That’s a damned good question.
Why criticize the feds for not giving the firefighters equipment when, 4 months earlier, Perry cut the funding to local firefighters by 75%. I have to wonder how much of the Bastrop fire could have been contained earlier IF the volunteer fire departments in that area had full funding…
While the Texas wildfires provide an opportunity for the only sitting governor in the presidential race to display his leadership bona fides, the disaster is also leaving Governor Perry open to charges of hypocrisy from the tea party movement. Some small-government advocates are asking why Perry, a states’ rights proponent and critic of federal power, is berating the Obama administration for dragging its heels in sending federal taxpayer money and resources to Texas.
This week, the administration gave seven local disaster declarations to specific Texas counties, but Perry criticized the federal government for not making bulldozers at Fort Hood available to firefighters in nearby Bastrop County. This after the Republican-led Texas Legislature cut volunteer fire department “assistance grants” for equipment like bulldozers by 75 percent this summer to help balance the state budget. In Texas, volunteer firefighters do 80 percent of the wildland firefighting.
via Texas wildfires: Is Rick Perry being hypocritical asking for federal aid? – CSMonitor.com.
Umm, yeah, cutting equipment used by a volunteer fire department and then implying a political rival is causing the problem adds up to more than mere hypocrisy, it is full blown lying out of your ass duplicity. So yes, Perry is being a hypocritical liar, but then so are all the Teaparty darlings.
