obama, even if turnout might be a little less.
He needs a tank helmet. A “Dukakis moment”, though I am certain Dukakis is a far better man.
Romney is aware that this event, if handled well by FEMA, will make Obama look presidential, practically on election eve. FEMA staff from top to bottom has undoubtedly been reminded that Mitt will privatize the operation – and Mitt could win if they screw it up. They have never had a greater motivation for getting it right.
Tom_B: that made me think, how does MA elect Michael Dukkakis, a whole slew of Kennedys AND Mitt Romney? I know this thought probably happened to everyone else about 18 mos. ago, but seriously.
Mitt must think NJ is in Haiti.
And what a sham that “relief” – NOT A CAMPAIGN EVENT – effort was!
People had to stand around, holding what they’d brought, until Mitt showed up there to accept their donations in front of the camera’s.
What’s next?
Mitt gonna borrow W’s never-used tool-belt and head off to NJ to fake helping some homeowners rebuild? Sure, Mitt’s hammered a few companies doors shut, but not with a real hammer – and he’s never even drank a screwdriver, let alone used one.
Here’s what I’d ask everyone, “After Hurricane Sandy left a wide path of destruction, and now that we need to nation REbuild here at home in America, who do you want handling it? The same party that brought you the Iraq and Afghanistan fiasco’s, and Mitt has many of the same people working for him, or the party whose Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe and Japan after WWII?”
Mitt’s not a candidate, he’s a shamdidate!
From the WaPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/30/mixed-messages-at-romney-storm-relief-event-in-ohio/
‘Romney stood on a chair and spoke for less than five minutes. As throngs of supporters, reporters and TV cameras surrounded him, Romney made note of the items on the tables behind him.
“We’re going to box these things up in just a minute and put them on some trucks, and then we’re going to send them into, I think it’s New Jersey. There’s a site we’ve identified where we can take these goods and distribute them to people who need them,†he said.’
“…I think it’s New Jersey.”
Really?
As we in the NY Metroplitan area might say, “Ya tink?!?!”
Tell me Sherlock, how long did it take you and your team of Dr. Watson’s to eliminate states like Nebraska and North Dakota from needing hurricane relief assistance, and come to the obvious conclusion that maybe New Jersey needed some help?
OY!!!
I know this is difficult to imagine, but Romney sometimes makes W look smart and empathetic!
I swear, if Obama was white, Mitt wouldn’t get too much above that 27% lunatic authoritarian threshold.
Buckyblue: when bad things happen (like the 2010 elections), I tend to blame it on poor turn out. In the case of Brown in MA, I think the Dems put up a very weak candidate and Brown “pledged” to be bipartisan.
Mittwitt’s effort reminds me of the time I was on a family cross country trip as a child. We had a 140 lb dog and something he ate didn’t set well with him. He , without warning , spun a single circle, lifted his tail and let go like a fountain from the backside, filling the front seat of the car with what you would expect to exit from a 140 lb sick dog. The family grandfather, without missing a beat, removed a single Kleenex from his pocket and handed it over the seat.
I think Mitt’s relief supplies are being flown into NJ on some of his pal’s corporate Lear jets – it’s tax deductible.
And when the supplies are finally unloaded by non-union labor, people in NJ will be instructed as to which dock’s to go to, where the canned goods will by distributed from yachts.
And if there are no docks left, people on the shore may take a ticket, and then swim up in an orderly fashion when their number is called.
The canned goods are a “fix your own flood kit”. You empty out the corn, grab the empty can and if everyone scoops up 10,426 cans of water and puts them down the toilet you can get rid of all that flood water with no help from the federal Government. He gave you free loaders not only food but a flood relief plan. I guess you slackers don’t get how mittwitt’s America works. You people are so un grateful!
Typical east coast liberals, with your hands out for money. You don’t get to decide what help you need..those who have are way more qualified to decide what you need.
Blankets and fresh water will only teach you how to not take any responsibility for your own lives.What you need after a massive disaster is a good lesson. You all need to sufffer and be punished for not being able to take care of this all on your own.If you had taken your family and fled to mexico you could have avoided being a burden on the federal dole.
Look, we have to decide, is this important enough to borrow money for?Duh! No. It’s water..it will dry up eventually.The rest is on the state and their charities. Not our problem. OR we can cut school lunch programs FOREVER to help your state if your too lazy to handle this on your own.
I think ever American should collect and send canned goods to the mittwitt family. Perhaps it will repair their lack of humanity and common sense. It has as much of a chance of being helpful to them as the canned goods he pack will do the east coast.
justme,
Maybe you should have strapped that sick dog onto the roof, ala Mittens.
I just want to know how to use a can of store brand green beans to restore electricity next time my power goes out.
The unfailing human desire for simple solutions to complex problems works so well for those who do not have to handle the problems in person. Freedumb! ‘Murka!
I just want to know how to use a can of store brand green beans to restore electricity next time my power goes out.
Fermentation may be involved, but there must be better methods!
Which brings me around to: what does a Mormon know of fermentation, anyhoo? It’s just last year’s crop that has to be destroyed.
So people, if you receive canned goods from Mittens, check the expiration dates!! That stuff probably isn’t even fit for eating.
what does a Mormon know of fermentation
I suspect quite a bit. These are a people who have warehouses of goods, stockpiled for emergencies. Saw a documentary on Mormonism a few years ago – they had tractor-trailers full of goods, on the road heading to New Orleans, as the storm hit, well ahead of the government’s response (albeit under Brownie). Of course, armies of missionaries accompanied said goods, and you better believe the devastated folks in NOLA were grateful.
When TSHTF in the US, these people will be ready and more than able to ride out the storm, probably better than anybody else as a whole.
But it is so typical Mitt to not have a clue where this stuff is headed, much less that it’s even unwanted. All he and his staff care about is getting photographed next to piles of donations, and dodging his earlier impolitic comments about FEMA. I can well imagine it getting trucked to New Jersey and getting dumped somewhere off the turnpike.
Oh, yes, stockpiling stuff is part of the Mormon religion. Many years ago I helped produce a homemaking book written by a Mormon lady, and she had a whole chapter about how her religion required her to have one year — or maybe two years, can’t remember — worth of food stored at all times. So she had this elaborate can rotation routine worked out to be sure she opened old cans before the expiration date. She also had to turn the cans periodically.
Some of the stuff in that book still cracks me up. She recommended using worn-out ironing board covers to make oven mitts. My ironing board cover must be 20 years old, and it’s no where near wearing out. She also recommended storing potatoes in old (presumably washed) pantyhose, tying a knot between each potato and hanging the pantyhose in a cool, dry place. And, y’know, if you have to store up potatoes to last all winter that’s probably a good idea. But who does that?
Here’s the latest from excrement in human form, Steve King:
“Can you imagine in the middle of a disaster to ask for appropriations for mitigating future disasters?†King said. “That’s why I said no on that second round of appropriations for Katrina…because they spent it on Gucci bags and massage parlors and everything you can think of — in addition to what was necessary.â€
Words escape me…
they spent it on Gucci bags and massage parlors and everything you can think of
Whoops, Steve, you’re thinking of La Famille Palin in 2008. That’s OK, honey, I know what can happen when one inhales too much corn dust. Yeesh.
It is even worse. From BuzzFeed, Romney’s campaign went out an bought $5,000 of packaged goods so they could give it to “donors”, who could then “give” it to Romney, for the photo op, of course.
The guy is pathetic.
biggerbox – Romney isn’t playing with a full deck, has a screw loose, has slipped a cog, is nuttier than a Xmas fruitcake. And the American people, from all walks of life, across the educational spectrum are suffering from a severe case of “the emperor’s clothes” syndrome. He, in fact, is not wearing the glorious raiment of intelligent sanity and we, in fact, continue to tell him that he is.
Won’t be the first time in history: In the last century someone named Hitler managed to slaughter 6 million Jews and the German people from all walks of life and across the educational spectrum looked on as though his behavior was perfectly rational and, in fact, probably a good idea.
Then there’s Richard Nixon who was so obsessed with the paranoia that the “elites” were out to sink his presidency (and him) that he put his entire presidency, not to mention legacy, in jeopardy by ordering the break-in of the Democratic headquarters housed in a little known hotel called the Watergate.
Romney doesn’t know he’s citing false facts, that he is regularly contradicting himself. Whatever he says at any time he says it is what he believes to be the truth.
Will the Donald donate his 5 million for disaster relief?
“And what good is a can of food to someone who doesn’t have electricity or a kitchen?”
A can of food is pretty good, all things considered…. hey, I know you, you must be one of those self- serving individuals voting for Obama. Obviously, you are used to having things done for you, and expect absolutely no effort to produce positive, acceptable results. Are you on Food Stamps, by any chance, or maybe Welfare, and do you shudder to think of the implications that Romney proposes, which indicate he wants you to WORK for a living in order to increase the country’s revenue? Imagine that, those millions of people giving instead of taking… and people wonder where the funds for his plans come from. They come from stopping people from taking from the government to survive, and putting people back to work.
Oh, as I was saying, they make this old fashioned manual instrument for opening a can, I believe it’s called… oh, what is it… a can opener, I think.
Try living on canned beans for a week, especially if the toilets aren’t working. It gets messy.
Seriously, do you honestly believe the only people who vote for Obama do so to get handouts from the government? I actually have my own business, sort of, as I am self-employed and on no government programs, although I will be eligible for Social Security next year. But, really, do you actually believe that? And if so, exactly how stupid are you? Scale of one to ten?