From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail:
Politics famously no longer stops at the water’s edge. It also apparently no longer pauses to let victims cope with the immediate effects of a natural disaster.
Speaking to reporters yesterday about a pending energy bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared: "As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming," the eminent scientist explained. But Mr. Reid apparently realized he had overstepped and was already revising his theories a few minutes, claiming to a reporter: "I didn’t say the reason the fires were burning in Southern California was global warming."
But the prize for boorishness goes to California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi. "I’ve got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming here [to witness the California fires]," he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. "How many times did he go to New York or to New Orleans and still made promises but has not delivered?"
Mr. Garamendi, who was just warming up, also managed to insert the Iraq War in an interview about his state’s wildfires: "How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq, so that we have those people available here to help us?"
Mr. Garamendi also opined there was "no doubt" that a presidential visit would distract from fire-fighting efforts because of "all the chaos that comes with whatever the president" is doing.
The only chaos I can detect here is in Mr. Garamendi’s thinking. He managed to turn a tragedy that has consumed an area larger than New York City into an opportunity to mount a soapbox. Mr. Garamendi is widely believed to be planning to run for governor when Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office in 2010. I think we already can predict which Democratic contender will win the ribbon for most shameless political grandstanding.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It’s too bad that Barbara Boxer had to do the same, getting in a dig at Bush by complaining that National Guard troops were unavailable becuase of Iraq.