Romney off-message in storm-ravaged Bayou

[highplainsdem]

Source: AFP

LAFITTE, Louisiana - One day after he was named official flag-bearer of the Republican revolution, Mitt Romney confronted the limits of his small government rhetoric Friday in the storm-ravaged Louisiana Bayou.

-snip-

There, with the world's media looking on, he met 22-year-old mother-of-two Ashley Vegas, whose home was destroyed by a 12-foot (four-meter) wall of water, and whose bare feet contrasted oddly with Romney's suede loafers.

His advice for the suddenly homeless family? Seek a bailout from the US federal government's disaster agency FEMA by calling its 211 emergency hotline.

-snip-

The FEMA gambit might be the best option for flooded families in Lafitte, but the idea clashed with the message of Romney's campaign so far, which has focused on celebrating private enterprise and decrying government hand-outs.

-snip-


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jT2ohs24LR7Pc-lY_DCK93sI8uQg?docId=CNG.b86ceb10fe79b0a989936925ba7b5be2.1231

[highplainsdem]

1. From HuffPo: Mitt Romney To Flood Victim: 'Go Home And Call 211'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/mitt-romney-211_n_1848432.html

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched the final leg of his quest for the White House by visiting storm-battered Louisiana on Friday. He drove through a town that was flooded by Hurricane Isaac in part because it's still outside the vast flooding protection system built with federal funds after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) spent close to an hour meeting with first responders and local officials. Romney shook hands with National Guardsmen outside the U.S. Post Office and talked with a local resident, Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac's flooding.

"He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211." That's a public service number offered in many states.

-snip-

Note this is the same advice the AFP story quoted in the OP says he gave another woman.

So Romney apparently went to Louisiana to "help" by telling people to call FEMA. Information they of course wouldn't have been able to get if he hadn't made this heroic trip, press corps in tow.

Helluva job, Mitty.

[roguevalley]

7. 'go home'. they don't have one, romney. this is almost maliciously mean

[southernyankeebelle]

20. Am sure the person was thinking the very same thing. Gee Mitt you spent all that time on a plane

only to come out looking like you don't know what the hell empthy means. No compassion and you come out looking just like G.W. Bush.

[The Second Stone]

22. One of their other homes silly

Poor people have multiple homes just like rich people.

[beac]

24. He assumed they could call from one of their many vacation homes. n/t

[primavera]

33. No doubt she would...

... but there were no more first class seats left to her other home in Monte Carlo and the house in Barbados is short of servants at the moment - you KNOW how hard it is to get good help these days.

[marmar]

2. Relating to the "little people" is clearly forced and uncomfortable for 1 Percent Mitt.

nt

[Angry Dragon]

3. The Lost Willard

He is lost in his own little world

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. What did you expect him to do, write her a check?

That would only happen if she happened to be a "sister" and then it would be a loan with interest.K

[AzDar]

5. Romney/Ryan... utter frauds.

[Mkap]

6. Then it was off to the midwest i presume

To remind people that the long drought they are going through isn't being caused by global warming.

[Berlum]

8. Romnoid and the Republicans are so full of shit

Socialism for the Rich - Doodley Squat for the poor. That is what they are all about.

[Fumesucker]

9. Her home was destroyed but Mitt told her to go home and call 211?

I guess Mitt meant for her to go to one of her other homes..

[Zambero]

21. Romney: Got the 211? Now stop by a 7-11 and eat cake..

or twinkies, or whatever you people subsist on...

[agentS]

34. Do we even have 211 in Louisiana?

Never heard of it before.

After a short google search, it turns out we do, but the service is broken up according to region. This site services the bayou region of the south west. And it looks awfully bare-boned.
http://cg.servicept.com/lakecharles/

Couldn't cut her a check, could you Mr. Romney? That car elevator upkeep and foreign travel hit your bottom line too much this month? Or was it Eastwood's speaking fee?

[goclark]

10. Rmon is "lower than low"

Unreal!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. In 2011, Romney said Fed disaster assistance "immoral" in time of deficits from corporate assistance

In 2011, Rmoney said that giving out Federal disaster assistance was immoral in a time of high deficits. Those high deficits were caused by propping up corporations who needed disaster assistance after the Bush catastrophe.

Much more at this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021240887

[riderinthestorm]

32. K&R for this post alone. Timely reminder for this thread... nt

[central scrutinizer]

12. Go home, the magic hand of the free marketplace will be there soon to make it all better

but don't hold your breath while waiting

[CoffeeCat]

29. If these people can't afford new homes...

...then they can just borrow money from their parents to build a new one. Same principal as people who can't afford college.

It's just so simple for all of us -- if only we would listen to Mr. Dunderhead spout his Mittenisms.

[marble falls]

13. They want a levee? Why didn't they build it? 'Cause a Romney admin won't.

[2pooped2pop]

14. what he meant to say was

"get the fema grant now, because if I get in, it will be gone. And get your shoes on, young lady".

[mojo2012]

15. What would pathological liar Paul Ryan say?

Paul Ryan, the person who can look you in the eye and say the strong should help the weak so don't worry. All this while he proposed in his budget plan to cut disaster relief at least by half AND voted against giving FEMA more money last year when FEMA had run out of money.

[hatrack]

16. Per CBS, Pool Reporters: He Asked Where The Water Came From - "The Sky, The River or the Oceans?"

(CBS News) Surveying the flood damage produced by Hurricane Isaac, newly minted Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Friday told Gov. Bobby Jindal that he had come to Louisiana to learn -- and then asked where all the water came from.

Meeting with Jindal in the flooded Lafitte area of Jefferson Parish, Romney said, "I appreciate the chance to be here. I have a lot of questions for you. I'm here to learn and obviously to draw some attention to what's going here, so that people around the country know that people done here need help."

Jindal lauded the contributions of the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other organizations amid a scene of downed trees, high water and National Guard troops. Romney expressed concern about the welfare of the 5,000 residents, some of whom had evacuated. He then asked, according to a journalists' pool report of the visit: "Did the water come from the sky, or the rivers, or the ocean?"

The comment brought to mind another observation about the natural wonders that Romney made during the primaries, when he returned home to Michigan and remarked, "I love this state. The trees are the right height." Heavy rains continued to pound New Orleans Friday, and hundreds of thousands of people were without power.

EDIT

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57504615-503544/romney-in-new-orleans-asks-where-the-water-came-from/

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Jaw dropping ignorance. How the hell does he remember how to walk?

[randome]

27. Good one!

Left. Right. Left. Right.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. Actually, I think it is Right..right...right....right..

which does explain a lot.

[beac]

26. Gee, Rmoney, at least you could have offered some 7-Eleven cookies and LemonWetGood

to the people before asking all your clever questions!

[CoffeeCat]

30. Romney gone WILD!

Yep. This is what happens when you're not reading your speech off of a TelePrompTer --the speech that you rehearsed 200 times.

I'm sure we'll see a lot more of these bubble-head comments.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Here's the kicker for how they planned to high-tail it out of there

Two vans in Romney's motorcade were involved in a minor collision when a press van rear-ended a staff van, leaving the press pool which travels with the motorcade separated from Romney, who headed back to his plane in New Orleans.

No one was injured, according to reporters in the pool. The group abandoned one of the damaged vehicles and tried to catch up with the campaign.

Purposeful hit and run, leaving the fawning media behind while they fled.

At least this gave me some consolation and hope -

Michelle Chauncey, a 43-year-owner of a shrimp stall, an entrepreneur who spent "tens of thousands" of dollars of her own money to elevate her home on stilts and thus avoid the worse of the flooding, would seem to be in his target audience.

She is a registered Democrat, but not entirely sold on Obama, fearing that his health reform plan will force citizens to pay private insurance firms, and she took the chance of the visit to talk to the Republican challenger.

"There's a lot of good things that I think Obama has accomplished in his term," she conceded. "As for Romney I haven't heard anything or know anything about him that impresses me."

"So if I had to choose today as I stepped into a polling place to vote, I'd have to cast a vote for Obama," she shrugged, pulling an unimpressed face.

[2on2u]

18. Didn't even offer up a car carrier, tent, something. The man could pay for every home

destroyed but offered up 211 instead.

[Panasonic]

19. I bet Rmoney just lost Louisiana this way.

Go home, call 211 and get help.

Uh, Rmoney - no home?

Way out of touch with the regular folks.

[Zambero]

23. Smaller gov't in action

You pay more in taxes, you get less in return, I pay less & get more, and you get unlimited lip service!

[SoapBox]

31. What a dumbass...

Flip - Flop - Flip - Flop

Government or no Government, Government or no Government?

This loser gives me whiplash.