Senator Rick Santorum wants to penalize those who don't evacuate....and more...

Yes, Senator Rick Santorum, in an interview last weekend, said that people who don't heed evacuation warnings may need to be penalized next time something like this happens. He waited until yesterday (Tuesday) to "clear up" what he said, saying that he did not mean that for people who did not have cars or other resources.

Here is Santorum's weekend quote:

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 on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.

Here is Santorum's Tuesday quote:

Obviously most of the people here in this case, an overwhelming majority of people just literally couldn't have gotten out on their own. Many didn't have cars ... and that really was a failure on the part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people out.

Jay Reiff, campaign manager for Bob Casey, Jr., who is running against Santorum in the next election, said:

At face value (Santorum's comments) show an incredible amount of insensitivity to the Gulf Coast. What exactly does Senator Santorum mean by imposing penalties on people who often times had no transportation and no place to go?

I think that is a good question. However, according to former first lady Barbara Bush, things aren't so bad. She toured the Houston Astrodome in Texas, where many of the hurricane victims were taken after the Superdome, and had this to say:

So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.

So the "underprivileged" should be happy that they have no shelter of their own and they're living in a sports stadium, sleeping on a cot. I mean, from Mrs. Bush's quote, you would think they had just won the fuckin' lottery.

And in that good ol' "things are gonna be all right" spirit of encouragement, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert told Arlington Heights, Illinois', Daily Herald newspaper that he wasn't sure we should rebuild New Orleans at all because it's located below sea level. Actually, let me go ahead and put the quote from the Washington Post here:

It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level.

Then, in a save-face move, he issued this statement:

My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great historic city should not be rebuilt.

Yeah, Mr. Hastert, that's sure what I got out of it. Being unsure of rebuilding actually means being unsure of how to rebuild, right?

more info:
Santorum: Penalize Those Who Don't Evacuate
Hastert Questions Rebuilding New Orleans (Washington Post)