The lesson of bureaucracies.

It’s easy for politicians to fly into a disaster area and make promises, but it’s a lot more difficult to deliver on them.  last month, when Barack Obama visited New Jersey in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, he told the victims of the storm that he would blow away the red tape to help them [...]

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“It hurt him a lot. The presumption is that Republicans can’t count on him.”

I keep thinking, “Christie can’t possibly come back from this.” And then I think, “Wait, did we actually just nominate John McCain and the guy responsible for RomneyCare?” Never underestimate the Republican capacity to forgive, my friends. But behind the scenes, the intensity of the reaction from those in Mr. Christie’s party caught him by [...]

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Swamped.

Glenn Reynolds notices similarities, in USA Today: One parallel: A late evacuation order. Even before the storm struck, weatherblogger Brendan Loy — famous for calling for early evacuation of New Orleans before Katrina struck — criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for not ordering early or extensive enough evacuations in New York, and for making the “ignorant” statement [...]

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"I think, as a supporter of Gov. Romney, I did my job there too."

The question he’s responding to isn’t included in the clip but I think I can guess what it is. Robert Costa posted this tidbit from an anonymous Romney advisor earlier today: Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, the adviser adds, is persona non grata in Romney’s inner circle. “He went out of his way to [...]

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And "When are we gonna get some f*****g help?"

The initial response to Hurricane Sandy appeared adequate, at the very least.  All levels of government seemed engaged, first responders had the resources needed, and confidence was high that we could quickly address the immediate human needs and then shift quickly to rebuilding.  Those hopes have vanished in a fumbled response at the local and [...]

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Marathon.

He seems to be one of maybe three people in New York who think this is a good idea, but he can get away with that because he’s term-limited and therefore enjoys all sorts of extra “flexibility.” Something to remember when you’re in the booth on Tuesday. At least he’s consistent, though: When it comes [...]

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Generators going to NYC Marathon instead.

Hurricane Sandy delivered a wide swath of destruction to the Northeast, but possibly nowhere more devastating than Staten Island. Half of the storm’s deaths occurred there, and residents remain without power, heat, and in some cases shelter. ABC News reported last night on the desperate pleas of those stuck in the area, telling city, state, [...]

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Scattered, smothered, and covered...with help.

As flood waters were pouring into every low point in New York City Monday night, the New York Times took the opportunity to knock Mitt Romney for remarks he made during the Republican primary about federal disaster assistance in an editorial entitled, “A Big Storm Requires Big Government.” In doing so, the Grey Lady followed [...]

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Storms.

The expected force of the superstorm, combined with its timing and the growing importance of early voting in battleground states, had the potential to affect the outcome like no other weather event in U.S. presidential election history. “We’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Allan J. Lichtman, a professor of history at American University [...]

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