As I’ve said, this act of charity for Romney was not unusual expedient behavior, but matches who he is and has been consistently for decades. My friend posted a funny cartoon with a FEMA helicopter trying to save a right winger, but the cartoon was a fantasy. FEMA doesn’t first respond; they may respond later. But as happened during Katrina, it’s people that first respond, plus charities and local and state police, fire and rescue. Also know that Romney’s rally also ran highlighted instructions on how to give money to the Red Cross. From Jim Picht:

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there was a small uptick of support for President Obama. After a natural disaster, it seems that people are more likely to look to government to help them out, convinced that when devastation is on a huge scale, relief efforts should be on as huge a scale.

When Mitt Romney gathered canned goods, water, diapers and paper goods at a rally after the storm, he came in for widespread media ridicule. It was a stunt, a photo op, a diversion of scarce Red Cross resources to handle donations in kind when what they really needed was cash. This was a job for FEMA, unionized emergency workers were jumping into the breach, and Republicans who thought that local government and private groups should take the lead had to be eating crow.

FEMA in particular came in for media praise. This was no longer the crony-run farce after Hurricane Katrina, but a serious, qualified agency that would do the right things right away.

A week later, FEMA has only just solicited bids to get bottled water for people in the disaster zone. FEMA was supposed to have forward-staged supplies of water and other emergency supplies in the area, but it neglected to do so. Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island are still without power, many residents are without food, and looting has become rampant in the absence of police during the night.

Read more: Mitt Romney and Sandy: What do liberals have against charity? | Washington Times Communities
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