Santorum considers ‘penalties’ for Katrina victims

September 6, 2005

We’ve seen repeatedly over the last week that thousands of people on the Gulf Coast wanted to heed hurricane warnings, but lacked the resources to leave. They rely on public transportation, can’t afford a car, and couldn’t afford to pay for accommodations, even if they did evacuate.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has considered the circumstances and, according to a report on WTAE in Pittsburgh, has a proposal: penalizing those who can’t afford to evacuate.

“I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties, candidly, on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.”

When this guy said a couple of years ago that “making people struggle a little bit is not necessarily the worst thing,” he apparently wasn’t kidding.

Admittedly, the ABC affiliate didn’t show all of Santorum’s remarks, so maybe he justified his beliefs on “tougher penalties” for families who are already living in poverty, but based on the half-minute clip, I’d say Santorum may need to explain himself on this one.

Hey Rick,

Where the hell were you and all your cronies while the poor waited by the side of the road to see if any of you rich white conservatives might stop and pick a couple of them up rather than wave as you went by in your big ass SUV….you asshole! Oh wait, I think you were still on your book tour. Rick, get a life man, seriously. Next time we’ll see if CNN will let us piggy back your ass into a place like the convention center and see how well your whole “penalize the people who stayed” thing goes over……..

my 2 cents

  • I was just asking myself when the wingnut from PA would come out with one of his moronic statements……

    I sure didn’t have to wait too long.

  • sounds like mr talking points is still on the previous page, the one where all the people that stayed were there because they planned to be looting….i heard that one from a maroon here who stays hooked into drudge and all that ilk…

  • Not to belabor the obvious, but this is bloody Rick Santorum we’re talking about. He’s about as disconnected from reality as the Shrub. Any surprise he’s ‘suggesting’ this stuff?

  • I would love the opportunity to speak to Rick Santorum personally. My own father tried to exit New Orleans and had to turn around because the brakes on his car failed. And for clarification my father is someone who has enjoyed a fair amount of financial success in his life but through a few bad turns in life, divorce poor health, etc now is living on the lower end of the income scale but he is not living in the desperate poverty that many in the city are living.

    Yeah Rick tell me about those people that didn’t heed the warnings. And since Analytical Liberal hasn’t been posting here lately I’ll say it for him. LFB!

  • And here, apparently, is what Barbara Bush has
    had to say:

    “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this–this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.”
    — Barbara Bush, Monday, Sept. 5th, 2005
    (Hear It to Believe It)

    “What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas.”
    — Barbara Bush, Monday, Sept. 5th, 2005

    This is so over the top that I question the authenticity,
    although I got it from the Michael Moore site.

    Where is the outrage from the media? This is
    simply outrageous what these necon savages
    get away with.

  • Hark, no need to question the authenticity of the quote, I heard her say it. Someone on the (aptly named) Crooks and Liars site provided an audio clip. It’s even more chilling when you hear the audio, she’s Cruella DeBabs.

    So now we know where Dubya got his people skills, i.e. his ability to blurt out the most amazingly insensitive, even sociopathic remarks. My favorite from Dubya so far is his promise to the victims of the Gulf Coast tragedy that a “tidal wave of compassion” is coming their way. Is it just me, or did that strike anyone else as, I dunno, kind of inappropriate?

  • Santorum’s position, in this case, may lend itself more readily to satire than it does in other contexts, but let’s not pretend that Santorum was simply not thinking this through.

    Conservatives going back to Ayn Rand, and before that, to Herbert Spencer and beyond, have affected to believe that, if people are poor, it is because the penalties of poverty are not sufficient to discourage people from being poor.

    One may suppose that the right-wing arrives at this illogical notion through some combination of the convenience of a belief, which, apparently, costs them nothing, and a certain sadistic desire to see those who suffer, suffer deservedly and intensely.

    Conservatives are also likely to favor corporal punishment for children and even criminals. I doubt that is a coincidence. In the recent New Orleans flooding, conservatives showed an unseemly eagerness to shoot “looters” and to pass on stories of child rape, and the like.

  • My mantra is “outsource Rick Santorum”. While everyone is praying,
    please pray for Pennsylvania. He is a source of embarrasement to
    every true PA resident who believes that intelligence and compassion
    is a virtue.

    He’s the senator that is supposed to represents me. God help us.

    One who suffers

  • If Santorum really wants to punish people who didn’t heed the hurricane warnings, why doesn’t he start at the top with the Bush administration?

  • Hey Senator Man on Dog,

    Why don’t you tell that to the people in St. Bernard Parish, you heartless prick??????!!!!!????

    Now I’m really mad–friend of mine who lives in St. Bernard and is waiting things out in Baton Rouge told me that her friend has been stuck on the roof with her baby since Wednesday–and nobody’s come to rescue her. More about it here:

    http://christiandem.blogspot.com/

  • I, too, am ashamed of our junior senator. You can help us get rid of him by contributing to the campaign of Democrat Bob Casey for that Senate seat next year. Casey is the son of the late governor and is currently state treasurer.

  • Funny how they’ll carp about “personal responsibility” if you’re poor, but if you’re the head of FEMA and don’t know about the hell inside the Superdome, “well, we couldn’t have foreseen….”

    When the revolution comes, I’m going to sentence all these jokers to the task of cleaning up N.O., without being allowed to wear gloves or change clothes for weeks at a time.

  • As much as Rick Santorum’s “logic” is abstract and incomprehensible to most sane intelligent people, there are many who do buy into his lunacy. We can complain all we want; talk is cheap. We need to be gearing up for the biggest senate race in ‘06. When the time comes, we will all need to roll up our sleeves, pitch in, and do what ever it takes for Bob Casey Jr. to be victorious for the sake of our country and our future. Whenever Rick Santorum comes to your town let him know that we plan on sending him back home to Virginia!!

  • Letter we wrote today: Dear Mr.Santorum:
    Re: Your quote on your website: For Santorum, family – “families in which selfless regard for others is the rule – is the cornerstone of our civilization.” *Does this just apply to those of “faith or faith-based organizations,” wealthy, college degreed, pedigreed people? Sounds familiar. . Shutter to think, after reading the above paragraph that your hands stretch out once again (with a satisfying, spirited look in your eyes against the backdrop of the Liberty Bell, farmland, a canon and, is that an Amish carriage?) for your 2006 Campaign for re-election to a Third Term in the U.S. Senate. There is little doubt that you will succeed: backed by your own plentiful supply of personal money and holdings, book sales from “It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good,” lobbyists, politicians and the nice families with selfless regard for others! *Special note should be made on your website: “How the Federal government can do more to encourage family savings.” Individual Development accounts, faith-based organizations (popular phrase) using government and private money, help people set up bank accounts, teach them the Basics of Money Management (assuming they have money to manage of a 1/4 million or more)……….all interest is tax-free (where does the working man/woman sign up?) with a long-term goal of helping families with education, home-ownership or starting a business. Kids Investment and Development Savings Accounts (to be invested in mutual funds–and starting right away from birth) sounds like a noble endeavor for…………*see above. The boundless creativity and energy is alive and well 24/7 it would seem in the development of such programs. So many captivating options–if only the people/hurricane refugees didn’t lack the “resources,” they could take part in these wonderfully designed strategies for education, money, bank accounts and being able to Get the hell out of Dodge and stop mucking up the works for others. One can see on television that with all that awful looting and those “folks” hanging off the rooftops, trees and porches, it really did make it problematic and dispiriting for the others. We’re just unsure of who the others are. Senator, you’re been quite busy traveling the roads and byways of America to promote the election of Republicans/Republican Congressional candidates. America’s Foundation F/K/A FightPac has produced many millions. Goal: “to support Republican candidates challenging incumbents and: Raises funds for Republican candidates. Please Sir, keep your comments to yourself re: people and their miserable situations that you know nothing about. You continue to be extremely powerful and privileged and surely have enough on your plate with raising funds for both your 2006 U.S. Senate post and the PACs and ensuring that the political candidates get their contributions from America’s Foundation (??) received from individual financial contributions (Top 100 Donors). As you proudly state on your website, you are “most proud of your role as husband and father” and of your 6 children. The continuing below-the-belt things that you have said about others over many years have inflicted psychological, emotional and financial damage that can never be healed. That is not a good role model.

    • Comments are closed.