Dance of the Hypocrites
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
–François, duc de La Rochefoucauld. (1613–1680)
Over the last few months, Republicans have shown plenty of vice, not much virtue, but enough homage to choke a horse. By now, this should not surprise anyone. What is surprising is how transparent and shameless they are.
Unless you have been through a tornado, it is almost impossible to imagine what the citizens of Moore, Oklahoma are facing. We expect the elected representatives of the region to do their jobs and lobby for Federal assistance to help relieve the suffering and help the community get back on its feet. This is our tradition as Americans, and we have done this for a long time, and we should always do it.
The Senators from Oklahoma, Inhofe and Coburn, are at the front of the line to get aid for their state. But not too long ago, when a natural disaster devastated the Northeast, both of these Senators voted against the bill to provide relief to the blue states.
Senator Inhofe was especially breath-taking in his naked, and frankly pathetic attempt to justify his own hypocrisy, by claiming that Oklahoma relief would be different than Sandy relief.
Really, Senator? The only difference in the two situations is that one involves relief for your state, the other involves relief for someone else’s state. Perhaps we should have a law that stipulates that if you vote against disaster relief for others, you are ineligible for disaster relief for yourself.
Senator Coburn, on the other hand, has for some time working diligently to defund FEMA.
I wonder if Senator Coburn is advocating fully funded FEMA for Oklahoma, and defunded FEMA for everyone else.
While we are on the subject of Sandy relief, there is my favorite Senator, Ted “Tail Gunner” Cruz, who even has the good fortune of bearing a physical resemblance to Joe McCarthy.
It comes as no surprise that Tail Gunner opposed the bill to provide disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
But a few weeks later, he was all for the Feds assisting the victims of an explosion in a fertilizer factory.
This hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that the explosion in Texas was not a natural disaster, but one born of man-made negligence, greed and good ‘ole private enterprise. Free markets and individual accountability anyone?
When an earthquake devastated Haiti, Reverend (and I use the term loosely) Pat Robertson said it was because 19th Century Haitians made a pact with the devil.
Although we have not heard from the good Reverend on the latest weather disaster in Oklahoma, a couple of years ago, he said that tornadoes happen because Christians did not pray enough. Or something. Not that it was God’s judgment for red state bible belters for being intolerant and hateful assholes. Of course not. Pray harder because the all powerful, all knowing Big Sky Daddy can’t hear you.
Stephan Fincher (R-TN) and Doug Malfa (R-CA) are both eloquent in their crusade to cut funding for food stamps. But both receive millions in Federal subsidies to support their privately owned farms.
Federal subsides for the poor are an affront to civilization, but Federal subsidies to the already rich are in the vital national interest. Especially if the “already rich” is you.
Hypocrisy is flooding out of the right wing like hot gasses flowing from Krakatoa. To paraphrase Lily Tomlin—so much homage, it’s hard to keep up.
bigdogdancer 